Magazine

Recovering Eucharistic Wonder

The following has been adapted from a homily preached by the Reverend Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., during the Holy Hour to conclude a course on the Holy Eucharist on May 5, 2022, for students at Regis High School in New York … [Read more...]

Sacrificing Sacrifice

In the midst of the Eucharistic Revival, Dr. Lawrence Feingold, seminary professor at Kenrick-Glennon and author of (among many other things) The Eucharist: Mystery of Presence, Sacrifice, and Communion, suggests that we may be missing … [Read more...]

Aristotelianism in Eucharistic Theology

Father Thomas Reese and Transubstantiation

This article has been reworked from a paper entitled “They Must Fall into Being: The Son’s Power as Quasi-Subject of the Accidents of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament of the Eucharist” which I delivered on Feb. 4, 2023, at The Holiness of God … [Read more...]

True Thanksgiving

The word “eucharist” may be defined in a few ways, but one of the original translations from the Greek is “thanksgiving” or “to give thanks.”[1. Cf. CCC 1328.] In modern culture, we often associate thankfulness with a sense of being happy … [Read more...]

“Reading” a Marian Eucharistic Icon

Scripturally, Theologically, and Liturgically

This icon has a double appellation. The first is that of place, Our Lady of Connecticut, because its basic symbols are derived from the state’s shield and motto. Its second designation is that of grace, Virgin Mother of the Holy Vine, from w … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – June 2023

Church Teaching on Living Wills Question: Many states are encouraging living wills to settle end of life decisions. Is this wise? What is the teaching of the Church on this subject? Answer: The Church is enthusiastic to promote the … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – June 2023

As a Priest Thinks, So He Is. Ed. by Beth Rath McGough and Patricia Pintado-Murphy. Reviewed by M. Ross Romero, S.J. (skip to review) Pray, Think, Act: Make Better Decisions with the Desert Fathers. By Augustine J. Wetta, O.S.B. Reviewed … [Read more...]

Homilies for May 2023

For the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter; the Solemnity of the Ascension; and Pentecost Sunday Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 6, 2023 Readings: Acts 6:1–7 • Ps 33:1–2, 4–5, 18–19 • 1 Pt 2:4–9 • Jn 14:1–12      bible.usccb.org/bi … [Read more...]

Preaching the Saints at Universities – A Case Study

Blessed Antoine-Frederic Ozanam (1813-1853)

In his Apostolic Exhortation The Word of the Lord (2010), Pope Benedict XVI includes a section entitled “The saints and the interpretation of Scripture.” He writes: “The interpretation of Sacred Scripture would remain incomplete were it n … [Read more...]

Translating Each Other

A Rabbinic Reflection on Jewish-Catholic Understanding

Editor’s Note: Pope Benedict XVI reminded us in Verbum Domini 43, “I wish to state once more how much the Church values her dialogue with the Jews. Wherever it seems appropriate, it would be good to create opportunities for encounter and exc … [Read more...]

Sacred God, Sacred Church

The Catholic Church and the Hermeneutic of Mystery

In the religion of the Old Testament, Hebrew knowledge and experience of covenantal obligations inspired God’s people to treat his name as particularly sacred and holy, and to refer to it as the great, the only, and the glorious and t … [Read more...]

Preaching the Heart of the Gospel

Although I grew up in a nominally Catholic home, neither of my parents was particularly religious. We attended Sunday Mass occasionally as a family, but as we got older the demands of family life, sports, and other obligations quickly began … [Read more...]

Stuck in Neutral: When Parish Evangelization (Still) Fails

It has been five years since the four-day United States Convocation of Catholic Leaders on Evangelization was held in Atlanta. It has been nine years since Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, was … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – May 2023

Guilt in the Spiritual Life Question: Can you explain guilt to me? Is it good or bad for the soul? Answer: To understand the place of guilt, it is necessary to recall that every moral act involves three powers of the soul: the … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – May 2023

Joseph Ratzinger and the Healing of the Reformation-Era Divisions. Ed. by Emery De Gaál and Matthew Levering. Reviewed by M. Ciftci. (skip to review) Benedict XVI: Servant of Love. By Bénedicte Delelis. Reviewed by Christopher Siuzdak. (s … [Read more...]