Category: Church
Over the last few days I have read two great books by Jay Y. Kim. They were Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age and Analog Christian: Cultivating Contentment, Resilience, and Wisdom in the Digital Age. A short summary of both is that “Church” and “Christianity” are inherently analog, and need to be lived person to person, and face to face. Digital/Online/Video/Podcast are all good tools, but we can’t get away from the fact that we are called to be a community. We are called to witness and support each other in our growth in our faith. You should get them in paperback (real analog) and give them a read.
This Holy Week I had a little shock. As I was walking across the church parking lot on Holy Thursday I heard my name being called. To my surprise, I saw the man who assaulted me
A few months ago, I was verbally and physically assaulted at the church where I work. I don’t intend to hash out what happened, but I do want to talk about some of the emotional baggage that has stayed with…
Most of us have had the experience of working so hard on a project that we start feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes it is a project at school or work, at others it can just be the way your whole life feels.
In today’s Gospel (Mk 5:21-43) we hear about the wonderful miracle of saving Jairus’s daughter. What could be more wonderful than bringing a child back from death?
This weekend we celebrate The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. As outlined by our second reading (Heb 9:11-15), what we are celebrating is that fact that Jesus suffered and died on the Cross for our sins. God’s actions created a new covenant, where he, in the person of Jesus, became the last and greatest sacrifice.
Pentecost is here! We celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. These men and women had locked themselves inside since the Ascension of Jesus, but with the prompting of the Holy Spirit they burst out and start preforming miracles in the street. The early church goes from a few hidden followers of Christ, to a group of people spreading the good news around the world. Interestingly, Pentecost marks the end of the Easter Season, and the beginning of “Ordinary time.” This makes me wonder if the “ordinary” life of the people of the church should be walking through the streets working miracles?
This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Traditionally, this would have been celebrated last Thursday (40 days after Easter), but in resent times the observants has been moved to the Sunday before Pentecost. The Ascension must have been a frightening time for those first followers of Christ. Just when they thought that they had Jesus back after he rose on Easter, he leaves them again. Now, seeing him rise on a cloud was probably not as traumatic as seeing him crucified on a cross, but none the less today’s reading leave him standing there staring up into the sky. Next week, we will hear that they spent the next ten days locked inside their house.
This year I was lucky enough to get one of the few seats available for a lay person to attend the Chrism Mass for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Because of COVID seating was restricted to one representative per parish. While it was strange to see so few people at the Cathedral, it was still a beautiful Mass. I didn’t take any pictures during the Mass, but snapped a few before it got started.
