This has been a banner week for the Suprenant family. Last Saturday, of course, our daughter entered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. Then yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the finalization of our son Raymond’s adoption.

And now today we are celebrating the 18th anniversary of our daughter Mary Kate’s Baptism--yes, the same daughter who just entered the convent.

We celebrate “Baptism Days” in our family, as we see them--with firm biblical and theological support--as second birthdays. Needless to say, this concept is a real hit with our kids. (So is "birthday week," but I'll save that for another post!) We consider these celebrations as excellent reminders to thank God for the mustard seed of faith that was planted in our children--and in us--at Baptism. And it also reminds us of our duty to nurture this life that God has entrusted to us as parents.

We usually at least sing and have cake to recognize the day. Sometimes we will get more elaborate and even light the candle the child received at his or her Baptism. Do the readers of this blog know their Baptism days and those of their children? If so, do you do anything to celebrate these special days? 

Through His sacrifice on the Cross, Christ conquered sin and death once and for all. So why do Catholics seemingly sacrifice Christ over and over again at Mass?

I'm sure many of us have heard this question at one time or another. The key is to understand that the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and the sacrifice of the Mass are the same, single sacrifice. Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross brought about “objective” redemption—in other words, the possibility of salvation for all people of all time. No other sacrifice is needed.

The sacrifice of the Eucharist, commonly called “the Mass,” does not repeat or multiply this sacrifice, then, but rather makes present this one, definitive sacrifice of Christ here and now in our local parish church. This brings about what we call “subjective” redemption—in other words, the application of the merits of Christ’s sacrifice to individual men and women.

In continually offering the sacrifice of the Mass (cf. Mal. 1:11), the Church fulfills the command of the Lord Jesus to “do this in memory of me” (Lk. 22:19). Through the sacrifice of the Mass, we are able to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, without which we have no life in us (cf. Jn. 6:53-56).

For more information on this topic, see Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1362-72. I also highly recommend my friend Thomas Nash’s book, Worthy is the Lamb, on the biblical roots of the Mass.

This past weekend I was considering my own mortality. You see, yesterday was the 32nd anniversary of the death of my second-oldest brother, Ray. Also, a couple days ago was the birthday of my oldest brother, Bob, who passed away just a few weeks ago.  It really struck me that the 32-year gap between their deaths really isn't that big, even though during that time I've gone from being a teenager to a middle-aged grandfather. How, in practical terms, do I understand God's involvement in the relentless progression of time?

So, I really connected with the familiar readings at Mass yesterday. One was from Ecclesiastes ("For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun"), Colossians ("seek what is above"), and Luke ("You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you . . .")

There were so many things in these readings that really spoke to me. I guess I can sum up my thoughts this way: Life can really beat us up if we lose track of our heavenly prize (cf. Phil. 3:12-15; Mt. 6:25-34; 1 Cor. 9:24-27).  Without Christ, life is a cross without resurrection. And further, I'd say that part of life that beats us up is time itself. I may not have understood that when Ray died 32 years ago, but I understand it now.

And the answer? Well, yes, the daily crosses in our lives are real. Suffering is a given. Are we going allow our suffering to be an absurdity, a waste, or "vanity"?  Or are we going to truly abandon ourselves to Christ and unite everything in our lives to Him--not just in theory but in the way we live from day to day, even moment to moment?

I think that part of the "renewal of the mind" (Rom. 12:2) that St. Paul is talking about is exactly that--we need to change our way of looking at things that bring us down. Why live as slaves, when Christ came to set us free? When we commit ourselves to daily meditative prayer and frequent recourse to the sacraments, when we seek what is above, then our perspective down here is changed for the better. 

Joy comes with the experience of attaining that which we hope for. As Christians, our daily struggles can be a cause of great joy for us. After all, they bring us a foretaste of the fullness of life for which we're striving.

So join with me this day and every day: Dare to rejoice!      

As Catholics, we try to balance in our lives of faith the active Martha and the contemplative Mary. Sometimes in the process Martha gets a bad rap. She’s anxious and worried about many things (Lk. 10:41), so at times we might picture her as a frantic busybody flitting around doing 101 things, while the serene Mary sits at the feet of Jesus.

But today (in two hours) is the feast of Saint Martha. She is a full-fledged saint, with all the rights and privileges that go with it! While activism without prayer can quickly turn into mere workaholism, prayer without active apostolate also lacks authenticity. 

At this exciting time in the Church, lay people are specifically called to roll up our sleeves and actively participate in the great work of the new evangelization. There’s plenty to do to keep all of us Martha’s busy.

May we imitate the faith of St. Martha, who said, “I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (Jn. 11:27). And, like St. Martha, may we express this faith in active works of charity.

As we do so, we must keep in mind the clear teaching of Scripture. Our Lord said that Mary chose the better part, the one necessary thing (Lk. 10:42). Our Lord is truly present at every Mass and in every tabernacle throughout the world. If we truly desire to be saints, we do well--frequently and with much love and devotion--to return to the Source: Jesus, Our Eucharistic Lord.

I think St. Martha would wholeheartedly agree. 

Last Sunday my family had a most spiritually uplifting experience at a parish church we were visiting. As we discussed our experience we came up with many things that we liked, including the beautiful church building, traditional music, solid homily, and overall sense of reverence.

My children noticed one additional factor that made a difference to them (and to my wife and me). Namely, the faithful in the pews were dressed modestly and well--in their “Sunday best”--a phenomenon not experienced in many parishes anymore.

There are many motives for dressing up for Sunday Mass. We want to make the Lord the priority in our lives. More specifically, we understand Sunday Mass to be the high point of our week. What does it say when we put more effort into dressing up for work or school or company than we do for the Lord Himself?

The Catechism discusses the issue in the context of preparation for the worthy reception of the Eucharist: “Bodily demeanor (gestures, clothing) ought to convey the respect, solemnity, and joy of this moment when Christ becomes our guest” (no. 1387).

Further, a restored sense of modesty should inform the way we present ourselves in public, especially at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. During the hot summer months, there is a tendency to “underdress” for Mass, and pastors and parents alike do not sufficiently address this issue. (Bishop Yanta did do a very good job of this a few years ago in this pastoral letter.)

Here I would like to provide an additional incentive to dress well for Mass. I suggest that we consider our Sunday clothes to be a kind of vestment. We rightly associate “vestments” with the special clothes worn by the priest and other ministers on the altar. Yet, the word “vestment” comes from the Latin verb vestire, which more generally means “to clothe.”

How would we feel if our parish priest processed down the aisle at the beginning of Mass wearing a tank top, shorts, and flip flops? Of course we’d be offended, and rightly so. As the General Instruction of the Roman Missal provides, “vestments should . . . contribute to the beauty of the rite” (no. 297). The flip side is that the lack of appropriate attire on the part of the priest takes away from the beauty of the rite.

When it comes to the lay faithful, the Church in our time has emphasized that our common Baptism is ordered to our full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy. How we conduct ourselves, even the way we dress, is an outward expression of our interior disposition to enter fully into the liturgical action as a participant, and not as a mere spectator.

So, I would suggest that instead of merely throwing on a t-shirt and jeans that we would see getting dressed for Mass as a type of vesting. It can be part of our proximate preparation for Mass and indeed a concrete way in which we prepare to offer ourselves in union with Our Eucharistic Lord (Rom. 12:1). And surely the way that we prepare and carry ourselves can be an edifying witness to others, who in turn may be encouraged to follow "suit."

Do clothes make the Mass? No. But how we prepare ourselves, including conscious decisions regarding our attire, is an important first step toward fostering a renewed sense of reverence in our own backyard and indeed in our own hearts.

This article originally appeared, in slightly modified form, over at the CUF blog.  

In late June, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. of Denver gave a stirring address entitled, "Glorify God by your life: evangelization and the renewal of the liturgy." The address was the Hillenbrand Distinguished Lecture, given at the Liturgical Institute of the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Chicago, IL. Here is the PDF version.

Archbishop Chaput's point of departure was a letter from Fr. Romano Guardini to a liturgical conference held shortly after Vatican II published Sacrosanctum Concilium, the document that set in motion the liturgical changes and reforms of the past 40-50 years. Fr. Guardini was a significant player in his time, and his book The Spirit of the Liturgy is now considered a classic. In his reflections on the liturgy, Fr. Guardino asked this stunning question: More...

Today the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Bernardine of Siena. As a child in Southern California, I never heard about St. Bernardine, though the nearby city of San Bernardino (my brother called it "San Ber-doo") was named after him. I only later learned that this 15th-century Franciscan priest was quite a dynamic evangelist and preacher.

He is perhaps best known for fostering devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. His "MO" was to travel from city to city throughout all of Italy carrying a banner with the large letters "IHS" (more on that in a minute) More...

This past April 24th, Bishop Edward Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa celebrated a Pontifical High Mass in the extraordinary form (what some call the "Latin Mass" or the "Tridentine Mass") at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. The Mass celebrated the fifth anniversary of the ascension of Pope Benedict XVI to the throne of St. Peter.

Going in, the Mass had several developing "subplots." Clearly such a high profile "Mass in the extraordinary form" attended by thousands speaks to the desire on the part of many for this traditional mode of public worship, not to mention the Holy Father's support for this initiative.

A very different note was struck leading up to the Mass. Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, a retired Vatican official who has been intimately involved in the governance of the Latin Mass movement, was slated to celebrate this special Mass. However, shortly before the event a 2001 letter was leaked to the press in which this respected curial official supported a French bishop's decision not to report a priest accused of sexual abuse to the secular authorities (because of the seal of the confessional). 

Because of protests and security issues (not to mention questions concerning translatlantic flights due to volcanic ash), Cardinal Hoyos was asked to step aside. It was at that point that Bishop Slattery agreed to step in and celebrate this Mass. 

Many were looking at this Mass through their own particular lens or agenda, including many who have been heaping various calumnies upon the Pope as a result of the demonstrably scurrilous attacks that have been made even in "mainstream" media in recent months.

But Bishop Slattery, through his remarkable homily, set a very different tone. More...

Many of us who uphold the Church’s teachings, especially in questions of morals, have been told we’re not “compassionate.” How dare we tell couples they shouldn’t live together before marriage, or that they shouldn’t contracept, let alone abort, their children once they’re married? How dare we tell those with same-sex attractions to avoid acting upon these urges? How dare we bring up uncomfortable truths on a whole range of issues, from capital punishment and just wars to honesty, the rights of workers, and the Sunday obligation?

In other words, for many, truth is a hindrance to their conception of compassion and love. More...

What do we know about the men who are being ordained to the priesthood this year?

Plenty!

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) has released its annual report on those who are being ordained in the U.S. during this Year for Priests. The report, commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), contains an overwhelming amount of statistics and demographic information. Here, in this week's top ten list, I will provide ten statistics regarding this year's ordination class that I found especially interesting: More...

I don’t know about you, but I have found the daily Mass readings for the second week of the Easter season to be overflowing with food for meditative prayer and daily Christian living. I thought I would share ten verses that have been especially meaningful to me this week, realizing of course that I’m only scratching the surface.

And by the way, we all know that April showers bring May flowers. But what do May flowers bring? The answer is found at the end of this list of verses. More...

Every year at Easter Wednesday Mass we hear St. Luke’s account of Our Lord’s appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

This Gospel passage brings to mind the Eucharistic “amazement” that Pope John Paul II sought to rekindle in the faithful through his final encyclical letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia:

“To contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize him wherever he manifests himself, in his many forms of presence, but above all in the living sacrament of his body and his blood. The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by him she is fed and by him she is enlightened. The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a ‘mystery of light.’ Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: ‘their eyes were opened and they recognized him’ (Lk. 24:31).”

St. Cleopas and the other disciple who were journeying from Jerusalem to Emmaus More...

In a previous post I mentioned my fondness for Marian antiphons/chants. Now that it’s Easter, the “Marian antiphon” of choice is the Regina Caeli (”Queen of Heaven”), which the Church usually substitutes for the Angelus during the Easter season. It's one of my family's favorites, as we typically sing it in the evening at prayer time. Here are the words for this beautiful chant:

Simple tone (Mode VI):

The English translation is:

Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
The Son whom you merited to bear, alleluia,
has risen as he said, alleluia.
Pray to God for us, alleluia.

The following is typically added when the prayer is recited in English, rather than sung: 

Leader: Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary. Alleluia.
All: Because the Lord is truly risen, Alleluia.

Let us pray:
O God, Who by the Resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has been pleased to give joy to the whole world, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may attain the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Just one more interesting tidbit about the Regina Caeli: More...

In recent years I’ve spilled perhaps an inordinate amount of ink on the Holy Thursday foot-washing rite, which surely has been the cause of some controversy in recent years. At the same time, though, the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper has never ceased to be one of my favorite liturgies of the year, and my family is eagerly looking forward to tonight’s celebration (despite its unfortunate coinciding with the semi-finals of the NCAA basketball tournament!).

One aspect of this beautiful liturgy that always seems to capture my attention is the first reading, from chapter 12 of Exodus, in which the Lord gives the instructions for the Passover to Moses and Aaron. I tend to zero in on the part about the lamb's being taken from either the sheep or the goats. The Lord isn’t particular on this point--the blood of either a sheep or a goat on the doorposts and lintel of the house will save the family’s firstborn from death.

In other contexts, there is a huge difference between sheep and goats. More...