LITURGY MATTERS: Easter is no mere historical remembering
Holy Week has begun. And the good news of 2021 is that we can participate in the Holy Week liturgies in accord with the registration arrangements in parishes. Given that we were unable to have a public celebration of Easter last year, I am wondering what it will be like this year.
LITURGY MATTERS: Chrism Mass in on!
Last year’s COVID-19 lockdown meant we had no Chrism Mass in 2020. Well, it’s back in 2021 but with the necessary COVID restrictions.
LITURGY MATTERS: Rituals Remind Us
There is something about rituals that connects people. Rituals provide us with a sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves and the everyday routines and habits that we develop. Rituals retell the story of our culture, our past, our common beliefs and values that unite us and give depth and meaning to our lives.
LITURGY MATTERS: Grief Matters
In the past couple of years, we have experienced three miscarriages in our family. Beyond the grief of the present moment, this took me back more than thirty years to when one of my brothers and sisters-in-law experienced two miscarriages before having my now grown and larger than life, almost infamous nephews.
LITURGY MATTERS: Initiation Matters
At the Vigil Mass at the Cathedral on Saturday night (Jan 30) a young man named Travis celebrated his first communion. I was surprised at how that moment, and our communal acknowledgment of it in the Concluding Rites, lifted my heart and brought a smile to my face.
LITURGY MATTERS: Ponies, Gregorian Chant and COVID-19
There is a famous joke about a child who, on Christmas morning, finds a pile of horse manure under the tree instead of the expected presents. Yet, far from disappointed, the child gleefully shovels the manure (by hand, no less), because with all that manure, there must be a pony! I could be that child. Frankly, I always try to be that child.
LITURGY MATTERS: 2021 a liturgical bridge from 2020
We will continue to live with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and the immediacy of not knowing and constant change. Therefore, the Diocesan Liturgy Council (DLC) imagines our liturgical life in 2021 as a bridge, spaning the distance between 2020 and the hopes and dreams we may have for 2022.
LITURGY MATTERS: The imagination of anticipation
As we find ourselves at the start of the liturgical season of Advent, are we truly focused on what this time can bring to our lives and of those around us?