St. Paul has made a spectacular claim in this Sunday’s second reading: There is something lacking in Christ’s sufferings. How could this be? How could Christ’s suffering on the Cross be lacking anything? Where could we possibly find a better example of a complete gift of self, a total outpouring of love? What more perfect […]
Read more "What is lacking in Christ’s suffering?"Beaten. Stripped naked. Left for dead on the side of the road. The road to Jericho was a dangerous road, plagued with robbers, thieves, and violent men. Anyone who travelled it would have considered the possibility of winding up in such a state, but our traveler from today’s Gospel must have thought it would never […]
Read more "Christ is the Good Samaritan"A soldier sent behind enemy lines into heavily occupied territory is not normally sent unprepared. Yet our Lord says to the 72 disciples He sends on mission in today’s Gospel, “I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” That is, he literally sends them on a journey […]
Read more "Sent as Lambs Among Wolves"Every parent has heard the complaint from his or her children, “But that’s not fair! You let her do ____.” And every one of us can remember feeling slighted as kids when mom or dad let our brother or sister do something we weren’t allowed to do. Something similar plays out in the Old Testament […]
Read more "Don’t Look Back"On Saturday, May 7th I was the subdeacon for Pontifical Vespers at the Throne for the first vespers of the Sunday after the Ascension celebrated by His Excellency, the Most Reverend Czeslaw Kozon at the Cathedral of St. Ansgar, Copenhagen. There is a video of the vespers here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm3pPw09i-U&feature=youtu.be.
Read more "Pontifical Vespers at the Throne"It is always difficult to say, “Goodbye.” Having arrived at the end of the Easter season, the Paschal candle, following the chanting of the Gospel of the Ascension on Thursday, was extinguished, signifying the end of Paschaltide. Each year, these days, though they bring great joy in the celebration of these central mysteries of our […]
Read more "Faith as the Secret to Ascension Joy"”Mi circondavano i gemiti della morte, e i dolori dell’inferno mi circondavano.” Queste parole dell’antifona d’introito servono come l’introduzione a questo tempo di Septuagesima, nella quale siamo entrato oggi nella nostra preparazione per il grande tempo della Quaresima. E’ una introduzione molto sobria e seria. Mentre prepariamo per il digiuno e sacrifici della Quaresima, delle […]
Read more "Experiencing Suffering and Calling on God"“In nómine Iesu omne genu flectátur, coeléstium, terréstrium et infernórum: et omnis lingua confiteátur, quia Dóminus Iesus Christus in glória est Dei Patris.” Con queste parole dell’antifona d’introito, la Sacra Liturgia introduce la festa odierna del santissimo nome del nostro Salvatore. Queste parole ci indicono la ragione per questa festa e il suo luogo nella […]
Read more "Pronouncing Jesus’s Name as Mary Would"L’otto Settembre dell’anno mille seicento tredici, nel convento Regina Apostolorum a Siviglia, si è svolta una scena molto difficile immaginare oggi, quando il priore Domenicano ha rifiutato di pronunciare l’incipit tradizionale delle prediche spagnole, ”Ave Maria Purìsima, sin pecado concebida.” Il suo rifiuto ha così arrabbiato alla gente Sivigliana, da secoli appassionati per la dogma […]
Read more "Mary: The Image of Christ without Stain"”Neque irrídeant me inimíci mei: étenim univérsi, qui te exspéctant, non confundéntur.” Carissime sorelle in Cristo, Queste parole dell’antifona d’introito di questa Santa Messa della prima Domenica d’Avvento indicano una tema importante della stagione liturgica che comincia oggi: la necessità di sperare per il Signore. La parola latina nell’antifona è ‘expectare,’ che vuol dire letteralmente […]
Read more "Lift up your heads — Your redemption is at hand!"
Father Gregerson 