This devotion is usually on Fridays, especially during Lent. You may wonder, what are the benefits of praying The Stations of the Cross? 1.It gives us a way to make a spiritual pilgrimage. The Stations allow us to visit the Holy Land.  Around the 17th century, Franciscans... Read More >>

Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. The first is that the three disciplines are a direct response to the Fall of man.... Read More >>

Our Response to the Invitation of the Presider. We respond to the invitation of the presider by asking God to accept the sacrifice that we offer at the hands of the priest. We then ask for specific benefits from the sacrifice that is being offered. Specifically, we ask: That the Lord accept... Read More >>

Hand Washing The priest next says two prayers quietly. The first is a prayer of contrition as he bows before the altar, the priest asks that the Lord would be pleased with “the sacrifice” that is being offered to Him, not out of pride but indeed out of humility and contrition. The... Read More >>

Blessing the Bread and the Wine. Once the presider has been given the bread and the wine, both are taken and placed on the altar. If a deacon is present, he will prepare the cup by pouring a drop of water into the wine (if there is no deacon, the priest will do this) while saying a prayer. His... Read More >>

Preparation of the Altar During the collection, the altar is prepared. The altar is the center of the liturgy of the Eucharist, much in the same way that the ambo was the center of the liturgy of the Word. Now the altar is readied, usually by the altar servers. A corporal, purificator,... Read More >>

THE LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST In the same way that the Mass begins with prayers to help us prepare to hear the Scripture proclaimed in the liturgy of the Word, so now we prepare to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice. Our participation in the liturgy of the Word was centered on opening... Read More >>

The feast marking the end of Christmas is called “Epiphany.” In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, Epiphany celebrates the revelation that Jesus was the Son of God. It focuses primarily on this revelation to the Three Wise Men, but also on his baptism in the Jordan and at the... Read More >>

Where does the term “crib” come from? The word "crib" means "manger" and refers directly to a text in the Bible which states that Jesus, at his birth, was laid in a manger by his mother, Mary. Because of the unusual nature of this birthplace, we still use it today... Read More >>

The term “vigil” derives from the Latin vigilia which means, “a night to watch,” generally the fourth part of the night from sunset to sunrise. In the Christian Church, it is a religious service held during the night leading to a feast... Read More >>

December 17 marks the beginning of the "O" Antiphons an ancient part of our liturgy, dating back to the fourth century, one for each day until Christmas Eve. These antiphons address Christ with seven magnificent Messianic titles, based on the Old Testament prophecies and types... Read More >>

When Does Advent Begin and End? According to the General Norms (No. 40): Advent begins with Evening Prayer I of the Sunday falling on or closest to 30 November and ends before Evening Prayer I of Christmas. The Sunday on or closest to Nov. 30 can range between Nov. 27 and Dec. 3, depending on... Read More >>

As the days grow shorter and the world outside becomes cloaked in darkness, the arrival of Advent offers a profound sense of hope and anticipation to millions of Christians around the globe. Derived from the Latin word “adventus,” meaning “coming or arrival,” Advent marks... Read More >>

IN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH In the third part of the creed, we declare our belief in the Holy Spirit, who animated the Church. The Holy Spirit is described as the “Lord and Giver of Life.” God’s spirit is given to us at our baptism. We say that we believe... Read More >>

In One God: There is only one God. Christians hold the belief in one God, along with Jews and Muslims. It is important to note that our statement of belief does not say we believe in three Gods. Many good Christians misunderstand the Church’s belief in the Trinity (stating belief in one God,... Read More >>

You may have prayed this prayer for so long that you can say it without reflecting on its meaning. What does it mean to say “believe”? What “believe” means in this instance is that we put all our trust, indeed our very lives, in God. It might be said that anytime we get... Read More >>

The response to the prayers of the faithful usually is “lord, hear our prayers,” although other responses may be used at times. When we address the “Lord,” it is God we are summoning. Another way of phrasing “Lord, hear our prayer” is “God, listen to what... Read More >>

Lord, Have Mercy (Kyrie) Saint Paul said that it is only in the Spirit that we can acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. In praying the Kyrie (Greek for “Lord”), we are acknowledging that Jesus is Lord. When the ancient Jews would come across the sacred name of God in the... Read More >>

PRAY FOR ME We call upon the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the angels and saints in heaven, and the people in our midst (our brothers and sisters in Christ) to pray to God for us. Stop and think about this for a moment. The ancient belief of the Church is that when we gather to pray as a... Read More >>

STRIKING OUR BREAST At the words "through my fault," we strike our breasts. Why?   In the ancient world, striking one’s breast was a sign of mourning. At Jesus’ death on the cross, the Gospel of Luke recounts that the crowd returned to their homes... Read More >>