Only Luke recounts the story of Christ rsquo s ascension and it often seems a puzzling feast A number of years ago I attended a children rsquo s liturgy in a vibrant parish The priest told the children that he had bought a special gift to celebrate Ascension Thursday and asked them to guess what

Vatican City Jan 25 2059 mdash The recently elected pope Victor IV the former archbishop of Lusaka Charles Tilyenji who took the name of the first pope from Africa St Victor 189-98 celebrated the traditional Mass for the Curia in St Paul rsquo s Outside the Walls It also marked the cen

A papal conclave is among the most solemn events in the Catholic Church replete with ancient rituals and contemporary media feeding frenzy Today rsquo s Gospel presents a unique conclave Jesus and his disciples at a fish fry by the Sea of Tiberias that unfolds in two acts In the first the risen

On this Sunday traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday the Gospel for each Lectionary cycle is an excerpt from Jn 10 1-30 Proclamation and prayer require reflection on the complex of motifs found throughout This year the Gospel also provides a fine linkage with last week rsquo s shepherding m

For those who have made the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius the stress on what Ignatius calls repetitions initially seems tedious Ignatius exhorts the retreatant to repeat and spend days or more on the same meditation asking whether he or she feels consolation or desolation or arrives at some

The annual Easter proclamation reminds us of St Augustine rsquo s hymn to beauty God ever ancient ever new At the door of the tomb the realm of death the women hear an affirmation of life He is not here but he has been raised Echoing through the centuries this is the foundation of Christ