by Father John P. Cush One afternoon after Sept. 11, 2001, I was sitting in St. Helen Church in Howard Beach, my first priestly assignment. Praying Evening Prayer in the Church around 4:30 p.m. became a regular habit of mine in my years in the parish. As I sat in the pew nearest to the […]
Sunday Scriptures
Reflecting on Jesus’ Humanity
by Father John P. Cush ONE OF THE MORE brilliant reformations of the liturgy since the Second Vatican Council was the reinstitution of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). The final preparations for the reception of the Sacraments of Initiation (baptism, confirmation and Eucharist) come during the season of Lent during the Scrutinies. […]
Building Up the Body of Christ
Father John P. Cush IT HAS BEEN SAID that the great writer Charles Dickens has described the parable of the Prodigal Son as the perfect short story. The great writer should know. Think about the characters created by Dickens, characters who have stood the test of time: Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Pip, Miss Haversham and […]
There Is Power in His Name
by Father John P. Cush What’s in a name? Well, an awful lot, especially if it’s the name of the Lord God of All Creation. To name something, to know the name of something, is a tremendously important thing in the understanding of the Hebrew people. Simply put, to know the name of something is, […]
We Are Not Alone in the Pilgrimage of Salvation
by Father Anthony F. Raso “It wasn’t so much what he said. It’s how he said it.” This is a phrase we use like a double-edged sword: Sometimes, a person can say the right words, but you can tell that, for all intents and purposes, he’s phoning it in. On the other hand, we have […]
Be Ready to Resist Temptation
by Father Anthony F. Raso THE MYSTERY OF the Incarnation – of God’s coming into this world and becoming one of us – is just that: a mystery. It is difficult to comprehend the enormity of it, and the Church struggled for centuries to do so. Now we understand that Jesus was “fully God and […]
Are You Ready to Say: “Here I Am, Lord!”
by Father Anthony F. Raso I WAS ORDAINED to the transitional diaconate in January of 1974 and one week later, I arrived in the parish of SS. Simon and Jude, Gravesend, where I began one of the most beautiful parts of my life. I will always be grateful to God for sending me to that […]
Now It’s Our Turn: An Invitation to Be Prophets
by Father Anthony F. Raso The prophet Jeremiah was certainly an interesting man, which makes him an interesting prophet. Having accepted the call of God to be His spokesman, he had no illusions about how difficult this assignment would be. He knows, and says so beautifully in today’s first reading, that there will be plenty […]
True Dignity of Participation
by Father James Rodriguez I AM SOMEWHAT embarrassed to admit it, but one morning, when I was a seminarian, I fell asleep at Mass. Having been in school most of my life, I had grown used to being ‘part of the audience,’ which, at the time, meant passively sitting there and enduring lectures. To my […]
With New Names, A New Song
by Father James Rodriguez IN THE 548 baptisms I have been privileged to perform over the last five years, there is an aspect of the baptismal liturgy that always startles me – the very beginning. It does not begin the way most of our other prayers and rites do but rather, after a welcome from […]