Browsing the March 2024 archive of PARISH BLOG - INSPIRATION FOR THE WEEK
GOSPEL MEDITATION - ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/30/24
March 31, 2024, Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
Outside Chicago, there is a small cemetery in the woods behind Mundelein Seminary, where I was a student. One night I was exploring it. I looked up and was shocked to see an imposing seventeen-foot angel towering ... Read More »
Spiritual Communion
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/30/24
Spiritual Communion
Question:
What is spiritual communion, and do you need to be in a state of grace to receive it?
Answer:
The practice of making a “spiritual communion” dates back several centuries and St. Thomas Aquinas described it as “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy ... Read More »
EVERYDAY STEWARDSHIP - RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/30/24
A Happy Ending Isn’t the Whole Story
“Is there a happy ending?”
When my kids were young, we never made it past the first whiff of any narrative tension before I got this question. As soon as whatever princess or furry woodland animal who was the hero of ... Read More »
GOSPEL MEDITATION - ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE March 24, 2024, Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/22/24
GOSPEL MEDITATION - ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE
March 24, 2024, Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
A few months before they married, my twenty-three-year-old sister and her fiancé planned a cross-country road trip to visit his family. My parents told them that they could only ... Read More »
Communion Wafer
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/22/24
Communion Wafer
Question:
Do Catholics always need to receive communion in wafer form, or can it be different kinds of bread?
Answer:
In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the most common form for the eucharistic bread is the small white communion “wafer” that is a ubiquitous ... Read More »
St. Toribio Romo
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/22/24
St. Toribio Romo
Short Bio St. Toribio Romo González was a Mexican priest and martyr from Jalisco in the early 1900’s. He’s known for his strong devotion to the Eucharist and catechesis to the poor. During a time of religious persecution in Mexico, government troops shot and killed him.
... Read More »
Sharing the Gospel
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/19/24
Sharing the Gospel
In the time when Jesus lived, people did not have shoes like we wear today. Sandals were cloth wrapped around the feet with straps tied to hold the cloth in place. The apostles walked from place to place on roads made of dirt. Their feet got ... Read More »
EVERYDAY STEWARDSHIP - RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/13/24
When Our Own Hour Comes
We parents know that it’s tricky, tackling the topic of fear with our kids. We want them to know that it’s okay to be scared, that it’s something we all feel from time to time. ... Read More »
Catholic Questions Answered
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/13/24
Location of Blessed Sacrament
Question:
Why do parishes have the Blessed Sacrament in a separate room?
Answer:
While many Catholics of a certain age have memories of the Blessed Sacrament being housed in the tabernacle on the high altar of the church, many parishes in the decades since the ... Read More »
He Understands Us Well
Posted by Lenny Ricciardelli on 3/03/24
Jesus came to save. From what? From sin, yes. From death, yes. But he goes to the very root cause of those things in every word and action of his life – and the root is hypocrisy and egoism, which is pride. In order to restore and defend man’s ... Read More »