Month: July 2016

Real presence is thus not only the gift of Eucharist but the goal and work of Eucharist. Real presence means our God giving life to the world in the body and blood of Jesus Christ - giving life, giving it abundantly, lavishly, promiscuously, to those who are grateful and to those who are not, to… Continue reading The True Real Presence

The liturgical movement did devote a significant amount of energy toward advocating for improved aesthetic experiences of the liturgy, but the vision of the liturgical movement never ended in its media, be it worship aids, missals, microphones, or vernacular translations. The liturgical movement was a social movement, seeking to bring the faithful to a deeper… Continue reading The Nature of the Liturgical Movement

Far from liturgical isolationists, liturgical movement advocates of the past and present have sought to shift the center of Catholic devotional gravity from self-absorption and drive-by communions to interactive and cohesive ritual experiences, attending to cultural particularity and responding to special social needs. The liturgy, and especially the Eucharist, cannot be ignorant of life. Katharine… Continue reading No Isolation in the Liturgy

If liturgy is beautiful because it is an encounter with Christ the expression of God's beauty, and if liturgy is the expression of faith of those created in the image and likeness of the Beautiful, an assembly of the beautiful (as Christ's body at worship), then it can be argued that the faithful have a… Continue reading The Expression of God’s Beauty

The ontological presence of Christ in the Eucharist enjoins on us a willingness to recognize the presence of Christ elsewhere. A theology that seeks to find Christ in the Eucharist to the exclusion of Christ elsewhere will end with a Christ that remains nowhere. Rather, a living eucharistic theology will lead to the conviction that… Continue reading The Presence of Christ

It is important to recover the concept of blessing in its most fundamental Judeo-Christian sense, as first a "good word" offered for God's goodness, and secondarily a recognition of the goodness of an object that comes forth from God and a prayer that God may continue to be manifest in this object. "Blessed are you,… Continue reading Rediscovering the Power of Blessing