Last Word

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As a new year begins, we sing “Auld Lang Syne,” watch fireworks, and make resolutions. Most of these New Year’s rituals are about reviewing the past year and the desire for changes in the coming 12 months.
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As another liturgical year draws to a close, the Catholic Church focuses on the traditional “four last things” that await all of us on the other side of the grave:  death, judgment, heaven, and hell. 
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Over these recent months, the coronavirus pandemic has consumed so much of our time and attention.  At this point, even the majority of television commercials mention it in some way.
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In preparation for Lent, one of my favorite Scriptures to read is the First Letter of St. John. ­In this letter, the beloved disciple invites us to fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
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The Lord Jesus commands his disciples to love God and their neighbor. Love for our neighbor includes our concern for their bodily needs, e.g. food for the hungry, and for their spiritual needs.
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The week after Easter of this year, I made a trip to visit a friend and classmate from seminary. As we were driving to lunch after Mass one day, my friend put a question to me that took me by complete surprise.
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Sometimes sitting in the front is good, and sometimes sitting as far back as you can is good.  On my recent trip to SEEK2019, a gathering in Indianapolis of some 17,000 Catholic college students, I had the opportunity to do both.
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This year, we commemorate the 500th anniversary of the beginning of that series of events we call the Reformation. When Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral on October 31, 1517, he had no intention of damaging the unity of the Church.
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When the revised Order of Christian Funerals went into effect in the United States in 1989, one of the new features was the following rubric after the communion prayer and before the final commendation: “A member or a friend of the family may speak in remembrance of the deceased before the final commendation begins.”
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Recently, the Holy See promulgated a new instruction regarding cremation, "To Rise with Christ.”  By now, I suppose most American Catholics are aware of the fact that cremation is now allowed in the Catholic Church, after many years of being prohibited.  That change in the law has been with us since the early 1960’s.
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It is hard to believe that it has been five years since the introduction of the new translation of the Roman Missal.  It was in November 2011 that we began using the new translation.