Why Isn’t Ash Wednesday a Holy Day of Obligation?
If everyone goes to Mass on Ash Wednesday, why isn’t it a holy day of obligation? Ash Wednesday feels like it should be a holy day of obligation. Churches are packed, and everyone comes for ashes. But it isn’t, and the reason is simple: holy days of obligation are feast days. Ash Wednesday (like Good Friday) is a day of fasting, not feasting. In this episode of Ask A Priest, Father Tim explains how the Church has fast days and feast days and why the Church “obliges” us on days of celebration. Using examples like weddings and the 4th of July, he shows how Catholics worship first and then celebrate, because Jesus has already won.
Receiving Mary’s Hospitality
Do you wonder about Mary’s firsthand memory or experience of God? We can relive Mary’s memory and experience of God through the Rosary. Rosary is like experiencing God with Mary—in her heart, her hospitality. Mary is the most perfect Christian, the most perfect woman who’s all about Jesus, and on this month of the Rosary, we are invited to take time and be…
The Battle
How are you able to receive and communicate with God? Silence is the divine language. God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love and communicate in eternal silence; if we want to look at and learn about God, we must let ourselves be moved by that. However, the world has become a place of radical noise, trying to rob us of the experience of God, and there’s…
Acknowledge Jesus
A few weeks ago, I walked by a literal fight between a Chicago Cubs fan and a Chicago White Sox fan, and it was incredible to see how convicted they were that their team was correct. We can easily be convicted of many things like that – sports, politics, or whether the toilet paper roll is over or under. It’s over. When it comes to saying grace in public or…
The Eucharist
In 1263 in Italia, there was a tiny town, Bolzano, where a priest, a Dom Peter, was celebrating mass. And while he was celebrating mass, he had doubts about the real presence of the Eucharist. And as he lifted the host for consecration, blood began to drip from the host onto the altar. This was what is called a Eucharistic miracle, and many confirmed…
Easter
Five years ago, I had the insane opportunity to go to the Holy Land and do a pilgrimage. And in the Holy Land, I went to the Holy Sepulchre. In the Holy Sepulchre, there is the tomb where they laid the body of Jesus, and I went inside. Guys, you will not believe what I saw. I saw nothing. There was nothing. There was no one because Jesus Christ had risen from…