March 1 was the first Sunday of Lent, but it was also the commemoration of St. David, the patron saint of Wales. Wisconsin has a proud Welsh community, including a Welsh settlement here in the Oshkosh area. My parish hosted a Gymanfa ganu, a hymn-sing, organized by the Welsh Gymanfa Ganu Association of Wisconsin. A…
Category: Thoughts
Why the Cross?
The world has some wonderful religions. I enjoy learning about them and wondering at the beauty within each of them. I tried out a few of them when I was younger, and I tried out not being religious as well. Eventually, I became a Christian. Or more accurately, I returned to the baptism I received…
Why did Christ die?
Christ did not die on the cross in order to please an angry God. Christ was the visible part of an act of sacrifice in which the whole Trinity participated. In the Paschal mystery, the whole Trinity acts in union (as it always wills as one), to repair the damaged creation. Yes, his death was…
On Holy Week, moods, and the whiplash of Palm Sunday
I’ve been reading more today about people who are planning to move the Passion gospel to the end of the liturgy on Palm Sunday, or even to drop it altogether and only read it on Good Friday. The reasons seem to be 2 in number: “let people have one Sunday where they feel good!”, and…
Snow, ice, and God
I wrote this for our weekly email newsletter, Weekly Wisdom. It goes out (nearly) every Friday and contains reflections so the spiritual life and church stuff. It has been a wild fortnight of weather! Snow, ice, sleet, rain, clear blue skies, wind, temperatures from below zero to above freezing and back again. It has been…