Every morning, monks and nuns — and many lay people — arise early for morning prayer. The Latin name for this prayer, “laudes,” means “praises.” Often the psalms that make up morning prayer are indeed full of expressions of praise. One has inspired in me a reflection on the liturgy. Here are the initial verses of Psalm 63.
Mass
Marking the start of Holy Week, Pope Leo XIV used his first Palm Sunday Mass to issue a forceful plea for peace, urging an end to war as he reflected on Christ’s Passion.
Beneath the Roman pines of the Aventine Hill, Pope Leo XIV led a solemn penitential procession Feb. 18 to Rome’s oldest extant basilica, marking the first Ash Wednesday of his pontificate with a call for “countercultural” repentance for sins from individuals, institutions, and the Church itself.
It was a day of pure joy on Jan. 8 as the community of Nuestra Señora del Pilar Catholic Parish came together in a spirit of gratitude for a special thanksgiving Mass celebrating 25 years of the parish’s history.
Getting to know more deeply the people of Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis since a fatal shooting Aug. 27 during an all-school Mass has made clear how important prayer has been in keeping them together, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda said Dec. 6.
St. Jude Catholic Church became the seedbed for a national effort Nov. 16, when Bishop Edward J. Burns celebrated a Mass designed to raise awareness about Catholic Relief Services, its worldwide impact, and its pressing financial challenges.
At a packed canonization Mass in Rome, with 80,000 attending, it was the face of the mother that said it all during the canonization Mass — Antonia Salzano was moved beyond words when her son, Carlo Acutis, was officially declared saint of the Catholic Church.
Every Catholic at Mass, but especially the altar servers, should rejoice that they are in the presence of Jesus, Pope Leo XIV said.
“We must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside of the Church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home,” Pope Leo XIV said while celebrating a new formulary of the Mass “for the care of creation.”
Catholic priests will now be able to celebrate Mass “for the care of creation” after the Vatican announced that a new formulary of prayers and biblical readings for the Mass will be added to the Roman Missal — the liturgical book that contains the texts for celebrating Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.