Mustard Seeds

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Why do the readings change during some Sundays of Lent?

During the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent, some years the readings change from its corresponding liturgical cycle to readings from cycle A, why is this change? In order to answer this question, we must go back to two moments in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ where He leaves us a responsibility, one of them is on Thursday when he celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus, took bread, blessed it, broke it and distributed it to his disciples, saying to them “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” (Luke 22:18-20), and it is because of these words that we celebrate the Mass, the readings of which our Holy Mother Church has established in three annual cycles.

Between these words and the following ones that we must evaluate, the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ occurs. His death and resurrection are the most important events in Christian theology. They form the point in Scripture where Jesus gives His ultimate demonstration that He has power over life and death, so He has the ability to give people eternal life.

The second moment comes from the words that our Lord pronounces after his resurrection: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), this is the call to our mission of evangelization.

When there are people who wish to enter the Catholic Church and receive these three sacraments, the church brings us readings from the Gospel of St. John during these Sundays, to focus on the spiritual journey of those who are preparing to be received into the Catholic faith, emphasizing themes of healing, conversion, and the promise of eternal life.

These readings are part of one of the rites of Christian initiation known as scrutinies. The first scrutiny focuses on Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, which symbolizes the thirst for spiritual truth and the offering of Christ as living water.

The second scrutiny focuses on Jesus’ healing of the man born blind, emphasizing the gift of sight and overcoming spiritual darkness, since Christ is the light of the world.

The third scrutiny presents Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, representing Christ’s power over death and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life.

Let us rejoice when we hear these readings outside of their liturgical cycle, for this means that we are fulfilling the mission that our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted to us before His ascension into heaven: to evangelize people of all nations and to make them disciples of our Lord.

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What kind of disciple of Christ do I want to be?

As Christians we have heard the parable of the sower: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Matthew 13:3-8)

Now, what does this parable tells me today? What kind of disciple of Christ do I want to be? Am I like that seed that falls on the road, that hearing the word of God at mass, but once I leave the church, I am already judging my neighbor and forget the Gospel? Am I one of those who receive the word with joy, but as soon as my faith is questioned, I have doubts and walk away? Am I one of those who receive the teachings of Jesus Christ with enthusiasm, but the trivialities of the world do not allow me to practice them and I leave them aside? Or am I like that seed that falls on fertile ground, and that I bear fruit with my actions for the glory of the Lord a hundred, sixty or thirty times one?

Let us remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:17-20)

Let us always be fertile soil for the seed of the Gospel, let us proclaim the good news with our words and actions, so that we can be a tree that bears good fruit and that by that good fruit we are to be known.

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What are the corporal postures I should do during Mass?

In the celebration of Mass, we lift up our hearts, our minds and our voices to God, because we are creatures composed of body and soul and that is why our prayer is not confined to our minds, our hearts and our voices, but is also expressed in our body. When our bodies participate in our prayer, we pray with our whole person, as incarnate spirits just as God created us.

Every bodily posture we assume at Mass emphasizes and reinforces the meaning of the action in which we are engaged. Standing is a sign of respect and honor and so we stand when the celebrant, who represents Christ, enters and leaves the assembly. When we stand for prayer, we assume the fullness of our stature before God, not with pride, but with humble gratitude for the wonderful things God has done in creating and redeeming us. We stand to listen to the gospel, the summit of revelation, the words and deeds of the Lord.

The kneeling posture has come to mean worship. It is for this reason that we kneel throughout the Eucharistic Prayer after the singing or praying of the Saint.

Sitting is the body posture for listening and meditation; therefore, the assembly sits during the pre-Gospel readings.

However, there are other bodily gestures that intensify our prayer at Mass. During the penitential act, the action of beating our chest at the moment of formulating the words “through my fault” can strengthen our awareness that our sin is our fault. In the Creed, we are invited to bow to the words that commemorate the Incarnation: “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” This gesture signifies our deep respect and gratitude to Christ who, through God, did not hesitate to come among us as a human being and share our human condition to save us from sin and reestablish our friendship with God.

After the Lord’s Prayer comes the Greeting of Peace, a gesture through which we express through a handshake and the devout greeting of peace that accompanies it. This exchange is symbolic. Sharing peace with the people around us represents, for us as well as for them, the totality of the Church’s community and of all humanity.

We make a sign of reverence, before receiving Communion, a bow, a gesture by which we express our reverence and honor Christ, who comes to us as spiritual food. The postures and bodily gestures that we make at Mass fulfill a very important function. The Church sees in these common postures and bodily gestures both a symbol of the unity of those who have come to worship and a means of protecting that unity. We are not free to change these postures to suit our own piety, for the Church makes it very clear that our unity in bodily postures and gestures are an expression of our participation in the one Body formed by those baptized with Christ, our head. When we stand, when we kneel, when we sit, when we bow, as well as when we make a sign as a common action, we unambiguously testify that we are indeed the Body of Christ, united in heart, mind, and spirit.

USCCB, “Posturas y gestos corporales en la Misa”, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, accessed 17 November 2024, https://www.usccb.org/es/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/posturas-y-gestos-corporales-en-la-misa

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Is Halloween a Catholic Holiday?

In our society there are some very mixed feelings about Halloween. Some, self-claimed “Christian” denominations, hold that Halloween is evil and should absolutely not be celebrated. Others take it too far, as expected with almost every Catholic holiday that has been secularized, and have brought evil and occult practices into it, staining the holiday’s reputation.

Contrary to the way it is celebrated in the secular world, Halloween has extremely Catholic origins that should absolutely be noted.

All Saint’s Day is a major solemnity in the Catholic Church, an old one at that. Originally, the feast was set as the first Sunday after Pentecost in the fourth century, which meant the feast would have originally been in the month of May. However, the feast was not an authorized solemnity until 835 under Pope Gregory IV.

A common practice in olden times was to have a large celebration the night before a major solemnity. Take Ash Wednesday, for example; Catholics often throw parties and host gatherings the night before and have food, drink, dancing, and even sometimes costumes. Another occasion where celebrations before a major feast is Christmas; we have Christmas Eve. Families get together and have food and enjoy themselves the night before the feast.

All Saint’s Day, being a major feast in the Catholic Church, held the same tradition of having large celebrations and even processions the night before. Considering the feast was known as “All Hallows’ Day,” the night before became known as “All Hallows’ Eve,” later on being shortened to just “Halloween.”

Costumes actually stem from the same general idea. Given that the feast was about the Saints and martyrs, it was customary to have statues a part of processions the night before. However, not everyone owned a statue of a Saint. And so people would dress up as Saints in these processions, remembering their examples and asking for their intercession.

As time goes on, the secular world has done its work and now we have Rapunzel and Batman taking evening strolls every Halloween.

It is interesting how Catholic these customs used to be, and now they are so ingrained in Western world culture that their value is forgotten and often perverted to mean something worldly and pagan. The concepts of death and purgatory are bone-chilling, to say the least; the afterlife is so unknown to us.

However, there is truly nothing evil about the origins or traditions of Halloween. The world may try to pervert it all they want; they do it with Christmas, St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and many more. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s take our holidays back and stop letting society taint them!

Dunleavy, Korynne “Is Halloween a Catholic Holiday?” Catholicism Coffee, 31 October 2021, accessed 18 October 2024, https://catholicismcoffee.org/is-halloween-a-catholic-holiday-catholicism-coffee-3695097a0617

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What is the danger of New Age ideologies for Catholics?

During the last decades, many currents of thought have emerged that promote the elevation of the human being through different disciplines whose intention is to generate spiritual self-sufficiency, taking advantage of the legitimate human nature of spiritual longing. This group of various disciplines is commonly referred to as “New Age” ideologies.

An adequate Christian discernment of New Age thought and practice cannot fail to recognize that, it represents something of a compendium of positions that the Church has identified as heterodox.  Saint John Paul II warned us with regard to the “return of ancient gnostic1 ideas under the guise of the so-called New Age: We cannot delude ourselves that this will lead toward a renewal of religion. It is only a new way of practicing gnosticism – that attitude of the spirit that, in the name of a profound knowledge of God, results in distorting His Word and replacing it with purely human words…”2 (Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life, §1.4)

People feel the Christian religion no longer offers them something they really need. The search which often leads people to the New Age is a genuine yearning: for a deeper spirituality, for something which will touch their hearts, and for a way of making sense of a confusing and often alienating world.

Any problems there are with New Age are to be found in what it proposes as alternative answers to life’s questions. If the Church is not to be accused of being deaf to people’s longings, her members need to do two things: to root themselves ever more firmly in the fundamentals of their faith, and to understand the often-silent cry in people’s hearts, which leads them elsewhere if they are not satisfied by the Church. There is also a call in all of this to come closer to Jesus Christ and to be ready to follow Him, since He is the real way to happiness, the truth about God and the fulness of life for every man and woman who is prepared to respond to his love. (Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life, §1.5)

We can clearly identify these ideologies by their way of promoting a higher state of consciousness or trying to improve our health through their methods, whether through “energy therapies”, “energy balancing”, “bioenergetics” or “awakening the intelligence of our organs” among others.

Let us remember that our Lord Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth and the life, no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven except through Him (John 14:6). Let us lift our spirits through fervent prayer and be one with our Lord through communion every time we come to Mass.

1 Gnosis: in a generic sense, it is a form of knowledge that is not intellectual, but visionary or mystical, thought to be revealed and capable of joining the human being to the divine mystery.

2 John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, (Knopf) 1994, 90

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A reflection on the 10th Eucharistic Congress

There comes a time in one’s life when a series of events, or merely just a single event, has a profound impact on that individual.  The occurrence of these events initiates or contributes to the individual’s growth and is transformational. 

For some Woodstock, in 1969, was a nexus of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and other pressing social issues that sparked a cultural revolution whose effects continues to propagate to this day. 

For others it was 9/11, a “Call to Arms,” an event that surfaced the exacerbated discord in the world, precipitated wars, and resulted in the realignment and isolation of the earthly governing powers.  It changed our political thinking and how we perceive the other nations and peoples of the world community.

Another seminal event, with the Grace of God, just occurred July 17 through 21 in Indianapolis, Indiana; the National Eucharistic Congress.  

This Congress, a manifestation of the ongoing Eucharistic Revival, has happened to raise our consciousnesses and reenergize our souls, to the sacrifice made by Jesus to save us, and the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist.  It has grown and picked up momentum the past three years, coming to a well calibrated inflection point, a celebration, in the National Eucharistic Congress. 

This National Eucharistic Congress, again three years in its planning by the American Catholic Church, was preceded, over 60 days prior to the Congress, with Pilgrimages from the four corners of our Country culminating in Indianapolis.

The five-day Congress in Indianapolis was both visceral and cerebral with those in attendance; Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, Religious, Artists and over 50,000 of the Faithful, all on Fire with the Holy Spirit.  The joy and love present were intense, palatable in every corner of the city.  People of all ages and backgrounds communed together in perfect harmony.  The venue of events for the five days were all enthusiastically packed to the max and ranged from stadium filled Masses and Revivals to smaller breakout sessions, lectures, and workshops.

On the afternoon of the fourth day a Procession of the Eucharist filled the streets of Indianapolis for over three miles, from the city Convention Center to a Memorial Park, lasted several hours without incident, and ending in peaceful prayer and celebration.  That evening, Lucas Oil Stadium rocked with testimony and music in a final Revival that left everyone present with an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Sunday’s culminating Encounter Session and closing Mass at the filled Lucas Oil Stadium ended with the mandate to spread the Good Word with the “Walk With One” campaign (each attendee brings another person one step closer to the church).

The proclamation of the Good Word with this effort will enable our deepest Hopes to be realized.  It was announced that the next National Eucharistic Congress is targeted to be held in 2033; two thousand years since the redemption; passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Nothing is impossible with God.  May God be with you all.

Noelsch, Robert “A reflection on the 10th Eucharistic Congress”, 28 July 2024, Bay Shore , NY

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How are the readings at Mass selected?

When you enter an old-style Church, it usually has stained-glass windows. In medieval churches, for a populace that couldn’t read, they often beautifully communicated biblical truths essential to the Catholic Faith. 

While literacy is no longer rare, we sometimes remain like the medieval faithful. If we are a bit lackadaisical, it can happen that we are mostly exposed to the essential narrative of our Faith at church. That means the readings we hear from Scripture must be selected like stained glass windows.

The narrative of biblical history can’t fit into individual window frames, so scenes are chosen, capable of imprinting themselves on the mind and stirring the imagination to meditation. If the only place we hear the Word of God is at Mass, the Church in her wisdom does something similar for us. She selects complementary scenes. 

On Sundays, these consist of a reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, a Psalm, a New Testament reading, and a reading from the Gospels. These are chosen to fit beautifully into the frame of the Mass. We’re obligated to be present on Sundays, so the Church knows this is her chance to reach us with an exposure to God’s Word that will leave a lasting impression on our hearts, usually with an apprehendable theme.

Did you ever notice how the readings we hear at any one Mass seem to make special sense when taken together? On the seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary time of Cycle B, we heard about Solomon as a youth (1 Kings 3:5-7). Daunted by his own inexperience, he asked God for wisdom. So moved by the humble insight of his prayer, which sought God’s will above material things, God grants him the surpassing wisdom for which he is remembered.

When we then hear God’s Word from his very own lips in the Gospel, it is after meditating on this wisdom. Jesus speaks to us about the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:44-46). Its value is such a treasure—like a pearl of great price—that one who recognizes it would rid himself of everything else he has to obtain it. This recognition is wisdom par excellence, and the sentiment echoes the Psalm, which joyfully exclaimed that God’s law “is more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Psalm 119).

It’s quite amazing how often this happens. To do it, while also meeting the goal of ensuring that even the most lukewarm souls present are guaranteed as complete an exposure to the whole of the Bible as possible if they meet their minimal obligations as a Catholic, the Church has organized the Lectionary .  

In short, Sunday readings repeat every three years, called A, B, and C.  In year A, the Gospels are mostly from Matthew, year B is mostly Mark, and year C is mostly Luke. The Old Testament reading is selected to reflect a theme from the Gospel, and the Psalm often does the same. The second reading, usually an Epistle, typically follows in order of the Sunday preceding. Where’s John’s Gospel, you may ask? We mostly hear the Gospel of John during the Easter season of every year. 

Let’s be attentive every Sunday to the Word of God, Lectures, Psalm and Gospel as they are being read, as our mother Church has prepared them to fit a theme of the history of salvation and to elevate our soul to our God and Savior.

Cardinalli, AnnaMaria. “How to Understand the Cycle of Readings at Mass”, Ascension Press, 20 August 2020, Accessed 19 August 2024, https://media.ascensionpress.com/2020/08/20/how-to-understand-the-cycle-of-readings-at-mass/

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How important is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary for Catholics?

The dogma of the Assumption refers to the fact that the Mother of God, after her earthly life, was raised body and soul to heavenly glory.

Now, why is it important for Catholics to remember and deepen the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven? According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin constitutes a singular participation in the Resurrection of her Son and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians” (CCC 966).

The importance of the Assumption for us lies in the relationship between the Resurrection of Christ and ours. The presence of Mary, a human being like us, who is already glorified body and soul in Heaven, is just that: an anticipation of our own resurrection.

St. John Paul II tells us: “The dogma of the Assumption affirms that Mary’s body was glorified after her death. In fact, while for other men the resurrection of their bodies will take place at the end of the world, for Mary the glorification of her body was anticipated by a singular privilege” (St. John Paul II, July 2, 1997).

“Contemplating the mystery of the Assumption of the Virgin, it is possible to understand the plan of Divine Providence with regard to humanity: after Christ, the Incarnate Word, Mary is the first human creature to realize the eschatological ideal, anticipating the fullness of happiness, promised to the elect through the resurrection of bodies” (St. John Paul II, General Audience of July 9, 1997).

Today’s men and women live pending the enigma of death. Even if we approach it in different ways, depending on the culture and beliefs we have, even if we avoid it in our thinking, even if we try by all means at our disposal to prolong our days on earth, we all have a great need for that certain hope of immortality contained in Christ’s promise of our future resurrection.

The mystery of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven invites us to pause from the hectic life we lead to reflect on the meaning of our life here on earth, on our ultimate goal: Eternal Life, together with the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Angels and Saints in Heaven. Knowing that Mary is already in Heaven glorious in body and soul, as promised to those of us who do God’s Will, renews our hope in our future immortality and perfect happiness forever.

ACI Prensa, “¿Qué es el Dogma de la Asunción?”, aciprensa.com, accessed 14 august 2024, https://www.aciprensa.com/recurso/2367/que-es-el-dogma-de-la-asuncion

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What can be sung at Mass?

We do not sing at Mass; we sang Mass. Therefore, not just anything can be sung during a Eucharistic Celebration.

The texts that appear in the Roman Missal, whether they are from the ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Holy, Our Father, Lamb of God) or from the proper of the day (collect prayers, on offerings, post communion, preface), can be sung with different tones or melodies. You just have to respect the text and not change it. For example, at the beginning of the Rite of Communion it is not possible to sing “Our Father, You who are in those who love the truth…” because it is the time to pray the Lord’s Prayer; we cannot change the words with which Jesus himself taught us to pray for others.

There are other moments when one can sing, but in which there is no text given by the Roman Missal. This is the case of entrance, the preparation of the gifts and communion. In these cases, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal provides for the singing of the antiphon provided for each celebration by the Roman Gradual or the Simple Gradual (nn. 48, 74, 87).

The Roman Gradual, the latest version of which is from 1974, includes the texts set to music for these parts of the Mass. The Second Vatican Council asked that “an edition be prepared containing simpler modes, for the use of the minor churches” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 117). That is why a simplified version called ” Simple Gradual” was published.

However, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal permits that, instead of the antiphons of the Gradual, in the entrance, in the preparation of the gifts, and in communion, other chants be used, but it establishes that the texts of these chants must be approved by the Conference of Bishops (GIRM 48, 74, 87, 390). That is to say, not just any musical composition that is made will do; It must be approved by the Episcopal Conference to ensure that its text is in accordance with the faith.

For example, not singing the song “Jesus the Friend” at communion. In the text it is said “in every mass you repeat your sacrifice”. However, in the Letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 7:27) it is said that Jesus offered his sacrifice once and for all; that is, in the Mass the sacrifice is not repeated as the song says; it would have to be said that sacrifice is renewed (CCC 1364, Lumen Gentium 3)

The texts of the graduals are, fundamentally, verses of Sacred Scripture, which gives a clue to the songs that have to be composed for these moments: they must have a biblical basis.

In addition to being approved by the Conference of Bishops, care must be taken that the songs are appropriate to the nature of the sacred action, to the liturgical day or season (GIRM 48). It is not relevant, for example, to sing “Forgive us, your people” at Christmas; or “Soon and Very Soon” on Easter Sunday.

When choosing music for the mass, we are to select songs that have been composed solely for the liturgy, let us promote the songs adequate with the liturgical season, so that music may be a unity with the liturgy, to be perceived by our senses and thus transform our hearts to be ready to listen to the voice of God.

Papal Liturgy, “¿Qué se puede cantar en Misa?” LiturgiaPapal.org, Accesed 6 August 2024, https://liturgiapapal.org/index.php/manual-de-liturgia/m%C3%BAsica-lit%C3%BArgica/780-%C2%BFqu%C3%A9-se-puede-cantar-en-misa.html

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Why do we come to Mass?

Do we really know why we come to Mass, or just think we know? Are we like the disciples in the road to Emmaus, that thought that they really knew what happened on the first Good Friday? Our Lord Jesus Christ had to explain to them why those events had to happen when he opened their eyes to what the scriptures said about Him.

He may have started with how Abraham brought his son up to mount Moriah, having Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice on his back (Genesis 22:6), the same way as Jesus Christ carried the wooden cross on His back for the sacrifice of the Son of God (John 19:16-17).

How the ram that was finally sacrificed by Abraham instead of his only beloved son had its head entrapped in thorns (Genesis 22:13), as our Lord’s head was also surrounded by a crown of thorns in the way to Calvary.

How in the time right before Exodus, God tells Moses how His people can save themselves from the last plague and be free from slavery: to sacrifice an unblemished lamb, and to mark their doors with the blood of the lamb, and to eat its flesh. How He as a sinless man, saves and frees us from the slavery of sin through His blood and His flesh.

How on what we currently know as Palm Sunday, but in Jesus times would be the day when the sacrificial lambs for Passover would be brought into the city, Jesus the Sacrificial Lamb of God also entered Jerusalem on the same day.

Then He may have asked them what happened on that Friday on Mount Calvary, were they may have thought it was an execution, but it was really the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, were Jesus Christ as High Priest offers the sacrifice of His life in the altar of His body. How that by His passion, death and resurrection; our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, bridged the unbridgeable gap created by sin between God and humanity.

Do we come to mass then because Jesus is present in the Mass? is the point of the mass the Incarnation of Jesus Christ? The Incarnation makes the point of the Mass possible, but it is not the point of the Mass.

When the priest holds the Body and Blood of Christ in his hands and says: “Thru Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, forever and ever” (Eucharistic Prayer I), that is the moment when Jesus in the cross says “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit” (Luke 23:45) were with His last ounce of breath He offers His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to God the Father.

Let’s recognize our Lord in the transubstantiated species, and that we come to Mass to commemorate this passion, death and resurrection, from which the salvation of humanity was brought to us, that we are saved from the death of sin by the blood and flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Schmidt, Michael “The Greatest Love Story” 10th National Eucharistic Congress, 18 July 2024, Indianapolis, Indiana