Spirituality
Communion options for the gluten-intolerant
Celiac disease, an autoimmune reaction to eating gluten found in bread, is prevalent but the church offers alternatives such as low-gluten hosts and Communion from the chalice, writes Father Ken Doyle.
Your Advent game plan: Mass, Scripture, meeting the poor
The First Sunday of Advent, Dec. 1, is an invitation to slow down and be present to what’s important. How rewarding will be the 24 days of this season if we keep the words "stay awake" in our heart each day.
An Advent meditation: Dreaming with St. Joseph
Writer Shemaiah Gonzalez offers a prayerful exercise asking the Lord to refresh and guide us in sleep, as he did St. Joseph, so that we may find God more clearly in our waking hours.
Extend a hand to outsiders during Advent
It's hard to forgive the black sheep of the family or befriend lost souls, but Father Eugene Hemrick reminds that Advent is a time to go out on a limb and examine our ultimate purpose in life.
Christmas will matter if we make Advent matter
Deacon Greg Kandra offers three approaches to these most hectic days of the year that can help us experience Advent the way it was meant to be: a period of silence in which we let go of the busyness.
Want to add to hope, joy, reflection, healing? You can do Advent
If Catholics take time for Advent, which begins Dec. 1 this year, they can find it to be a meaningful season.
Thanksgiving: Gratitude for God’s gifts in life’s trying times
Natural and man-made destruction is present in many communities, but for a California resident it's been a tragic year. Still, Americans' gratitude comes from faith in God and our own acts of charity, in love.
Culinary prayer praises God’s abundant gifts
Here's a stuffing recipe for your Thanksgiving table that reflects the bounty of local produce -- with suggestions for local substitutes -- in gratitude for God's blessings through the year.
A King like no other has made us his heirs
True majesty is revealed in Christ, who became poor so that we might become rich, writes Msgr. Joseph Prior. By showing us how to love and to forgive, Jesus shares with us his everlasting power.
Readings of the Holy Mass: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Read or listen to the readings before Mass with these resources from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, using the New American Bible, Revised Edition.