Baptism of the Lord - January 11

       It's the Baptism of the Lord this weekend, - so let's talk about Baptism and Holy Water -  from the Loyola Kids Book of Catholic Signs and Symbols  by Amy Welborn, via the entry on holy water in the context of the church.

The entries are arranged with a simple explanation on the left, with the illustration, and then a more in-depth treatment on the right.

For centuries people learned about the Christian faith through paintings, sculptures, objects, and gestures. Simple images still convey deep messages if we learn how to see and understand them. Award-winning children’s author Amy Welborn has created a friendly and fascinating sourcebook on the signs and symbols of the Catholic faith. The exquisite illustrations throughout will inspire conversation and prayerful reflection for readers of all ages. Each image appears with a brief, child-friendly explanation coupled with a more detailed description on the opposite page.

From the sign of the fish to the Stations of the Cross, from the palm branch to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Loyola Kids Book of Catholic Signs and Symbols will enable children and adults to experience faith with curiosity and wonder.​

Michael Dubruiel: How to Get the Most out of the Eucharist, part 2c

      

From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel

THE EUCHARIST AS A SACRIFICE

When was the last time that you celebrated the Eucharist with the thought that you were being asked to “offer yourself” — to give your very life? Chances are, You haven’t thought of it,but you may have experienced it …

•    By thinking “I could be doing something else.”

•    By asking “Why am I here?”

Yet you weren’t doing anything else and you were there — what was missing was the free offering of “your sacrifice,” the choice to offer your suffering along with that of the Passion of Our Lord.

Participation in the Eucharist requires that we die to ourselves and live in Christ. If we want to get the most out of the Eucharist, then sacrifice is the key. This is what has been lost on many of us, and if we want to reclaim all the spiritual riches that are available to us we must relearn what it means not only to “offer it up” but indeed to offer ourselves up.

About Michael Dubruiel

Michael Dubruiel: How to Get the Most out of the Eucharist, part 2b

       

From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel

THE EUCHARIST AS A SACRIFICE

As we participate in the Eucharist, not only do we participate in Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary but we are called to share in that sacrifice.Just knowing this should change how we view everything that irks us at Mass. Are you:

•    Suffering mental anguish — like a crown of thorns is upon your head?

•    Weighed down by worldly concerns — like the weight of the cross is on you?

•    Feeling powerless — like you are nailed to a cross?

If we take away a sacrificial attitude toward the Eucharist, we are likely to fail to see the connection between our lives and what we do at Mass.We are apt to sit in judgment, waiting to be entertained (whether we are conservative or liberal, what we want to see differs but the attitude is the same). When we fail to bring a sacrificial attitude to the Eucharist, our participation seems at times to be modeled more after Herod’s banquet, where Simone’s dance cost the Baptist his head, than after the Last Supper of Our Lord, where there was every indication that partaking in this banquet was likely to cost the disciples their own lives. (Indeed, ten of the twelve were martyred,Judas took his own life,and John survived being boiled alive in a cauldron of oil.)

About Michael Dubruiel

Ash Wednesday is February 18, 2026

    The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel - a Lenten devotional book - is available as an ebook, after being out of print for many years. 

There is power in the Cross of Christ that, sad to say, many Christians don't experience. Now you can learn to see Jesus' suffering and death not as a spectacle or theatrical production, but as a blueprint for how to live your life.

Here is the radical teaching of Our Lord presented in a series of concrete steps that you can take at your own pace, whether you use this book alone or with a group. Learn:

*How to follow Christ more closely.
*God's unique purpose and mission for you.
*How to overcome the evil that you have suffered at the hands of others.
*To find God's presence in difficult times.
*The keys to unleashing the power of the Cross in your life.


Day by day for five weeks, here are the prayers, the reflections, the stories, and the teaching that will help you not only better comprehend the power of Christ's great sacrifice for you, but come to a better understanding of why and how to accept that power now.

Michael Dubruiel: How to Get the Most out of the Eucharist, part 2a

      

From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel

THE EUCHARIST AS A SACRIFICE

The solution to this modern dilemma is simple — put Jesus back at the center of the Eucharist and you immediately change all of this. In his encyclical Pope John Paul II says, “In giving his sacrifice to the Church, Christ has also made his own the spiritual sacrifice of the Church, which is called to offer herself in union with the sacrifice of Christ.This is the teaching of the Second Vatican Council concerning all the faithful: ‘Taking part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice,which is the source and summit of the whole Christian life,they offer the divine victim to God,and offer themselves along with it.’ 

About Michael Dubruiel