"Scripture is at the center of my spiritual practice of prayer and reflection. Using the daily readings for the liturgy and other readings from the Old and New Testament, I will begin and end my day by setting aside time for prayer and contemplation of these sacred texts."

Sister Beth Taylor, CSJP

"[As a pastoral musician,] I resolve to make more time for personal practice. I resolve to keep learning new repertoire, especially to challenge myself with pieces from different musical and cultural genres than I usually choose." 

William McNamara

"I resolve to take a fresh look at all the materials I prepare for liturgy, both the worship aids and the detailed notes for liturgical ministers, to make sure they are as clear and easy to use as possible." 

Corinna Laughlin

"As a lector, I resolve to pray with those scripture readings that I have been assigned using Lectio Divina.  By allowing some quality time reflecting on the readings, my hope is that I will be more able to "proclaim" the Word rather than simply reading the texts. In addition, I resolve to pray with the Gospel readings of each day.  When possible, I plan to invite family and friends to reflect on the readings with me and discern/connect how the Gospel applies to our daily lives. "

Rose Shandrow

"I resolve to study the documents of Vatican II during the Year of Faith with an emphasis on the Liturgy." 

Deacon Juan Lezcano

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In Chicago, Augustus' attempts to obtain a Catholic education were met with bigoted scorn, racial threats and expulsion. Finally, though, a Franciscan priest recognized his giftedness and tutored him in the catechism, the classics and languages. Impressed by Augustus' intelligence and piety, several priests and nuns tried to get him into an American seminary, but these efforts failed. Blacks were still being treated as less than human, and Augustus was subjected to mockery and insults as he pursued his desire for ordination, year after year. Finally, in 1880, he became a seminarian in Rome and six years later he was ordained a priest at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Given the state of race relations in the United States, coupled with a strong anti-Catholic mood, Father Tolton was sent back home as a missionary. His Cardinal insisted, "America has been called the most enlightened nation; we will see if it deserves that honor. If America has never seen a black priest, it has to see one now."

In 1886, Father Tolton arrived in Quincy, Illinois, and was assigned to a small black parish. Soon, whites also began to seek him out for his counsel and for his rousing sermons, but this was determined to be an unacceptable mingling of the races. Father Tolton endured years of physical and emotional suffering as he sought to spread the truth about being Black and Catholic.

In 1889 the Archbishop of Chicago through the intercession of Mother Katherine Drexel, invited Father Tolton to build a new parish in the impoverished area of the south Chicago slums. Here Father Tolton accomplished much despite the insurmountable odds of the evils of racism and discrimination. He demonstrated that Blacks can be ministers of the Lord and that Black Catholics have much to offer the Church if given the opportunity to use their talents and abilities. Unfortunately, Father Tolton died mysteriously of "heat exhaustion" on the streets of Chicago in 1897, at the age of 43.

Currently, Bishop Joseph Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, is heading up the Vatican's process for the beatification of Father Augustus Tolton.

Please pray for a miracle through Father Tolton's intercession, so that he can become the first Black American born into slavery to become a priest...and a saint.

In recent years, as we have prepared for and implemented the Roman Missal, we have focused heavily on the texts of the liturgy: the prayers, both ancient and modern, which make the Missal such a rich treasury of our tradition.

But a glance at Liturgy: The Illustrated History by Father Keith Pecklers, SJ reminds us that the liturgy is much more than words: liturgy is the living worship the Church offers to God, unfolding in time as God's holy people gather.

This hefty book consists of fifty short, readable, and abundantly illustrated chapters that take us from the origins of Christian worship in the Temple of Jerusalem, to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, to the challenges of the present day. There are also chapters dedicated to liturgical preaching, ecumenism, vesture and liturgical objects, the formation of liturgical ministers, and much more.

In this book, the images are almost as important as the text, and they draw on a wide range of sources, from the East as well as the West, and from many cultures around the world as well.

At a cover price of $79.95, Liturgy: The Illustrated History is probably not going to find its way to every sacristy (though it is available at a significant discount through amazon.com). But it is well worth saving for if you are interested in the history of church architecture, music, and worship.