Common Ground and the Grave

By Steve Rice Since 2016, I have buried 317 children. I use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer because it contains a liturgy for the Burial of a Child that is rooted in the traditional votive mass for the Holy G... Read More...

Ave, Maria: For the Annunciation

Today the church celebrates the Annunciation, commemorating when the Virgin Mary consented to become the Mother of God. It is a date of significance: nine months before Christmas day, and with a special associa... Read More...

The Annunciation and the “Impossible”

By Jonathan Mitchican The angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her a series of impossible-seeming things. The first and most obvious is the thing we’re celebrating today. He announced to Mary that she would conceive a child who would be the Son of God. This ... Read More...

A Postmodern Reflection on Mary the Second Eve

Among the various characterizations of Mary, I find myself repeatedly drawn to Mary as the Second Eve in parallel to St. Paul’s reference to Christ as the Second Adam (Rom 5:12, 15; I Cor 15:45, 47).

Trauma and the Eucharist

All the sacraments are traumatic for us. Our body is no longer completely our own, our present is interrupted by a foretaste of the eschatological banquet, and the sacraments ultimately are beyond any adequate verbal description.

An unheard-of greeting: The Annunciation

The blessed Virgin received the rays of “the sun” when she conceived the Lord. That is, the divinity of our Redeemer cloaked itself with the covering of human nature as with a shade, and by this means a virgin’s womb was able to bear him.