• Parishioners prepare for Sunday worship

    With so much of our lives concentrated on work, personal and family responsibilities, and the inevitable detours to our carefully planned calendars, the arrival of Sunday Mass can...

    A family prays the rosary together in their Phoenix home. Along with prayer, spending time with the readings for each Sunday is a good practice, as is taking even one additional look at the readings from the past Sunday's liturgy. (CNS photo by J.D. Long-Garcia/The Catholic Sun)
  • The Mass: Not a spectator event

    The action on the field during a particularly exciting football game often locks spectators in its grip. With minutes to go and everything hanging in the balance, spectators hold their...

    Worshippers pray during Mass. Massgoers participate through verbal responses and singing. They listen in an active, focused way to the biblical readings, and they participate through prayer that is spoken aloud with others and prayer that is quietly personal. (CNS photo/Dave Crenshaw, Eastern Oklahoma Catholic)
  • What do we know about the Magi?

    The arrival of the Magi may be the most famous part of Matthew's infancy narrative.

    Three camels stand behind men in traditional attire in St. Peter's Square as Pope Francis leads the Angelus on the feast of the Epiphany at the Vatican. Many scholars believe that the Magi were priests of the Persian religion, men of high stature but definitely not kings, part of the account piously augmented in later centuries. (CNS photo by Paul Haring)

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