Liturgy

Day 4: The Hinge of Fate - Holy Innocents’ Day
Day 4: The Hinge of Fate

Today, the third day after the orgiastic opening of the presents beneath the tree, is also the day that the traditional liturgical calendar tries to slap us into serious reflection on the meaning of the event, jolting us out of our turkey comas and eggnog overdoses with an unforgettably grim story.

Day 4: The Hinge of Fate - Yule Blog - Holy Innocents’ Day
Day 4: The Hinge of Fate

Everybody wants to reduce Christmas to a Christmas card: we’d like this to be a pretty and sentimental tale. But today, the third day after the orgiastic opening of the presents beneath the tree, is also the day that the traditional liturgical calendar tries to slap us into serious reflection on the meaning of the event, jolting us out of our turkey comas and eggnog overdoses with an unforgettably grim story.

This Is My Body: Communion Eschatology
This Is My Body: Communion Eschatology

In this military vignette, originally published in Christianity and Crisis on April 19, 1943, John Joseph Stoudt depicts the religiosity of men confronting their own mortality. The Chaplain employs the clearest ritual means of communicating the weight of their task, the nature of their profession: Communion. In taking up the body and the blood, the gathered soldiers experience camaraderie in a common meal, and unanimously acknowledge of the enduring, indisputable value of sacrifice; both God’s and their own.

How Do Copts Endure Their Martyrdoms?
How Do Copts Endure Their Martyrdoms?

The Coptic Orthodox Church’s liturgy featuring daily readings from the Synaxarium about celebrated saints and martyrs encourage the faithful to suffer even unto death.