MSI Press Blog

  From Morning Prayer: O Lord, make haste to help me. “O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.” The Liturgy of the Hours begins with this plea every single time — Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer. The Church teaches us to start not with competence, but with need. And yet, anyone who has lived even a little knows: God does not always make haste. Tolstoy captured this with his quiet, devastating line: “God sees the truth, but waits.” ( Bog pravdu vidit, no ne srazu skazhet. ) We know this in our bones. We pray urgently, and heaven seems to move at a glacial pace. We ask for clarity, and receive silence. We beg for healing, and time stretches out like an unanswered question. So why keep saying it? Why keep asking God to hurry when God rarely seems to? 1. Because the prayer is about our posture, not God’s speed The ancient monks said this verse was the perfect summary of the spiritual life: I need help. I cannot save myself. I turn toward the One who...

  Holy Saturday is the most easily overlooked day of the Triduum. It has no liturgy until nightfall, no sacraments, no proclamations. The tabernacle is empty. Christ is in the tomb. The Church keeps vigil in stillness. It is the one day in the Christian year when the Church feels what it is like to live without visible signs of God’s activity. This is not an accident. It is pedagogy. Holy Saturday teaches that God’s silence is not God’s absence . In Catholic tradition, Christ is not idle; He is descending to the dead, breaking open the realm of death from within. The world sees stillness; heaven sees movement. Waiting becomes the place where God is at work in ways we cannot yet perceive. Why Waiting Matters in Catholic Spirituality 1. Waiting trains the heart in hope Hope is not optimism. It is the decision to trust God when the outcome is not visible. Catholic theology insists that hope is forged precisely in the gap between promise and fulfillment. Waiting is where th...

  Today's fortune cookie is associated with A Believer-in-Waiting's First Encounters with God   (Mahlou). For more posts about Elizabeth Mahlou and her books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .    

  Excerpt from God Speaks into Darkness How Long, O Lord? Inspired by Psalm 13 Think back over your life journey to mountains you’ve climbed and valleys you’ve encountered. You have found your share of troubles—or they found you, right? Have you noticed that when trouble comes, it often brings cousins and friends? Yesterday the birds were singing. Today even family and best friends are missing. Your body, mind, and spirit capsized. You sent out SOS signals; yet no one responded--and there’s no lighthouse in sight. In times like this, have you ever voiced the Psalmist’s lament, “How Long, O Lord will this last? Have you forgotten me? Will it be forever?” The Psalmist in this classic prayer is uttering a universal cry: “How long will you forget me, Lord? Will it be forever? How long will you look the other way while I’m suffering, feeling all alone and abandoned? How long will this sorrow fill my heart day and night? How long will my enemies triumph over me? Is this permanent, Lord?...

   Continuing in the series of Sula (parish cat) Easter posts and especially on Caturday, here is another excerpt from Sula's Easter book; it comes from the section on the Easter vigil: Waiting before the Vigil The church is always dark on Easter Vigil. I am among the first there, waiting not just for the Resurrection that is to come but also for the people who will be coming to wait together—they with me and I with them. I like greeting the people as they come in. Often, I will know with whom I should be waiting. That, after all, is my mission.     The Mass The Easter Vigil Mass is unique. It is not like any other Mass during the year. The Vigil Mass is also complex—and rich. It goes from dark to light, from people who cannot see each other to people welcoming new members into the body of Christ. The Mass has four elements. These are (1) the Service of Light, (2) the Liturgy of the Word, (3) Baptism, and (4) the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Service of Light starts ...