Christopher Carstens
Christopher Carstens
Christopher Carstens is Director of the Office for Sacred Worship in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, a visiting faculty member at the Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois, editor of the Adoremus Bulletin, and one of the voices on The Liturgy Guys podcast. He is author of A Devotional Journey into the Mass (Sophia) and, along with Father Douglas Martis, the co-author of Mystical Body, Mystical Voice: Encountering Christ in the Words of the Mass (Liturgy Training Publications).
The Church’s Vernacular
We hear the sacred Scriptures proclaimed at each celebration of the Mass during the Liturgy of the Word. But apart from the Liturgy of the Word itself, echoes of the word resound in the rest of the Church’s prayers. Let’s take a few examples.
We Are Our Own Parents: Let Us Not Abort Ourselves
The life you save may be your own – and Christopher Carstens shows how, in startling terms, the liturgy must be integral, according to St. Gregory of Nyssa, to hope of (re)birth in Christ.
Be It Done to Us According to the Word: The Virgin Mary and the Roman Missal
In recent months, we have found many occasions to reflect upon the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in our…
Got Culture?
On the face of it, culture shouldn’t be a difficult thing to comprehend. After all, culture is everywhere. Yet what is culture?
The Holy Gift Exchange
Looking for the perfect present? It’s already here. I had hoped for a particular pair of size 11 cowboy boots…
You Are What You Eat…and What You Hear and Sing
Mothers have been telling children for years, “You are what you eat.” Eat healthy food and you will be a healthy person; eat junk food and you will feel like junk.
Vote Early and Vote Often: “The Democracy of the Dead”
In every month and every year—at all times—denizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem voice their votes via the Church’s living tradition.
The Unique Language of Liturgical Prayer (Or: What is a “venti frappuccino skinny”?)
If a Catholic (or especially a non-Catholic) were to stop and think about it, he would discover that there are some things—perhaps many things—about Catholic worship that on the surface seem strange.
Romano Guardini Was Careful What He Asked For: A Liturgical Crisis
Upon hearing of his death, Pope Paul VI recalled Guardini’s “praiseworthy work and successful efforts as a scholar and writer for a greater understanding of theological truths and for the formation of a true, liturgical devotion.”
A Word with the Saints and Angels
Who celebrates the liturgy? When I first read this question in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1136), I thought…
