Clik here to view.
“No Matter What You Do, You’re Gonna Die …” The Ash Wednesday Sermon I’d Give
The Ash Wednesday wake-up call is the start of a spiritual spring-cleaning I always love, even when the spiritual work is heavy and messy. I love the mass readings (“Even now, says the LORD, return to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Tips from Pope Francis for a Merciful Lent
Have you been doing anything special for the Jubilee Year of Mercy? Or do you have lots of good intentions but haven’t done anything yet, (except maybe walk through the Holy Door in your diocese?)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Loving the Unlikable: A Hard Discipline for Lent and the Year of Mercy
[Note: #7 of our 56 Ways to Be Merciful in the Year of Mercy. Others may be found here. – Editor] I won’t repeat the word he used because it was cruel. “I really don’t like [cruel word],” he had...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Not Quite Ready for Lent? Francis de Sales Offers a Perfect Assist
So, it’s Ash Wednesday, and Lent is come. You’ve read a dozen articles suggesting what you might do, or not do; what you might remove from your life for 40 days or what discipline you could add. You’ve...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WATCH: The Three Practices of Lent
“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”—Joel 2:12 Bishop Robert Barron, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and head...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Couldn’t Understand the Cross Until Jesus Explained It to Me
Thus the Cross of Christ is God’s judgement on all of us and on the whole world, because through it he offers us the certitude of love and new life.—Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 21 Then he said...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fasting: What Good Is It to Abstain From Meat If You Devour Your Brother?
In the words of St. John Chrystostom: “The value of fasting consists not only in avoiding certain foods, but in renouncing all sinful attitudes, thoughts and desires. Those who limit fasting just to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Cross Trampled and Rescued, Now Traveling With Me
In the madness of dismissal at the local high school, a silvery glint on the wet sidewalk caught my eye. I noticed it being kicked along by the high school freshmen running for the buses in the rain. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Mysterious Tug of Evil: Reflecting on the Sunday Gospel
The First Sunday of Lent (Year C) February 14, 2016 Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He...
View ArticleClik here to view.
To Cheat or Not to Cheat; That Is My Question
Q. So does that mean that when we give something up for Lent, such as candy, we can have it on Sundays? A. Apart from the prescribed days of fast and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Loneliness of Lent
Of all the pains that Jesus suffered in his passion, which pained him the most? I suspect it was the pain in his heart and soul. There are limits to immediate physical pain. One can faint and thereby...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Leaving Stuff for the Needy: The Unsung Virtues of Blind Almsgiving
A couple of years ago, when an elusive muse was making me wonder whether I should swap writing for some less frustrating avocation, I went for a stroll. Within a block I spied a pile of books resting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is Lent Feeling Limp? Maybe You Should Go Into the Wilderness
Several weeks into Lent it is not unusual to feel like our efforts are flagging, or becoming aimless. What to do about it? Jesus invites us to imitate his example and leave the confines of our homes...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Ways the Devil Attacks During Lent
The Lord said to satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on him.” – Job 1:12 I don’t know about you but ever since I returned to the Church, I tend to feel like Job...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Satan’s Favorite Falsehoods
Consider this: If you could have the gift of being able to immediately and reliably detect lies whenever you heard them, how would your life be different? I asked a friend with a wry sense of humor...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Repent or Perish”: Reflecting on the Sunday Gospel
The Third Sunday of Lent (Year C) February 28, 2016 Jesus told them a parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Watch and Pray With The Vigil Project This Lent
As a Church, we are always in vigil for the second coming, not just during Lent. This season is like a microcosm of what we’re doing in the Church at large. The Vigil Project The Vigil Project is a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What’s So Good About Grief, Charlie Brown?
“Oh good grief!” That’s the lament made famous by the long-suffering Charlie Brown, the star character of the beloved Peanuts comic strip, which I read faithfully as a boy. Although I always rooted for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“I Am Disgusted With the World,” She Said …
I am disgusted with the world. God in his mercy has opened my eyes to the fact of vanitas vanitatis, and as he has made me see the vile emptiness of this earth, I look to him — the God of Love — in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Slogging Toward Mercy: Midway Through Lent, How Am I Doing?
It’s a strong possibility that a good number of us, if found to be suffering amnesia and asked by a doctor what year it is, would quite confidently announce, “It’s the Year of Mercy!” Mercy, that...
View Article
