Category: Lent

  • To Serve and Be Served

    The scripture readings during the course of Holy Week offer several examples of service. On Holy Thursday, there is the beautiful image of Jesus washing the feet of his apostles (John 13:1-15). Here is the Son of God bending low to remove the dirt from his follower’s feet. He instructs his followers: “Do you realize […]

  • The Scriptural Way of the Cross

    My original intent when sitting down to write tonight was to reflect on the image of Jesus falling under the weight of the cross in the Stations of the Cross. In the traditional Stations, Jesus falls three times. I think most of us can relate to that image. This Lent, that is the image I […]

  • Why Giving Something Up for Lent Matters

    It’s a common question: Why would you want to give something up for Lent when you could do something positive instead? After all, shouldn’t Lent be a time of self-improvement? Shouldn’t we pray more? Give more away? Be kinder, more patient, and more willing to forgive? Yes! Yes! and Yes! We should absolutely do all […]

  • Get Out of Your Spiritual Comfort Zone!

    I am a creature of habit. I tend to exercise the same way, eat the same things, and engage in the same activities. When I go for a walk, I usually take the same route. My work, though varied, normally involves the same type of tasks. I get up and go to bed at the […]

  • Book Review: “Pausing to Pray – Lenten Meditations for Busy People”

    Pausing To Pray Lenten Meditations for Busy People With Excerpts from the Diary of St. Faustina and Meditations by Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception Compiled and arranged by Sarah M. Chichester Stockbridge, MA: Marian Press, 2010 Lent is right around the corner. “Pausing to Pray: Lenten Meditations for Busy People” offers short reflections for […]

  • 40 Days Later

    At the start of Lent, I wrote how much I needed it this year. I needed that special time to fast and sacrifice and focus on my relationship with God. I also took on a challenge with my home – to get 40 bags worth of stuff out of my house. While many around me […]

  • Her Darkest Hour

    Her Darkest Hour Mary sits, holding her dead son as she once held him as an infant. She is in utter pain, suffering the deepest hurt a mother can experience. Yet, even in the darkness, the light is there. God is there – with Mary and with us when all seems lost. This is not […]

  • The Stations of the Cross and Children

    I can remember being a child and dreading Palm Sunday and Good Friday. The story of the Lord’s Passion made me sick, literally. I certainly did not want to exclaim “Crucify Him!” with the crowd. I did not want to have any part of having Jesus die on the cross. Yet, I knew it was […]

  • A Lenten Purge

    This Lent, my family is embarking on a different type of sacrifice. I had heard of the 40 bags in 40 days challenge last year, but quickly dismissed it. In fact, I read about it again this year on Fat Tuesday and dismissed it again. Anyway who knows me or has visited my house knows […]

  • Book Review: The Spirituality of Fasting

    The Spirituality of Fasting: Rediscovering a Christian Practice by Charles M. Murphy Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2010 Back in 1966, Pope Paul VI issued the apostolic constitution on fast and abstinence, Poenitemini. The intent was “to rescue fasting from the legalism and minimalism into which it had fallen.” The goal was not to remove […]