We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who...
Some pious, well-intentioned people are eager to come up with something original to do as penance during Lent! Such eagerness, though, could be spiritually dangerous and pretentious! A quick glance at the Crucifix should make us realize that all the...
In Mark’s Gospel (14:22-26), we read about the Institution of the Lord’s Supper. There, in the Upper Room, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Take, this is my body.” Shortly thereafter, Jesus took a cup...
In his message for this year’s Lent Pope Francis said: “It is good to contemplate more deeply the paschal mystery through which God’s mercy has been bestowed upon us. Indeed, the experience of mercy is only possible in a ‘face to face’ relationship...
In the February 19 edition of the Wall Street Journal is an article entitled “Bed Bath Boss Seeks to Cut The Clutter.” I found that an interesting title, since Lent is about reducing some of the clutter in our physical and spiritual life. CEO, Mark...
Lent is a time for deepening our faith and growing closer to God. Traditionally, for Catholics and many other Christians, it has been a time for prayer, fasting, penance, and self-denial in acknowledgement of their imperfection and mortality. Many...
There must be something so very important for our spiritual life in Jesus’ Transfiguration that the Church offers it to our consideration not once, but twice a year, on the second Sunday of Lent and on August 6. I believe that the reason is found in...
Siena is a small town in Italy, and St. Catherine of Siena, who lived in the 14th century, had, even as a child, a profound love for Jesus and an intense yearning to be spiritually united with Him, a desire she expressed by constant acts of penance...
