Through faithfully practicing the disciplines of Lent—prayer, fasting and almsgiving—we are led not only to more fully understand the meaning of those words but to make them the meaning of our life. Yet we cannot live by the Word of God if we refuse to give free and loving obedience to it; nor can we hear the Word of God if it is squelched by worldly listening.
Liturgical Seasons
Turning Tables
This lent I encourage you not to give up or add on a number of things as a way to earn God’s love. I don’t want to count my rosaries or try to put a value on my offering of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. I don’t want to estimate these sacrifices’ worth in God’s eyes because I know myself and I will automatically equate their worth to my own worth in His eyes.
Video: Ash Wednesday: Calling all Catholics
The beauty of Ash Wednesday and the spiritual meaning behind being signed with ashes often draws lapsed Catholics back to Mass. This desire is, in fact, an invitation from the Lord himself, urging a return to full communion with the Church of Jesus Christ. Don’t let anything stand in your way. Come home, for the love of God, come home.
Christology and Christmas
Today, Christians often take the meaning of Christmas for granted. Unfortunately, the wonder and magnificence of the Incarnation and the subsequent birth of the humble little Christ Child, including study and reflection on these singularly unique and pivotal events in human history, are often displaced by other concerns. Often unrecognized or forgotten is the struggle, the bloodshed, and the extreme labor of the Church over the centuries to guard and transmit the truth of Jesus of Nazareth in its full purity to the entire world.
Third Sunday of Lent: Repentance In The Desert
It is important to understand that sin and God’s holiness are incompatible. There is a radical conflict between the total and infinite purity, goodness, perfection and holiness of God, and the horrid, empty, constrictive and dark nature of sin. Every sin is an attack against God, his purity, holiness and truth. At the heart of sin is always a disordered self-love, a pride which seeks to suppress the truth about God and supplant the Creator with the creature.