Why Do Catholics Abstain from Meat on Fridays and Fast?
Our bookstores are filled with books written to help us advance in prayer and the spiritual life. The “secret” we all look for is really no secret at all. At its heart, the gospel message is one of...
View ArticleLenten Fasting and the Barren Fig Tree
Is Lent about fasting or feasting? Maybe the two are related, says this commentary on the story of the barren fig tree from the gospel of Luke chapter 13. Prayer. Fasting. Almsgiving. Three...
View ArticleThe Magi and the gifts of …. Lent?
What shall we give him? I have always been intrigued by the magi. Their story forms the majority of Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus Christ, and yet there remain so many questions about these...
View ArticleWhat Does the Bible Teach About Fasting?
Lent has begun, so I thought we should revisit self-denial. Fasting and other forms of self-denial, as spiritual practices of materially subduing and controlling the physical appetites of the body,...
View ArticleDaily Lenten Reflection — From the Heart
“This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 26:16) God has loved...
View ArticleSuffering Transfigured by Love
Reflection on the Mass readings for the Second Sunday of Lent (Year A) — Genesis 12:1-4; Psalms 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22; Second Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9. The love in which God embraces each of us...
View ArticleFeasting on a Fast
In this season of preparation for the arrival of Easter, there is one particular practice that seems to get a lot of attention, most of it negative. This should not be surprising since the practice is...
View ArticleGod and the Coronavirus
How many times have you heard people say, “If God really exists, why does He let people get cancer or brain tumors?” Or, “If there really is a God, why does He allow wars and famine?” Or, “Where is God...
View ArticlePractical Lessons for Lent
An Invitation to Enter the Desert with Christ As we begin the Lenten season today, we are called to enter the desert with Christ; to turn away from sin and towards our God. Many of us realize that we...
View ArticleLove, Suffering and the Transfiguration
The love with which God embraces each of us is one of the great truths revealed in to us throughout salvation history, but especially through and in Jesus Christ. To come to better understand this...
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