Lent

There was always one kid in catechism class who raised his hand and asked if he could give up homework for Lent. I was not that kid. I dug deep to find the thing whose absence would most torture me — usually chocolate. As an adult, I gave…

Last year was the first year in my entire life that I took the time to understand that Lent is a time to change your life for God, not sacrifice things you like such as coffee or candy. It’s that simple. It’s about using your time and…

Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God (Joel 2:13). Jesus’ call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, “sackcloth and ashes,” fasting and…

by Jeff Young  For me, one of the most beautiful aspects of being Catholic is celebrating the liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time. There’s something so simple, so … human about this. The seasons ground us…

At its core, Christianity is a religion which revolves around suffering. From the beginning of the Scriptures we see how man’s own folly has condemned us to lives filled with suffering, and the long breadth of human history easily…

The Book of Ecclesiastes says that there is nothing new under the sun, but clutter actually is a new social problem. For most of history (and in much of the world today), the challenge was to make do with not enough. But for many of us,…

When we think of Satan, the first thing that usually comes to mind is how he tempts us to sin. He typically does this by dangling something evil in front of us, hoping that we’ll take the bait. Because he is so devious, however, the…

Sometimes I feel like breaking up with Lent. (It’s not you, Lent … really, it’s me.)  It’s not that Lent has done anything wrong (other than being demanding, relentlessly there every, single year, with no regard for my emotional state as I…

When I joined the seminary back in 2007, and rejoined in 2009, the community came together each morning and evening to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. After two psalms and a canticle are prayed, a brief reading from sacred Scripture is…

Each year our family begins Lent in the kitchen. My wife rolls out three long and thick strands of salt dough that she then braids together. Next she attaches one extremity of the dough creation to the other to form a circle. Then the fun…