As we draw near the halfway mark of Lent, it would behoove us to reflect upon which gods we are honoring, admiring and loving more than God who gave us life. And then to show them the door.
Elizabeth Kirkland Cahill
Betsy Cahill is a writer, biblical scholar, and historic preservationist. Co-author (with Joseph Papp) of Shakespeare Alive! (Bantam Books, 1988), she contributed a chapter to Empty Churches (Oxford, 2018), and has written for both Commonweal and America. She chaired the board of the Preservation Society of Charleston for 8 years, and is now deeply involved as a board member in starting a Cristo Rey High School in Charleston.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
Do you find it hard to listen to God? You’re not alone.
Rather than subordinate our own ambitions and desires to God’s plan, we often close our ears and tune out his voice.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
God can help us set healthy boundaries
With the smartphone now functioning as an essential anatomical appendage, it is harder than it has ever been to make distinctions, to turn off the noise, to say “Enough.”
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
God helps us in unexpected ways—even through a smile
We have experienced God’s benevolent interventions in our own lives.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
What does God take delight in? Our trust.
We are invited, today, to listen—and as the psalmist today colorfully puts it, God has even done us the courtesy of digging out our ears so that we can hear.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
Is forgiveness out of fashion?
Even in our relationships with family and friends, forgiveness can be hard to come by.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
What does Joseph’s story have to say about God’s will for us?
Even when events are messy and motives are questionable and hardships abound, we must trust that God’s unknowable power is at work.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
Don’t fly away, stay rooted in God’s love
Most of us are so removed from agricultural realities that we fail fully to embrace the image of chaff in today’s psalm.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
How can we avoid the evil spirits around us (and within us)?
Do we still believe there are “evil spirits who prowl through the world, seeking the ruin of souls,” as the prayer of St. Michael the Archangel memorably phrases it?
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
God will never ‘ghost’ or ‘unfriend’ you
Over against our human unreliability stand the rock-solid assurances of God.