That woman is in so many parishes, right there beneath the exit sign and almost out the door, singing while the roof gets ripped off and the sky falls.
Lent
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, Faith in Focus
Why I had to climb Rome’s Holy Stairs (on my knees) to believe them
Before long I had tears in my eyes—and not from the uneven grooves worn into the wood by pilgrims’ knees. Something about the physical discomfort helped me to focus on the much greater pain Jesus had felt on those same stairs.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
God will never ‘ghost’ or ‘unfriend’ you
Over against our human unreliability stand the rock-solid assurances of God.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
The Psalms connect us to God as part of an unbroken chain of gratitude.
Today and everyday we are invited to pray with the psalmist.
Posted inExamen, Faith
Fr. James Martin, S.J.: Why do we fast during Lent?
Fasting does a number of things for us. First, it’s often healthy. Second, it reminds us that we have some control over our bodies. But it’s the third reason that is often lost on people: to save money so that we can give to the poor.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
Why forgiveness is the hardest part of faith
I know that holding onto anger or resentment harms me more than it affects the perceived offender, and I know, too, that not to forgive is to practice self-righteousness and even to play God. But sometimes it is difficult to let go of these wrongs.
Posted inFaith, Lent Reflections
Hearing God’s voice at evensong
Many years ago, when I was a graduate student in a venerable British university, I would wander into my college’s cathedral for evensong.