Lenten music and hymnody aim to lift us up and call us back to the two primary themes of this season of preparation for Easter.
Spirituality
Posted inIdeas
Prayer (and grief) in Olympic figure skating
Maxim Naumov’s skate was more than a skate, it became a prayer, as he publicly grieved his parents—former Olympic skaters—with his skating at the Olympics.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Everyone we love will be forgotten. The communion of saints is our reason for hope.
We have to look for places where grace works through forgetfulness. And remember that God knows each one of us.
Posted inNews
Pope Leo XIV explains why Catholics fast during Lent
The ancient practice of fasting from food during Lent can free us from complacency and lead us to “hunger” for God, Pope Leo XIV said in his 2026 Lenten message.
Posted inBooks
Review: Kathleen Norris on a sister’s love
Kathleen Norris’s profound new book ‘Rebecca Sue’ is a kind of double memoir of Norris’s sister, who had suffered from severe mental disabilities, as well of the author herself and her family.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Journeying through Lent with Augustine and Pope Leo
If you really want to understand the harrowing, vulnerable journey of Lent, picture the plight of the migrant.
Posted inFeatures
Finding my ancestors on a famine walk through Ireland
This 12-mile walk is a choice for me, my sister and my niece; all of us have traveled many miles to be here today. But walking is also what people do when they have nothing left to lose.
Posted inFaith in Focus
On Mardi Gras, Catholics should celebrate the faith and resilience of the New Orleans Black Masking Indians
In New Orleans, few traditions embody resilience and perseverance as vividly as the Black Masking Indians.
Posted inNews
These Olympic athletes are leaning on Christian faith going into the Winter Games
Ahead of the 2026 Milan Cortina Games which officially begin Feb. 6, meet some athletes who have mentioned their Catholic and Christian faith as part of their journey to the games.
Posted inPodcasts
Interview: Richard Rohr and the Universal Christ
In our lively and wide-ranging conversation on “The Spiritual Life,” the spiritual master Richard Rohr, O.F.M., often makes mention of one of his most well-known phrases, the “Universal Christ.” But what does it mean?