Brothers and sisters: Be kind to one another, compassionate, and mutually forgiving, just as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God as his dear children. Follow the way of love, even as Christ loved you. He gave himself for us as an offering to God, a gift of pleasing fragrance. (Eph 4:32—5:2)
I say the words of this opening line at least once a day to my children—Brothers and siste...
During Lent, we tend to hear an increased emphasis on three pillars of Christian practice: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This particular reflection will be about the third pillar, almsgiving, along with some pertinent advice from Mary Poppins, who teaches the Banks family about the value of charity.
My toddler son has no problem asking for help. He wants up in a seat, "Help!" He is having a problem manipulating an IPad, "Help!" He wants a snack, "Help!" Today, he sang a song entirely consisting of the word, "Help!"
Pope Francis’ Message for Lent in the Year of Mercy (LM) bears the title, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13). The works of mercy on the road of the Jubilee. Signed on the Feast of St. Francis (October 4, 2015), the message is subdivided into three subheadings. Parts two and three focus directly on mercy, reflecting respectively on God’s covenant with humanity: a history of mercy and on ...
Brothers and sisters: Work with anxious concern to achieve your salvation. It is God who, in his good will toward you, begets in you any measure of desire or achievement. In everything you do, act without grumbling or arguing; prove yourselves innocent and straightforward, children of God beyond reproach in the midst of a twisted and depraved generation— among whom you shine like stars in...
So we’re halfway through the third week of Lent already, and perhaps the practices that you’ve taken up are beginning to fall by the wayside. Or perhaps the earliness of Ash Wednesday snuck up on you and you still haven’t decided what practices you’ll take up for Lent this year.
All of us have our own methods of coping when life presents us with a particularly challenging day. For my part, there is comfort in retreating to the kitchen (to concoct a big batch of homemade soup), comfort books, and comfort movies.
The Institute for Church Life is hosting a series of lectures on Dante for the Year of Mercy. The first two took place last week and are now available for viewing.
One of my dearest friends used to have a sign on the outside of his office door. It read, “O Lord, make me interruptible.” It was an act of hospitality, of course, but also a sincere prayer. I’ve tried to imitate this, but the fact is, I don’t like interruptions. I don’t like having my very important train of thought derailed, my time taken in an unplanned way by God-knows-what. Then I think of St...
