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  It was the seventies. Susan and I walked past it every Sunday on our way to and from church. It was a lovely little house, single-story, low adobe wall lined with flowers around the yard, a walk to the door. One Sunday, Susan told me: “They do abortions there.” We were... Read More →

  Ash Wednesday is nearly upon us, the beginning of Lent. The imposition of ashes of burnt palm branches on our foreheads calls to mind the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. In his honor, the people laid out palm branches along the road that took Jesus, riding on a... Read More →

  On the first Sunday in Lent this year, many churches will read St. Luke’s account of our Lord’s forty days’ temptations in the wilderness, which is preceded by a genealogy of Jesus (Lk. 3:23-38). St. Matthew’s Gospel has a genealogy too (Mt. 1:1-17), proceeding from... Read More →

  What is Lent? The Collect for Ash Wednesday Mass gives us the answer: “Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.” This... Read More →

    The sacred season of Lent, when we join in spirit with Jesus in his forty days of fasting in the desert, is upon us. We are called to contemplate the misery our sins, but more importantly, our hope in the One who died for all mankind. The reality of our sinfulness... Read More →

    The penitential season of Lent is upon us, when every year we ask ourselves what we will give up. Because we almost always choose something that gives us pleasure, we may spend the next forty days looking forward to when we can take it back. This is not a very... Read More →

  On Ash Wednesday of 1996, at Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome, Pope John Paul II placed ashes on my forehead while repeating the familiar words, Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return. (Genesis 3:19) In his homily, the pope had asked, “Why does the... Read More →