I saw this graphic posted on social media this morning, and it prompted a parallel thought—who do I want to be during Holy Week? Do I want to live this most blessed and grace-filled weeks of the year from a place of fear? Or from a place of learning? Or from a place of growth? You see, the decision as to how we desire to live out this Holy Week is key to whether this most intense week of the Christian liturgical year will actually bring about our eventual transformation in, through and with Christ. So what will you decide? […]
Lent
23 posts
This week’s podcast goes a little deeper into how living Lent well can increase your growth in grace on the path to holiness. Some of the Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet shared in this episode: Discussion of why Lent is such a wondrously grace-filled journey for the entire Body of Christ Conversation about what St Augustine was talking about when he exhorted, “Charity is no substitute for justice withheld” Suggestions for resolutions for how to take what is in this podcast and apply it to your daily life If you are striving to grow in holiness and […]
I am so excited to announce that Season 2 of the Say Yes to Holiness podcast has begun! Click here to check out Episode 1 on Anchor: Preparing for Lent—3 Questions to Ask To Make Sure Our Lenten Journey Is Filled With Many Graces Or look for the episode on whatever your favorite podcast platform like ITunes or Spotify. Enjoy, and looking forward to walking with you throughout this season!
Hard to believe that in the aftermath of Christmas (I still don’t have my Christmas decorations put away!), that the beginning of Lent, Ash Wednesday, is only 6 weeks away. However, it’s never too early to prepare to make a phenomenal journey to grow closer to God and become more like Jesus, so wanted go share one of the books that I intend to use in my own Lenten journey. That book is entitled, “Lenten Journey with Mother Mary” by Fr Edward Looney. In short, the book takes you through Lent by having us in the first week, look to […]
We stand at the advent of Passiontide–that often forgotten, but intense time that occurs just prior to the beginning of Holy Week. In some churches, all the statues and crucifixes are covered, and the absence of these signs make our worship space seem even more barren and forsaken. But that’s actually the point. Passiontide is about stripping away anything, even good things like a crucifix, that might prevent us from being open to entering into the darkness and hopelessness and abandonment of the Way of the Cross. And the Way of the Cross is becoming more apparent with each passing […]
Recently I wrote an article for the One Voice, my diocesan newspaper, about Curtis Martin’s latest book, Making Missionary Disciples: How to Live the Method Modeled by the Master. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Curtis, he is the founder and chief executive officer of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) which began two decades ago in January, 1998 as a pilot program at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, with two staff members and twenty-four students. Through God’s grace, FOCUS is now on more than one hundred fifty campuses with over 700 missionaries and supporting staff. Primarily […]
We are now a week into the Lenten season, I am frequently hearing from those around me, “I just can’t seem to stick to my Lenten resolutions.” I can easily identify with this frustration since I have often struggled with this issue myself in the past, but I wasn’t quite sure exactly why that was. My insight about this began to come about as I read an article entitled, “Why is it So Hard to Stick to Good Habits?” by James Clear, author of the book, Atomic Habits. In this article, he talks about how we tend to want to do life-changing things, but we […]
The Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent is always the story of Jesus going out into the desert for 40 days and being tempted by Satan. Saint John Chrysostom tells us that Jesus never said, or did, anything that was not for our instruction, and the temptations in the desert are no exception. Because in the wilderness, Jesus experiences the very temptations that each one of us faces each and every day–the temptation to make idols out of pleasure, honor, or power. So why did Jesus go into the desert and allow Himself to be tempted? So that we, […]
Oh, No! I Ate Meat On A Friday of Lent! So did I just ruin my entire Lent? In a word, no. No, your Lent has not been ruined. In fact, I would contend that you have actually been given an opportunity to have an even MORE grace-filled Lent than if you hadn’t eaten meat on a Friday. How so? Will get back to this in a moment. First though, we need to do an interior check on whether we actually forgot about not eating meat on a Friday of Lent, or whether we intentionally chose to “forget.” If your […]
Was reading an article today entitled “The Evolution of Anxiety: Why We Worry and What to Do About It.” by James Clear, author of the book, Atomic Habits. Why am I highlighting an article concerned primarily with behavioral psychology and stress management? Because yesterday marked the beginning of the season of Lent for most of the Christian world. (I say most because my fellow Orthodox do not begin Lent for another week. But I digress…) So what does Lent have to do with stress? Well, the image above might give you a clue. Lent is FULL of things that we […]