I hope you were able to celebrate Ash Wednesday this year. If you blinked, it has already passed us by; it is quickly receding in the Lenten “rearview mirror.” If you blink again, it will be Holy Week and the “best of intentions” will have to wait for another year. So… what is your plan for Lent? And I ask about “your plan” because each of us are called to be intentional in our life of prayer and to create a place and space in our life to be in relationship with God. This is especially true in the Season of Lent. Now that Ash Wednesday has passed, what is your Lenten plan to make room in your life to be filled with God’s grace? How about a Lenten checklist to help you get started? Continue reading
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Our gospel highlights the three spiritual practices of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The readings all warn of not being gloomy about it all, not being ostentatious so that you’re sure to be noticed, and not to announce your generosity so that all might acknowledge your faithful giving. It calls into question not the tradition of the Lenten practices, but the meaning, intention, and purpose you assign to your practice. 
As the parish gets ready for the Lenten season, one of the things that always catches me by surprise – it shouldn’t, but it does – are the two very distinct liturgical omissions. It is as though the liturgy is also fasting right along with us. During Lent the Church does not sing (recite) the Gloria or speak the word “Alleluia” (right before the Gospel). It is as though they gave them up for Lent! Ever wonder why we observe these Lenten traditions? 
If you have been following this blog for a while – first of all: thank you! Secondly you probably realize that by following the cycle of Liturgical readings I have been around the loop more than once. Many (or most) of the times, the Monday through Friday postings of gospel commentaries for the upcoming Sunday are re-posts of something from three years ago. For example, the posting for the week of February 4th (5th Sunday, Year C) was actually written about 6 years ago – updated a bit three years ago – and simply re-posted this year. That being said the following weeks were new as I had never had the need to provide a commentary on the gospels for the 6th, 7th, or 8th Sundays of Year C. Just a quirk of when Easter falls in a particular year. 
This weekend we have visiting priests/homilists, so I have a “preaching holiday” so to speak. The unusual thing is that this is the 
It has been a busy start to the year with lots of parish activities, lots of ministries, and… well… just lots of life. It is hard to believe that Ash Wednesday is this week marking the beginning of a penitential season for the faithful. I find that most of us have lost the core idea of “penance.” Most will answer that “penance” is the prayers and actions that the priest gives you at the end of the Sacrament of Confession. And indeed, that is true. But that is really just the “period at the end of a sentence.” The older, deeper meaning of penance might be better described as the period “at the end of chapter” in the story of one’s life. 
Last week I wrote about the role of technology in the complex of temptation. Research is showing that online behavior is changing. A few years ago, someone’s ranting, raving and other poor behaviors might seem just the exception. Now we are increasingly part of a world in which poor behavior online and in the public square is more the norm. And slowing becoming acceptable. Just think about the way politicians use texting and social media, not to engage a different viewpoint, but to name call, denigrate, and dismiss others. This is just part of a larger complex in which the moral compass of the nation, a community, a family and an individual are reordered. 
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