Maybe you’ve seen the social media meme. Hundreds of old-timey cars are parked willy-nilly on the lawn of an old country church. The faithful are streaming into the sanctuary. “Back in the day,” the caption reads, “everyone went to church…
At the Cross: What I see
The Lenten season has been especially intense for me this year on a spiritual level. I have sought to follow its rhythms, demands and opportunities from Ash Wednesday until now, Holy Week. Each day I have read the Mass readings…
Dirty forgiveness
For Lent this year, I’m trying forgiveness. Forgiveness of others. I’m trying to say it every day: “I forgive you,” as I picture someone who has harmed me, someone against whom I have hatred. Now, I know we’re not supposed…
Going public with Lent’s call to penitence
“Concealment makes the soul a swamp. Confession is how you drain it.” — Charles M. Blow They have treated the wound of my people carelessly. They acted shamefully, they committed abomination, yet they did not know how to blush. —…
Valentines, ashes and the sixth anniversary of the Parkland School Shooting
For only the fifth time this century, Ash Wednesday shares the same date as Valentine’s Day, and the two will coincide only once more for the remainder of the 21st century. There is something strangely beautiful and paradoxical about these…
How we make a difference: Bit by bit, day by day
Not to name names, but someone with my same initials who lives at my house decided having three yards of compost delivered yesterday was a good idea. Undoubtedly, my veggies, herbs and flowers will appreciate this black gold. Unfortunately, it…
Of Lent, Beth Moore and the role of women in church leadership
Our Lenten journey begins with ashes, followed by 40 disciplined days of charitable giving, fasting and prayer, trekking through an interior wilderness, waiting on grace, hoping it leads us back to God. On the evening of Ash Wednesday, though, I…
Lent, confession and the ‘no true Scotsman’ fallacy
These 40 days of Lent are designed to be opportunities for sober reflection and acts of confession, both individual and corporate. This period of introspection leads to the high point of Holy Week, the commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus…
‘Grandmas make the best banana bread’
With the morning sun wrapping rays around the two windows in the bedroom, causing a pale light to creep steadily in from their edges, my oldest child rustles the bedsheets. It’s like she can feel the idea of warmth, the…