Lent

Every Life is a Story

I listened to a reflection by Fr. Mike Schmitz this morning. The idea that he expanded on was a simple, yet incredibly deep truth. At least, to me it was deep and there were times during the day when I thought of it. He said, “Every life is a story, every person is an author, […]

Lenten Food

Today my son and his wife started on a road trip. They are visiting some south-eastern states to see if they may want to move there. They have talked for a couple years about living in a smaller community, especially now that our city has gotten so big and expensive. I talked to them for […]

A Rough Start

I have had a pretty rough start to Lent. On Wednesday, I started getting a cough. It was the dry, irritating kind that would come and go. I didn’t think much of it as it has been so dry here. I spent the afternoon at the Newman Center as usual and was planning on attending […]

God’s Gone

I went to church with my son this evening for Good Friday service. The priest reminded everyone that this is the only day of the year that the Catholic Church doesn’t celebrate Mass in which the Eucharist is consecrated. The reason is to remember that Jesus was not present on the Earth on this day. […]

Appreciating Priests

When I was at church tonight for Holy Thursday, I saw both the parish priests and the 4 deacons all on the altar celebrating the Mass. I thought about how all over the world, the majority of the priests and deacons are all doing the same thing – remembering the last moments that Jesus spent […]

Religious Programming

As I started making my Easter candy in the kitchen today, it was too quiet in the house. So, I started listening to some music. I listened to the Christian Contemporary channel that I like for a while. Then, I switched to classical. Neither were really what I wanted, so I decided to turn on […]

Extreme Fasting

I visited with a friend today and noticed that he was looking very slim. I commented to that fact and he said he had dieted for a while which worked, but like most diets, when he stopped being so particular, the weight came back on. For Lent this year, he is fasting on Wednesdays and […]

Gallery of Living Art

Today a friend and I went to an event called the “Gallery of Living Art” that was held at a local church. The presentation told the story of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection through life-sized reproductions of sacred works of art. Each painting or sculpture was as close in representation as possible to the original work […]

The Way, Truth, and Life

For the past 3 nights I have been going to a parish mission. Basically it was a mini retreat held over 3 nights. There was Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, Prayer, and talks. The speaker was the priest I had met last year who was present for my mother. He is a knowledgeable and kind person, so […]

Joyful Ash Wednesday

Most mornings I am able to take time to listen to a couple podcasts on the Hallow app and get my mind set towards God as I prepare for the day. I did the same this morning and got a couple perspectives on Ash Wednesday and Lent. A friend gave me a meditation book for […]