How about adding something to your Lenten diet this year, in place of the things you abstain from? I’m not talking about adding food. As Jesus famously said, we don’t live just on bread, but on “every word” that comes from God (see Matthew 4:4). Lent is a great time to see the truth of […]
TAKE THE BIBLE TO THE BEACH THIS SUMMER: Ideas for your reading list
What are your plans for the summer? My calendar’s filling fast with weekend trips and garden strolls and sitting (in the shade!) by the water. But work is lighter, and so are the days—leaving time for walks and books and doing nothing, if I want. Just seeing “Memorial Day” coming up next week makes my […]
CHOOSE FROM 3 BIBLE READING PLANS FOR LENT
“The Word of God is alive and powerful, capable of converting hearts and leading them back to God.” (Pope Francis) Are you looking for a simple way to add Scripture to your days this Lent? Open your heart to God’s word by setting aside just 10 – 30 minutes a day. Here are three suggestions to get […]
THE “JESSE TREE”: AN ADVENT TRADITION FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
When a new star shone bright enough that grown men (wise men? kings?) saddled up, dropped everything else and set out for the tiny town of Bethlehem, it didn’t herald something unexpected. The king it announced had been expected for centuries! Jesus’s birth was not “Plan B,” some sort of last-ditch effort to save the […]
JOIN MY 40-DAY JOURNEY THROUGH SCRIPTURE FOR LENT
On Ash Wednesday we entered the desert of Lent. On Sunday, the Church tells us why. The mass readings lay out the problem and the start of God’s plan and they set us on the right road for this 40-day journey to Easter. Will you come into the Word with me this Lent? Every Sunday during Lent […]
ADVENT BIBLE READING PLAN: A “Grown-Up Jesse Tree”
When our kids were young, we counted off the days to Christmas by hanging symbols on a “Jesse Tree: a sun for creation; a tree and Adam and Eve; a serpent; Noah’s ark … and so on. And with them, there were 23 days of readings from the Bible that took us to up to birth […]
THE BIBLE: A BOOK FOR THE FAMILY
(First in a series for National Bible Week) In 1948, Beijing had fallen to the Communists and Mao Tse Tung was marching toward Shanghai, where my Grandparents lived with their five children and one on the way. Guns and cannons could be heard in the distance. Soldiers occupied the neighboring house and did their exercises […]
LOOKING FORWARD TO LENT: Praying with the Penitential Psalms
It’s always bittersweet to take down the Christmas decorations and pack them up. The living room looks cold and bare without the twinkling tree and I miss the crèche above the mantel. “God is with us”! it seemed to say whenever I passed by. Today I hear a different voice: “Come.” Come to me, Return […]
A “GROWN-UP” JESSE TREE (A Bible Reading Plan for Advent)
When the kids were small we put up a “Jesse Tree” December 1. Each day, we hung a symbol on the tree: a sun for creation; a tree and Adam and Eve; a serpent; Noah’s ark … and so on. And with them, 23 days of readings from the Bible that took us to up […]
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A WAY TO “GO DEEPER” THIS LENT?
Lent is right around the corner, and this year I want to do more than simply give up wine or sweets or facebook. Something Pope Francis said in his recent message for Lent struck me in a new way: “… wherever we go, we are called as Christians to proclaim the liberating news that forgiveness […]
