Some situations just never get better. And I wonder: God—where are you?? We’re two weeks into Lent and the darkness is starting to settle in. I’m feeling the effects of self-denial and am not enjoying it. But worse is the longing for resolution to a long-standing problem. Lord—this is crushing me! I cry. Where is […]
CREATE YOUR OWN DESERT FOR LENT … and seek Christ in his Word
I just spent the most boring hour of my life at Jiffy Lube, waiting for an oil change and car inspection. There were no magazines or pictures to look at, so I was stuck with my own thoughts. All around me, people were absorbed in their phones. Not even the three-year-old twins beside me offered […]
WELCOMING THE LIGHT OF EASTER
Q: How many people does it take to understand an empty tomb? A: On that first Easter morning, according to John’s gospel, it took three. First responder Mary Magdalene assumed the worst and ran for help. John stopped at the door, noting the cloths left behind. Not until Simon Peter went into the tomb and […]
THE PARADOX OF THE CROSS: Learning from Mary on Good Friday
Above the altar in the Chapel of the Crucifixion in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre — traditionally recognized as the spot where Jesus was nailed to the cross — is a mosaic. A life-sized Jesus lies spread out on the ground where the soldier has just finished hammering nails into his hands. A woman […]
PALM SUNDAY: TRIUMPH OR TRAGEDY?
Years ago, my parents took us to visit the Medical Missions Sisters’ convent in Philadelphia on Palm Sunday. We were not Catholic, and this was unlike any church service I had ever been to. The Sisters gave us each a palm branch (a whole branch!) and my brothers and I joined the procession of Christ’s […]
CLIMBING THE “SPIRITUAL LADDER” TO EASTER: Psalm 6
As is often the case, my heart is hard by the time Lent rolls around. I need help to soften and to turn it, so I can recognize my sin: the ways I’ve missed the mark or turned good to my own ends or put my own will before God’s. Or my needs before those […]
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 […]
CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART: Psalm 51
“You’re the man!” According to the Urban Dictionary, that’s a cool way of saying “you rock!” You’re comparing the person to someone everyone knows is awesome, like Jesus (or Allah, or Buddah, or even Chuck Norris, according to that source!) Somehow I don’t think that’s what the prophet Nathan meant in 2 Samuel 12 when […]
PENTECOST: New Life for the Driest of Souls
“Top dollar for bones,” read the sign in the gas station window. Bones are everywhere, here in the New Mexico desert, and tourists will pay big money for a perfect set of elk horns, or a large skull, or a clattering row of vertebrae. I have loved bones ever since my fifth-grade class cleaned and […]
POST-EASTER: HOW ARE YOU BEING CHANGED?
“We only got through the first page of your [Bible study] lesson,” a man told me last week. “It’s a great lesson from Acts,” he continued; “don’t get me wrong! But we couldn’t stop talking about how great Lent and Easter were.” Imagine! Have you ever heard anyone gush about how great Lent was? After […]
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