In the Gospel for today’s Mass for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Jesus exhorts us to come and follow Him. However, there’s a catch. The road isn’t easy. Luke 9:22-25 Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and …
Since this blog is about “Conversion, Prayer, Fasting, Repentance, and Penance,” amongst other things, Lent is a natural time to blog a lot since those ‘abouts’ correspond to the season. I have often in previous Lents blogged daily, or at least a few times a week, taking inspiration from the daily Mass readings or the …
Today is Fat Tuesday, or Carnival. It is the day prior to Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent.) It is also the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus. There is a Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. I discovered it a few years ago at a talk given after a Latin Mass I …
Today is Holy Saturday and I hope that your Lent has been a fine and fruitful one. I didn’t blog except for a few times (I was ‘around’ but taken up with things.) The seasons come and they go; we as Catholics learn to live with the Liturgical Year as it helps us with the …
Continue reading ‘Holy Saturday and the Harrowing of Hell’ »
Tomorrow, Friday and Saturday constitute the Ember Days of Lent. I mentioned them last year or the one before, as a weapon in the spiritual warfare for these times. Ember Days are like mini-Lents situated four times throughout the year. The first one begins right after Ash Wednesday, perhaps as a means of ‘strengthening’ the …
Lent will be here in just over three months (in 2021 Ash Wednesday is February 17th) and although it is not normally associated as a season of giving gifts, Christmas is, and that’s just over a month away. There are gifts that might be of interest to a person in recovery in your life (or …
NOTE: Reblogged from last year, which itself was a reblog from the previous year and edited with some additions.) Coming up on August 15th is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady. It is also the beginning of a Franciscan devotion known as “St. Michael’s Lent.” It is a 40-day period of fasting begun by …
Recently, in Sobriety in a Time of Pandemic I blogged a bit on coping in a time of a pandemic. Saints to intercede for us and so on. Now that it’s been a few days, I’m expanding upon that. This is the first of several posts I’ll be doing today. I just finished my Morning Prayers …
In the Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for the Friday after Ash Wednesday, there’s this passage from the Letter of James: James 5:19-20 “My brothers, if anyone of you strays from the truth, and if someone converts him, he ought to know that whoever causes a sinner to be converted from the …
Today begins the spiritual discipline amongst Christians known as Lent. It is the liturgical season in which we increase and strengthen our desire to grow closer to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ by prayer, fasting, and penance. It leads to Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. This season and November are the two biggest seasons …