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Let us feed the hungry
… Melissa Musick Nussbaum … Many Lents ago, the children invited a friend for supper. I apologized for the meager Friday fare: … the palate is renowned. It's how I earned the title "Miss Wretched Excess of 1952." But this Lent, fasting takes on new meaning for me. My daughter and her husband and their two children, 3 …
Deepening our faith in the midst of daily life
… make amends and resolve to do better as we immerse ourselves in the spiritual disciplines of Lent. Distracted, busy, consumed with things of this world, we often are challenged to put faith … way of life for some, and they don't need to do more during this season. But for all of us, in Lent and in every other day of the year, faith's call to generosity reminds us that giving alms … we belong, to be love freely poured, to give life to the world. When all is said and done, Lent is a season that calls us live in the world, not out of it — to love what we do, who we live …
Fouth Sunday of Lent
… the celebration and the transformation of life into new life. … Planning: Fourth Sunday of Lent … By Lawrence Mick Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, also known as Laetare Sunday. Remember that this marks the center of Lent and offers a glimpse of Easter joy. This is a day when you can use some flowers in the …
Fourth Sunday of Lent: Reconciliation model
A story that has gone viral on the internet and that has been quoted by poets and other writers is the story of the Bemba people who come mainly from Zambia. The story, quoted by Alice Walker in her book We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For and expanded in the Tennessee local newspaper The Chatanoogan, can be summarized as follows: A group of people known as the people of Bemba believe that…, Editor's note:, This Sunday Scripture commentary was originally published in Celebration , a comprehensive pastoral resource. To read the full version of the commentary, click here . Sign up to receive weekly Scripture for Life emails .
Lent is our time to challenge ourselves to change
… conditions that are our responsibility as U.S. citizens and residents? Perhaps the core of our Lent this year is well grasped in these few lines from Gerard Manley Hopkins' best known poem, … there be peace on earth and let it begin with me" is often as far as we feel we can ever go. Lent can put us somewhere else entirely. One could see it as a whole tribe of "re" verbs that both demand and make a future. Here's a start: Lent is Repent. Return. Refrain. Renew. Reconcile. Restore. Relent. Reform. Renounce. I would add …
Copy Desk Daily, March 28, 2019
… gracious to them' … : Listen or read Bishop Thomas Gumbleton's homily for the Third Sunday of Lent. The gist of it: God loves us, God waits for us, and if we come to be reconciled, God …
'God is waiting to be gracious to them'
… as a preparation for that sacrament. Perhaps if we are intending during this season of Lent to receive that sacrament of reconciliation, it would be helpful if we listen very carefully … wholeness, and gives me the fullness of God's life in the sacraments. So during this season of Lent, perhaps it won't be quite the mystical experience of Moses, but we might too have a sense …
Music selection should emphasize the solemnity of these rites
… Lenten season, which originated as a season of baptismal preparation. By the fourth century, Lent developed as a formal period of intensive spiritual preparation that followed a lengthy time … Today, the scrutinies are celebrated during Mass on the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent. They "are meant to uncover, then heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful in the hearts …
Parish roundup: Students help with taxes; Floodwaters trap parishioners
… Gras-a-Go-Go "and drew more than 120 guests to celebrate Mardi Gras and the beginning of Lent. Parishes of the Archdiocese of Atlanta are being asked to observe Safe Haven Sunday , …
We've got a hard Lent ahead
… the books themselves. That's what I ask, and I've waited to ask it until we are approaching Lent. In Lent, is it possible to drop some things that now consume your time, and become faithful to … to regular discussions with others who are doing the same reading? If you find this possible, Lent will have shown you a pattern that can extend far beyond the season. In hopes of a few …
Copy Desk Daily, March 26, 2019
… — through the university's Global Social Benefit Fellowship . We've got a hard Lent ahead : Gabe Huck asks, "Should the Gospel we profess and the liturgy we do raise in us some …
Patient God, urgent message
… James Hug … Lent is an important opportunity to rethink and reevaluate the patterns and flow of our lives. … that make your life fruitful and blessed. In that context, the Gospel for the third Sunday of Lent (Luke 13:1-9) raises important considerations. If the encounter of Jesus with the local …
Convert now, don't be spiritually lazy, pope says
… — and he begs him to wait and give more time so that the fruits of love and justice emerge." Lent is a time for all Christians to take the needed steps in their ongoing conversion, the pope … It is necessary to do it now, otherwise it could be lost forever." "We might think in Lent this year, 'What do I need to do to draw closer to the Lord, to convert, to 'prune' those things that aren't right? But, no, no, I'll wait until next Lent.' " Such people, he said, also should ask, "But will I be alive next Lent?" On the other …
Lent through the eyes of Luke
… Daniel Petsche … Every year, we suddenly realize that the season of Lent is just around the corner and every year, we sincerely promise: "This year I'm going to do … his own personal style in telling the story of redemption. Perhaps a fresh approach to Lent might focus on one beautiful gem of a story which is unique to the Gospel of Luke. Under the … starving among the pigs. Are we starving for something far more basic than food and comfort? Lent calls us to the truth. We have the capacity to love from our best selves and thus be open to …
Remembering heaven: The scrutinies shine light on our lives
… out, and it becomes difficult to see our way through the situation at hand. As the season of Lent intensifies, drawing nearer to the most sacred time of the liturgical year, we journey with … The call to conversion deepens as much for us as it does for them. The last three Sundays of Lent, we celebrate the scrutinies, honestly facing sin, seeing it for what it is, supported by … and forgiveness. For parishes with candidates and catechumens, the last three Sundays of Lent use the Gospels from John instead of Luke. In them we encounter the woman at the well (John …
Third Sunday of Lent
… and sound, or at least have some possibility of being fruitful. … Planning: Third Sunday of Lent … By Lawrence Mick Though we read the same readings every time we cycle through the … whether a burning bush or a tranquil forest glade, a rushing stream or a weeping person. Lent is a good time to repent of our sins against God’s creation and to renew our ability to see … to celebrate the beginning of our redemption through Christ. … Prayers: Third Sunday of Lent … By Sue Robb … Introduction … As we enter the midpoint of Lent, our readings become more …
Third Sunday of Lent: Catching fire
Jesus' Father has a habit of choosing to work through the most inauspicious people and circumstances. Looking at God's lack of highly qualified agents, one might suspect that the Creator is downright poor. Perhaps that is why so many people attempt to change God's message to conform to their own plans; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just isn't ambitious or vengeful enough to cut the ice in a…, Editor's note:, This Sunday Scripture commentary was originally published in Celebration , a comprehensive pastoral resource. To read the full version of the commentary, click here . Sign up to receive weekly Scripture for Life emails .
This Lent, we are to decide how we will live
… now, and dying in faith, now. She was hearing about people in need, now. March is the month of Lent, when we are asked to rebuild the foundations of our lives on the solid rock of prayer, …
Lent forms us as church
… Gabe Huck … Over the past few years these homilies for a Sunday in Lent, usually the March issue of Celebration and coming from one starting point or another, have … alone, perhaps still bending down to write with his finger on the ground. So with just 12 of Lent's 40 days remaining, what are we to make of this? It might be a call for the church, for us, … that renew us as the church that is ever being created at the font. Through the years of many Lents little by little we put on Christ, we learn the way of the baptized, we fast and pray and …
'This is my beloved, listen to him'
… remind us of our covenant with God which we spoke about last week as we began this season of Lent. Our covenant with God entails the gift of God's life to us. We share the risen life of … He becomes our God and we become God's people through the covenant of baptism. This season of Lent, as we reflected last week, is a time when we prepare to renew that covenant, and we try to … In the Gospel lesson today, it helps us to understand what we need to do during this season of Lent as we undergo a profound conversion to renew that risen life within us and to follow more …