Teach Us To Be Holy
by Tom and April Hoopes in Faith on Saturday, March 20, 2010 6:00 AM
(In this weekly column, Tom and April Hoopes share family-friendly ways of observing the liturgical year and celebrating the Sunday readings.)
Sunday, March 21, is the Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C, Cycle II).
Papal
On March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, Pope Benedict XVI will meet with the youth of Rome and Lazio, Italy, at 8:30pm in St. Peter’s Square to prepare for World Youth Day.
Feast Days
March 25 is the name day of our child who is named after Mary. We chose the Annunciation for her... READ MORE
Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
by Pat Gohn in Faith on Friday, March 19, 2010 6:00 AM
As a young girl, (in the ancient days before the internet), I was an avid pen pal. I cherished all the tools went with it: personalized stationery, a stamp collection, and the sealing wax. I remember dripping hot wax onto the closed envelope flap. Then carefully placing my identifiable letter “P” stamp in the hardening warm lump. Signed and sealed, I trotted my letters to the post box for delivery.
Years later, in history classes, I learned of popes and kings and military leaders who pressed signet... READ MORE
March Men
by Brian Caulfield in Faith on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 6:00 AM
Call them the Church’s “March Men,” whose feast days fall close together, just beyond the “Ides” of the month. They are saints of deep thought and decisive action who provide us with true models of masculine virtue. Yet for all they have in common as followers of Christ, Sts. Joseph and Patrick are not cut from the same cloth, and they have occupied very different places within the popular devotions of Catholics.
When I was growing up in New York City in the 1960s, St. Patrick had a cathedral and... READ MORE
St. Joseph and Blossoming of Faith
by Tom and April Hoopes in Faith on Saturday, March 13, 2010 6:00 AM
(In this weekly column, Tom and April Hoopes share family-friendly ways of observing the liturgical year and celebrating the Sunday readings.)
Sunday, March 14 (Year C, Cycle II), is the Fourth Sunday of Lent: Laetare Sunday.
Papal
Laetare (Rejoice) Sunday is the day that — since we have passed the halfway point of Lent — the Church looks forward to the joy of Easter. It’s called “Rose Sunday” for two reasons. First, priests may wear rose-colored (practically pink) vestments today. Second, it’s... READ MORE
Waiting for Sunshine
by Heidi Bratton in Faith on Friday, March 12, 2010 6:00 AM
As a photographer by profession and by nature, I am constantly aware of sunlight. Watching sunlight move through the day, arranging itself around objects and landscapes in ever-changing ways, is a constant source of joy and hope for me. It is, perhaps, for this reason that enduring the winter months when the sun gets up late and goes to bed early can be a challenge. As early as four o’clock in the afternoon, while there is still much to be done in my day, the beauty of twilight is snuffed out by... READ MORE
Surrender the Choosing
by Marion Fernandez-Cueto in Faith on Tuesday, March 09, 2010 6:00 AM
Lent began for our family last June. That’s when rumors of a third round of layoffs started circling at my husband’s company, which had already bled jobs for a year. We tightened our careful budget yet again, decided that chairs for our new house could wait. So could a desk and a piano. And blinds. And a TV. When the axe finally fell two weeks before Christmas, delayed gratification was getting old.
By February, it was spreading to necessities. When a friend asked me what I was giving up for Lent,... READ MORE
Spending Lent With Mary
by Sarah Reinhard in Faith on Monday, March 08, 2010 6:00 AM
Lent began, for me, in an unfamiliar house, face-to-face with a woman who is living my nightmare.
On Epiphany this year, my sister-in-law faced a horror I can’t imagine, one that tops her list of sorrows and that has changed my prayer life forever.
When her husband, my brother-in-law, died suddenly and unexpectedly, it felt like Lent had already begun. In fact, it felt a lot like Good Friday, stretched out over weeks.
And then I went to Mardi Gras, that grand celebration before the official start... READ MORE
A Week of Family Days
by Tom and April Hoopes in Faith on Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:00 AM
(In this weekly column, Tom and April Hoopes share family-friendly ways of observing the liturgical year and celebrating the Sunday readings.)
Sunday, March 7, is the Third Sunday in Lent (Year C, Cycle II).
Papal
Pope Benedict XVI is not just the bishop of the whole Church — he’s the bishop of Rome, and on March 7 he won’t be celebrating 9am Mass at St. Peter’s; he’ll be at St. John of the Cross parish in Rome.
You can share with your family all the titles the Pope has, according to the Vatican... READ MORE
Make a Better Confession
by Eddie O'Neil in Faith on Friday, March 05, 2010 6:00 AM
Lent has begun. It’s the time to fast, pray and give alms. These 40 days are also a good opportunity to better understand the sacrament of reconciliation.
The key to making a good confession is knowing oneself, says Chicago’s Father Peter Armenio, a priest of Opus Dei. “Self-knowledge is the building block for contrition. I can’t be sorry unless I know myself,” says the priest who spends long hours each week hearing confessions.
He explains that honesty and the Holy Spirit will help us come to know... READ MORE
What Faith Looks Like
by Pat Gohn in Faith on Thursday, March 04, 2010 6:00 AM
If I were describing my daughter’s characteristics, I’d say she’s a blue-eyed blond in Birkenstocks. We tend to see the characteristics of each person as unique to them. Yet, as members of the human race, we share universal features. The same holds true of faith.
While each believer experiences faith in a personal way, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) describes characteristics of faith common to all believers.
First, faith is both a grace and a free human act, having both divine and human... READ MORE
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