LIVING LENT
It’s a mark on the forehead that means so much. A gym full of children listen to the readings, sing hymns and receive their ashes. They are a bit silly, asking each other about what the cross looks like on…
Category Lent
CREATING THE WORLD ANEW…FROM THE ASHES
It’s hard not to see all the things that are going wrong in the world. Many areas are suffering from the effects of climate change. The war in Ukraine heartbreakingly grinds on. Closer to home, fellow citizens can’t find common…
REFOCUSING OUR LENTEN JOURNEY
Here we are, about halfway through Lent. On Ash Wednesday each year, the 40 days or so seem to stretch endlessly before us, but then time speeds up and we may lose focus. How can we stay rooted in Lent…
ENTERING LENT
Oh, how fitting is the first reading on this 1st Sunday of Lent! The past few years of living with COVID have been oppressive to all of us (to some so much more than to others). And now, just as…
CHANGE OUR HEARTS
Ash Wednesday tends to sneak up on me. Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that we took down the Christmas decorations? With COVID-19, civil unrest and war dominating the front-page news, it can be hard to focus on the…
BOOK REVIEW: LENT GOES TO THE MOVIES
It’s been a long couple of years, hasn’t it? COVID hit during Lent 2020, and now here we are, about to begin our third pandemic Lent. If you’re finding it hard to gear up for another season of self-sacrifice, I…
FOR ALL WHO SUFFER
Good Friday represents the groaning of the planet in agony. It is suffering writ large, manifested most vividly in the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. Before we can joyfully celebrate the Resurrection of Easter, we must relive with Jesus…
HOLY THURSDAY: WASHING FEET
There’s such a sense of anticipation on Holy Thursday, I find. It is the start of the Triduum, the three days that form a single celebration marking the end of Lent: from the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy…
CRUCIFIXION NAILS
Above the town of Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia there is a powerful outdoor Way of the Cross at Our Lady Queen of Peace Shrine. It is built on a steep slope with views across the valley to the…
TRIUMPHAL SUNDAYS AND GOOD FRIDAYS
“Humanity is fickle. They may dress for a morning coronation and never feel the need to change clothes for an execution in the afternoon. So Triumphal Sundays and Good Fridays always fit comfortably into the same April week.” It was…