Lent and Holy Week – The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel

Looking Up

In his Easter homily last year, Pope Francis reflected on St. Mark’s account of the resurrection, which begins with the women going to Jesus’ tomb at dawn. Having had to bury the Lord in haste on Good Friday before the start of the Passover Sabbath, they returned on Sunday to perform the proper anointings ofContinue reading “Looking Up “

Sanctified along the Way

“Hallow” is the number one Christian prayer app in the world. This Lent, it has featured daily readings from The Way, a spiritual classic first published in 1934 by St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. The Way is a book filled with short, paragraph-long meditations on various subjects. The intended audience for theseContinue reading “Sanctified along the Way “

Seeking What Is Hidden

This weekend you will notice that the statues in our churches are covered with violet veils. It is part of a very old tradition that on the fifth week of Lent images are veiled to mark our entrance into what’s called Passiontide, the final two weeks of Lent. Lent can seem like a disorienting time.Continue reading “Seeking What Is Hidden “

Fasting for the Word

There are some years when Lent sneaks up on you. It has happened more than once in my life that I have found myself in the first weekend of Lent without a clear idea of what my Lenten discipline would be. Perhaps this has happened to you as well. And in those cases, if you’reContinue reading “Fasting for the Word “

Palm Sunday

There’s something disorienting about Mass on Palm Sunday. When we arrive to church we are handed palm branches. The liturgy begins with the gospel. The Passion Narrative is read with the whole congregation’s participation, all of us kneeling in silence when Jesus expires on the cross. It’s tempting most Sundays to experience the Mass onContinue reading “Palm Sunday “

Confident Abandonment

During this season of Lent, we take up the three disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As concepts, fasting and almsgiving seem less appealing than prayer, but are relatively easy to do. Prayer, on the other hand, is something most people would like to do, but find difficult. For Lent, I’ve been re-reading a bookContinue reading “Confident Abandonment “

February 14

February 14 is St. Valentine’s Day. But not this year. This year it’s Ash Wednesday, the annual kickoff of the 40-day season of Lent. So, instead of chocolates and candy hearts, romantic dinners by candlelight, or champagne and caviar, this Wednesday we will be observing a fast, which includes abstaining from meat, and wearing ashesContinue reading “February 14 “

Newness of God

In his first Easter as the Bishop of Rome in 2013, Pope Francis preached to the congregation gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica to celebrate the great Solemnity of Our Lord’s Resurrection, saying: “Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be closed to the newness that God wants to bring into our lives! Are we oftenContinue reading “Newness of God “

Palmolive

In the year 1898, the B.J. Johnson Corporation unveiled its latest product – a light-green, floating bar of soap called Palmolive. By the turn of the century, it was the world’s best-selling bath soap. Made from an alleged mixture of palm, olive, and coconut oils cultivated in southern Spain, it was marketed as the luxuriousContinue reading “Palmolive “

Being Last for Lent

This weekend marks 18 days since the start of Lent, almost halfway to Easter, and a good time to consider how well the disciplines we’ve chosen for ourselves are helping us prepare. Recently, I read an article by J.D. Flynn, a Catholic journalist and one of the founders of The Pillar, who wrote about howContinue reading “Being Last for Lent “