LENT BEGINS IN THE MIDST OF THE PANDEMIC
Although we continue to be in the grip of winter, Lent begins on Wednesday and, like almost everything else this year, Ash Wednesday will be a little different. Following Archdiocesan guidelines, ashes will be sprinkled in silence on your head rather than being imposed on your foreheads in the sign of a cross. This is already the practice in much of the world; it follows the example we see throughout the Bible (cf. Jdt. 4:11; Est. 4:16; 1 Mc. 3:47) and avoids the physical contact that many people fear during […]
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We don’t often hear from the Book of Job at Sunday Mass. In fact, we only hear from it twice in the three-year reading cycle, and only in Year B, as we are in this year. Today’s reading is a good reason why we don’t – it’s really rather depressing, isn’t it? We hear Job complain: “Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery? …So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been allotted me.” Not very good news, is it? I don’t know about you, […]
Philadelphia March for Life
Every year since the fateful Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973 legalizing abortion in our country, we have been called to reflect on the Gospel mandate to protect human life from conception to natural death. This year marks the 25th anniversary of promulgation of Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) which reaffirms the value and inviolability of every human life. I would like to offer a summary of this prophetic encyclical for your reflection:
The Gospel of Life is at the heart of […]
Catholic Relief Service Annual Collection
“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40). Next weekend, we will join with all parishes throughout the country in taking up the annual collection for Catholic Relief Services. Founded 76 years ago, it now serves 136 million people in 110 countries on five continents. As so many impoverished people around the world struggle in the face of the coronavirus that just adds another layer of dire need to their already difficult lives, CRS is helping in […]
EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
Recently, a man stood inside one of the entrances to a Metro Station in Washington, D.C., playing some Bach pieces on a violin. He played for about 45 minutes in the middle of rush hour as thousands of people bustled past. A few slowed down for a moment to listen before scurrying on. Several children stopped to listen but were hurried along by their parents. After he finished, the man just walked away; no one stopped to applaud or thank him. This man was Joshua Bell, one of the best […]