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Leap Day’s Catholic origins

By Lucia A. Silecchia
Happy Leap Day! The elusive February 29th rolls around again this year, as it does in all years that are divisible by four — unless, oddly, they are years that are divisible by 100 but not by 400. This quirky adjustment to the calendar has its origins in the astronomical reality that while ordinary years […]
2/21/24
Reading Time 3 min

Starting Lent

By Fr. Joseph M. Rampino
Feb. 18 Mk 1:12-15 On this first Sunday of Lent, the church gives us an incredibly concise and austere Gospel passage from Mark. We hear the story of Christ going out into the desert after his baptism told in only two sentences. Immediately after, we hear the first words of Christ’s public ministry reduced to […]
2/17/24
Reading Time 3 min

Ash Wednesday for Catholics

By Russell Shaw
It happens every year on Ash Wednesday. In our downtown parishes, women and men, old and young, office and construction workers, corporate lawyers, police officers, messengers and many others cut short their lunch hours and stream up the aisles to have a cruciform smudge of ashes planted on their foreheads. It’s a yearly reminder that […]
2/14/24
Reading Time 3 min

Obedience

By Fr. Richard Miserendino
GOSPEL COMMENTARY Feb. 11 Mk 1:40-45 Recently while watching an old TV show, I heard one of the “smart” characters quip that he “could never believe in a God that takes attendance on Sundays.” He was echoing a popular belief that we’ve all heard: Why would a good and loving God really care about obedience […]
2/10/24
Reading Time 3 min

Fasting

By Msgr. Charles M. Mangan
Penance, also referred to as self-denial and mortification, joins prayer and almsgiving as the “works” of Lent that the church points to as necessary if we wish to imitate Jesus Christ. Many penitential practices are connected to food and drink. Food and drink have been abused before, but today there is evidence of much gluttony. […]
2/7/24
Reading Time 3 min

Running from rest

By Elizabeth Foss
I’m tired of multi-tasking. I’m tired of productivity. I’m tired of the blurred lines between work and home. I’m tired of scrolling Instagram while watching a football game, talking on the phone while searching online for a recipe, and people texting everywhere — including behind the wheel of a car. If we are in the […]
2/7/24
Reading Time 3 min

Cold water

By Christina Capecchi
One after another, influencers are taking the plunge. The cold-water plunge. I couldn’t help but follow along when Elizabeth Ries, a lovable TV personality from Minneapolis, joined the trend this week, heading to Duluth, Minn., to dip into Lake Superior. It was zero degrees, and the mother of three was multi-tasking: filming for TV while […]
2/7/24
Reading Time 3 min

True love in Ordinary Time

By Lucia A. Silecchia
Many have noticed already that Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, falls on Ash Wednesday this year. At first glance, this is an odd juxtaposition. The date usually associated with chocolates, flowery festivities and fine meals is, this year, a day of fasting and abstinence, and the start of the penitential season that will lead us through […]
2/7/24
Reading Time 3 min

Everyone is looking for you

By Fr. Steven Oetjen
Feb. 4, 2024 Mk 1:29–39 St. Mark’s Gospel is very fast-paced and action-packed. In a flurry of activity in the first chapter, Jesus gets right to work proclaiming the Gospel of God, calling his first disciples, teaching authoritatively in the synagogue and casting out a demon. By the end of last week’s Gospel passage, we […]
2/3/24
Reading Time 3 min

Authoritative teaching

By Fr. Jack Peterson, YA
Gospel Commentary Jan. 28, 2024 Mk 1:21-28 Have you ever heard a speaker and been totally captivated by them and their message? Have you had a moment where you felt like the person spoke directly to your mind and heart with a message that was remarkably true and, at the same time, directed specifically at […]
1/27/24
Reading Time 3 min

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