During Lent, Pope Francis said, Catholics — and especially Catholic seminarians — should rediscover the joy of simplicity, pay less attention to their appearance than to their prayer lives and make a special effort to get along with everyone they live with.
mgresham
Catholic couples and liturgical experts are advising how to observe Ash Wednesday — the beginning of the Latin Church’s penitential season of Lent leading up to Easter — which falls on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, this year.
Diocese’s Catholic Relief Services chapter looks to inspire others By Michael Gresham The Texas Catholic In January, the Diocese of…
I love Lent. But it was not always like that. As a kid, my whole understanding of Lent was shaped by the commandment: Thou shalt give up something that you love.
On Feb. 4 at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Dallas, Scouts from Troop 719 stood before the congregation during a Scout Sunday Mass as they received recognition for their accomplishments. But Scouts were not just at the front of the church; they were also altar servers, ushers, and even after-Mass donut servers. They were everywhere in places of service, which is fitting for a troop that is so service- and church-oriented.
St. María Antonia de Paz Figueroa, known as Mama Antula, devoted herself completely to helping others experience God’s closeness and compassion, Pope Francis said after he declared the 18th-century consecrated laywoman a saint. By letting her heart and life be “touched” and “healed” by Christ, he said, “she proclaimed him tirelessly her whole life long, for she was convinced, as she loved to repeat: ‘Patience is good, but perseverance is better.'”
Christians should look to Argentina’s soon-to-be saint to learn how to live charitably in an age of individualism, Pope Francis said.
My impression is that many people today think we live in unprecedented and negative times. They feel afraid as they watch ideologies make bold moves for economic and political power. In a certain basic sense, it is hard for me to agree that our times are unprecedented. The Church must struggle in every age, and we just don’t have that divine vision which would allow us to compare, definitively or apocalyptically, our own age with any other. On the other hand, I can easily understand the feeling that things are urgent; after all, these are our times, and so we are, quite rightly, sensitive to their dramatic character.
Not everyone can run a half marathon. And it’s probably a safe bet that even fewer can do so in a habit. But in a January half marathon in Naples, among runners dressed in tank tops, short running shorts or even shirtless were two consecrated women religious in their in white, long-sleeved habits and black athletic shoes.
What first caught Ed’s attention were Linda’s eyes. When he looked into them, he felt a soul connection, like he could see himself in them. Now, forty years later, Eduardo “Ed” Torres and Herlinda “Linda” Torres have been married for more than 35 years, have three children together, and are looking forward to the birth of their first grandchild in August; and Ed still thinks Linda’s eyes are beautiful.