There is perhaps only one thing that people of all nations, all political parties, all beliefs, and all races can agree upon: the world is in turmoil. The planet may have already suffered irreversible damage. The situation in Syria is perhaps the worst humanitarian crisis of all time. The United States is so politically polarized that family members cannot speak civilly with each other. Children go to bed hungry, and people pass the homeless on the street with no more than a cursory glance. ...

Week 1 of the weekly guide to the "Pray To Your Father in Secret" Lenten Book Club: Preface.

This week we will solemnize the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Yes, a time for greater prayer and fasting.At first, we may think that it is time to cut down on food and one of our favorite treats. Yes, this or any other sacrifice that is close to your heart would be a good choice. We pray and fast in order to prove to Jesus how much we love him and to make reparation for our sins and the sins of the world.However, there are many ways a person can fast. I have my thoughts, words, actions a...

At Advent, our hashtag challenge was #PutJesusFirst. For Lent our hashtag challenge is #PutOthersFirst. The traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving all lead us to just this, to put others before ourselves, seeing in the other Jesus Christ himself. There are many ways to #PutOthersFirst. Throughout Lent we’ll be led by Scripture to come up with a variety of ways we can do this in our own families, where we work, with people we meet, those who need our help,...

We invite you to join our Lenten Book Club led by Sr. Kathryn Hermes and Jeannette de Beauvoir.This Lent we’re reading and talking about a wonderful book, Pray to Your Father in Secret, by Father Jean Lafrance.Fr. Lafrance was a priest and highly sought-after retreat director. He saw that many people who made retreats with him were anxious to continue the experience on their own, while others, who weren’t able to go on retreat, wanted some of that experience for themselves. And so he...

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.  Luke 23:34We may have previously shared with you the words every Pauline religious sees daily surrounding the tabernacle in the community chapel. These words—Do not be afraid. I am with you. From here I want to enlighten. Be sorry for sin—were revealed to our founder, Blessed James Alberione, in what he called a “dream.”If we think of the last of those words, “Be sorry for sin,” we find ourselves grapp...

And so the Church year turns again to Lent.It’s a tricky season to navigate. As Catholics, we’re called to penance as we contemplate the journey of Our Lord through betrayal by his friends all the way to his torture and death. But let’s face it: 40 days is a long time to keep doing anything, especially something that you don’t like to do.Catholics traditionally “give up” something for Lent. We return to meatless Fridays. We deprive ourselves of something that ...

Anything that has been steeped in prayer takes on an aspect that wasn’t there before. Churches, for example, are just buildings… until the liturgy, music, prayer and people inhabit the space—and sanctify it. Rosary beads are pretty things until they have been blessed and have slipped through the fingers of the person praying them.Objects, we might say, are transformed through prayer.And not just objects. Everyone’s been transported through beautiful music, but even the m...

My grandmother told me she would have given birth to a dozen children, if she could have. When I asked her why, she responded that twelve seemed like a nice number. In contrast, my mother deliberately chose to have two children, spaced eight years apart, so that she could raise them as “two only children.” My grandmother remarked ruefully, “I never understood your mother.”Nowadays, families of more than two children are as rare as ice cream in the sun. Typical family size...

Humanity has been trying to learn how to pray from the earliest times. In fact, almost every single book in the Bible mentions the word prayer or expresses a prayer, making close to 1,200 distinct references to praying. Our most important prayer, the Our Father, was given to us by Jesus himself in response to the disciples’ plea for help praying. And St. Paul exhorts us to devote ourselves to prayer and to pray without ceasing.We are in a difficult position, it would seem. We yearn to reac...