Pray To God Today

 As the Christmas season has now come and gone, we find ourselves in the in-between time of the two great seasons of the church - Christmas and Lent/Easter. Between these great seasons, we are left with what can feel like an awkward moment of Ordinary Time. The 'high' of excitement from Christmas is coming down and we await the liturgical excitement of Ash Wednesday, our beloved penitential practice for the 40 days and the liturgical change that lent brings.  The excitement of the seasons comes from the breaking of the ordinary; a change in the status quo, and a deepening in our closeness to God. But, we are left now with a valley of liturgical normalcy, so how do we make the most of it?  What we have before us is an existential challenge to keep close to God, and keep cognizant of the spirit of each season, even that of Ordinary Time. God's grace is on full display through the incredible events of Christmas and Easter, but we would be wrong to ignore that same grace duri...

21  Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:21-22  It's very hard to forgive. Forgiveness is essential to our life here on earth. Jesus gave us the perfect example of forgiveness while he was on earth. Jesus loved us so much that he bore all our sins on the cross that goes before us. Every wrong we have done; every pain has become  A LOT LIGHTER because Jesus bore it before us. Jesus is asked by his own, disciples, how many times should they forgive. Because they know that they have to forgive, and they know they everyone does wrong, but how much is enough? We need to draw a line right? No. Jesus tells us that we shouldn't just forgive seven times. He told us to forgive 77 times. Or 77 X 7 times. Which is a higher perfect number. Jesus told us that we must forgive as ma...

This week we have begun the season of lent once again on Ash Wednesday. Lent, of course, is the season where we embark on the journey of faith towards the ultimate feasts during the paschal triduum. Due to the pandemic, your start to lent was probably notably different.  The church world wide was directed to follow the Italian way of sprinkling ashes on top of the head, instead of the cross on the forehead, as we are use to here in North America.  I for one defiantly miss the ash selfies this year which decorate Catholic social media during this season.   Maybe in your city or state, churches are limited in numbers and so the emptiness of the church was particularly noticed. Maybe you weren't even allowed to gather and the services were exclusively online, and that is an immense difference for us Catholics who find great importance in gathering as a community of faith, to express our faith, and share in the divine life God offers us as a community. Lent has already been a...