Through the years, there is one question that I’ve come to expect: “Father, is it a sin if…” followed by some particular situation.
Lent
Preambles to Faith
Lenten season I decide to read a book that I think will help me observe the season better. This year, I picked a beauty. It is Jesuit Father Michael Gallagher’s “The Human Poetry of Faith: A Spiritual Guide to Life” (New York, Paulist Press, 2003, pp. 142, $12.95). Father Gallagher deals with problems that have been on my mind for years.
Pope Offers Tips for Going to Confession
After a brief explanation of why people should go to confession – “because we are all sinners” – the pope listed 30 key questions to reflect on as part of making an examination of conscience and being able to “confess well.”
No Fighting God
Some months after my son-in-law, Rob Susil, died, a longtime friend asked me in a gentle but point-blank way, “Are you still fighting God?”
Operating in the Care of Strangers
This is my Lenten reflection: We can never be strangers. We all are part of God’s family.
Visiting the Imprisoned on Ash Wednesday
Retired Auxiliary Bishop Emil A. Wcela of Rockville Centre, N.Y., prays over two inmates at the end of an Ash Wednesday Mass at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead, L.I., Feb. 18.
A Glimpse of Paternal Radiance
By Father James Rodriguez ONCE AGAIN, AS A Church we have undertaken these 40 days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, walking with our Lord on the way to Calvary. It seems as if our Christmas celebration is barely over before we are called to commemorate the Passion, yet truly both events point to the same […]
Lent Begins in the Diocese
Above, Msgr. Alfred LoPinto, executive director of Catholic Charities, joined Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in distributing ashes at St. James Cathedral-Basilica in Downtown Brooklyn. Below, Msgr. Joseph Grimaldi, episcopal vicar for Brooklyn, distributes ashes at a Mass with diocesan employees at The Chancery office building in Park Slope. Lent began a 40-day time of penance and […]
Observing Lent After the Death of a Spouse
Lent has a way of sneaking up on all of us each year. It can be especially hard if you’ve recently lost a loved one.On Ash Wednesday two years ago, shortly after my wife died of uterine cancer, I was determined to get to Mass and receive the ashes on my forehead.
New Releases Provide Spiritual Reading for Lent
A selection of recent releases that might be suitable for your spiritual reading during Lent or throughout the year.