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Lent Day 3: Mother Teresa

Meghan Murphy-Gill — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:10:47 -0800

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

3. Mother Teresa: Dying and rising

Day 24. Joseph Cardinal Bernardin: The value of suffering

Meghan Murphy-Gill — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:50:03 -0700

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

24. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin: The value of suffering
It is a normal, instinctive response to run from suffering. We try to avoid it for ourselves, and we make every effort to protect our loved ones from it. Suffering is perceived as a dire threat to our life and happiness.

Drink intentionally this St. Patrick's Day

Megan Sweas — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:41:23 -0700

For better or worse, drinking is a part of Catholic culture, particularly around Saint Patrick's Day when everyone is suddenly Irish.

Regular readers know that I am very interested in food and in particular food systems--how food gets from the fields to our plates, in other words. Particularly since writing Greener Pastures for U.S. Catholic magazine, I have tried to support local farmers by shopping at farmers markets whenever possible.

Day 23. Meister Eckhart: True conversion

Meghan Murphy-Gill — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:45:30 -0700

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

23. Meister Eckhart: True conversion
Many people think that to show their sorrow for sin they must do extraordinary things such as fasting, walking barefoot, and the like. The best penitence, however, is to turn away completely from all that is not God and not divine, whether it be in yourself or some other person, place, or thing.

Day 22. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.: A clash of wills

Meghan Murphy-Gill — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:43:46 -0700

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

22. M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.: A clash of wills
How often have we prayed: "Our Father, who art in heaven . . . thy will be done. . . . " We have watched the ultimate expression of our Lord's own struggle as he sweat blood in Gethsemane's garden and in his anguish cried out: "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me, but not my will but yours be done."

Day 21. Joan Chittister, O.S.B.: A growing season

Meghan Murphy-Gill — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:40:54 -0700

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

21. Joan Chittister, O.S.B.: A growing season
Lent is not an event. It is not something that happens to us. It is at most a microcosm of what turns out to be a lifelong journey to the center of the self.

For whom the clock changes

Online Editor — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:30:53 -0700

By guest blogger Lisa Calderone-Stewart

I just finished changing all my clocks, remembering my dad who explained how we spring forward and fall backward.

The missing 96 million

Kevin Clarke — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:43:25 -0800

In defense of social justice

Megan Sweas — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:32:12 -0800

I laughed when I heard that Glenn Beck said that Christians should leave their churches if they talk of "social justice." I knew that Beck was simply ridiculous, but this just put the nail in the coffin in confirming how irrelevant he is to any real, productive conversation.

Minorities on the way to becoming majority

Father Tom Joyce CMF — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:14:00 -0800

The worst nightmare of racists and nativists is that nonwhites will "outbreed" the “the real Americans,” meaning whites. Actually that’s happening already, and the cross-over date when the minorities of today – black, Asian, Hispanic -- will be the majority and the whites the minority is no further off than the middle of the 21st century. That generates all kinds of fears and nurtures the anti-immigrant sentiments of the tea partiers and assorted right wingers.

Abortion facts in health care reform

Megan Sweas — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:53:17 -0800

Should health care reform pass, it seems, from what some are saying, that pregnant women across the country will be running out to get abortions. It will be as if abortion became legal all over again!

Day 20. Fyodor M. Dostoevsky: Choose to love

Meghan Murphy-Gill — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:59:31 -0800

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

20. Fyodor M. Dostoevsky: Choose to love
Christ said, "Go and give all you have to the poor and become the servant of all," for if you do that, you'll become a thousand times richer because your happiness won't be made just of good food, rich clothes, satisfied vanity, and appeased envy. Instead it will be built on love, love multiplied by love without end. And then you will gain not just riches, but the whole world!

How not to respond to sex abuse: Whining

Bryan Cones — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:56:05 -0800

If there is one thing European bishops should have learned from U.S. sex abuse crisis, it's don't blame the messenger. It just makes you look whiny.

The Irish bishops, at least Bishop of Elphin Christopher Jones anyway, have clearly not learned that lesson, with Jones lamenting the "unfair and unjust" coverage the Irish scandal is getting.

Day 19. Edwina Gateley: Contemplative prayer

Online Editor — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:24:17 -0800

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

19. Edwina Gateley: Contemplative prayer

Confession automated?

Megan Sweas — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:22:28 -0800

When I first heard about the Confessional phone line on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me's "Bluff the Listener" game, I thought that it had to be true.

"Bluff the Listener" is a segment on the NPR news quiz where each panel tells a ridiculous story, only one of which is true. This week both the contestant and I got it right: There is indeed a French phone line for automated Confessions.

Day 18: Mohandas Gandhi: Fasting and the voice of God

Megan Sweas — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:33:48 -0800

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

18. Mohandas Gandhi: Fasting and the voice of God
Fasting for the sake of unfoldment of the spirit is a discipline I hold to be absolutely necessary at some stage or other in the evolution of an individual. Crucifixion of the flesh is a meaningless term unless one goes voluntarily through the pangs of hunger. For one thing, identification with the starving poor is a meaningless term without the experience behind it....

When Heather has two mommies and goes to Catholic school

Bryan Cones — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:46:21 -0800

The story of the 5-year-old girl who will not be admitted to kindergarten at her Catholic elementary school because her parents are a lesbian couple is burning up the web, notably on the blog of the pastor, where the comments certainly lean against the decision.

Day 17. Thomas à Kempis: Silence and solitude

Meghan Murphy-Gill — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:17:59 -0800

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

17. Thomas à Kempis: Silence and solitude
Set aside an opportune time for deep personal reflection, and think often about God's many benefits to you. Give up all light and frivolous matters, and read what inspires you to repentance of soul and not just what entertains the mind.

White House meeting on immigration reform

Father Tom Joyce CMF — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:04:03 -0800

The Chicago Tribune reports that there was a meeting in the White House last Monday on pushing ahead on immigration reform. No doubt President Barack Obama is feeling the pressure from restless Hispanics, unhappy that his health care reform has pushed back work on immigration reform. On Sunday, March 21, they’ll be rallying in front of the Capitol to get it moving again.

Day 16. Jessica Powers: Repairer of fences

Bryan Cones — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:37:30 -0800

Each day of Lent (minus Sundays) we'll bring you words of wisdom from spiritual guides.

16. Jessica Powers: Repairer of fences
I am alone in the dark, and I am thinking

what darkness would be mine if I could see

the ruin I wrought in every place I wandered

and if I could not be

aware of One who follows after me.

Whom do I love, O God, when I love Thee?

The great Undoer who has torn apart

the walls I built against a human heart,