The great and hope-filled season of Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday, February 18. The ashes come from burning previous years’ palms. They remind us of our good intentions to welcome Jesus as the crowds did a few days before his Crucifixion. But we know that time, the demands of our responsibilities, our distractions, and our struggles can make those desires to have the Lord central in our lives seem to wither and turn to dust. Yet God makes a new beginning precisely from our...

What was on this spot before me? As we observe the Solemnity of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome this weekend, the spiritual meaning is real and clear: we are part of one Body in Christ, the Church. We unite in a communion of faith in the Creed, life in the Sacraments, and Community in the one history of salvation going back in time to Jesus and his fulfillment of all things in his Cross and Resurrection. No matter where we worship, no matter how grand or how humble the sacred spaces...

From Safari… Two days, life changing, incredible stories, join the multitude! The twin festivals of All Saints and All Souls kickoff November. Since All Saints was not a holy day of obligation, you may have missed the stunning and compelling vision of a New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation. In part we heard, “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white...