How was your first week of Easter? After Christmas, there's widespread feasting and relaxation, at least until New Year's Day. But after a momentous Holy Week, we usually experience a big ... return to normal. There's no national holiday, and for most of us, work picks right up where it left … [Read more...] about The ‘New Normal’ of Eastertide
Preparation for the Triduum
As we begin into the Sacred Triduum tomorrow, we enter into a singular focus on the Passion of our Lord. The weight of Christ's sufferings is more than we can bear. But we enter into his suffering, by God's grace, in order to more fully unite ourselves to him. This increases our longing for the … [Read more...] about Preparation for the Triduum
Match Tough in Christ
While he was close the the tennis star Chris Everett Lloyd, Mark McCormack said that if she hadn't been playing for a while, she wouldn't win until she became "match tough." She could be in the best physical condition of her life, but she still had to compete, and often lose a little, in order to … [Read more...] about Match Tough in Christ
How to pray with more confidence
How can we learn to pray with more confidence? Sometimes, we don't know if we're praying according to God's will, so our prayers are tentative. And sometimes that's fine. But God also calls us to pray boldly. Azariah in the furnace shows us how. Remember, Azariah was one of the three young … [Read more...] about How to pray with more confidence
A Spiritual Law of Gravity
You've heard it said, "What goes up must come down." That refers to the law of gravity, but also to a spiritual principle: the proud will eventually fall. "If you think you stand, take heed lest you fall," Paul says. In Lent, we're called to give up our pride and hypocrisy, lest we fall. Yet … [Read more...] about A Spiritual Law of Gravity
Blue Hearts to Blue Skies
How do you embrace the grace of adversity? And adversity is usually a grace--it's the primary means God uses to help us grow. But it's hard to see that when you're discouraged. The problem is that discouragement and adversity tend to go together, and when that happens, progress … [Read more...] about Blue Hearts to Blue Skies