SWORMVILLE — St. Mary School Swormville students are wrapping those in need in warmth and prayer this Lenten season. As part of their Ash Wednesday Retreat, the entire school came together to make fleece prayer blankets that are being distributed to victims of the recent California wildfires. Many families lost everything during the January 2025 […]
Shortly before returning to his home in the Vatican on Sunday, Pope Francis made a brief appearance from a fifth-floor balcony of the Gemelli Clinic in Rome to a crowd of faithful gathered outside the hospital. The moment marked his first public engagement in weeks. Waving and giving a “thumps-up” before blessing the faithful gathered […]
Lent calls us to reflect on sin – my sin, your sin, the nation’s sin, the Church’s sin, the world’s sin. Sin may seem attractive when we’re committing it, but afterwards we often would rather not think about it, examine it, nor humbly admit it. Because doing so brings us to the truth that our […]
The Catholic Church has a series of practices and traditions that mark the liturgical calendar and guide the spiritual life of its faithful. Among these are fasting and abstinence during Lent, the 40-day period of preparation for Easter. To help Catholics live this special liturgical time and deepen their knowledge of the faith, the following […]
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis asked Christians on Ash Wednesday to set out in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, full of hope, throughout the season of Lent. In his prepared March 5 catechesis, the Holy Father, who remains in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for treatment of double pneumonia, spoke about the 12-year-old Jesus’ desire to live […]
The prophet Isaiah boldly challenges us to choose the way of fasting most acceptable to the Lord: “Releasing those bound unjustly … setting free the oppressed … sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.” If […]
Are you wondering what to fast from this Lent – sweets. alcohol or just simply eating less? This kind of fasting has its place, but if you truly want to discover what fasting is especially meant to achieve, that is, to fast in the way that will bring about a holy change for the better […]
ROME — Pope Francis has centered his Lenten message for 2024 on the Book of Exodus, choosing “Through the Desert God Leads Us to Freedom” as its main theme to encourage the faithful that the season is a journey from bondage to spiritual renewal and freedom. The pope framed this reflection on the departure of […]
“The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” With these two compelling sentences – as recorded in the Gospel of Mark – Jesus inaugurates his ministry and sums up what his mission is about: to break the shackles of sin that enslave humanity, to put us on the path of […]
An impressive number of people have taken a big step in their journey to become Catholic. Over 70 catechumens and candidates entered St. Joseph Cathedral on Feb. 26, the first Sunday of Lent, to be welcomed into the Catholic faith. Father Sean Paul Fleming, director of the Office of Worship and rector of St. Joseph […]
