A Mass Moment
Today at mass, in the first few minutes of the Introductory Rite, we say these words:
“I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.”
Sometimes I need to take the recited words from our Liturgy and simplify them.
“Pray for me.”
In a chorus of hundreds of voices at our local parishes, this may not seem so powerful.
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”
Matthew 5: 43-44
The Third Station of the Cross
Jesus Falls for the First Time
Take a moment to sit with the image, from Audrey Frank Anastasi’s stunning Stations of the Cross.
"When we’re confronted with our own weakness during Lent, the temptation is to get angry and frustrated. “What a bad person I am!” But that’s the wrong lesson."
In fact, it’s the opposite:
"God is calling us to be patient and to see ourselves as he does, with unconditional love."
“I thought by now I’d have it figured out -
how not to make the easy things so hard to do…
I guess all I’m saying is,
forgive me if I don’t know what I’m doing.
I’m still learning to be human.”Cody Johnson
Aren’t we all?
During this Lent, maybe we can allow Jesus' humanity to show us how.
The Second Station of the Cross
Jesus carries His Cross
We often hear the phrase “carry the cross” or “it’s my cross to bear” - as “the cross” has become a symbol for some form of suffering or pain to be endured.
Some might argue that this analogy is only apt if there is some kind of reward at the end of the suffering. Some tangible benefit.
“Lent is a time in which the Church, guided by a sense of maternal care, invites us to place the mystery of God back in the center of our lives.”
Pope Leo XIV, Message for Lent, 2026
What is the “center” of my schedule?
Do I build my days around work obligations? Around pickup or drop off for my children? Around my “to do list”?
What would it look like to place the mystery of God at the center of my schedule today?
A Mass Moment
Today at mass, before the Gospel, we will do something very simple. We’ve all done it a thousand times, often without thinking. It takes less than two seconds.
Listening for the Gospel - A small sign of the cross: on our forehead, on our lips, and on our heart.
Today, pick one of those to talk with God about. For example:
“A large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharasees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, ‘What do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’”
Normally I would have saved this one for April 15th, but alas, tax day does not fall during Lent this year. This Gospel makes me chuckle, because our disdain for taxes apparently stretches back millenia. But I digress…
Jesus’s message in today’s gospel is clear: Nobody is unwelcome at Christ’s table.
The First Station of the Cross
Jesus is Condemned to DeathMatthew 27:26
How absolutely awful does it feel to be accused of something you didn’t do? How angry does that make you?!
Some of the other 13 stations of the cross feel very far from our lived experience. I mean, who wears crowns of thorns anymore?
But this one you might be able to identify with. That feeling of “I didn’t do that! I would never do that!”, but somebody is convinced that you did.
