No more bargains. I’m giving up bargaining for Lent. Not the shopping-discounts or market-bazaar kind of bargaining–I’m no good at that anyway. Show me an overpriced item, and I guarantee it’s already in my shopping cart or on my shelf at home.
Some old-timers look back fondly at all that used to be a part of Lenten fasting and abstinence. Some felt it provided them with benefits beyond the spiritual renewal intended. They speak about a sense of camaraderie during Lent.
I stood atop a mesa in New Mexico from where I could see for miles. I was struck by the contrast between the vast stretches of barren desert and the narrow band of abundant life skirting the bank of a dry river bed.
An old jazz duet was being interviewed on Larry King Live. It was fun seeing clips of their earlier days and hearing the behind-the-scenes stories of how they met and what other jazz greats they worked with throughout their long careers.
An 8-year-old child of a couple in the parish was devastated when the Chicago Cubs didn’t make it to the World Series. He asked his father how there could be a God since no one answered his or all the other long-suffering fans’ fervent prayers for the Cubs.
The call of God in our lives is at once a call to the most profound and to the most practical. Though the invitation of God is to give our whole selves, the manner of our response is typically focused on small, specific actions—right where we live.
TRUST ME, the right job is going to come along,” his daughter Terry assured him. John was having his doubts. He had retired from full-time work but after several years found he couldn’t make it on his pension.
A popular television show several years ago featured ordinary people who decided that their physical appearance was so lacking, it was negatively affecting their entire life. So they left their family and friends and jobs for a number of months.
Jeffrey’s brother Jesse was slow. Though Jesse was two year’s older, he acted years younger than Jeffrey. He had suffered brain damage at birth and would never progress past the mental maturity of a 4-year-old.
You know, it was the one about being nothing but a gong.” So said my friend when describing the reading he was asked to do at a wedding. The gong is an unforgettable scriptural image.