Every year as the Feast of the Annunciation approaches, I think of how our Blessed Mother received the news that she would be the mother of Jesus.

In March, with Christmas now feeling well-behind us, we nevertheless touch it again, for on the 25th of this month we observe the Solemnity of the Annunciation as recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke.

God leaves the safety and glory of heaven, in a certain sense, and embraces the limitations of our human condition, coming to know in the flesh both the glory and tragedy of our nature without ever having sinned.

Even in the heavenly life of the world to come, we retain our human nature.

We’re all called to love unconditionally, to be the Prodigal’s father welcoming with open arms, to open our doors to a wider perimeter.

In the Land of Pleasant Living, we are blessed with many pleasant meatless options.

The time of Lent is not meant so much to provide us with a literal 40 forty days of penance, but rather to recall Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert.

Before he was known for anything else, Pope Francis was known as “the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.”

For as long as I can remember, the Baltimore St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been part of my world.

Our obligation to do some form of penance on Friday is identified in Canon 1250 in the Code of Canon Law, which tells us that “The penitential days and times in the universal church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.”