Dipping your fingers into holy water on your way into Mass seems like a small gesture until you can’t do it. There was no water there. I could bless myself with a waterless cross, but I missed that tangible encounter.

I love Lenten Fridays so much that I always think I should give up something else besides meat those days.

When we believe that we are made of the “stuff” of God, then we have the power to co-create our world again in God’s likeness. Our time is limited. Our love is not. 

Sin is a wound in the heart of an all-loving God. This should bring home to us the enormity and preciousness of God’s gift of mercy.

I like to think God has a good sense of humor. So who says we can’t have fun in church?

A chance meeting with strangers added light to this Lenten journey.

In the midst of trial and worry, we seek the intimacy of this powerful and mysterious force we call God. Let Lent open us to grace, to see the big picture, even if it’s impossible to imagine 15 Milky Ways.

Last weekend we took a day trip to Frederick, and John suggested that we stop at St. Peter’s in Libertytown, Md., for Saturday evening Mass.

The differences in attitude while muddling through emotional heartache or illness are what can make or break us.

Father Doyle fields questions about annulments and dropping the consecrated host.