It turns the whole story on its head for me.

Sometimes the large, life-changing moments are the ones that show us we need to turn everything over to God. Sometimes it’s the flat tire or a snowstorm derailing our plans. But each time we have an opportunity to come away trusting Jesus a little bit more.

Every Sunday my fellow small group leader and I bring a snack for our second graders to enjoy in our Sunday School class. Because it was St. Patrick’s Day, I thought we might make the snack a little more fun than usual.

Don’t you just love fortune cookies? You get a cookie that has a little note just for you inside.

Venerable Fulton Sheen once said of worry: “Nothing is more destined to create deep-seated anxieties in people than the false assumption that life should be free from anxieties.”

If I had to point to one thing that stunted my motivation to evangelize, to go beyond highlighting cultural contributions of blacks to Catholicism to confidently asking others to become Catholic too, I’d have to admit it was racism.

When I think of growing up in St. Pius X parish in Rodgers Forge, I think of Msgr. Baumgartner.

We really love Ash Wednesday, don’t we? I love how it’s not even a holy day of obligation, and yet churches fill with people who want to receive ashes. There’s something about that mark of humility and repentance that feels so right.

Gym Meet traditions include Mary Bartel, chairwoman of the Physical Education/Health Department, serving as faculty moderator for nearly 30 years.

We fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstain from meat on the other Fridays of the season, but it’s not much of a sacrifice to splurge on lobster instead of beef as a Lenten meal.