. Lent is intended to be a season for intensifying the disciplines of our faith — not the only time when we practice them!

First-time visitors to The Catholic University of America routinely tell us that there’s something different about our campus, something they often can’t quite put their finger on, but they recognize as warm, welcoming, open — joyful.

In more typical parish settings, perhaps the pro-life intention might be “hidden” and implicit rather than explicit and obvious in a given intercession.

No matter how we plan, or the expectations we set for ourselves, the actual Lenten journey never seems to look the way we might have hoped it would.

Blessedly, Holy Week offers us the chance to refocus, reflect and renew as we wind down our Lenten journeys and look ahead to the promise of Easter.

There were plenty of lessons to be learned in that “Year of Mercy” now we are in a “Year of Prayer” — so designated by Pope Francis in anticipation of the 2025 Jubilee Year.

If you’re of an older generation, you may remember being taught that no one got to heaven outside the Catholic Church. Fortunately, the Second Vatican Council helped us get over this narrow approach to God’s mercy.

Perhaps “just-us sessions” initially could lead to discussions of ways to uphold the dignity of others without being torn down for atrocities that took root long before many were born.

To say the Eucharist cannot be Jesus Christ is a denial of several things: the words of Christ, as we hear in today’s Gospel; the tradition of the church; the power of God to become man; and the goodness of the created world itself.

“I think he realized I was troubled as a father. You have to fight for your children,” Don said. “He said, ‘I’m glad you came to me.’ What a fine example of what God calls us to do. He truly was a man of God.”