The idea behind Anglican and Catholic churches facing east is rooted in the belief that the sun rises in the east and when the Messiah returns, he will come from the east. By positioning the building toward the east, churchgoers are positioned to pray toward the east. Due to its strong connection to the sun  Read more …

From Jewish roots In actual fact, fasting from meat on Fridays can be traced all the way back to the earliest Christian communities who continued many Jewish fasting traditions that were first laid down in the Old Testament (Leviticus 11 & 23:26-32). Before the start of Christianity, pious Jews would fast from most animal products  Read more …

Evil is real and fatal Demons have played a large part in mythology, books, movies, and even music. Films such as “Paranormal Activity” and “The Exorcist” have made demons something to fear. Movies, however, rarely scratch the surface of just how evil these corrupt former servants of God can be. Everywhere the Bible sees a  Read more …

People attending our Mass think a lot of things about the different postures we take.  Things like “Oh, up we go again.”  And “Why are we kneeling?”  Which is why this series focuses on the “why” of sitting, standing, and kneeling during a Mass.  Sitting:  In the bible, sitting is a posture of listening.  We  Read more …

“O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee as thou wilt.”    In today’s Gospel, the Canaanite woman implores Jesus to save her daughter, who “is grievously vexed with a devil”.  The message of Lent seems much concerned with devils, and with what can and should be done about them. But what, really, are we  Read more …

40 days in the desert of our lives Lent reminds us of the 40 years of wandering the Israeli people spent in the desert. It is also a commemoration of the 40 days our Lord Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting and praying, and being tempted by the devil.      The desert, as we know, is  Read more …

The reason Lent lasts 40 days is that 40 is the traditional number of judgment and spiritual testing in the Bible (Gn 7:4, Ex 24:18, 34:28, Nm 13:25, 14:33, Jon 3:4).  Lent bears particular relationship to the 40 days Christ spent fasting in the desert before entering into his public ministry (Mt 4:1-11).  We imitate  Read more …

Even the liturgy “fasts” in preparation for the glorious season of Easter. The (pre) Lenten season is marked by two very distinct liturgical omissions.  Neither the hymn known as the Gloria (Glory to God in the Highest) nor the Alleluia verse sung before the Gospel is permitted during the entire 40 days of Lent (with  Read more …

Lord, I want to see! “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me”, said the blind man.  Look at my misery, abandon me not, and reject me not.  You are my only hope in this hopeless place.  This is the meaning of the plea a blind man made as Jesus entered into Jericho. This cry  Read more …

God instructs us to learn spiritual principles from His physical creation Have you considered the example of the seed?  When we think of the word seed, we usually think of those little things that we stick in our garden, with great hopes that in time that seed will transform into some kind of fruit or  Read more …