I remember as a child, my mother placing fresh flowers each day before the little statue of Mary she kept on her bedroom dresser. Whether they be forsythia, tree blossoms, irises or lily of the valley (all of which grew in our yard), Mary always had fresh flowers during the month of May. Why do we honor Mary with flowers during May? Many of our Christian customs have roots in pre-Christian celebrations. As the Christian faith was taught to peoples of different cultures, missionaries often took their local customs and connected them to Christian belief. In ancient Greece and Rome, the goddesses of fertility and blossoms were honored during the month of May as springtime brought fertility and new life. Click the title to read more.

For the past six weeks of Lent, we’ve been preparing for and building up to the celebration of the greatest event in Christianity, the celebration of Easter – when Christ defeated death by rising to new life. Whether we’ve been coming to daily Mass, praying or reading the Bible more, attending a bible study, making the Stations of the Cross, following Dynamic Catholic’s Best Lent Ever series or the daily readings from the Lenten meditation book, we’ve been highly engaged in faith activities during the Lenten Season. Even in our homes perhaps we’ve been preparing in all kinds of ways, cooking traditional Easter specialties, decorating or planting flowers, creating Easter baskets. Now that we’ve celebrated Easter Sunday, what’s next? Click the title to read more.

A Very Happy and Blessed Easter to All! Today our 40-day Lenten pilgrimage culminates in Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead. Mary Magdalene delivers the disturbing news to Peter and the beloved disciple that the body of Jesus is missing from the place where they buried him on the preceding Friday. They race to the tomb only to find the tomb open and Jesus’ body gone. The tidied burial cloths raise a suspicion that Jesus’ body was not simply moved or stolen. Rather it must mean that he had been raised as he promised: “the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed, and rise after three days” (Mk. 8:31). God’s extravagant love has rolled away the stone and emptied the tomb! The beloved disciple sees and believes! Alleluia! Click the title to read more.

Another obstacle to going to confession I often hear from people is they don’t know what to confess. Prior to the Second Vatican Council, morality seemed so black and white – we knew clearly what was and wasn’t a sin. Today however there seems difficulty discerning what is appropriate matter for confession. First, to be culpable (responsible) for a sin we must know and understand that what we have done or neglected to do is sinful. We can’t be guilty of something we are unaware is a sin. A thorough Examination of Conscience will help us to discern our sins both of commission and omission. To do this, we could start by remembering the Ten Commandments and determining if we are guilty of breaking any of these. Click the title to read more.