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First Sunday of Lent – The Commandments
We get gipped with this Sunday’s first reading. We only get to hear 7 (vv.4-10) of the 29 verses of Deuteronomy 26. We miss some important parts. I cheated and had the lector read verses 1-12. They’re too good to pass up. I recommend you read the whole chapter this first week of Lent. What’s in it? This chapter contains core elements of the Old Testament. God chooses refugee nomads from modern day Aleppo to form into the Jewish people. These people become slaves in Egypt and then God frees them for the oppression of Egypt. Israel receives and accepts the commandments of the covenant. God makes Israel his own and fulfills…
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The Growing Humanitarian Crisis in Venezuela & Taking Lent Seriously
On this week’s Just Love episode, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan takes a deeper look at the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and also talks about how younger people are doing for Lent. Dr. Veronica Zubillaga, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the Universidad Simon Bolivar down in Caracas, Venezuela. She is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Dr. Zubillaga talks to Msgr. Sullivan about the growing humanitarian and political crisis in her native Venezuela and what steps need to be taken to solve the crisis in that country. Kayla Auza is a Sophomore studying International Relations and…
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Why Practice Lent?
“Rend your hearts not your garments” the prophet Joel long ago directed. The same theme is directed to us this Ash Wednesday: “Open up your hearts.” Let’s not waste our time on superficial Lenten practices that fail to touch our hearts. Let’s take on and carry out those practices, penances, and deeds in a way that opens up our hearts in three directions – to ourselves, to one another and to our God. The script: pray, sacrifice and help. Why those three? They open our hearts in three ways: prayer – to God; sacrifice – to ourselves; helping – to others. The script is tried and true, and at least…
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A Shelter for Expecting Mothers and the “Spirituality of Service”
On this episode of Just Love, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan talks about services that help expecting mothers get the support they need, and how we can incorporate service into Lent this year. Christopher Bell is the Founder and Director of Good Counsel, an affiliated agency of Catholic Charities o the Archdiocese of New York that is dedicated to providing shelter and services to homeless pregnant women and their unborn children before, during and after their birth. Chris shares a bit about the 33-year history of Good Counsel Homes and how they continue to support homeless expectant mothers in difficult circumstances throughout their pregnancy, through the birth of their child and beyond.…
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A Guide to a “Holy 40” Lent
LENT – 2019 PRAYING, FASTING & SACRIFICING, HELPING AND SERVING AGAIN? UGH! DIDN’T WE ALREADY DO THIS? I WANT TO BE CONTRARY! – NOT “UGH.” BUT I SAY, THANK GOD FOR ANOTHER LENT. So here’s why: My basic take on Lent – at least this year – is that we need to break the routines of our lives to make room to progress, better ourselves, and in the process, make a better world. Most of the popular fads, trends, training – both the good and bad ones – mean changing for a sustained period in order to “create a better you.” Let me borrow form a currently popular one –…
