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Feast Days and Liturgical Seasons

Lent

Self-Selection: The Problem with Our Penance

During Lent, the Church calls us to prayer, almsgiving, and, perhaps most prominently, fasting. What does Lenten fasting and penance look like? Well, besides the lenient strictures of abstaining from meat on Fridays and eating a little less on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the Church leaves our penitential practices Read more…

By Daniel Staudt, 2 monthsApril 10, 2025 ago
Lent

The Sundays of Lent Are Still Lent

I’ve heard many times that since Sundays commemorate the Resurrection we pause Lent on Sunday and should celebrate a little Easter. I was even taught when I was young that you could have the thing you gave up for Lent on Sunday, breaking out candy bars to celebrate the day. Read more…

By Jared Staudt, 3 monthsMarch 9, 2025 ago
Feast Days and Liturgical Seasons

The Three Types of Christmas—And How to Celebrate Them

Deep Reading #6 In terms of Christmas, Catholics are fighting a losing battle. We don’t need to be reminded how far we’ve fallen from the simple celebration of Christ’s birth: instead, we have commercial companies making a push to sell us as many products as they possibly can. We push Read more…

By Daniel Staudt, 5 monthsJanuary 1, 2025 ago
Lent

The Upright Shroud: An Overlooked, Mind-Blowing Detail

As we enter Holy Week today, my mind is drawn to the Shroud of Turin. I find the Shroud to be absolutely fascinating! It’s not that I’ve gone looking for anything I could get my hands on related to this great relic, but whenever I see something new about it, Read more…

By Jared Staudt, 1 yearMarch 24, 2024 ago
Feast Days and Liturgical Seasons

Penance in a Festive Season?

Even as we enter a penitential season, I’d like to reflect on penance in a festive season. This topic does have an application to Lent. Every Sunday celebrates the Resurrection, but Sundays still remain part of the Lenten season. Today is the First Sunday of Lent, for instance, not a Read more…

By Jared Staudt, 1 yearFebruary 18, 2024 ago
Advent

How is John the Baptist Elijah?

The Prophet Malachi foretold that Elijah, the great prophet who did not die, would come again before the “Day of the Lord” appeared: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to Read more…

By Jared Staudt, 1 yearDecember 17, 2023 ago
Advent

The Difference between Advent and Lent

On the surface, Advent and Lent are liturgical seasons expressed by the color violet, which prepare for a major feast. It is common to hear one explanation of the difference, that only Lent (and not Advent) is a penitential season, although Advent clearly arose as a kind of pre-Christmas Lent, Read more…

By Jared Staudt, 2 yearsDecember 12, 2022 ago
Easter

Divine Mercy: The Meaning and Background of the Chaplet Prayers

Good Friday through the Second Sunday of Easter is the time of mercy, the time when Jesus redeemed us from sin and established new life in his Resurrection. This is why it is the time Jesus asked us to pray a novena invoking his Divine Mercy for the Church and Read more…

By Jared Staudt, 3 yearsApril 14, 2022 ago
Lent

The Centrality of Betrayal?

A few years ago I read to my kids the first few volumes of the The Green Ember series, written by S.D. Smith, and immediately I was struck by one of its central themes: betrayal. It stood out pretty starkly for a kid’s book. The rabbit kingdom, Natalia, collapsed and Read more…

By Jared Staudt, 3 yearsApril 6, 2022 ago
Art

The Oratorio: Lenten Music to Edify (and Perhaps Entertain)

Lenten penance pertains to more than simply fasting from food and drink. It also entails curtailing the “delight of the eye” and pleasing sounds, which gratify our senses. Mortification means dying to ourselves and devoting more time to prayer and penance. This effort could be undone by continued immersion in Read more…

By Jared Staudt, 3 yearsMarch 12, 2022 ago

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