As you read this we will be in the last few weeks of our Lenten promises. If you are like me you have probably slipped once or twice.

The Church in Toronto has a Lenten treasure that ends not with a whimper but a bang.

Families lived frugally in the rural Nova Scotia community I called home until early adulthood.

VATICAN CITY -- Lent is a time for deeper dialogue with God through prayer, for renewed gratitude for God's mercy and for increased compassion for people whose lives are under attack, Pope Francis said.

Alms, prayer and fasting are the broad categories the Church requires in the season of Lent. But let your heart and your devotion lead you over to the bookshelf, and you might find a path into the formal disciplines of Lent through spiritual reading.

After being asked to dig deeper last year to support the most vulnerable in society, parishioners across the Archdiocese of Toronto are being urged to be just as generous as ShareLife kicks off its 2020 campaign on Feb. 26, Ash Wednesday.

As Christmas and its light fades from our memories we enter a period of reflection — the season of Lent. 

It was Week 1 of my Exodus 90 fast and I really wanted a brownie.

Palm leaves and fronds decorate churches everywhere Palm Sunday as Christians prepare for the most solemn time of the liturgical year.

During Ash Wednesday Mass on the St. Mary’s University campus, professor of psychology, Fr. Peter Doherty, offered an inspiring homily. He spoke of the importance of the Lenten journey and the need for us to reach out and to support others, as well as the need to reflect on the importance of the “journey” of Lent — emphasizing that Lent isn’t a time period, but a process leading to discovery.

Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 31, 2019 (Year C) Joshua 5:9, 10-12; Psalm 34; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

When I first started thinking about what I would do for Lent this year, the last thing I imagined was a fast that would encompass 54 Fridays, running until Easter of next year.

I commend Fr. Michael Machacek for visiting Toronto parishes to “share information” and help give Catholics “hope” regarding the “horrors of priestly abuse.” But after reading the facts/figures he cites, I suggest that readers google a recent study published by Fr. Paul Sullins, a sociology professor who taught at the Catholic University of America (CUA) for many years. His report is entitled “Is the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse related to Homosexual Priests?”

Complete picture

I commend Fr. Michael Machacek for visiting Toronto parishes to “share information” and help give Catholics “hope” regarding the “horrors of priestly abuse.” But after reading the facts/figures he cites, I suggest that readers google a recent study published by Fr. Paul Sullins, a sociology professor who taught at the Catholic University of America (CUA) for many years. His report is entitled “Is the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse related to Homosexual Priests?”

I’ve begun to call it the Gospel on the Green Line.