Like many things in the Catholic faith, there a few things expressed as either/or or only this and not that. Instead there is usually a both/and. In the context of our salvation, the words we often use focus on justice. Due to sin, we have a debt. On Good Friday, we remember Jesus' death on the cross, as a repayment of that debt, like paying a ransom, to free us from the consequence of our sin. A debt he didn't owe. As Scott Hahn often says, Jesus paid a debt he didn't owe because we had a...

We hardly ever hear the full story of what happened between the time Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. You have probably heard all of the pieces at some time. But reading the synoptic Gospels completely provides a fascinating account of this time. It's hard to imagine that all this happened in a matter of days and hours! In Mark, Holy Week is described from Mark 11 through Mark 14. In Matthew, it is chapters 21 through 26. In Luke, it is chapters 19...

St. Paul's words from his letter to the Ephesians in our second reading this weekend struck me. "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light" Sleeper. It's a convicting label. Have I been "a sleeper"? How? Our Lenten practices awaken us. Through God's grace we have the desire to engage in them. Then, Christ shines His light on those things that make us dead, on those things that keep us from fully loving God and neighbor, on those things that keep us loving...