The biggest saints were often some of the biggest sinners. The difference between them and us may be that they sought liberation through confessing their wrongdoing. Holding onto sin means letting it hold onto us, or as Saint Alphonsus Liguori said, “After we have offended God, the devil labors to keep the mouth closed.” The sixth-century monk John Climacus was even more picturesque about it: “Eggs warmed in dung hatch out. Unconfessed evil thoughts hatch evil actions.” Don’t let the spirit of jealousy, resentment, or dishonesty hatch out! Run, don’t walk, to the sacrament that liberates!

Although the Pledge of Allegiance has been around since 1892, the words “under God” were not officially added by Congress until 1954. While some have criticized the move as breaching the church-state divide, the notion that we are all under a Supreme Being in fact encourages the egalitarian spirit the United States is known for. The idea that no one is above God reinforces the American belief that no one is above the law either. The sense that we are a people living under God can help us see each other as brothers and sisters and motivate us to work for greater equality and justice for all.

Katherine Drexel (1858-1955) went beyond herself in many ways. Beyond her economic class—she gave away millions of dollars of her inheritance to charities. Beyond her race—she founded a religious order of women to help African Americans and Native Americans. When she was 77, however, her life of service changed to one of quiet and prayer after she suffered a heart attack. Katherine’s story shows the importance of both prayer and service, contemplation and action. Find that balance in your own life.

In the season of Lent, tradition calls on Christians to fast. Fasting has a long history, going all the way back to biblical times. Jesus fasted in the wilderness before embarking on his ministry. As a spiritual discipline fasting points to a period of preparation—in Lent, preparation to celebrate the Easter mysteries. It reminds you to clear away distractions and look more closely at yourself and where things come from and where they go. Think of all the “resources” in your life: time, money, food, possessions, even love. Are you using them well? Now’s the time to find out.

You may be tempted to believe you have “failed” Lent; you might have relaxed your resolutions or Lenten practices. But you should not think that your Lent is over the instant you stumble. The third- and fourth-century church father Saint John Chrysostom reminds us that our task is rather simple: “Have you sinned? Mourn and annul the sin. How toilsome is this? . . . I am not telling you to cleave the oceans, or to navigate slowly into port from the high seas, or to march, or to depart on an endless journey . . . Then what? Mourn the sin.” Always be willing to reevaluate your goals for this Lent, keeping in mind that repentance is all that is asked of you.

The gospel story of the “prodigal son” provides a vivid illustration of the limits of acquisitiveness and self-indulgence. The son first demands his inheritance from his father while his father is still alive (ouch!). If that weren’t enough, he then quickly runs through it in the biblical equivalent of a Las Vegas weekend splurge. Only when he hungers to fill his empty stomach does he come to his senses. In a similar way, feeling a bit of hunger—the effect of the traditional Lenten discipline of fasting—might help us reflect on our own shortcomings and make adjustments and amends as necessary. Consider skipping a meal today for the sake of your spirit.

We tend to pray for the people we like. Or at least we pray for family and friends, even—or especially—if they’re troublesome. Maybe for Lent we should try praying for the people we don’t like, those at work or school or in the neighborhood who just rub us the wrong way. They are like the unfruitful trees in the gospel story: We encounter them hoping for something sweet, but we get something sour. Our prayers for them are like . . . well, fertilizer. A season of prayer would do them—and us—a world of good.

Saint John of God (1495-1550) had a habit of jumping in to help whenever he saw the need. During a hospital stay he got up to care for the other patients around him. On another occasion, when the same hospital was on fire, he dropped what he was doing, raced to the scene, and rushed into the burning building to carry out patients on his back and then again to try to save the structure. A prayer to John says: “Saint John, help us to act out of love as soon as we feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit.” Have you ever held back when you could have helped? Promise yourself you’ll leap at future chances to do something good.

Frances was born in Rome in 1384 to wealthy parents. At an early age she wanted to be a nun, but her parents arranged a marriage instead. She would lose two children to the plague, which sensitized her to the needs of the less fortunate. With her sister she visited the poor and took care of the sick, inspiring other wealthy women to do the same. Frances can serve as our inspiration to practice a little good-old-fashioned Lenten almsgiving.

God bless those who take the time and trouble to teach! The neighbor who shares the secret to flaky pie crust; the guy at the hardware store who explains the mysteries of doorknob mechanisms; and the high school history teacher who opens up a love for the treasures of the past—all give us something wonderful for the road ahead. The greatest teachers are those who instruct us not only in how-to-do but who-to-be: loving, compassionate, responsible, and just children of God. Consider the best lessons you’ve been taught and pass them along.

Lent’s traditional fasting, prayer, and almsgiving can help us slow down and consider whether the thousands of choices we make in a day are in tune with God. In prayer we listen in silence for God’s perspective on how to live. Fasting prods us to abandon quick, self-indulgent answers to life’s questions and problems. Almsgiving asks what we value and whether we are generous. Tuned in to our often automatic decision-making, we may realize how much each choice matters. The amazing ability of a computer is actually the result of myriad “switches,” each set at either one or zero. Change only one, and the result changes. So also we, by paying attention to our choices, may choose to undo some of our scatteredness, our noisiness, our sadness—and soften a stony heart.

When challenged by the scribes to name the most important of the commandments, Jesus begins by quoting the prayer that is known as the Shema Yisrael for its opening words: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” To this day observant Jews consider the Shema their most important prayer, reciting it twice daily, and it is traditional for Jews to recite it as their last words. If we want to understand the life and times of Jesus, a good place to start is to learn about Judaism. Study up today!

How’s Lent going for you? Has it been easy to enter into this year, or has it not even been on your radar screen? Wherever you are, it’s OK. Today is a new day. If you’re having difficulty, look to the prophet Hosea. Hosea gives us two things on which to focus our attention and efforts. First, he calls us to be persons of steadfast love. We can express steadfast love by attending a Lenten celebration with our parish community, reaching out to someone in need, or doing something especially considerate for our loved ones. Second, Hosea calls us to knowledge of God; not simply to know about God but to know God, to be in relationship with God. We can do that by being aware, right now, that we are in God’s presence.

Accused of hanging out with sinners, Jesus tells one of his best stories. “A man had two sons,” the elder (oh-so-good) and the younger (not-so-much). It’s a story about extravagance and wastefulness—prodigality—but not the son’s. The “prodigal father’s” affection and forgiveness go overboard, a spendthrift with his love. The parable closes with a party dad throws for his son who “once was lost and now is found” but the older son refuses to join the celebration, so that the father has to beg him to go beyond his joyless (self-)righteousness. The father actually runs out to meet a son twice: once to kiss the errant, broken younger one and then to bring into the warmth that stubborn elder one. Jesus still “consorts with sinners,” no manner which kind we are.

Our faith might be more conditional than we’d like to admit. We may expect it to magically solve all our problems, perhaps by way of miraculous signs and wonders such as the Galileans expected of Jesus. It’s understandable, but that is not how faith always works. It’s not only about a miracle fix but rather about facing and resolving life’s challenges with confidence that we do not face them alone—God is at our side. So rather than hope for a miracle today, work on resolving a problem yourself, with confidence and serenity that God is with you.

What do you do when what you need is beyond your grasp? That was the problem for the man who’d been waiting by the healing pool of Bethesda for 38 long years. The waters were only beneficial if you reached them when the angel had stirred them. At the pace this poor fellow moved, someone always beat him to it. The arrival of Jesus changed the rules of the game. No more did healing depend on special moments, healing mediums, or preferential considerations. The word of Jesus sufficed to make the sick man whole. His word remains the one that saves.

“Saint Patrick’s Breastplate,” an Irish morning prayer from the eighth century, is a testament to Patrick’s almost palpable sense of closeness to God: “Christ shield me this day . . ./ Christ with me,/ Christ before me,/ Christ behind me,/ Christ in me,/ Christ beneath me,/ Christ above me . . .” and on the litany goes. Just as Jesus describes how he cannot do anything except through the Father, so Patrick prays that anything he does goes through the Son. Jesus is Patrick’s protector, his friend, and above all, Patrick believes that it is Jesus whom he will encounter through “every eye that sees” him each day. What breastplate can you fashion today that will help strengthen your faith? Perhaps you can begin with a morning prayer.

There aren’t many saints venerated by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglicans alike, but Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386) is one. If that weren’t enough of a distinction, Cyril is also honored as a doctor of the church. Why so special? He was a key voice in resolving a number of doctrinal disputes in the early church and helped advance the belief that the consecrated bread and wine are not mere symbols but the actual body and blood of Christ. The next time you receive Communion, give a nod of thanks to Cyril for helping illuminate the experience. You’ll be in good company doing so.

Although Saint Joseph does not say a word in the gospels, we know that he was both a deeply spiritual and an immensely practical person. How else could he have managed to take Mary on that difficult and dangerous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, find shelter, help her give birth to their son, change plans, transport his family safely to Egypt in the middle of the night, and support them in exile for years until it was finally safe to return to Nazareth? Joseph’s actions speak volumes. Reflect on these words of Leonardo da Vinci: “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do.”

The path from plan to reality can be rough and sometimes goes off in unexpected directions. That’s especially true when people insist something has to be so because that’s the way they want it or can’t imagine anything different. Jesus found himself in this situation when people were arguing about whether he fit the description of who they thought the Messiah or a prophet was supposed to be. Unfortunately this discussion blinded them to actually believing in him. Try to get past always seeing how things are supposed to be (and frequently aren’t) to how they really are.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once observed: “If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” While we cannot always know or understand the circumstances of our enemies’ lives, we are nevertheless called to forgive them, as Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery—and every other sinner he encountered. To know the secret lives of others is really God’s purview. Yet, because God forgives everyone (ourselves included!), who are we to hold a grudge?

Few words in the English language have as many positive connotations as light. Pull out your dictionary and see for yourself: “radiance or illumination,” “daybreak or dawn,” “a person who is an outstanding leader—a leading light,” “a gleam or sparkle, as in the eyes,” “to brighten with animation or joy,” “spiritual illumination or awareness.” We begin to see the wisdom of describing Jesus as the light of the world, the one who brings the light of life. That’s good news to brighten any day. Let it brighten yours!

Born in 1538 in Spain, Saint Toribio was a professor and well-known judge. His leadership qualities, however, attracted attention and led to an unexpected development: appointment as archbishop of the far-flung territory of colonial Peru. Though he asked to be excused from the task, he nonetheless set off for the New World, where he roamed the vast diocese, teaching, bringing the sacraments, building churches and hospitals, and learning the many languages of the native people he served—and whom he tried to protect from abuses at the hands of the conquistadores. If you ever feel called to forsake prestige for service, accept the challenge with gratitude and enthusiasm.

“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” These words provoked intense controversy when Jesus said them because his hearers—who already believed in him—didn’t consider themselves unfree! People who are addicted often have no awareness of their disease. They think everyone else has the same compulsions and desires as they do. Often it takes a serious shock, even an intervention, to help the person see the truth and start heading toward freedom. If we are allowing Lent to do its work of shedding light, of holding our lives against the plumb-line of the gospel, we may at first feel sad or shocked or afraid of what we find, but on the other side is freedom.

How do you get God’s favor? Start by becoming “full of grace.” It’s not as unlikely as it sounds. Grace means divine help. If we rely on God and not on people and things—all of which are passing—we’re as good as there. When our reliance is truly on God there won’t be room for those nagging second thoughts. Imagine a life free of anxiety, fear, doubt, and moral paralysis! That was the life Mary of Nazareth knew, trusting every day that the divine promises to her would be fulfilled. Go on: Take a daily step farther into grace.

Jeremiah and the prophets often spoke out against the injustices of their day, be they injustices against God or the people. Sometimes we can identify with those who are oppressed because we’ve had experiences of being oppressed. And, as uncomfortable as it may be to consider, sometimes we can identify with the oppressors. It can be we who denounce, who enact revenge, who pick up stones against others. This Lent, be conscious that Jesus invites us to know the full truth about ourselves and take concrete steps—small ones and big ones—to be reconciled with ourselves, with others, and with God.

People often ask why the Jewish leaders didn’t believe in Jesus. A gospel story gives us one explanation: to do so would have brought destruction down on them from the Romans. The empire tolerated the Jewish religion, but they weren’t going to allow a new religion. So for the leaders it was either eliminate Jesus or lose the nation. Hmm . . . not exactly a win-win calculation. What impossible situations have presented themselves to you? Lent is a good time to reframe the questions you face, and with the help of prayer and scripture find just and life-giving solutions.

The prophet Isaiah’s four “servant songs” (Isaiah 42:17; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12) describe the qualities of the ideal servant leader. To begin with this person is the “chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations” (42:1b). It’s not surprising that the early Christians saw in the servant songs a remarkable similarity to Jesus’ life and ministry. The third song (which is proclaimed today) talks of a suffering servant. This passage helped Jesus’ followers understand his death on the cross in a new and hopeful way. We are all God’s servants; how is this truth expressed in your life?

It’s good to keep in mind that Jesus chose a thief to be one of his 12 apostles. Otherwise we might think Jesus chose us because we’re so good! It’s also ironic that Judas’ false protest that the money spent to anoint Jesus should have been given to the poor elicited this famous rebuke from Jesus: “You will always have the poor with you.” We use that quote today to put off giving to the poor. In reality the money we possess has been entrusted to us to help the needy. When we refuse to do so, we are thieves like Judas. There’s one week left to repent.

We move into Holy Week with a sober reminder of our imperfect nature, exemplified by predictions of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial of Jesus. It would be easy to point a finger at their failings while denying our own potential to do the same. At one time or another we all disappoint those who count on us for support. Today is a good day to make some amends for past shortcomings or betrayals. Then you can move toward Easter with a lighter spirit and a more joyful heart.

As Holy Week continues you might stop to think about the importance of listening for your Lenten journey. In prayer you listen for the Spirit of God and the promptings of your own heart. In almsgiving you listen for the voices of those in need and then respond. In fasting you listen to your own spiritual and physical hungers to sort out what is truly important. In these last few days of Lent take some time to listen.