“Why do churches face East” The idea behind Anglican and Catholic churches facing east is rooted in the belief that the sun rises in the east and when the Messiah returns, he will come from the east. By positioning the building toward the east, churchgoers are positioned to pray toward the east. Due to its  Read more …

Only five loaves and two small fishes? But what are they among so many? Today’s gospel exposes the conflict between the enormity of the problem and the insignificance of the means. We all have been there. Jesus feeding of the multitudes could serve as a metaphor for our great hunger. We languish for the living  Read more …

Weeks 3 & 4: Come back to me! (Joel 2:12) It’s hard to believe that we are already beyond the halfway-point of our Lenten journey. Let’s step back a little and bring our minds and our hearts back to the liturgical celebration of Ash Wednesday and think of the Lenten symbols, among which are ashes.  Read more …

Why do we eat fish (not meat) on Friday? From Jewish roots In actual fact, fasting from meat on Fridays can be traced all the way back to the earliest Christian communities who continued many Jewish fasting traditions that were first laid down in the Old Testament (Leviticus 11 & 23:26-32). Before the start of  Read more …

Is the devil really just a myth? Whether you are religious or not, demons have played a large part in mythology, books, movies, and even music. Films, such as “Paranormal Activity”, “The Exorcist”, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”, “Fallen”, and – more recently – “The Last Exorcism”, have made demons something to fear. Movies, however,  Read more …

Week 2: Finding Hope in the Desert Sometimes life can be overwhelming. We may be stressed by the circumstances of our day, afraid for our future, and tired of doing what is right. For better or worse, the Bible assures us that we are not alone. So many of the stories we hear – from  Read more …

Why 40 days of Lent, fasting and abstinence? The reason Lent lasts 40 days is that 40 is the traditional number of judgment and spiritual testing in the Bible (Gn 7:4, Ex 24:18, 34:28, Nm 13:25, 14:33, Jon 3:4). Lent bears particular relationship to the 40 days Christ spent fasting in the desert before entering  Read more …

Your faith In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the Canaanite woman, “O woman, great is thy faith”. This woman, we are told, was not member of the community that followed Jesus…she was an outsider; how can she have faith greater that those who have been following Jesus? What kind of faith was it? What does it  Read more …

Week One: The enemy in the Wilderness When was the last time you had a really memorable Lent? Or even a life-changing Lent? So often we just give up something like chocolate like we always have, without giving it much thought. And we don’t really stick to it. Or if we do manage to get  Read more …

Why 40 days of Lent, fasting and abstinence? The reason Lent lasts 40 days is that 40 is the traditional number of judgment and spiritual testing in the Bible (Gn 7:4, Ex 24:18, 34:28, Nm 13:25, 14:33, Jon 3:4). Lent bears particular relationship to the 40 days Christ spent fasting in the desert before entering  Read more …