Lent draws the faithful – sometimes kicking and screaming – to a period of spiritual preparation and renewal in anticipation of the coming jubilance of Eastertide. Throughout the history of the church, candidates for Holy Baptism would often engage in rigorous study, prayer and fasting during Lent. It was also the time when those who…

How human Samuel is in today’s reading! His story begins with him grieving over the disobedience of Saul, over the loss of a great king to selfish interest and, if we read further in the story, ultimately to madness. Just like us in our Lenten journey, Samuel reluctantly agreed to God’s call to set aside…

Monuments attract outcasts. This is as true today as it was in our Lord’s time. Walk outside the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, a.k.a. the National Cathedral, in Washington, D.C., and you will find today’s outcasts, the homeless. If you had walked outside the Temple in Jerusalem, mentioned in today’s Gospel, you would have…