 I’ll be the first to admit that, some Sundays, my mind wanders. Whatever was on my mind before entering the Church building does not magically disappear when I enter the pew, and, sometimes, the worries of the day prevent my full and active participation in the Mass. Other Sundays, I bring my strongest enthusiasm and energy to give my all at Mass, and the three little saints under the age of 6 that I bring with me to Mass have normal childhood needs that supersede my best intentions. Yet, every once in a while, despite all the distractions and my human frailty, the Holy Spirit still figures out a way to speak to me through the Mass. On one of these spiritually enriching Sunday Masses, I was able to hear the words of the Eucharistic Prayer with new ears. A phrase caught my attention in a whole new way. In fact, I haven’t been able to shake the weight of the priest’s words that day and every Sunday since then. At the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, called the Preface, before the Consecration occurs, the priest begins … Priest: The Lord be with you. People: And with your spirit. Priest: Lift up your hearts. People: We lift them up to the Lord. Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. People: It is right and just. And then, the priest says something particularly amazing … The priest says, “It is truly right and just, our duty and salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks...” Giving Unending Thanks to God is ‘Our Duty and Salvation’ It is our basic duty as human beings to give thanks to God. Afterall, what could be more natural than to be grateful and appreciative to the God who created us, sustains us, and is the source of all good things? Albeit facetious, if we were to find a job description or instruction manual for how to be a good human on one of the many job search websites out there, being grateful to the Creator who made us, sustains us, and loves us more than we can possibly imagine has to make the top of the list of duties. And the importance of our thanksgiving does not end there. Not only is giving thanks and glory to God one of our chief responsibilities, but we should “always and everywhere … give God thanks” because it is part of working out our salvation! How well (or how poorly) do we respond to God’s gracious gifts, love, and mercy? Do we give thanks and glory to God by loving God and our neighbor? Christ has opened the gates of heaven for us; how will we respond to His offer of salvation? Dr. John Cavadini at the University of Notre Dame stressed the importance of thanksgiving in this way: ‘If the only prayer we ever said was ‘Thank you!’ and we meant it a little more and more each time we prayed, that would be enough.’ It’s been over ten years since I took a theology course with Dr. Cavadini, yet his words on thanksgiving are still committed to my memory today. The Eucharist - Our Thanksgiving If the importance of our grateful prayers and actions weren’t enough, our efforts to give thanks to God should bring us right back to where we started - the Eucharist. Our catechism explains, “the Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through creation, redemption, and sanctification. Eucharist means first of all ‘thanksgiving’” (CCC 1360). It is “through Christ, the Church can offer the sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for all that God has made good, beautiful, and just in creation and in humanity” (CCC 1359). May we all grow in gratitude for the gifts God has bestowed upon us and humbly approach the sacrificial altar with grateful hearts!
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 As I have gotten older, my favorite part about Lent has become the fact that we have the privilege of willingly walking into the desert - into these 40 days - with our Lord. I think there are a lot of times in our lives when we suddenly find ourselves in the desert - desperate for water, nourishment, or companionship. It is in the desert where we not only grow in intimacy with the Lord, but are also able to be strengthened through real repentance. What is true for us in the deserts of our lives is the same thing that was true for the Prodigal Son in this Sunday’s Gospel: we receive the promise of a Father who receives our repentance with mercy. The story of the Prodigal Son is an important one for us to reflect upon as we continue on our Lenten journeys - it is through repentance that the very son who squandered his inheritance is welcomed back with open arms into the mercy of his father. And the story doesn’t end there: not only does the father embrace and welcome his son back, he rejoices and celebrates his return for those around him to see. It is through our repentance that we experience the mercy of God; it is through our repentance that we receive the promise of the desert of these 40 days. This is so beautifully echoed in all the readings that the Church gives us during this season: God the Father rejoices when we are brought back to life again (Luke 15:32). We as Catholics have the unique privilege of receiving this mercy every time we hear the words of the priest absolving us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Our moments of feeling desperate in the desert can be alleviated by honest repentance. After one particularly frustrating time in my life, I remember feeling like the Prodigal Son: convicted that I needed to repent and return to God, but also feeling shame over all the ways that I had squandered what the Lord had given me. And in that moment a priest reminded me that confession is always a place of victory. Like the prodigal son who acknowledged his failures and was welcomed back with mercy and celebration, we too find an outpouring of mercy and grace when we reconcile ourselves to God. As we journey towards Calvary, we do so knowing that our repentance leads to an encounter of mercy and ultimately to victory. Questions for Reflection: What are some moments in your life when you’ve encountered the mercy of God and others? How did these moments affect you? For more resources to accompany you in your Lenten journey, please click here. *This blog is reposted and was originally published March 28, 2019.* AuthorLauren Scharmer is the director of a multi-parish youth ministry program in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
 What does it look like to turn our hearts toward Christ this Lent? Pope Leo offers us an important consideration in his Lenten Message: “I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor. Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. Instead, let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities. In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace” (2026 Lenten Message). Turning our hearts and minds toward Christ is reflected not simply in the practices that we think are directed toward God, but even more so the ones that are directed toward our brothers and sisters in humanity. Our love of God needs to be reflected in our love of neighbor. Recently, the Holy Father went to the Pallottine church in Ostia near Rome, Santa Maria Regina Pacis (St. Mary, Queen of Peace) where he visited the parishioners and celebrated Mass. It is a place with much drug abuse and crime, and yet, there is a vibrant, faith-filled community that works together with other Christians and people of good will to assist the needs of others, particularly children and young people. In his homily, Pope Leo talked about the need to look into our own hearts: “When it happens to us to judge others and to despise them, let us remember that the evil we see in the world has its roots right there, where the heart becomes cold, hard and poor in mercy” (Homily in Ostia, February 15, 2026) Lent is the perfect opportunity through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, to turn our hearts to Christ through love of God and love of neighbor. May the charity of Christ urge us on! In God, the Infinite Love, Fr. Frank
 For the last two years, my parish has hosted a virtual Lourdes pilgrimage led by the Lourdes Volunteers. This prayerful experience went beyond my general understanding of Mary’s 18 apparitions to St. Bernadette in southern France during 1858. By attending this virtual pilgrimage, I felt the Virgin Mary’s call to learn more about her, and through her, to grow closer to God. A few months after attending my first virtual pilgrimage, I completed a Marian consecration with several friends. Thankfully, the team of volunteers with the Lourdes Volunteers is still hosting virtual pilgrimage experiences via broadcast on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11. We often think of the physical healing miracles at Lourdes, but emotional healing is also an important part of the message of Lourdes. When I attended these virtual pilgrimage sessions, the lessons of sacrifice that Our Lady shared with St. Bernadette stood out to me most. “I do not promise you happiness of this world, but of the next,” Mary said to St. Bernadette. Mary reminds us that uniting our sufferings to Jesus’ sufferings on the cross is where we find true joy. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot easier said than done! Prayer is transformative and plays a huge part in helping get us through our earthly sufferings. Choosing love helps make sacrifice endurable. St. Bernadette taught us that suffering passes, but having suffered remains eternally. The physical and emotional sacrifices of this world are temporary compared to the glory of everlasting life in heaven with God. St. Bernadette famously said, “One who loves does not notice their trials, or perhaps more accurately, is able to love them. Love without measure.” At first, this not noticing of trials seems idealistic. But then I realized that our trials are made more bearable because of our love for another. I think of how mothers go through physical pain and exhaustion for their newborn babies, or how a father stays up at night with a sick child. I think of how husbands and wives sacrifice individual wants for the needs of each other. I think of how a friend puts their own struggles aside to help another friend going through a deep, rough patch. We can look to Mary and Jesus as examples of how to love while enduring sacrifice. “She spoke to me as one person to another,” said St. Bernadette of Mary. This conversational nature of Mary and St. Bernadette’s relationship shows us that we can easily speak to her and ask for her prayerful intercession as our mother. At Mary’s appearances to St. Bernadette, she revealed herself to be the Immaculate Conception. By allowing God to forgive us of our sins and conduct his work inside us, we are becoming more “immaculate” witnesses to God in the world. Mary emphasized the need for penance and prayer, not just for ourselves, but for the healing of all. While our travel is limited during this Covid-19 pandemic, we can still embody St. Bernadette by imagining the grotto and going there in our hearts to make a pilgrimage. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. St. Bernadette, pray for us. *This blog is reposted and was originally published February 11, 2021.* AuthorDana Edwards Szigeti currently resides in Orlando, Florida, where she works as a senior communications representative for a local company.
 A saint for a modern era is St. Josephine Bahkita, whose Feast Day is Feb 8th. Born in 1869, and having lived through a time when injustice and racism were rampant, she found faith, compassion, and even forgiveness that ultimately led her to Christ. Her childhood was carefree in Sudan, spending her younger years with her fellow Daju people where her uncle was the tribal chief. In 1877 she was taken and enslaved for many years under torment and abuse. It wasn’t until 1883, that she finally had a kind master who did not beat her and showed her compassion. She traveled with him to Italy where she was given to a family and served as a nanny to them. Through this family, she met the Canossion Sisters in Venice and learned, for the first time, about God, who he was, and that he was the Creator of all things that she had spent her life in awe and wonder of. She left the family and discerned to join the Sisters, answering a call to Christ. After legally being named free through a court case that ensured her freedom from slavery, she was baptized in 1890 and given the name Josephine Margaret and Fortunata (which means “fortunate” in Latin, and in Arabic, it’s Bakhita). On the same day of her baptism, she received holy communion and confirmation by Giusseppe Sarto, the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, who later became Pope Pius X. She took her final vows in December of 1896, and remained steadfast to her duties for the next 42 years, forever known for her gentleness and kindness. Affectionately, she was known as the “black mother” or “little brown sister” and shared her story of finding God and his grace for her life with anyone who might listen. Often, she would tell of her life and thank her kidnappers, for without having been taken from her home as a child, she might never have found God, found her Faith, or found her vocation with the Sisters doing the work of Christ. Later in life, she was subject to a wheelchair due to pain in her body and claimed it was “as the master desires” with no concern of her own pain. She died on February 8th, 1947 having uttered her final words, “Our Lady, Our Lady!”. We could learn a lot from St. Josephine, with her ability to show compassion when times were hard for her and find gratitude from the darkest times in her life. She is a modern saint for modern times, only having been canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II when he visited Sudan. In our lives, how often do we face injustice or have traumatic experiences that lead us to blame God or turn away from his Love? How many of us have been hurt, maybe by “religion” and imperfect people in our lives, only to turn away from God fully? When we take a moment to think about our pain and our suffering, is there anything that we could thank God for? Although at the time it was terrible and traumatic, did something good come from it? What blessings in our lives would we have without having faced other challenges? It’s like children learning a new skill for the first time, there are failures and it’s hard. With perseverance, the child slowly learns the new skill until they master it, finally feeling success. In my own life, I had an overly religious mother who was emotionally abusive and weaponized faith in a very twisted way. This caused division in my family and pain for me and my siblings to deal with throughout my entire life. Even though it was a traumatic time in my faith journey and has left scars, I have learned to find silver linings to it, knowing that without experiencing all of that, I may not have the many blessings in my life now. In the spirit of St. Josephine Bahkita, let us too be grateful for the many good things that we have in our life here and now. Let us remember that it is Christ who has walked beside us, never giving us more than we could handle, and showing us a bigger picture of life. My life is more full of joy, love, and faith than it was 20 years ago, and it wouldn’t have been without every bit of the journey I’ve had that led me to where I am today. This is my charge to you, my fellow Catholics and kindhearted people of the world, to use our hardships as stepping stones on the path of finding Christ in our lives each and every day. Let us have grateful hearts for the good and bad that have lent to our faith journeys, and pray that others may find this similar gratitude for the many blessings and graces we have. In my research, I found a prayer to St. Josephine Bahkita: Saint Josephine Bakhita, as a child, you were sold as a slave and had to spend untold difficulties and suffering. Once freed from your physical slavery, you found true redemption in your encounter with Christ and his Church. Oh, St. Bakhita, help those who are trapped in slavery; intercede on their behalf before God so that they are freed from the chains of captivity. May God free anyone who has been enslaved by man. Provide relief to those who survive slavery and allow them to see Him as a model of faith and hope. Help all survivors to find healing for their wounds. We beg you to pray and intercede for those who are enslaved among us. Amen. Sources: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5601 https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20001001_giuseppina-bakhita_en.html
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