Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a Catholic way of life, rooted in our baptism and strengthened by our confirmation. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our habits (good and bad), to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need. Focusing on the last of these, alms giving, may be one of the easiest ways you can start a new good habit. Numerous restaurants have teamed up with charities. Frequently you enter and notice they have various shapes taped up on their walls with names of all types written across the shape. Usually the shape represents someone giving a designated amount for the charity. So the next time you see one of these opportunities, pray to God and ask if it is the right place for you to give alms. You do want to be conscience of what types of activities the charity is supporting, so do not blindly give. Once you begin to give of yourself in this way, God will open new avenues to your heart and you will begin to see the world as a different place. As we continue to pray lent, I hope that the Holy Spirit is working within you to make the proper preparation for the Easter celebration.

In his Ash Wednesday homily, Pope Francis said the time of Lent is a call to leave hypocrisy behind and reconcile with God through fasting, charity and prayerful tears before our merciful Father. “I ask you a question: do I cry? Does the Pope cry? Do cardinals cry? Do bishops cry? Do consecrated men and women cry? Do priests cry?” the Pope said during his Feb. 18 Ash Wednesday Mass. Pope Francis is asking a lot of us this Lenten season. Are you ready to leave hypocrisy behind? That alone will take a lot of critical self-reflection and work. It may very well, as the Pope asks, make you cry. Feeling sorrowful is usually a good process but living through it can be very hard. I look to the heroes of the Bible like Joseph and his brothers. Joseph was placed in very difficult situations beginning with his brothers jealousy which led him to be sold into slavery, jailed and eventually to become one of the kings most trusted advisers. Joseph's perseverance is a great model because he never lost his faith. He trusted our God to carry him through the difficult times. I am sure Joseph cried many times over the course of his life. We know his father wept when he thought Joseph was dead. We know Joseph's brother cried when he thought Joseph would repay his anger and cruelty with vengeance. So God uses these situation to sharpen us and make us better warriors for Christ. The Pope asks us to fast as well. The beginning of a fasting period is usually the worst but the middle part of the process is where I usually receive the most blessing. I will not lie and say I enjoy fasting but it is a great way to purify yourself and pray with your entire self. So as we encounter the first Friday of Lent 2015 we must remember the basics like not eating meat to show our willingness to fast but more importantly we want to focus on charity. How will we demonstrate to the world that allowing Jesus into our lives fully makes us ready to change the world?

The liturgy should help the faithful enter into God's mystery and to experience the wonder of encountering Christ, Pope Francis told priests of the Diocese of Rome. People should feel the wonder and allure "that the apostles felt when they were called, invited. It attracts -- wonder attracts -- and it lets you reflect," the pope said during an annual Lenten meeting with Rome pastors in the Paul VI audience hall. Sitting behind a table and talking off-the-cuff, glancing occasionally at a few pages of notes in front of him, the pope led the pastors Feb. 19 in a reflection on the homily and "ars celebrandi," the art of celebrating the liturgy well. The Vatican press hall mistakenly broadcast via closed-circuit television the first 15 minutes of the encounter, which was meant to be closed to the media at the pope's request so that he could speak more freely with his audience, said Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman. While the annual meeting had always been open to news coverage, Pope Francis has preferred private meetings with local clergy during his visits to different parishes in Italy, the spokesman said.

Although Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation for us Catholics, many people mark the first day of the Lenten season by receiving ashes. Lent is a 40-day period focused on spiritual purification and repentance. It is a day of fasting for Catholics. Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of the distribution of ashes upon the foreheads of Catholics. Those black marks are meant to be crosses. The ashes come from the palms used in the previous year's Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter that marks Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem where he was met with palm branches by believers. It's especially significant, because Jesus was greeted in Jerusalem as a hero and the Messiah by the crowds and he would eventually be put to death. The ashes are meant to remind Christians about human mortality, while also showing the individual's desire for repentance and mourning of their own sins. As the priest or extraordinary minister puts the ashes on the forehead, he or she says "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). Catholics are encouraged to wear the ashes, which can be distributed on either their forehead or hand, until the ashes wear off as a public declaration of their faith. More importantly, the ashes are a reminder that we are beginning the holiest of seasons in our Catholic journey. It is a time for preparation as we countdown to the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith. Without it, Jesus was just a prophet. But we know and believe, through our faith, that Jesus Christ was truly man and truly God. We know that His grace has saved us and allows us to live eternally with Him in heaven. How do you plan to prepare? I encourage you to focus on things that will improve yourself, your family, your community, and the world at large.

The reform of the Roman Curia should promote "greater harmony" among the Vatican offices, not primarily to save money or promote efficiency, but to solidify the unity of the church and strengthen its ability to evangelize, Pope Francis said. The pope arrived in the Vatican's synod hall a half hour before the consistory, or meeting of the world's cardinals, was set to begin Feb. 12. Fewer than two dozen cardinals were there before him and the pope greeted them before standing at the front of the hall to welcome each of the others as they arrived. Nineteen of the 20 churchmen Pope Francis was to induct into the College of Cardinals Feb. 14 were present -- sitting in two rows behind the other cardinals; the Vatican said a total of 165 new and old cardinals were present. Including those who were about to receive their red hats, the College of Cardinals has 227 members. Most of those who were not in attendance are quite elderly or infirm and were unable to attend. Pope Francis scheduled the meeting primarily to discuss with the cardinals the proposals his nine-member international Council of Cardinals had developed for the reform of the Curia. The proposals include the creation of two new large, high-profile Vatican offices: the Congregation for Laity, Family and Life, and the Congregation for Charity, Justice and Peace, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. The charity and justice congregation would include the existing pontifical councils for health care and for migrants, but also would have a new section dedicated to "safeguarding creation." The proposed grouping, he said, flows from an understanding of "charity as fundamental to the essence, existence and mission of the church" and of working for justice "as a consequence" of charity. The Second Vatican Council insisted on the important vocation and role of the laity in the life of the church, particularly in witnessing to Christ in the world. Just as there are congregations for bishops, for clergy and for religious, Father Lombardi said, it seemed "natural" to the Council of Cardinals that there would be a congregation for laity. Given the centrality of family life for many laypeople, it made sense to combine the two councils and to have the Pontifical Academy for Life conduct its work under the new congregation's auspices, he said. At the beginning of the meeting, Pope Francis reminded his brother cardinals that the reform was requested by the College of Cardinals during the meetings that preceded his election in 2013.

St. Valentine’s Day plans do not typically include domestic abuse. Yet thousands of couples are already pre-purchasing their movie tickets for “50 Shades of Grey,” a film which many critics are saying romanticizes and attempts to normalize violence against women. “It brands violence as romance, it teaches women that sexual abuse and being a victim is hot or sexy, and it’s really the story of a seasoned predator,” said Dr. Gail Dines, founder and president of the international feminist organization Stop Porn Culture. The movie “50 Shades of Grey” is set for an international release on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. The film is based on the first installment of a three-book series by British writer E.L. James, which has topped best-seller lists all over the world, including in the United States and the United Kingdom. In the series, wealthy, 27-year-old Christian Grey grooms naive 21 year-old Anastasia to engage in a sadistic sexual relationship. More than 100 million copies have been sold worldwide, and the series has been translated into 52 languages, but its reception has been fraught with controversy. Many groups – from feminist activists and organizations against domestic violence to Christian leaders and Catholic bishops – are speaking out against the upcoming film, calling it misogynistic and a dangerous portrayal of violence as romance. In a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, N.Y., invited his fellow clergy to “(r)emind the faithful of the beauty of the Church’s teaching on the gift of sexual intimacy in marriage, the great dignity of women, and the moral reprehensibility of all domestic violence and sexual exploitation.” Dines and others in her organization became so incensed by the media hype surrounding the film, they came up with a social media campaign to boycott the movie, but with an ingenious twist: take the $50 that would be spent on dinner and movie tickets for two, and instead donate it to a shelter for victims of domestic violence. “This is a protest to give the money to a battered women’s shelter, because that’s where Anastasia is going to end up,” Dines told CNA. “She’s not ending up in a beautiful lake house with a guy who adores her. If she’s lucky she ends up in a women’s shelter, and if she’s unlucky she ends up in a graveyard.

Every family needs a father -- a father who shares in his family's joy and pain, hands down wisdom to his children and offers them firm guidance and love, Pope Francis said. Being a father is not easy since it takes lots of patience and grace, he said. "But what consolation, what a reward one receives when the children honor this legacy. It is a joy that more than makes up for the hard work, that overcomes every misunderstanding and heals every wound," the pope said at his general audience Feb. 4. In a series of talks on the family, the pope continued the second part of his reflection on the role of fathers. While his last audience talk looked at the risks and problems caused by fathers who are absent or fail their family, the day's talk focused on the importance and dignity of fatherhood. Speaking to some 7,000 people gathered in the Paul VI audience hall, the pope spelled out the essential, but demanding, things it takes to be a good father. The most important is being present, first by being by his wife's side "to share everything, joy and pain, hard work and hope" and by being there for his children as they grow, he said.