Echoes - A forum of Catholic thought. The Opinion section of thebostonpilot.com

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving

Father Robert M. O'Grady

March 14, 2025Faith

We are about a quarter of the way through the season of Lent. So, the words of the column's title are familiar to us as they return each Lent in the prayers of the liturgy and in our own practices. Although ...

Spirituality

Why is Lent 40 days?Michael Pakaluk

Question: Why is Lent 40 days? Answer: Lent is 40 days for us because it is a time when we imitate Jesus, when he was led by the Spirit into the desert to fast and be tempted by the devil (Matt 4:1), ...

Faith & Family

FOCUSArchbishop Richard G. Henning

A few days before the beginning of Lent, I had the opportunity to celebrate Holy Mass and spend time with the FOCUS missionaries who serve here in the Archdiocese of Boston. FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic ...

Faith & Family

Bringing Hope to Those on the MarginsMaureen Crowley Heil

Though raised in different parts of Sri Lanka, Josiah Roninson and his seminary classmates call themselves 'brothers.' From the city and seashore, peaceful and war-torn, their upbringings could ...

Spirituality

The eloquent ambiguity of 'I believe'Bishop Robert Barron

There is an eloquent ambiguity in the way in which the opening word of the Nicene Creed has come down to us. Our best evidence suggests that in the formula that goes back to the Nicene Fathers themselves, ...

Faith & Family

The works of the Father: How Jesus teaches us to liveDr. R. Jared Staudt

God has appointed us to bear fruit. In the spiritual life, it can be hard to judge whether we are blossoming or wilting, so often trapped in isolated thoughts and feelings. Jesus, however, stands as our ...

Culture & Events

Scripture Reflection for March 16, 2025, Second Sunday of LentDeacon Greg Kandra

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14 Philippians 3:17-4:1 or Philippians 3:20-4:1 Luke 9:28b-36 This Sunday's readings seem to be all about wonder -- in Genesis, we hear about a sky ...

Faith & Family

What are the different kinds of sin?Jenna Marie Cooper

Q: At a recent Mass, the priest talked about "mortal sin," about which I'd previously heard, but then he mentioned "venial sins" and "temporal sins," and even "sins of omission." I'm not familiar with ...

Culture & Events

'De Colores'Eileen McLaughlin

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and amidst the strife of World War II, a layperson, Eduardo Bonnin, responded to the cultural turmoil with prayer, community, ...