Catholic Café

Deacon Jeff in the Corner booth to explain what "Santevangelaztion" is and how we should put it into practice.

The familiar parable of the Prodigal Son is always heard during Lent, and it teaches many truths of the Faith. Perhaps the greatest takeaway is the undying mercy of the Father. This mercy is only available to us if we but turn back to Him in a state of repentance.

The three traditional disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. While most of us are at least aware of how we can benefit through prayer and fasting, some need a deeper dive into almsgiving. George Nixon, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of West Tennessee, shares how Almsgiving based in mercy can help you have a truly powerful lenten experience.

Continuing in the season of Lent, we have many opportunities for spiritual recollection and examination of self. Taking time to go on a retreat, a brief trip into the desert, can do wonders in making our Lenten journey a beneficial one.

As we enter into another season of Lent, it is always good to remember that what the World tells us gives us strength is not always applicable in the spiritual life. This was demonstrated clearly by Our Lord as he started his public ministry by fasting and spending 40 days and nights in the desert.

Many have understood the concept of walking in faith to mean to simply trust in God. While that is true, it also helps to learn how to surrender to God in all aspects of your life. Indeed, very soon we find it is not always easy to give over ourselves totally to the will of God.

There are those who say they can only believe in something they can observe and measure in nature, and therefore do not believe in a supernatural God. However, there are also those of us who are compelled to believe in a First Mover or Orderer of all things in our scientific cause to find out why and how all things exist and function.

Theologians and regular folks alike have oft times struggled with the problem of evil. We wonder why a good and benevolent God would allow bad things to happen. The Catholic understanding of the Permissive Will of God versus his Divine or Intended Will helps us cope with and even embrace this seeming conundrum.

Everyone knows that it is our Christian duty to evangelize, but not everyone recognizes that evangelization must always be done in connection with and in the context of the Church, the boat of Peter.

Most of us are very familiar with popular Catholic devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but not as many realize there is a third devotion to the pure heart of St. Joseph that is growing in popularity.