Tag: Lent

On
Msgr. John Hebl

Helpful hints on forgiving others

Msgr. John Hebl

Editor’s Note: During Lent, a series of articles on Forgiveness will be presented by Msgr. John Hebl, pastor emeritus and charter member of the International Forgiveness Institute (IFI), and Robert Enright, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, author, and founder of the IFI. This will help introduce the first ever International Conference on Forgiveness in July 2017 which IFI is sponsoring in the Holy City of Jerusalem. This is the third in the series of seven articles.

Pope Francis declared 2016 as a Jubilee Year of Mercy. However, few people realized that human mercy had its inception about 2,300 B.C, that’s 4,300 years ago, when Hammurabi reigned as the sixth king of the Babylonia Dynasty.

He noticed that people often wanted to “get even” when someone offended them. It had a snow ball effect as many times retaliation ended in a fashion of extreme violence.

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On
Msgr. John Hebl

Helpful hints on forgiving others

Msgr. John Hebl

Editor’s Note: During Lent, a series of articles on Forgiveness will be presented by Msgr. John Hebl, pastor emeritus and charter member of the International Forgiveness Institute (IFI), and Robert Enright, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, author, and founder of the IFI. This will help introduce the first ever International Conference on Forgiveness in July 2017 which IFI is sponsoring in the Holy City of Jerusalem. This is the third in the series of seven articles.

Pope Francis declared 2016 as a Jubilee Year of Mercy. However, few people realized that human mercy had its inception about 2,300 B.C, that’s 4,300 years ago, when Hammurabi reigned as the sixth king of the Babylonia Dynasty.

He noticed that people often wanted to “get even” when someone offended them. It had a snow ball effect as many times retaliation ended in a fashion of extreme violence.

Read More
On
Msgr. John Hebl

Helpful hints on forgiving others

Msgr. John Hebl

Editor’s Note: During Lent, a series of articles on Forgiveness will be presented by Msgr. John Hebl, pastor emeritus and charter member of the International Forgiveness Institute (IFI), and Robert Enright, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, author, and founder of the IFI. This will help introduce the first ever International Conference on Forgiveness in July 2017 which IFI is sponsoring in the Holy City of Jerusalem. This is the third in the series of seven articles.

Pope Francis declared 2016 as a Jubilee Year of Mercy. However, few people realized that human mercy had its inception about 2,300 B.C, that’s 4,300 years ago, when Hammurabi reigned as the sixth king of the Babylonia Dynasty.

He noticed that people often wanted to “get even” when someone offended them. It had a snow ball effect as many times retaliation ended in a fashion of extreme violence.

Read More
On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Seeing and beholding the glory of Christ

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

How good it is for us to be here!

I’m hopeful that this sentiment was experienced at your own parishes this past Transfiguration Sunday.

I said it wholeheartedly as I offered the Mass and indeed, we should pray for the faith to proclaim, each and every blessed day, and especially when we stand at the foot of the altar, awaiting the Risen Lord, “How good it is for us to be here!”

What the Transfiguration is all about

The opening prayer of this past Sunday’s Mass tells us what the Transfiguration is all about. It says:

“O God, who have commanded us to listen to your beloved Son, be pleased, we pray, to nourish us inwardly by your word, that, with spiritual sight made pure, we may rejoice to behold your glory.”

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On
Robert Enright

Clearing up misconceptions about forgiving

Robert Enright

Second in a series of seven articles on forgiveness.

Lent is a time of seeking forgiveness for sins and then practicing forgiveness toward those who have been unfair to us.

When we forgive, we give the gift of goodness to those who have not been good to us. As we are forgiven, we forgive, as the Catholic Church teaches (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 2838).

Sometimes, when people reflect on this link between being forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance and then forgiving others, there may be some apprehension in now extending that forgiveness to those who have been hurtful.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Lent is a time to remember that God and Heaven should be our top priorities

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

The readings for the first Sunday of Lent give all of us a general principle for evaluating our own lives and determining areas for growth during the holy Lenten season.

The First Reading reminds us of Satan’s successful deception of Adam and Eve, convincing them that pride, that is, disobedience of God, will enable them to be like God.

In fact, Adam and Eve are left in the Garden for the first time experiencing shame as they learn the hard way that the wages of sin never amounts to being like God, but rather the wages of sin is death.

God and Heaven are top priority

The Second Reading makes clear that disobedience and death really are the very same choice.

Disobedience and that assertion that “I know better than God!” leads me to place God and Heaven at a lower priority in my own life. Once this happens, it becomes progressively easier to make my goal something less-than-God, something less-than-Heaven.

But God and Heaven alone are the fullness of life, and ultimately to choose what is less-than-God or -Heaven as my top priority is to choose death.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Lent is a time to remember that God and Heaven should be our top priorities

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

The readings for the first Sunday of Lent give all of us a general principle for evaluating our own lives and determining areas for growth during the holy Lenten season.

The First Reading reminds us of Satan’s successful deception of Adam and Eve, convincing them that pride, that is, disobedience of God, will enable them to be like God.

In fact, Adam and Eve are left in the Garden for the first time experiencing shame as they learn the hard way that the wages of sin never amounts to being like God, but rather the wages of sin is death.

God and Heaven are top priority

The Second Reading makes clear that disobedience and death really are the very same choice.

Disobedience and that assertion that “I know better than God!” leads me to place God and Heaven at a lower priority in my own life. Once this happens, it becomes progressively easier to make my goal something less-than-God, something less-than-Heaven.

But God and Heaven alone are the fullness of life, and ultimately to choose what is less-than-God or -Heaven as my top priority is to choose death.

Read More
On
Julianne Nornberg

Recognizing the need for Confession in Lent

Everyday Faith column by Julianne Nornberg

Every Lent — thanks to an idea I found years ago on a Catholic blog listed below — we set up a crown of thorns in our living room. It’s just a small brown vine wreath covered with toothpicks, but it has a very specific purpose.

Each time one of my children performs a small sacrifice, or does something nice for someone else, he or she gets to pull a thorn from the crown of thorns.

Acts of sacrifice

One by one, the number of thorns dwindles, leaving the vine wreath bare. On Easter morning, the crown of thorns, now void of toothpicks, is covered with beautiful flowers, a symbol of how God took away our hurtful sins and replaced them with beauty of eternal life.

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