Author name: Molly Hostetler

The way of the Cross is the inevitable way of a Christian’s heart. Indeed, it is almost impossible to imagine the Church without the devotion that goes by that name. It goes by other names, too: “The Stations of the Cross,” “Via Crucis,” “Via Dolorosa”—or just “the stations.” The practice has settled, for several centuries now, into brief meditations on fourteen scenes from the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

St. Joseph probably spent more time with Jesus than any other human being in history. That is quite a thought. Think of all those hours they labored together in the workshop, honing their craft, much of the time in silence.

Today we celebrate the special feast of my patron St. Patrick. As we reflect today on the many blessings in our lives, I’m especially grateful for my Irish heritage.

When I think about Lent, I think of the first two readings we use on the First Sunday and the Second Sunday of Lent. 

If you asked me a few years ago about spiritual desolation I would not have had much of an answer for you. We all have struggles in our lives, and I’ve had my share of professional and personal difficulties, but I entered an all-time low—a period of spiritual desolation—when the bank where I worked collapsed a few years ago.

One of my earliest memories is of a time my father took me to the hardware store. I was young—maybe seven years old. I don’t know what we were getting or why we were there, but the memory has never left me. After my father purchased whatever it was he was buying, we left the store. As we walked to the car, he counted his change. Suddenly, he turned around.

There is today a great deal of curiosity about the earliest years of Christianity. We see it whenever a bestselling novel proposes an alternative story line (or bloodline) for the Church’s origins. We see it whenever an archaeologist turns up a previously unknown apocryphal gospel—and the news media say that it calls everything into question.

It’s something of a miracle that we know anything about St. Perpetua. She died very young, at the age of 22, and lived most of her years in Carthage, North Africa, far away from the great cultural centers of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. 

I think it’s significant and important that the St. Paul Center is doing the series The Bible and the Church Fathers. The way of biblical religion is the way of the Fathers. We worship the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the God of the Fathers. That’s the phrase used by the Apostles and the Early Church.

These forty days can feel like an awfully long time for children. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our families faithfully observe Lent. Though it can seem difficult at times, the season of Lent provides an especially meaningful time to instruct children.