Author name: Molly Hostetler

As a college student, I spent a lot of time evangelizing. I talked about Jesus to my friends and classmates on campus, and I talked about Him to perfect strangers on a summer mission project, in housing projects, and just about every other place I could think of. I even talked about Him one Spring break in a biker bar! Those to whom I talked were atheists, Mormons, agnostics, members of Hare Krishna, fellow Christians, and just about every other religious persuasion you can imagine.

Luke, like Matthew, introduces Mary as a virgin betrothed to Joseph, a descendant of David. Luke also tells us that the angel Gabriel greets her with the words, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” The word translated as “hail”—and which is also sometimes translated as “rejoice”—is the same word that Israel’s prophets used to begin prophecies about the promised Messiah and the joy He would bring to God’s people (Joel 2:23–24; Zech 9:9).

The story of Adam and Eve and the eating of the forbidden fruit is an all-too-familiar story—so familiar that its meaning is taken as seriously as that of a childhood fable. All of us know it, much as we know the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, and Jack and Jill tumbling down a hill. However, the truth conveyed in this story is much more than a mere moral lesson of human folly.

What’s the most effective way we can give back to the Church during this season of Lent?
The answer is simple: We can help her priests.

Mary Eberstadt: How and why did you end up becoming a priest?
Fr. Arne: I don’t have a spiel. My father was not Catholic. He wasn’t anything—Lutheran Finnish. He converted when I was in Rome. My mother’s maiden name was Bellinger— Welsh-Scottish. Ours wasn’t particularly a pious home.

You don’t have to wait to be old or lifeless to practice the virtue of chastity. Purity comes from love; and the strength and gaiety of youth is no obstacle for noble love. Joseph had a young heart and a young body when he married Mary

The word “sacrament” comes from a Latin word, sacramentum. In ancient Rome, sacramentum was a legal term. It referred to a bond you posted at the beginning of a lawsuit as the proof of your good faith that you would pay the judgment if you lost.