Hear Our Prayer, O Lord!
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Publisher's Letter
Recently, I saw a bumper sticker that read: "What you are is God’s gift to you. What you become is your gift to God." The more we realize the magnitude of the gift that God has given to us, the more we will want to grow closer to him and give him a great gift. Continue »
Inside This Issue
Blow the Trumpet! Call the Assembly!
The Blessings of Fasting
Every Lent, as the church invites us to draw closer to the Lord, it calls us to take up the ancient practice of fasting. Continue »
It's All About Prayer
Discerning a "True" Fast from a "False" One
In our first article, we saw how the focus of fasting goes beyond the practice of giving up food or drink. Continue »
Open Our Eyes, O Lord!
Fasting creates a hunger for God's leading.
Go and make disciples of all nations. . . . I am with you always, until the end of the world. (Matthew 28:19-20) Continue »
Hear and Answer Us, O Lord!
Helpful Stories from the Bible about Fasting
For answers to prayer: "We fasted and prayed to our God for this, and our petition was granted" (Ezra 8:23). Burdened with embarrassment about having to ask the Persian king for an army to protect him and his fellow travelers, Ezra fasted and prayed, and the king granted his request. Continue »
Have You Got Enough?
Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous medal
One of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time asks its audience, "Got Milk?" Continue »
Special Feature
The Breath of Life
Could I ever forgive my birth mother?
Struggling for breath in the hospital emergency room, I worked to inhale the medicine flowing through the mask over my mouth. And as I fought, I thought again about the woman who gave me birth and then, as I saw it, abandoned me in the hospital to die. Continue »
A Tattooed Blessing
He did his time, but he still wasn't free.
It was September 25, 2005, and my husband and I were returning home after having evacuated ahead of Hurricane Rita. The storm had not made a direct hit on Houston, and we felt weary but grateful to be back safe. Continue »
Turning from Self to God
An Examination of Conscience for Lent
If you want your prayers to fly to God, equip them with the two wings of fasting and almsgiving. Continue »
He Taught Us to Love
Cardinal Hume's Meditations on the Seven Last Words of Christ
When Basil Hume, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, was told that he had cancer, "and not in the early stages," his first reaction was to go to the hospital chapel and pray for half an hour before the crucifix. Continue »