Almost everyone enjoys a good story, especially when the storyteller has a real talent for relating stories.? That is one of the reasons the parables of Jesus have attracted the interest of people from all walks of life dating as far back as the beginning of Christianity.? Jesus was a master storyteller.??

It was the genius of Jesus to use real-life stories?parables?to unite our vertical connection to the Almighty with our horizontal connections to all of life.? If the parables are properly understood, they make God real and foremost in understanding all of our relationships in our daily lives: personal, social, political, professional, recreational?yes, through the parables we can be connected to God in all that we think, say, and do, to life itself.? Read more…

This coming Wednesday, March 5, is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.? Let?s take a look at the historical emergence and spiritual significance of the Lenten season.?

Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on the day before Easter.? The six Sundays of this time-span are not considered part of Lent.? Only weekdays are included in Lent.? Hence, Lent is the forty weekdays beginning with Ash Wednesday and concluding with the day before Easter.

But how is it that the church adopted ?forty? as the number of weekdays in Lent?? Read more…