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Are we ready for the Resurrection?

adminJanuary 31, 2026

When we think of Lent, ideas of hunger, sacrifice and suffering may come to mind. In holy Scripture, the desert is a unique place of encounter with the Lord: Israel crossed it to leave slavery and reach the promised land. St. John the Baptist chose desert life to prepare himself and the people for the coming of the Messiah. Christ spent 40 days and nights in the desert preparing for his mission before beginning his public life. This shows us that great things happen in the desert in aridity, solitude and silence because God wants to purify us so we can enjoy a new life full of meaning and purpose. We need to embark on our own journey through the desert, leaving sin and slavery behind, to reach our liberation in the promised land. The Church proposes three exercises that help us progress: almsgiving, fasting and prayer, moving from love of neighbor to self-love to love of God. Almsgiving is a concrete way of loving our neighbor. The call to generosity invites us to practice charity and be sensitive to the pain and needs of our brothers and sisters. Hunger, thirst, sickness, cold the suffering of any brother or sister is our concern. Anyone in need becomes our sibling, and almsgiving is our response to that pain. Generosity allows us to be Church, to bear witness to how we love one another, and to be the hands and feet of Christ. Fasting helps us free our hearts. We were created to worship, glorify and bless God. When God does not occupy that primary place in our hearts, we seek something else to replace him, creating idols and unhealthy attachments. Fasting helps us rediscover the deepest longings of the heart. When we experience physical hunger and thirst, we recognize our spiritual hunger and thirst. Our carnal appetites cease to dominate, and our spiritual needs open the eyes of our soul. Rather than rejecting the body, fasting seeks its purification so we can attend to our deepest needs. It becomes an act of self-love because it purifies us, frees us, and shows us how to satisfy our hearts’ deep longings. Our greatest longing will always be to be with God, and only in his arms do we find true peace. Prayer is the purest way to love God because prayer lifts up the heart with our passions, feelings and deepest desires and the mind to him. It teaches us to seek his presence and enter into communion, lifting our whole being to God. By learning to be worshipers and spending time with Jesus. During Lent, we are invited to repent, to open our eyes and realize what we need to change, because an excellent way to pray is to observe and understand our faults and weaknesses. Many perceive confession as a ritual of punishment and guilt; this is a superficial approach to so great a gift. What is really offered in reconciliation is liberation and healing from our deepest wounds those that poison our relationship with others, ourselves and God. These three Lenten exercises, far from being sources of suffering, are ways we can love our neighbor, ourselves and God in a more honest, selfless and free way. If we live them as gifts from the Holy Spirit, we will enjoy the enormous benefits found through them, and our experience in the spiritual desert will transform our hearts. Only then will we be ready for the resurrection God has prepared for us. Then we can experience the joy Christ experienced in overcoming death and enter with him into the promised land.

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Every political calculation now says this hapless Dem must go

adminNovember 10, 2025

Enough Senate Democrats caved last night to the Republicans that it looks likely that the shutdown will end but without the Democrats achieving their goal of restoring Obamacare subsidies. It was an astounding show of the Democrat’s lack of discipline in the face of total Republican discipline. It revealed Chuck Schumer’s inability to keep Senate Democrats together and Trump’s ability to keep Senate Republicans together. I’ll be surprised if Schumer survives as Senate Minority Leader. Overall, the Democrat’s cave is a huge mistake. First, Democrats hold all the cards. As even Trump admitted after last Tuesday’s blowout, voters chose Democrats across the board because of the shutdown. It’s clear that voters are blaming on Republicans. Given this, why in hell should Democrats cave? Second, Senate Democrats never voted for Trump’s Big Ugly bill that removed the Obamacare subsidies (among many other travesties) because Republicans used a process called “reconciliation” which allowed them to pass the Big Ugly with a bare Senate majority and no Democratic votes. So now that Democrats finally have some bargaining leverage, why would they give it up? Third, while it’s obvious that some Americans are hurting right now because of the shutdown, caving to Republicans won’t end the hurt because Trump and his lapdogs continue to assert that they have the power to slash whatever programs they don’t like. Republican leader John Thune assured Senate Democrats that he’d give them a vote on Obamacare subsidies sometime in December, but this is a near-worthless promise. Even if the Senate voted to continue to subsidies, the Republican-controlled House is unlikely to allow a vote on them. Even worse, there’s no guarantee that Trump’s White House will go along. In fact, it’s clear that the White House will dig in on all sorts of programs Democrats support. Do Senate Democrats really believe that Americans will hurt any less when government is reopened and Trump and his sycophants and lapdogs can hack away at whatever programs they dislike? Finally, because of the Democrat’s cave, premiums under the Affordable Care Act are likely to soar starting in January, which is likely to cause many young and healthier people to exit from the program forcing those who remain to pay even higher premiums or not get coverage at all. In other words, Trump and his Republicans will have found a backdoor means of eroding or ending a program they’ve been targeting since Trump first came to power in 2016. I admire Senate Democrats’ soft hearts but not their soft heads. I hope there’s still time for them to regain their mettle. Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at Reich’s new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop. org.