MSI Press Blog

  Holy Saturday is the most easily overlooked day of the Triduum. It has no liturgy until nightfall, no sacraments, no proclamations. The tabernacle is empty. Christ is in the tomb. The Church keeps vigil in stillness. It is the one day in the Christian year when the Church feels what it is like to live without visible signs of God’s activity. This is not an accident. It is pedagogy. Holy Saturday teaches that God’s silence is not God’s absence . In Catholic tradition, Christ is not idle; He is descending to the dead, breaking open the realm of death from within. The world sees stillness; heaven sees movement. Waiting becomes the place where God is at work in ways we cannot yet perceive. Why Waiting Matters in Catholic Spirituality 1. Waiting trains the heart in hope Hope is not optimism. It is the decision to trust God when the outcome is not visible. Catholic theology insists that hope is forged precisely in the gap between promise and fulfillment. Waiting is where th...

  Walk into a parish hall on a Lenten Friday and you’ll often find the same scene: steaming pots of soup, simple bread, people chatting softly, kids running underfoot, and a sense of gentle community. But why soup? And why Fridays? The answer is beautifully simple—and deeply rooted in the spirit of Lent. 1. Fridays are days of communal sacrifice During Lent, Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays as a small act of solidarity with Christ’s sacrifice. It’s not about dieting; it’s about choosing simplicity so the heart can pay attention to what matters most. Soup—humble, nourishing, and meatless—fits the day perfectly. It’s a meal that reflects the Church’s call to detachment and simplicity during this season . 2. Soup suppers turn fasting into fellowship Lent can be a solitary journey, but it was never meant to be lonely. Parish soup dinners transform a day of penance into a moment of community: sharing a simple meal supporting one another in the Lenten journey creating s...

  You find meaning in troubled times by returning to the few things that cannot be taken from you: your interior life, your relationships, your sense of purpose, and the small daily acts that keep hope alive. Meaning is not discovered in spite of difficulty but through it, because hardship clarifies what truly matters. What meaning looks like when life is unsettled Troubled times strip away illusions of control. What remains are the deeper anchors: Your values — the non‑negotiables that shape how you show up even when circumstances are chaotic. Your relationships — the people you choose to love and the people who choose to love you back. Your vocation — not your job title, but the work your soul feels responsible for. Your faith or worldview — the story you believe you are part of. Meaning grows where these four threads intersect. When the world feels unstable, returning to them is not escapism; it is orientation. How meaning is actually formed in hardship Meaning ...