There’s an axiom which says: Nothing feels better than virtue.

Andrew and Martha sat glumly. They were stuck in the same argument they’d had so many times before in their life together as a couple. One stabbed using sharp words, the other stonewalled using the silent treatment.

First Sunday of Lent, March 5 (Year A) Genesis 2:7-9, 16-18, 25; 3:1-7; Psalm 51; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11

The story of the Garden of Eden and the Fall is deeply embedded in the consciousness of the West. Even those who are not at all religious are familiar with it and it has found its way into art, literature and music.

Our society tends to divide us into winners and losers. Sadly, we don’t often reflect on how this affects our relationships with each other, nor on what it means for us as Christians.

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Feb. 26 (Year A) Isaiah 49:14-15; Psalm 62; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Matthew 6:24-34

One of the most painful burdens for people to bear is the feeling that they are forgotten or do not matter.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, that part of the Bible we call the Old Testament, we find a strong religious challenge to always welcome the stranger, the foreigner.

One of the dangers inherent in trying to live out a life of Christian fidelity is that we are prone to become embittered moralizers, older brothers of the prodigal son, angry and jealous at God’s over-generous mercy, bitter because persons who wander and stray can so easily access the heavenly banquet table.

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Feb. 19 (Year A) Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18; Psalm 103; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; Matthew 5:38-48

The Old and New Testaments speak with a unified voice on so many things.

This is the fourth in a series of four columns by Fr. Frank Freitas about prayer and praying. (Here's part 1, part 2 and part 3)

These winter days, in the “ordinary” time from Christmas to Lent, can be tough.