Actor Mario Valencia, portraying Christ, performs during a baptism ceremony as part of Holy Week celebrations along the Rimac river in Lima, Peru, March 28, 2013. (CNS photo/Enrique Castro-Mendivil, Reuters) (March 29, 2013) ...read more

Last week, we began by looking at sin and the difference between venial and mortal sin. Even though we’ve all been cleansed from Original Sin at Baptism, we are all still wounded by Original Sin. Because of this, we still suffer the effects of Original Sin, which is why we have a tendency to sin. This ...read more

Pilgrims walk across a tidal causeway while carrying crosses during the final leg of the Northern Cross pilgrimage to Holy Island in northern England. For more than 30 years Christians have taken part in the pilgrimage to Holy Island, walking through Northumberland and along the Scottish border during Holy Week. (CNS photo/David Moir, Reuters) (March ...read more

Inmates hold a “pabasa” inside a jail in the Makati financial district in Manila, Philippines. The pabasa is a rendition of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus through songs and chants and is widely practiced during Lent in the largely Catholic nation. (CNS photo/Romeo Ranoco, Reuters) ...read more

A woman prays during Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Andrew’s Church in the Manhattan borough of New York. (CNS photo/Carlo Allegri, Reuters) (March 6, 2014) ...read more

I love it when we hear something we’ve heard many time as if it was the first time. Last year, I heard something that I had never heard before: “If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only ...read more

A nun makes a cross on a woman’s forehead with ashes during Ash Wednesday Mass at the cathedral in Bamako, Mali. (CNS photo/Joe Penney, Reuters) ...read more

A lay minister and nun use ashes to mark a cross on the forehead of churchgoers during Ash Wednesday Mass outside of a church in Manila, Philippines. (CNS photo/Erik De Castro, Reuters) ...read more

People kneel during Ash Wednesday Mass at the cathedral in Guatemala City.(CNS photo/Jorge Dan Lopez, Reuters) (March 6, 2014) ...read more

Pope Francis, in white, attends a weeklong Lenten retreat with senior members of the Roman Curia in Ariccia, Italy.(CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters) ...read more