Growing up, I loved my mother's traditional Guyanese pancakes but often was unsure why they were even called pancakes, as they barely resembled the American form. Today, I have renewed appreciation for her efforts and the tradition she continued.

The liturgy of Ash Wednesday has come to tell us something new about time, our time, and to invite us into a new understanding of the time in which we live.

In 2016, the Zaheda flew to Italy from Lesbos on the pope’s plane. “He’s a gift from paradise,” Hasan Zaheda said on Sunday. “Pope Francis, a gift from our God, that God sent us to save us.”

A Jesuit considers the series that has become an international phenomenon.

An informed Vatican source said today, “Pope Francis’ overall situation is stable, within the complexity of his clinical situation.” He underlined, however, that “the prognosis remains guarded, which means the pope is not yet out of danger.”

Caring for my senior dog was a masterclass in that Lenten refrain: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” It was my soul that she was training.