If end-of-life care matters, surely it can be strengthened by beginning-of-life wisdom. On this first day of Lent and year-round, I want to model for my children clear-eyed acceptance of what we cannot control and agency in what we can.

A Homily for Ash Wednesday, by Father Terrance Klein

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.

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.

Give up the “futile distractions” of online life. Abstinence would benefit your mental health and your pocketbook, as well as the larger community if enough of us did it.