Christian fasting

Lenten Daily Food Reflection: As we begin Lent, we ponder what it means to enter a period of fasting. Reading time: 40 seconds.

Commentary: The message that fasting requires pure motives, separated from dieting, disqualifies the scores of Catholic women who negotiate the pressures of a culture that judges women's bodies.

Lenten Daily Food Reflection: Humus is the Latin word for earth and the root word for human. On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of our connection to the earth. Reading time: 60 seconds.

Daily Lenten Reflections: Let us see how the season of Lent is an invitation for us to imaginatively enter once again into the story of our "questing hero" Jesus, and to walk with him through the various stages of a journey that seem, in light of the long history and recurring motifs of such tales, surprisingly predictable.

On Ash Wednesday, William McLeod, a fourth-grade student at Valley View Elementary School in Bountiful, was told by his teacher to remove the ash cross he had received at church that morning.

Lent is a time to ask for God's grace to chip away at hypocrisy, which is seen in the natural human attempt to appear "worthier than we are," Pope Francis said.

"What are you giving up for Lent?" is a question Catholics direct at each other this time of year. "Giving up" usually applies to food, in keeping with the church’s ancient practice of fasting.

Daily Lenten Reflections: Lent has always been a tough subject and season for me to embrace. If we are serious about it and looking for transformation (nothing casual about that!) then it is interesting that cultures everywhere have pulled up its antidote or opposite to precede our serious buckling down to Lent.