This weekend many homilies will be preached about the life of the woman at the well, for good or bad. We do not even ask her name, just her past. The tradition of the church remembers her name as  St. Photini  (or Photina, Svetlana), meaning "the luminous one" or "enlightened one".  She certainly was enlightened by her meeting Jesus at that well so many years ago. Her shining example is one we can all from. What makes her important is not her past; it is her faith in the one

The prodigal son is part of each of us. We all have parts that have rebelled against God and run away so we can do our own things. Lent is the time to face up to those parts and bring them to the Father. The parable assures that when we turn to the Lord, he embraces us and the heavens rejoice. This happens over and over again in our lives because the mystery of conversion is a lifelong process. The life of a faithful Christian is a lifelong journey with God and a life of puri

The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is a familiar story. For those who do not know it: Jacob has 2 wives. He has Leah and Rachel, and two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. He has 6 sons with Leah and one daughter, 2 sons with Bilhah on behalf of Leah, 2 sons with Zilpah on behalf of Rachael and 2 sons with Rachael. They are the daughters of Laban who took Jacob in when he ran away from Esau from whom Jacob cheated out of the birth right. The