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Lent starts in just a few days. The first day is Wednesday, March 1st. If you are looking to grow deeper in your faith this Lent, you might want to consider reading the book,  Discernment of Spirits   by Fr.Timothy Gallagher. It is based on the rules of discernment by St. Ignatius of Loyola. The rule I personally found most helpful and one of the hardest to follow is rule number 5. Rule number 5 advises that you do not make a change during times of spiritual desolation. Continue Reading @ Beautifulthorns>

Getty Images Dear friend, Your heart is broken. You feel abandoned and weak, a shadow of your former lively self. I have been praying for you. At church this weekend, we prayed Psalm 147, and these verses leaped out at me, sounding so applicable to you, my friend: The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name. I guess I've never thought about every star having a name, but there we have it: "He tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name." So the stars have names. What's more, God  calls  them by their names, implying that the stars respond. The stars are in relationship with God. Not just cold, mechanical constellations that guide navigation, stars have a sort of life and dignity, simply because God makes them and calls to them. Please join me at Praying with Grace for more. As I repeated the Psalm response after the cantor, I wondered how calling stars by nam