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email clients. */
/* Beware: It can remove the padding / margin and add a background
color to the compose a reply window. */
html,
body {
Margin: 0 !important;
padding: 0 !important;
height: 100% !important;
width: 100% !important;
text-align: center;
}

/* What it does: Stops email clients resizing small text. */
* {
-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;
}

/* What is does: Centers email on Android 4.4 */
div[style*="margin: 16px 0"] {
margin:0 !important;
}

/* What it does: Stops Outlook from adding extra spacing to tables.
*/
table,
td {
mso-table-lspace: 0pt !important;
mso-table-rspace: 0pt !important;
}

/* What it does: Fixes webkit padding issue. Fix for Yahoo mail table
alignment bug. Applies table-layout to the first 2 tables then removes
for anything nested deeper. */
table {
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table-layout: fixed !important;
Margin: 0 auto !important;
}
table table table {
table-layout: auto;
}

/* What it does: Uses a better rendering method when resizing images
in IE. */
img {
-ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic;
}

/* What it does: Overrides styles added when Yahoo's auto-senses a
link. */
.yshortcuts a {
border-bottom: none !important;
}

/* What it does: A work-around for iOS meddling in triggered links.
*/
.mobile-link footer a,
a[x-apple-data-detectors] {
color:inherit !important;
text-decoration: underline !important;
}
-->

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/* What it does: Hover styles for buttons */
.button-td,
.button-a {
transition: all 100ms ease-in;
}
.button-td:hover,
.button-a:hover {
background: #555555 !important;
border-color: #555555 !important;
}

/* Media Queries */
@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {

.email-container {
width: 100% !important;
}

/* What it does: Forces elements to resize to the full width of their
container. Useful for resizing images beyond their max-width. */
.fluid,
.fluid-centered {
max-width: 100% !important;
height: auto !important;
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
}
/* And center justify these ones. */
.fluid-centered {
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
}

/* What it does: Forces table cells into full-width rows. */
.stack-column,
.stack-column-center {
display: block !important;
width: 100% !important;
max-width: 100% !important;
direction: ltr !important;
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.stack-column-center {
text-align: center !important;
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/* What it does: Generic utility class for centering. Useful for
images, buttons, and nested tables. */
.center-on-narrow {
text-align: center !important;
display: block !important;
Margin-left: auto !important;
Margin-right: auto !important;
float: none !important;
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table.center-on-narrow {
display: inline-block !important;
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}

body {
background-color: #fff;
width: 100%;
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
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p{
line-height:20px;
}

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5{
color:#7A9534;
}

.signup a {font-family: Roboto Condensed, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;
color: #4F4293; padding-bottom:0px; padding-top: 15px;
font-weight:600; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration: none}
-->

Catholic Charities USA


Ash Wednesday

Today's Lectionary Readings
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"Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned," says the
psalmist. 

Today we begin the holy season of Lent, the 40 days of preparation for
the great feast of Easter, when death is conquered and heaven and
earth are reconciled. But wait, says the Lord. Not so fast.

First we are told to repent. "Repent" means "to turn
away from" or "turn back to the original." Just how
we go about that may look a little different for each of us.

For hundreds of years, we have found guidance in the three ancient
pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Many of us already have
disciplines of prayer and charitable giving, and we may even train
ourselves to abstain from certain foods regularly. So how can we take
this to a different level and follow these three practices in
meaningful ways during Lent?

I'll humbly offer a grounding thought. We begin Lent today with
imposition of ashes. I was reminded once that Ash Wednesday is the
only day in the whole Church year when everyone is touched. So let us
start there, brought to this focus in our own bodies. May we pray,
fast and give our way through Lent in and from our physical selves.
Pray with your body, however that looks for you. Pause and notice any
momentary discomfort or pang if you fast.  Don't brush off
or move on from that feeling.  Our God is an incarnational God, a
God of bodies.

We know this from the people we all serve. I think of
"Jake," a young man who moved a few months ago from our
area's largest homeless encampment into a transitional shelter
we operate. As with most of our residents, he brought with him many
illnesses and physical challenges, compounded by years of deferred
medical care and shelter-less existence. Jake's illnesses caught
up to him a few weeks ago and he passed away in his room. It was our
privilege to provide a dignified home for Jake's battered
physical frame in his final weeks. 

Remember: none of is getting out of here alive. But in our time
together, let's try to really be here. In our Lenten practices,
be present to ourselves and to one another. God's mercy is
surely with us. 

Scott Cooper is Vice President of Mission for Catholic Charities
Eastern Washington, Diocese of Spokane.  He sings in the choir at
Sacred Heart Parish. 

This and other Catholic Charities USA reflections may be viewed here.
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