Mar 15, 2026 | By William Barbee SM ‘26

It sounds like the start of a bad joke: an Episcopalian walks into a Jesuit mansion for a three-day silent retreat. Fortunately, this Protestant’s recent experience with Ignatian contemplation offered the perfect opportunity for discerning God at the cusp of major life changes—and, perhaps, for writing a piece for the Logos + UT Austin Lent blog.

Mar 14, 2026 | By Grant Shanklin SY ‘27

Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise. Though we come from dust and to dust we shall return, You have given us life through Your wonderful act of creation. As the created, we long to know You, our Creator.

Mar 13, 2026 | By Tori Cook JE ‘26

The Lenten season puts us in mind of Christ’s wandering in the wilderness. This time was centering for him as he prepared to begin his earthly ministry, but sometimes for us it serves as a reminder of just how lost we have become in the jungle of our lives. We’re now over halfway through Lent. For some, good habits may be forming, and a deeper relationship with God blooming. But for others, it may feel a bit like how February is to New Year's Resolutions—enthusiasm diminishing and commitment fading, back into disliked yet familiar patterns.

Mar 12, 2026 | By Hannah Liu TC ‘29

Are we there yet?

I was never really one to ask that aloud. My little sister did, lots, but I would rather just peer over the front seat to check the GPS myself. It was just easier that way. I don’t like to inconvenience people. As a kid, I always made my sister ask the waiter if we needed an extra fork or another napkin. Even now, I sometimes avoid asking for things I want because I’d rather avoid the awkwardness.

Mar 11, 2026 | By John Kiely MC ‘26

Growing up, my family attentively observed the Catholic fasting rules of Lent. Because it was easy to incorporate these rules into our scheduled meals, which were sometimes vegetarian anyway, they never created much of a problem for us on Fridays. Just another thing to keep in mind when making the shopping list. In fact, some of my favorite dinners, like hard-boiled egg and cheese sandwiches (they’re much better than they sound) were only served during Lent in my house. Not because there’s something wrong with eating them during the rest of the year, but because that’s just the routine my family fell into. Maybe that’s why I like them.

Mar 10, 2026 | By Nathan Brown UT Austin ‘28

I eat at this sandwich shop twice a week. There's typically a short line, so the elapsed time between arriving at the shop and leaving with my sandwich is between five and ten minutes. My instinct is to fill the "dead time" by pulling out my phone and browsing the internet. I'm not alone: most people in the shop do the same.

Mar 9, 2026 | By Jack Batten BF ‘27

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to him. (Mark 1:12-13)

Mar 8, 2026 | By Tiffany Gee UT ‘26

I didn’t grow up observing Lent. To my teenage self, Lent meant seeing my Catholic friends arriving at school with ash on their foreheads. The same friends would later inform me that they were giving up social media, or sweets, or red meat. Not understanding what any of this meant at the time, I accepted this practice was for those more religious than I. Maybe it was some type of New Year’s Resolution thing I didn’t know about.

Mar 7, 2026 | By Sadie Shank GSAS ‘26

Recently, I’ve been reading Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. Lewis is famous for carefully explaining Christianity. He lays out arguments about morality, human nature, and what they might suggest about God. For someone who likes reasoning things out, it’s comforting. It makes faith feel a little sturdier.

Mar 6, 2026 | By Joseph Yu BF ‘28

In a seriously convoluted (and miraculous) series of circumstances, I joined a Christian a cappella group last fall. My debut song was one I heard every Good Friday growing up, often set to the crucifixion scene from The Passion of the Christ. Our church elders would often warn parents with young children to politely remove themselves from the sanctuary due to the graphic content (which, in my opinion, is precisely what makes Mel Gibson’s film so powerful). 

Mar 5, 2026 | By Isaac Oberman DC ‘26

Since being recommended to me by a friend, T.S. Eliot’s poem The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock echoes in my brain like voices shouting in a cave. Eliot’s fanciful images reverberate in my head quite often, unfiltered voices lifting and falling in overlapping sound. Consider the following soniforous offerings:

Mar 4, 2026 | By MG Voelter UT Austin ‘27

What are you doing for Lent?

This question has been circulating in my conversations these past few weeks. But in reality, it’s a polite way to get at something deeper: Are you listening for God’s voice? Are you slowing down to be in His presence? Are you longing for Jesus?

Mar 3, 2026 | By Sydney Scheller BR ‘26

While many Lenten writings focus on what the season should mean, or how we should approach our attitude or actions during Lent, I would like to focus on the story that inspires this liturgical season: Jesus’ temptation in the desert. The three different temptations of Jesus represent the most alluring and detrimental temptations posed to humans throughout our lives. To this end, I would like to analyze the second temptation - one which I currently find the most poignant.

Mar 2, 2026 | By Tori Cook JE ‘26

Lent is meant to be a season of preparation and transformation—preparation for the transformation that has already occurred in the Easter miracle. As Christians, we can be very methodical about it: choose a fast (no more chocolate!), give designated alms, recommit to a present prayer life, etc. Honestly, too methodical. Transformation is never comfortable, but I worry our Lenten seasons often are.

Mar 1, 2026 | By Ethan Xu UT Austin ‘26

“Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Feb 28, 2026 | By Noah Thomason UT Austin ‘27

“And yet, if any one were to think that the Lord’s day should be appointed a day of fasting, in the same way as the seventh day is observed by some, such a man would be regarded, and not unjustly, as bringing a great cause of offense into the Church.”  — Augustine of Hippo, Letter 36

Feb 27, 2026 | By Anonymous

I say to myself: the evidence of my thought is in my heart. But how, then, can I believe it? It is written: “More tortuous than anything is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?” Oh blank wisdom! Oh fair deceit is this beating! It here does beat for the wholesome and the empty alike. What, then, prevents destruction? That, though all these alike the heart has loved, yet all in their turn have spurned the heart in diverse ways. It is written, “I, the Lord, explore the mind and test the heart, giving to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds.” So has Thy Grace saved me, in its just punishments, in the honesty of my sufferings.

Feb 26, 2026 | By Analise Pickerrell UT Austin ‘26

"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth". - Ecclesiastes 7:4

How strange it is to be in a room full of people chanting about their depravity. 

There’s a 1957 Swedish film called “The Seventh Seal.” Among other things, it’s about a knight and his struggle with faith and human mortality. I’ve forgotten much about it, but one scene sticks out in particular. A horde of religious zealots trudge through the streets of a village infested with the bubonic plague. In their hands, they brandish whips and flagellate themselves while chanting “Dies Irae.” Day of Wrath. 

Feb 25, 2026 | By Aalia Holt SY ‘27

Most evangelistic movements and apologetics focus on how to be certain in our paths — how to know that our faith is true. Yet, I am not convinced we even know ourselves. In high school, I painted a picture of a window. Each window pane represented a quadrant of self-perception or lack thereof, illustrating a psychology model called The Johari Window. One quadrant is the area of self that is not externally observable nor internally disclosed. Here I wrote, “Only God knows.” Humankind walks around in ignorance of the internal. Psychologists may call it the unconscious, statistical analysts could call it the unpredictable. There will always be questions unanswered, and it seems to me that the only certainty in life comes from trust in our God.

Feb 24, 2026 | By Raleigh Adams YDS ‘26

I didn’t go analog because I hate technology. I didn’t go analog because I think the past was purer, slower, or morally superior.

I went analog because something was wrong with my relationship to time.

Nothing dramatic or diagnosable. Nothing that would have shown up on a productivity chart. I was functioning. I was producing. I was responsive. I was, by every external measure, doing fine.

But I could no longer wait.

Feb 23, 2026 | By Hannah McAnally - UT Austin

During the season of Lent, people often abstain from certain foods, drinks, or activities. In place of the item, observers use the time to focus more fully on Christ. But what exactly is Lent?

One origin of the word lent is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘lencten,’ which means spring. Another origin of the word is the Germanic word ‘langitinaz,’ meaning long days.

Feb 22, 2026 | By Hannah Joy Legatowicz UT Austin ‘27

I give a little, it means nothing.

You give nothing, it means a little.

I give you a little, yet you smile—

How can someone with nothing

Afford to give even a smile?

Feb 21, 2026 | By Raleigh Adams YDS ’26

"Does such a thing as 'the fatal flaw,' that showy dark crack running down the middle of life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn't. Now I think it does.”

– The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Feb 20, 2026 | By Mitchell Schultz UT Austin ’27

A lot of life is waiting, some good, some bad. The eager anticipation of jumping out of the darkness for a close friend’s surprise party is an exuberant waiting that boils and bursts like a pot set too hot on the stove, giddy in its mischievous love. Waiting can be arduous, like the newly married couple that grows into a not-so-newly married couple as they try faithfully and diligently for children of their own.

Feb 19, 2026 | By Isaac Oberman DC ’26

What distinguishes fishing from other sports and outdoor recreation is the practice of slowness that mirrors living. The real art of the movements, the instruments, and the disposition of the fisherman or fisherwoman allows it to offer keen reflections on the good life. And there are few greater philosophers of the good life than Hank Hill.

Feb 18, 2026 | By Emma Ventresca BF ’26

The language of “setting out into the desert” is frequently associated with Lent, but I would like to call to mind another image of “setting out.” Recall the moment when Jesus asks Simon Peter to “put out into deep water,” when He first calls him and his brother Andrew to be His disciples. After they raise the nets bursting with their catch, Simon Peter falls to his knees and says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Fervently convicted of Christ’s identity as savior, Simon Peter embarks upon a life of apostleship as a fisher of men.