Lately, as I’ve been praying the rosary, I’ve been reflecting specifically on Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he died. It struck me that he must have been feeling weighed down by three strong emotions that all of us experience at various times in our lives: fear, loneliness, and a sense of failure.

All the Money in the World

In July 1973, Abigail “Gail ” Getty (Michelle Williams), the divorced mother of 16- year-old John Paul “Paul ” Getty III (Charlie Plummer), receives a call that her son has been kidnapped in Rome. The ransom is $17 million. She thinks it’s a joke because it’s the kind of thing her son would talk about doing. This is no stunt, however.

Rock star. Icon. Living legend. These are just some of the words used to describe Sister Jean Schmidt, the 98-year-old chaplain of Loyola University Chicago’s men’s basketball team and a member of the university’s sports hall of fame.

The 5-foot nun can be seen at every home game for the men’s team. She’s most often decked out in Loyola gear and wearing her trademark maroon Nike tennis shoes with gold laces that have “Sister ” stitched onto the heel of her left shoe and “Jean ” stitched on the right one.

It has been said that “too late we come to wisdom, ” and I’ll agree. My husband, Joe, and I married in 1960, shortly before Vatican II. By the time the changes in the Mass were being explained, we were in the throes of raising our six children, born in a 10-year span. The days were full, sometimes frantic, and often harried. If the concept of the “domestic church ” was introduced, I was too busy to have the message penetrate my consciousness to see how intimately connected God was with us on a daily basis. If only I had known then what I know now!

For many, Lent is an arduous journey of faith. For 40 days, we pray, fast, and give alms with greater fervor than in other times, purifying our minds and souls to be prepared for the exuberant celebration of Easter. Like a backpacker hiking a mountain range or a marathon runner setting out for a race, Lent is often seen as a test of perseverance, enduring hardship and pain with discipline to reach the final destination.