Spirituality
What seeds will God plant this Easter?
It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb. — Jn. 20:1 Twenty-nine years ago, near midnight, I walked out the door of my campus apartment. One by one, we […]
Pray with certainty in uncertain times
For though the fig tree blossom not nor fruit be on the vines, though the yield of the olive fail and the terraces produce no nourishment, though the flocks disappear from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord and exult in my saving God. — […]
Learning lessons from St. Blaise
Difficult to come by in my tiny landlocked Midwest town, and not within the grocery budget when it was, fresh fish was not often on the menu when I was a young girl. Instead Friday dinners alternated between tuna casseroles and macaroni and cheese. My mother, raised on the East Coast, missed fresh fish, and […]
Word of God prepares hearts for Jesus
The Sundays of December include three Sundays of Advent leading up to the celebration of Christmas. Advent is a season of preparing. As we eagerly await the Lord’s return in the Second Coming, we live lives prepared or in a state of preparation eager to welcome the Lord when He arrives. Click on each heading […]
The difficulty of waiting during Advent
What is my strength that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? — Job 6:11 Advent aside, it is the season of waiting in my house. A month ago, Mike clicked “submit” on the last of his early college applications — his hopes for the next four years of […]
3 reasons new words in Mass are good
After all the “sturm und drang” (“storm and stress”) of the past few years, the changes in some of the words at Mass will probably turn out to be a good thing. Here is why. First, they will make us pay more attention to the celebration of the Mass, at least for a while. Second, […]
Prayer means crying out to God with trust, Pope says at audience
Praying in the midst of suffering, Christians must remember how God has loved them all their lives and will rescue them, Pope Benedict XVI said. Holding his weekly general audience Sept. 14 in the Vatican audience hall, Pope Benedict continued teaching about prayer and used Psalm 22, "one of the most prayed and studied psalms," as an example of how to cry out to the Lord from a basic position of trust.
Tangling with threads of time
By Michelle Francl-Donnay For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. – Ecclesiastes 3:1 For most of this summer I have been working off the clock. Somewhere in early June I stopped wearing my watch unless I had an appointment to keep. Now it’s August and I can’t figure […]
Use the Psalms to pray with passion
By Michelle Francl-Donnay I cry aloud to God, cry to God to hear me. On the day of my distress I seek the Lord; by night my hands are raised unceasingly; I refuse to be consoled. – Ps. 77:2-3 I’m in the midst of a project that has gone viral. Last week I asked a […]
Seeing with ‘new eyes’
By Michelle Francl-Donnay I rejoiced when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem. – Ps. 122:1-2 The suitcases were hauled up from their basement resting places, while the kitchen door sprouted lists of chores that must be done, things […]