Spirituality
Before the dawn, psalms and prayerful hearts rise first
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice! Psalm 130:1 I huddled in my sweatshirt in the garden of my tiny hermitage, as the dawn cautiously crept over the Santa Lucia Mountains behind me. Steam swirled over the cup of tea cradled in my hands, a tiny mirror of […]
Communal silence wells up, flows out
A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountain and crushing rocks before the Lord — but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake — but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire — but the Lord was not in the fire. […]
Let God’s Word blossom in your heart
Let your every creature serve you; for you spoke, and they were made. You sent forth your spirit, and they were created; no one can resist your word. — Judith 16:14 “Happy 17th day of Eastertide!” began the e-mail from my friend, Father Bill Sneck, S.J. He enclosed the link to a short video with […]
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.