Reflections – Contemplatio
The Feast of St. Joseph
Happy Feast Day dear sisters and brothers, especially to Sr. Miriam Joseph on her first feast day in heaven! What can we say about this Patron of the Universal Church? We have a conundrum today because how did a carpenter from Nazareth rise to such an auspicious status? Especially one who could be described as […]
I Believe
“‘I do believe, Lord’, and he worshipped him.” John 9:38 I go to Mass on Sundays. I watch YouTube videos with sermons that examine Bible verses when I thirst for scripture. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning and right before I close my eyes is open my lavender-colored Bible […]
Feast of St. Patrick
There must be something about being green-just look around! But beyond the shamrocks and harps can we, using a slightly green lens, explore how Celtic Christianity Spirituality is echoed in Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ encyclical? Doing some web searching I found a paper by Kevin Vaughn titled: The Imagination of Interconnection: Laudato Si’ and Celtic […]
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that prepares us to celebrate the Resurrection. Those attending mass on this day will have their foreheads marked with ashes as a sign of repentance. Some might question us when they see the cross on our foreheads, “Did you remember to […]
St. Josephine Bakhita, Patron Saint of Freedom
Today, February 8, we commemorate the Feast Day of St. Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of freedom for persons victimized by human trafficking. At 7 years of age, she was kidnapped from her small village in the Darfur region of Sudan and sold into slavery. Like other slaves, Josephine was badly beaten, abused, and sold multiple […]
Saint Thomas Aquinas, OP
Sometime last year I was surfing the internet and I came upon an article titled: “A Thomistic Approach to the Moral Evils of Racism,” by Therese Scarpelli Cory, Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies at Notre Dame. The title interested me, and I scanned the article and put it away to read at a later time. […]
When All Was in Quiet Stillness
When we hear the sentence from the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Wisdom, “When all was in quiet stillness and the night was during its course,” just the sound of these words takes us beyond ourselves. Where do we go? We travel into a deep and safe silence that belongs to Christmas Eve. There […]
God is With Us
Since ancient times, humanity has held various versions of belief in the existence of a god or gods. The oldest civilizations in Mesopotamia, the land between the two rivers of the Euphrates and Tigris, built exotic temples to placate the gods by offering them gifts of food, and in some cases, human sacrifice. The purpose […]
What Are You Waiting For
The following is Lillian’s Advent Vesper reflection for the Sisters in Dominican Convent. My beloved Sisters, It is an honor to celebrate Advent and share my personal reflection with you today on the reading from James 5:7-10. I am overwhelmed with feelings of warmth and love as I read through each verse of this reading. […]
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
During these past few weeks, I’ve spent more time than usual with our Blessed Mother as I worked to prepare these reflections. I must admit, it has been an unexpectedly good way to enter more deeply into this beautiful Advent season!In exploring a bit of history of this feast, I discovered that there are differences […]