Reflections – Contemplatio
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 […]
Feast of All Souls
During these early days of November, we are called to contemplate the great doctrine of the Communion of Saints, which we declare every time we say the Apostles Creed. Sometimes in our recitation, we may not always give it the attention it deserves. The communion of saints is the spiritual harmony that binds together the faithful on earth, those still journeying to God, and the saints in heaven as the mystical body of Christ.
POPE JOHN XXlll
On October 11, we marked the Feast of John XXlll, which is neither his birth nor his death in 1962. However, he officially opened the Second Vatican Council. In his opening remarks at the Council, he said that the Gospel of Jesus had not changed but we have grown to understand it better. The Council […]
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
We know that each of the saints in our Catholic roster tried to emulate the life of Jesus in her or his unique way. Saint Bonaventure writes that Saint Francis of Assisi became the epitome of this effort. Francis had lived a privileged and worldly youth, sought honor as a knight and experienced suffering through […]
The Seven Sorrows of Mary
Originally known in the Roman Missal as the celebration of Our Lady of Compassion, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows has been commemorated in the Church since the 15th century. The Seven Sorrows of Mary focus mainly on the Passion of Our Lord. I would like to suggest that there is a wider understanding […]
Dominican Middle School Raza Abad Multan, Pakistan
This is the first of a three-part series to introduce the educational ministry of our Sisters in Pakistan. This piece focuses on Multan, a densely populated city. The next article will focus on the small desert village of Loretto. The third installment will introduce the small city of Bahawalpur, the center of our Community’s life […]