God Isn’t Finished with Me Yet

Everyone who is still breathing is unfinished. That’s where Lent comes in. Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving form the tripod on which the season stands. They are the three tried and true ways to lose our lives for the sake of saving them.  What finishing touches do I need? How shall I achieve becoming a more…

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Ash Wednesday (Feb. 17) Transformation in Christ

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians gives four qualities to help us become instruments of peace: humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Each quality involves pushing ourselves away from the center of our world. Isn’t that what Lent is all about? Lent’s prayer and practices help us push ourselves aside to make Christ our center.…

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Your Whole Heart

We will soon begin the season of Lent when God says, “Return to me with your whole heart” (Joel 2:11). Do we find ourselves trying to think of something different to do during Lent? More service? Fewer complaints? Stations of the Cross? Here is a thought: Seeing with God’s eyes. Seeing with God’s eyes means…

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My Heart Is Moved

Today’s Gospel reading (Mk. 8:1-10) begins “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat.” Jesus’ empathy led him to action. Haven’t we been so blessed to see numerous acts of empathy over the past months? Anonymous donors paying bills…

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There Your Heart Will Be

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, and since he is my favorite President, I will write about him today, even when leading up to Valentine’s Day with 14 blogs about heart. For Lincoln I chose this quotation from Mark’s gospel: “Wherever your treasure lies, there your heart will be. (12:32). Lincoln’s heart longed for…

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Our Lady of Lourdes

Five million pilgrims arrive in Lourdes, France, each season to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Mary identified herself: “I am the Immaculate Conception,” which is now engraved on the Miraculous Medal. People of faith touch or drink the waters from the spring at the grotto in Lourdes in…

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Heart Filled with Sorrow

The passage recounting the Lord’s agony in the garden is one of the most emotional in the Scriptures.  Filled with fear and dread, Jesus asks three disciples to be with him. He says, “My heart is full of sorrow, to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake” (Mark 14:34).  Jesus’ perfect human nature…

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The Truths We Hold

I enjoy reading. Trying to make my favorite relaxation educational, I often read biographies and autobiographies. Recently I read The Luckiest Man, Salter’s book about John McCain. Then I read The Truths We Hold by Vice-President Kamala Harris. Both (one Republican, the other a Democrat) made “we the people” their compass. These two senators were…

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Our Very Near Transcendent God

God is transcendent, a word that seems to focus on God’s distance. Yet in a theological sense, transcendent means “otherness.” God is that which we are not; God is completely other. Yet God is imminent. Scripture portrays God as very near desiring to share God’s love in the Big Bang, taking on our human nature…

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World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life

I hope you pray for religious sisters, priests, and brothers often. Today is a special day to do just that in the diocese of Toledo. (Consecrated Life Day, begun by Pope John Paul II in 1997, is really on February 2, but is often celebrated on Sunday.)  Also pray for more persons to respond to…

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