Advent – First Week

Do you try to give up the four S’s? Sweets, salt, starches, second helpings. Perhaps you’ve tried watching your weight, but have you ever waited in watch? Watching weight aids our physical well-being. Waiting in watch enhances our spiritual well-being. The short, joyous, penitential season of Advent focuses on the past, present, and future all…

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Run Forth to Meet Christ 

The opening prayer of Advent asks God for “resolve to run forth to meet your Christ.” The First Reading bids “Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain.” It sounds as if we’ll need a lot of energy and stamina between now and Christmas. But don’t rest up for the journey. Habitually we’re told to “awake…

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Earthly Liturgy United with Heavenly Liturgy

In our earthly liturgy (Sunday Mass) we participate in the heavenly liturgy, incipiently sharing in the liturgy and life of the blessed in heaven. How can we experience this wondrous connection? In every Mass we are made one with all the saints and angels, transcending time and space. “No eye has seen,” but our connection…

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Spontaneity!!

I prefer spontaneity to routine, but both have their merits. While routine allows the chance to focus on the present, spontaneity adds an unexpected energizing spark to the day. Plans may have to be shelved for a while, but returning to those plans after a spontaneous break seems very beneficial. Today I said to the…

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What is Your Personal Vocation??

November 6 is National Vocations Awareness Day. A vocation is a call from God usually supported by a call from the community to do something special for God and the Church. Generally we speak of three vocations: the married life, the single life, and the life of someone consecrated to God as a priest, sister,…

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God’s Leaf Rainbow

Across the street are several trees that form a rainbow. The top stripe is red, the next one is yellow, and the bottom stripe is green. The stripes curve somewhat on both sides, forming a rainbow arc. If rainbows bring luck—but I haven’t asked my neighbors if I could find the pot of gold probably…

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Celebrate ALL Saints!!

The Solemnity of All Saints Day on November 1 is a day that honors all those in heaven. Throughout the year we have many feasts of individual saints who are “canonized” or “listed” among the blessed. How did these saints get on the Church calendar? When Christ established the Kingdom, he didn’t hand out lectionaries,…

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