Our Church Needs Women

Rachel Held Evans said, “God needed women for survival. Before Jesus fed us with the bread and wine, the body and the blood, Jesus himself needed to be fed, by a woman. He needed a woman to say, ‘This is my body, given for you.’”

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Baptism is Not the End of the Journey

Lent has always been a baptismal season, for example, we are reminded to pray for those who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil. But it is also a season to remember that we continue to live our baptismal promises made long ago. Conversion is on-going; deepening our faith is a perennial project, a daily…

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Our Sense of Being Separate

Feeling separated from others is an emotion and thought that can consume us. But we need to keep remembering that we are in communion. Even when we feel that we are not part of a community (church, employment, neighborhood, relationships), we are still in communion. There is no way not to be in communion. Communion…

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Ash Wednesday Calls for Personal and Group Action

Have you made your Lenten resolutions? Perhaps you are considering extra prayer and sacrifices of self-denial. Wonderful! But make sure the extra prayer and penance aren’t just for us ourselves. Lent is not a self-improvement challenge. Rather much in Lent is an urgent life-or-death call to community, to systemic conversion. Giving up desserts is personal…

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“I Can’t Carry a Tune”

You sing well. “Oh, you can’t mean me! I can’t carry a tune.” God gives each of us the voice we’re meant to give back in worship. “When we sing God’s praise together, the God who is absolute love is incapable of hearing anything except voices returning that love” (A. Hommerding). Still skeptical? “God is…

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My Biblical Valentine’s Day

I like to locate references to “love” in the Bible on Valentine’s Day. According to Nelson’s Complete Concordance of the New American Bible the word “love” is used 377 times, to say nothing of derivatives like “loved” or “loves” or “loving.” The first quotation tells of Abraham’s love for his son Isaac. Number 200 affirms…

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My Life Explained in Idioms

Someday I might visit some of the 18 countries where there are Sisters of Notre Dame. When there I might describe what it is like to be an SND.             Well, right off the bat, I’d say I love to be a Sister. Although not everything is my cup of tea, I appreciate our focus…

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