Posts by Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider

More than at any other time of the year, the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum stimulate our senses with the potential for fully engaging us. On Holy Thursday our eyes and noses are attuned to the glistening oils carried in procession, our ears hear the ring of bells at the Glory to God, we hear…

Do you ever find yourself remembering, humming, or singing a refrain non-stop? The past few days I keep hearing “He has covered himself in glory.” It’s from Exodus 15, the responsorial psalm after the required Exodus reading from the Easter Vigil. Referring to the Israelites’ triumph over the Egyptians who drowned in the Red Sea,…

The Easter Triduum, AKA the Sacred Three Days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, is full of symbols and rituals that engage the senses. Every sense is involved. We can see, taste, smell, feel, and hear the liturgy. Our sense of sight awakens as the glistening oils are brought in procession during the…

A driver used her GPS to find her destination. Unfortunately, the GPS remained silent. Left to her own sense of direction, the driver found her destination. Slowing the car to park at her desired spot, she heard the GPS exclaim gleefully, “You are here!” April has arrived. No fooling! Suddenly we find ourselves “here.”  March…

The prophet Isaiah puts these words in the mouth of God: “For I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and its people to be a delight.” God would have felt the same when we were created—and everyone else was created. Yes, God made the person who annoys us a joy. God made the ones who…

On any day of the year I can find dust or spots to clean, so why do I wait for spring cleaning? It must be the sunshine that gets me in the mood, yet it’s the sunshine that reveals the most dust motes. I’d save time cleaning if I waited for a dark day. Yet…

Right around Ash Wednesday my youngest sister introduced me to Wordle. Because she plays it daily, I thought I would join her. After all, it’s a sisterly thing to do and a great way to keep in touch. She’s quite good at it, but she doesn’t brag.  Instead, she sends an “innocuous” sentence that has…

Oxymorons are fun. Who has not been “clearly misunderstood”? Who has not tasted something “awfully good”? Matching oxymorons with Lent may be “true fiction.” But let  me remind you that the most significant oxymoron, the one on which we base our faith and our eternal salvation is “life-giving death.” The Paschal Mystery—Christ’s death and resurrection—is…

We’ve all had the opportunity to ask ourselves, “Now what should I do?” Perhaps it was a time of transition like job loss or retirement. Maybe the question followed a problem. In the well-known gospel story, we hear a rich young man ask, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I’ve already…

“Oh, the possibilities!” sounds like a phrase from a Dr. Seuss book. But it also characterizes who we will be in heaven.  Maria von Trapp wrote: “We shall remain the individuals we have been here on earth, but the possibilities which were created into us shall now find fulfillment.” We have a lifetime to reach…