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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…

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…

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…

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…

Got your answer? Here it is. The congregation. Yes, the assembly is the most important minister, an assembly of all ministers whether they have a title like lector or not. How does the assembly minister? They listen to the Word, they sing and respond, they offer praise, they become the Body of Christ that they…

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…

When someone is sad, I may write to them, hoping to alleviate some of their pain or nudge them into another stage of dealing with their grief. Recently I read what Saint Thomas Aquinas gave as a remedy for sorrow: “Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath, and a glass of wine.” As…

Last night my dinner was a big bowl of French onion soup. When I got up today, I said “good morning.” But I expected “Bonjour!” When receiving Holy Communion, we become what we eat—the Body of Christ. How is it that through the course of the day my words do not always sound like the…

Recently I read in Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations this beautiful inspiration: “Instead of saying that God came into the world through Jesus, maybe it would be better to say that Jesus come out of an already Christ-soaked world. The second Incarnation flowed out of the first, out of God’s loving union with physical creation.”  What…

St. Bernard said, “What we love we shall grow to resemble.” Saint Clare of Assisi said the same: “We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become.” Perhaps this is the reason why married couples sometimes look like each other over the years. Do you love God? Are you looking more…