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As we watch television, read news or hear from our friends and relatives, we know of persons who have recently died. The number of sick who have died from the virus without the comfort of family is staggering. Multiplied exponentially is the number of persons grieving the death of their loved ones. Multiply again, and…

Joan Rivers said, “No matter how trapped in the Krazy Glue of life you may be feeling, you can get unstuck. My favorite way is to make a list of all that I have to be thankful for.” Every night when I turn off the light I lay my head on the pillow and begin…

    If you have read today’s Gospel for Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent, you saw Jesus’ life-saving forgiveness and kindness toward the woman caught in adultery. Her horror of facing death by stoning was transformed into grateful relief, as the accusers slunk away and Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.”      Have…

I live in a house with three other Sisters of Notre Dame. One is a teacher who right now is meeting a math group on line. Two other Sisters are making protective masks. I am sitting here hoping to send a blog that will keep up spirits in a time of isolation and buoy hope…

We’ve all heard “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” Dick Ryan uses a different image: “Suffering can be like a grain of sand in an oyster; it can create a magnificent pearl.” I can’t hear the word “pearl” without thinking of John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. Even teaching the novel for the twelfth time, I…

We hear the O Antiphons on the remaining days of Advent. Each day the Gospel Acclamation at Mass and the Evening Prayer antiphon before the Magnificat begin with O and include a Messianic title, such as O Wisdom or O King of All the Nations. These O antiphons probably began with monks in centuries past.…

Did you ever look in a puddle and see treetops and clouds? Looking down you see the heavens. Looking down you see what is above. When Mary and Joseph looked down into the face of Baby Jesus, did they see God in his heaven?

There’s movement in Advent. We seem to be on a journey. Forward and deeper. Forward in crossing off the days until Christmas. Forward in opening windows of Advent calendars. Deeper into the mystery. Come, all ye! Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord! Let Advent be a pilgrimage. “Come, let us climb…

Frederick Buechner writes in The Alphabet of Grace: “Religions start, as Frost said poems do, with a lump in the throat, to put it mildly, or with the bush going up in flames, the rain of flowers, the dove coming down out of the sky.” Does Advent similarly start with “a lump in the throat”?…

If five persons gather during a grief support session, how many persons are sitting around the table? I have the privilege of leading grief support groups for nine weekly sessions. On the last day participants seem reluctant to leave. They feel it had been good to be together in a circle of acceptance and understanding.…