- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
As a liturgist/musician I participate in nearly every act of worship in the parish. This should make me holy, don’t you think? But it doesn’t seem to be working that way. The liturgy can easily wash over me without my participating in the reality. Ron Rolheiser writes: “We participate in
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
The wind of God, the Holy Spirit, continues to sweep over the face of the earth. After billions of years God’s creativity is as vibrant as ever. God just can’t stop! Day by day our world is becoming more and more “charged with the grandeur of God” (Gerard Manley Hopkins).
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
As a human being, Jesus Christ was as subject to daily tasks as any of us. In the carpenter shop in Nazareth did Jesus wonder about the punishment of Adam and Eve to work, especially the work that is tedious, thankless, mindless and so repetitive that we wonder why we
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
“Let us be infected by the holiness of God.” Pope Francis said this in a general audience in October 2013. With the Ebola epidemic spiraling out of control, the word “infected” takes on more import. For our spiritual lives, too, the prayerful hope of Pope Francis should also take on
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
If schools, stores, churches, and other buildings had a banner stating “Always Looking for Great People,” I’d want to go in! I’d be curious about who was inside, the mission statement, procedures for day-to-day operations, visioning, and goals. What if next Sunday every Christian church displayed such a banner? Would
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
A few days ago when I was driving in early morning hours, I noticed something unusual about the moon. The traffic, however, kept my attention on the road, headlights preventing me from seeing much beyond. Later in the day I heard about the lunar eclipse. Had I realized it was
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
During the ceremony when St. Brigid (500 A.D.) was to become an abbess, the bishop accidentally used the prayers for an ordination of a bishop. Back in June a presider at Mass intended to give a Father’s Day blessing, but accidentally turned to a page with a blessing for catechists.
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
Most people probably don’t put together these two words: nuns and passion. Is being a passionate nun an oxymoron? I don’t think so. Actually I get frustrated with people who aren’t passionate. So did Jesus. Remember his line about the lukewarm? Perhaps you’ve read Good to Great by Jim
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
The word alone looks like the words all one, and perhaps that’s significant. When I lose who I think I am (my ego, my way of doing things, my way of thinking), then I can more easily become one with all, that is, the universe and all it contains. Ironically
- By Sr. Mary Valerie Schneider
We arrived at church for Mass too early. Rather than finding another church, we decided to sit at one of the church’s picnic tables and talk about our spiritual lives. As we talked about finding God in little events, a hawk came to rest on a nearby fence, his presence

