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.

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

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

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

Today is the first day of autumn, and I notice quite a mix of color: green and yellow soybean fields, red and green tree leaves, tan fields of dry corn next to green lawns. The change of seasons doesn’t come with one big “Aha!” moment, although sometimes our breath is

Junk mail claims “You’re a winner!” until you read the catch that costs. The gospels also have a catch: “Find life! (But first deny yourself, take up your cross, and let go of life).” In Jesus we see in human terms what it means to be God. The gospels are

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).

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

Today is the anniversary of my promise of fidelity or temporary vows. Great years of community living, productive mission, awesome prayerful moments! Oh yeah–and some terribly catastrophic times. That first promise is truer today than it was years ago. My religious life began in the high drama of youthful romance

Oak Openings’ yellow trail is a study in opposites. Hard ground gives way to sandy soil. Sweet smells turn to brackish odors. Shadows part in a shaft of sunshine raining down like wheat from a hopper. A wooded park is a place to contemplate opposites, those paradoxes that are integral