When we hear that someone has cancer, the news is a call to faith. A neighbor has cancer, and three of us sisters visited him. With his children and grandchildren present, we talked about our founding sister, Sister Maria Aloysia. Then we prayed for a complete cure through her intercession.

I got up, unlocked LialRenewalCenter, prayed Morning Prayer and meditation, helped prepare three meals for 27 retreatants, prepared liturgies for St. Richard Church, played a card game with the sisters with whom I live after praying Evening Prayer with them, phoned and wrote e-mails, and went to bed. Although the

Sometimes best-sellers portray unusual, even unnerving pictures of God. Could Shay Bourne in Jodi Piccoult’s Change of Heart be Jesus? Is the Holy Spirit Saraya, Keeper of the gardens, in William Young’s The Shack? Does the main character in the Joshua books depict Jesus? Even the gospels give us four

Today (August 20) is the anniversary of my baptism. I have no idea whether my baptismal candle and garment are still around, but I do know that the grace of my baptism is still with me. What have I been doing all these years with my baptismal grace? What am

A group of us used to pray in a friend’s home once a week for five years. Then some moved out of town, and it has been seven years since we all had met. As it happened, we all were able to get to St. Rita’s Hospital in Lima on

A crayfish walked me back from the mailbox this morning. A woodchuck comes out from under the deck to chomp on roses, as I snack on pretzels lathered in peanut butter. Chipmunks cavort over the stone wall. These were things I noticed. How much more goes unobserved? If only a

As I sat here looking out the window at the night sky, just still light enough to see cloud formations, I noticed a giant footprint in the sky, but before I could type this sentence, it disappeared. What if I hadn’t looked out at that precise moment? I would have

Annie, a friend of mine, was singing with some teenagers. A man questioned why a gray-haired lady would be part of the group and asked her age. Hearing she was 65, he said, “She has a voice and heart every bit as young as the teens with her.” Another time

One day during the Sign of Peace at Mass a little girl shook the hands of persons nearby while saying “Peace of Pizza! Peace of Pizza!” Besides being cute, the words can be interpreted as a blessing. May you experience the Eucharist that you will soon eat as your spiritual

Pope Francis stamped the trip to Brazil with his signature seal—the world’s pastor. Today’s newspaper described Benedict as the world’s theologian, John Paul II as the world’s philosopher, and Pope Francis as the world’s pastor. Saint Francis de Sales, I believe, claimed that we can catch more souls with a