Luke 14:25-32 My grandmother displayed several pictures of Jesus as the Good Shepherd in her home. These portrayals of our Lord often brought me consolation, especially through periods of uncertainty. A meditative gaze into these portraits led me to Jesus, who, with his shepherd’s crook, lovingly and wisely led me through valleys and into light and life. Yet Luke’s passage portrays […]
Were epidemics and/or pandemics part of St. Angela Merici’s experience? The pandemic “Black Death” scourged Europe from 1346 to 1353. When Angela was born (1474), plague was periodic and local. Milan suffered an epidemic in the 1490s and Brescia in 1524, during her time there. People trembled before their vulnerability to disease. There is no
Hardships and Hope Read More »
Fasting from the Eucharist? Who knew this would be our Lenten fast in 2020, the pinch of this hunger? The corona virus has shifted our Eucharistic life online. An invisible community around our separate screens replaces – expands – the tangible community around the altar. Not all bad, for a time, to sense the invisible
Staying Hungry in the Time of Corona Read More »
Dear Kathleen, You have been gone for ten years. February 19 was a Tuesday in 2008. That afternoon your breathing stopped quietly, simply, almost unnoticed. You had gone home, as you had joyfully anticipated from the time of your stroke four months earlier. You had joined your Spouse, your parents, your beloved Madre Angela. I
“If, according to times and circumstances, the need arises to make new rules or do something differently, do it prudently and with good advice…,” St. Angela told the Company’s leaders in her last Legacy. Her words ring in my 21st-century ears. Angela modified her plans in response to a need that had arisen. On March
Times and Circumstances Read More »
Not for St. Angela Merici in 1535, when she founded the Company of St. Ursula. She spoke (in Italian) of the “secolo”: the ordinary circumstances of lay life. Not for Pope Pius XII on February 2, 1947, when he issued the document that gave “secular institutes” this title and recognized their place in the Church
Secular and Spiritual: Contradiction in Terms? Read More »
Through the Christmas cards and the baking and the wrapping paper, “Incarnation” wove a great question mark. What does it really mean? Scripture offers some avenues: “The Word was made flesh…” “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…” “An infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger…” But what does Incarnation
Incarnation – Word and Mystery Read More »
Indigestion – nightmares – quarrels – bitterness. Stress and division afflict me and most of our country. “What happens on November 9?” No matter who wins the presidency or which way the Senate tilts, we need reconciliation! We Christians look to Jesus, the One who prayed for his killers: “Father, forgive them.” We Americans take
Angela – Woman of Peace Read More »
Being together – “insieme” – is what St. Angela Merici recommended so strongly to her daughters that one directive to the Company’s leaders uses the word four times: “Take care to have your daughters come together from time to time in the place you think best and most convenient… so that, together like this, they
“My heart is wrenched,” St. Angela said. My heart – our hearts – are wrenched. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice! (Psalm 130) How many cities, how many lives before these…? Minneapolis – Lord, have mercy! Baton Rouge – Christ, have mercy! Dallas – Lord, have mercy!
My Heart Is Wrenched Read More »
