An angel appears to Joseph in a dream to explain the situation. When Joseph wakes, he must make decisions about marrying Mary and caring for her and the child. He acts on complete faith and trust. Acting on faith and trust is a tremendous challenge today. In our...
God has built a highway for the people. This is such a safe and straight road that no one can become lost. This road of faith is what God gives to the people. Along it they shall travel to the promised land. God gives the people not only natural sustenance, like water...
Advent is not a season that is very popular… Once Thanksgiving is over…we want to push this in-between time of stillness aside and move on to Christmas. We are eager to begin putting up decorations and singing Christmas carols, to go shopping and plan parties—in...
The weeks of November and early December are often experienced as a peculiarly flat time. The reds and golds of autumn have faded into brown, and the sky…has gone gray. The days grow shorter and colder, but still winter has not quite come. It is a time of waiting. It...
Seasons of waiting are seasons of contemplation—of quietness and resting in God, of letting go, of self-yielding. They are times when we watch and listen with the eyes and ears of our heart. Advent, more than any other liturgical season, is about this kind of...
How are we to experience peace in a world filled with war and destruction, hurricanes and greed? …Prayers are offered for peace and Nobel prizes are awarded for it. But more frequently, peace seems as distant as the moon… The world whizzes by at breakneck speed as its...
If happiness is what we feel when we think we’ve got what we want, then joy is what we feel when we discover we already have what we most need. Joy is still present when life is hard. Christ comes for grieving people with broken homes and broken hearts. Christmas is...
There is more to life than we previously imagined. Angels hide in every nook and cranny, magi masquerade as everyday people, and shepherds wear the garments of day laborers. The whole earth is brimming with glory for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. from The...
Each year, as winter takes hold and covers our days with its silent wonder, we are called to reflection. As the shadows grow longer and the nights deepen, we gather in our chapels of faith seeking [comfort and assurance from God]. We light our candles…we sing our...
Mary made her womb available for a holy conception and birth. She surrendered to the mysterious, divine working of God, knowing that the holy child within her would change the world. May we, too, open our minds, hearts, and bodies to the mysterious working of God , so...