Is our faith, our hope and our love great enough to allow for transformation? The three virtues of faith, hope and love pop up as themes through Lent. Abraham trusted God that a victim other than his son Isaac would be given, and God provided the lamb to be sacrificed. Paul’s letter, filled with hope inspires us, “I give no thought to what lies behind but push on to what is ahead.  My entire attention is on the finish line as I run towards the prize to which God calls me-life on high in Christ Jesus.” Continue Reading

It seems to me the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus we will celebrate in a few weeks is the most dynamic time of the year. It also strikes me, each year, that without the Resurrection it would not be very celebratory! It is the Resurrection that makes new life happen. Sadly, I suppose, we have to watch Jesus die to enrich us with Resurrection. Continue Reading

Dt 26: 4-10; Rom 10: 8-12; Luke 4:1-13

When we were  children, we were always encouraged to give up candy during Lent.  I remember one Lent when David, the youngest child, said he was giving up watermelon.  We laughed but we all knew he would be giving up candy also. Continue Reading

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. S/he is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit. Jeremiah 17: 7-8

As the days are cold and cloudy and never-ending, I am reminded that I must remain rooted in the heart of God. I need to keep stretching my roots to the life-giving water – the love of God. Continue Reading

“Did you ever look inside yourself and see what you are not?” the crippled daughter in one of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories shouts at her spiritually crippled mother. Lent provides us with forty days to look inside ourselves to see that what seems to us and others as normally attractive – or at least okay – is actually lacking in grace and love. Continue Reading

Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve.”

On the first Sunday of Lent, we hear of Jesus undergoing a grueling ordeal in the desert…a test as to what kind of a leader he was to be. Alone, weakened by hunger and exhaustion, he was very vulnerable. What can we learn from reflecting on the temptations of Jesus? Continue Reading

Recently at Mass I was struck by the Gospel about the wedding at Cana.  Jesus turns the water into fine, rich wine.  His mother was perturbed that the wedding couple were running out of wine and the reception was still in progress.  She calls upon her son to make more wine.  Jesus is reluctant but then does as his mother asks.  The twist is the wine was the best of any served.  It grabbed everyone’s attention and made the wedding reception even more special for the wedding couple. This same reading was a Sunday Gospel not but three weeks ago.  It is usually seen as the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  The first miracle he works. Continue Reading

Recent Scripture readings at Mass were a great pause for reflection for anyone discerning about a direction for their life.  The three were a combination of different characters being called to go beyond themselves for God. Continue Reading

How often have you found yourself anxious for possibly groundless reasons?  And acting rashly in search of affirmation, in ways that are either unnecessary or unpleasantly grasping–ways that compounded your anxiousness? Read the rest of Benedictine Oblate Amy Carr’s post!