By Sister Catherine Cleary, OSB
1st reading: Micah 5:1-4; 2nd Reading Hebrew 10: 5-10; Gospel Luke 1:39-45
On Sunday we begin the final week of Advent … the final week of quieting our heart to experience Christ’s coming.
It’s the final week in a great gift of time. Continue Reading
By Sister Stefanie MacDonald, OSB
Sometimes when I’m at Mass with my 3- and 4-year-olds, it’s impossible to concentrate on a homily. They are squirming, making eye contact with each other and on the verge of … something.
Yesterday was different. I heard Father Freddie’s words, and I have to share them with you now.
It was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The time Mary said, “Yes.” Continue Reading
By Sister Catherine Cleary, OSB
The 3rd Sunday of Advent is called “ Rejoice Sunday,” and all 3 readings speak about rejoicing and happiness that the Lord’s birth is near.
The 1st reading of Zephaniah’s prophecy is a song celebrating the restoration of Jerusalem. “Rejoice! The Lord is in your midst.” (Zephaniah 3) Continue Reading
By Sister Catherine Cleary, OSB
Preparation is a key word for the Advent season and especially for this second Sunday of Advent. But how shall we prepare … and for what? Continue Reading
Sister Hannah, right, was one of the mentors (along with me) for the high school students responsible for prayers at NCYC.
By Sister Stefanie MacDonald, OSB
Recently one of the sisters in my community sent me an article about a conference called “New Faces, New Voices, New Ways of Being Church: An Exploration of the American Catholic Church Going Forward.”
Our church is certainly in a time of change. We are moving to something new, which is all we know for sure. Continue Reading
By Sister Catherine Cleary, OSB
“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent.”
“People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world.”
St. Luke’s Gospel (Luke 21: 25-28; 34-36) for this 1st Sunday of Advent seems prophetic for this Advent season as we reel from the bombing and killing in Paris just 2 weeks ago. Continue Reading
Benedictines immerse themselves in the Psalms at least 3 times – and sometimes as many as 7 times – every day during the Liturgy of the Hours.
By the time the Benedictine Sisters of St. Mary Monastery celebrate their 50th jubilees, they have spent well over 20,000 hours praying and pondering the Psalms together.
Let’s just say the Sisters know the Psalms.
But how do they feel about them … and why? Continue Reading
By Sister Stefanie MacDonald, OSB
“This message of mine is for you, then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true King, Christ the Lord.” The Rule of St. Benedict: Prologue
The word “obedience” is fraught for many people. But it’s not blind obedience that Benedict calls for. Continue Reading
By Sister Marianne Burkhard, OSB
As we celebrated All Saints (both the officially known and all the unknown ones) Day on Sunday, I find myself thinking of those everyday saints – with a small “s” – we have known along our way.
These are people who have shared their faith with us, touched us in a special way by being ‘the presence of God’ in a particular moment when that presence of God was needed for support or as stimulus for further spiritual growth. Continue Reading
By Sister Mary Core, OSB
On November 1, we celebrate All Saints Day, a celebration for all the saints in heaven, including those who aren’t recognized on the liturgical calendar.
They include both those we do and those we don’t know.
Our community saints are all gold-leafed on our chapel Memorial Wall. Continue Reading
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