July 10, 2022: A Reflection for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr C Luke 10:25-37 “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He…
M. Vicki: Sister Hildegard, what do you seek? Sr. Hildegard: The mercy of God and your mercy. M. Vicki: “Come to me. Follow me,” the Heart of Mercy whispered into your heart. And you followed. You left your native country to respond to Mercy who drew you to Cistercian life at the Abbey of Echourgnac in France. From there, the mercy of God drew you to a monastery in the…
June 12, 2022: A Reflection for the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, Yr C John 16:12-15 Everything that the Father has is mine. (Jn 16:15) “Everything that the Father has is mine.” Everything. So that includes us! We are in the heart of the Trinity, the mystery of three Persons in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are gloriously plunged in mystery – and plunged in communion…
May 29, 2022: A reflection for the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord In today’s feast, Jesus returns to the one who sent him: the Father, the giver of life. He has fulfilled his mission as the Son of Man or the Son of Humanity and his final gift is to send us the Promise of the Father, the Spirit, to be with us, to teach us all…
May 15, 2022: A Reflection for the Fifth Sunday in Easter Time, Yr C John 13:31-33a, 34-35 Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. (Jn 13:31) Jesus, if you don’t mind my saying so, you have a very different perspective about what glory is. On this planet, we think of glory as being on top of things, at the top of my game, as…
May 8, 2022: A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday in Easter Time, Yr C John 10:27-30 No one can take them out of my hand. (Jn 10:29) “I’ve got you! Don’t worry, I’m holding on to you.” As a child, it meant a lot to hear those words from my mother or father when life seemed so much bigger than a frightened child could handle. I was safe in their…
May 1, 2022: A Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C John 21:1-19 So much had happened after the Apostles lost their Lord and Master, and best friend. Nothing was the same anymore. In fact, everything seemed upside down and inside out. They had seen their beloved Jesus die and yet he had come to them and shared food with them. Where does a person go with all…
Brother Lawrence Oluf Koester, 1931-2022 “Prayer! Prayer! Prayer! That’s what the peacocks cried out every day to remind me.” Br. Lawrence recounted that story to me around this time last year when I went to visit him in Tucson. The peacocks had long before been given away, but their cry remained in Br. Lawrence’s depths. "Prayer, prayer, prayer." You might say those three words sum up the heart of our…
At the beginning of the profession ceremony, Sr. Sharon read aloud selected verses from chapter four in the Rule of St. Benedict, "The Tools for Good Works." First of all, love the Lord God with your whole heart, your whole soul and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself . . . Your way of acting should be different from the world's way; the love of Christ must…
The last words we sang at Vespers on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord were: “Christ our God has made all creation holy.” The next day we burst from the season of light, glory, angels and God in human flesh into what we call Ordinary Time. I suppose you have to call it something, but is it really ordinary? Ordinary can look so boring, grey and colorless. Yes.…
