Our greatest spiritual teachers can be our nearest and dearest. The familiar ones with whom we share sinks and sheets and silverware.
Guest Columnists
Sick of the Violence
IN HER 1971 collection of poetry entitled “A Grain of Mustard Seed,” the late poet, novelist and journal-writer May Sarton wrote:
Parsing the “T”
ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, a friend took her son with her when she went to a beauty shop to get her hair cut. The hairdresser was snipping away and the boy was engrossed in reading on his Kindle when another mother came into the shop with her daughter in tow. The daughter was carrying an American Girl doll, and the mother announced to the entire beauty shop, “We’re here to get the doll’s hair cut. We’re transgendering her!”
Hope and Courage as The Altar Draws Closer
by Brendon Harfmann
A brother seminarian recently sent greetings from Rome and spoke of the excitement building up within as our ordinations to the transitional diaconate and priesthood draw closer.
The Latino Effect of Pope Francis
POPE FRANCIS WAS elected five years ago on March 13, 2013. Two firsts about him captured people’s imaginations: the first Jesuit and the first Latin American ever elected pope.
Rethinking the Idea of ‘Mission Territory’
IN HIS JUNE 1908 apostolic constitution, “Sapienti Consilio,” Pope Pius X decreed that, as of Nov. 3 that year, the Catholic Church in the United States would no longer be supervised by the Vatican’s missionary agency, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide). American Catholicism had grown up. The U.S. Church would now be a mission-sending Church, not “mission territory.”
Responding in Love
“BECAUSE GOD first loved us, we respond in love, freely choosing to follow Christ.” And so begins the section on vowed life in You Are Sent, the constitution of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. I first read that sentence when I was an S.S.N.D. novice, but in reflecting on my vocation journey, I discover that my heart knew those words long before entering the convent.
I first read that sentence when I was an S.S.N.D. novice, but in reflecting on my vocation journey, I discover that my heart knew those words long before entering the convent.
A Deeper Look at Black History
We have long rested in the idea that Americans are more tolerant of racial differences today … After years of Black History Month observances, are we any closer to establishing the “beloved community” of which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, or manifesting the kingdom of God that Jesus preached?
Conscience and Grace: A Lenten Meditation
THE SCRIPTURE readings for Lent in the Church’s daily liturgy invite two related reflections. The weeks immediately preceding Easter call us to walk to Jerusalem in imitation of Christ, so that at Easter, we too might be blessed with baptismal water and sent into the world on mission. The preceding weeks, those immediately following Ash Wednesday, propose a serious examination of conscience: What is there in me that’s broken? What’s impeding my being the missionary disciple I was baptized to be?
No Wind, Earthquake or Fire – Just a Silent Pull
by Michael Francis Falce
“THEN THE LORD said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord – but the Lord was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake – but the Lord was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire – but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound.” (1 Kings 19:11-12)