At our parish on Mother’s Day, we have a tradition of honoring all women, whether they biologically have children or not. I am always deeply moved by this tradition, because it allows us to honor women who “mother” even if they do not have children of their own. As all women stand in our parish, [...]
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During Holy Week I’ve encountered two very different and yet equally profound meanings in the act of a kiss. The first, of course, is the act by which Judas symbolized his betrayal of Christ: a tender, intimate act which was a lie and a travesty. The other was the act by which we show reverence [...]
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The final contemplation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is the Contemplation on Divine Love, or the Contemplation on the Love of God. It captures all of the movements we’ve been praying through during our retreat in daily life. In the video below, Kevin O’Brien, SJ, explains the exercise as contemplating God’s love, which [...]
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It is with the somber feel of Holy Week that I write that our old friend, Fr. Dennis, has died. Last April I wrote about visiting him with my husband as he said Mass in his apartment. His tears as he tried to get through the Mass with his increasingly debilitating disease was so sad. [...]
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My new favorite description of love is the willingness to enter a mess. It’s a pretty decent description of the Incarnation (or kenosis for you theologians out there); it captures the spirit of that oft-quoted passage from Matthew 25 about feeding Jesus when you feed the hungry. It’s pretty close to the sentiment that Ignatius [...]
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“What makes us human is precisely our experience of the infinite, the fact that we are never satisfied. We are the subjects of unlimited longing, finding infinity not outside ourselves but within. We ask questions about totality and ultimate meaning, and by so doing find that we are asking the question about God. God and [...]
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Dean Brackley, the late Jesuit educator who spent many years teaching in El Salvador, wrote a beautiful meditation on what it feels like to fall in love because of the ministry of the poor. The text comes from a piece he wrote in 2000 for Salvanet, “A Publication of Christians for Peace in El Salvador,” [...]
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My daughter Laura turned me on to the British band Mumford and Sons. They’re something special. “After the Storm” speaks of longing for God, and the hope that love will triumph: And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears. And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. Get [...]
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The devotion to the Heart of Christ, so vigorous some years ago, so much on the decline today, would flourish once again if people would understand that it consists essentially in accepting Jesus Christ as love incarnate, as the manifestation of the unconditional love of God for us. Anyone who accepts this is bound to [...]
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