Have you ever noticed the power that a word, a painting, music, or nature has to captivate you? That’s just what happened as I came across the word delight and began to think of all its shades of meaning-the unexpected, surprise, joy, love, a smile, goodness, beauty, a spark of light, a bubbling over. Then…
Late spring and early summer is a time between big events and the laid-back spirit of vacation. In the church calendar, it’s the post-Pentecost season that has the dreary title of Ordinary Time. Happily, the presence of the Holy Spirit in this season is the silent breath of life. The big events of late spring…
I had a friend, Anna, whose conversation frequently included the expressions, “Oh, Spirit,” “Help, Spirit,” “Thanks, Spirit.” Her devotion impressed me. Pentecost, the feast of the Holy Spirit, became more important to me as I reflected on the number of times the Spirit is invoked in the Eucharistic liturgy. Occurrences such as “You alone are…
The mighty Easter song of the people of God at the Easter Vigil exults in God’s power.
Choosing Lenten practices for 2010 led me to look back over the years at all the ways and means of entering into the spirit of the season. I have a more mellow view of the days when we gave up candy for Lent-even saving some of it until Easter. What excitement when Easter came and…
In the midst of Lent, the feast of the Annunciation reminds us of Mary’s role in the plan of salvation both as the mother of Jesus and as the mother of the faithful of all times.
A season of many messages that unite us.
One morning early in Advent, I sat in the quiet darkness of my room, resisting the lamp switch next to me. It seemed good just to be there, waiting, in Advent mode, allowing the dark, allowing earth’s rhythm, claiming, changing nothing,simply aware,one with the universe feeling a peacefulness, a quiet active presence, like the seed in the ground, perhaps. And then, the…
With the season of Advent and the changes in nature at this season, a look at the meaning in what surrounds us as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.
One August, returning by car to New York after several weeks in the austere landscape of the Southwest,