Spiritual

I am unabashedly a woman of faith and it informs most of my writing.

3rd Thursday of Lent

“the Kingdom of God has come”, says Jesus in today’s passage from Luke’s Gospel. What does the Kingdom look like? What does it mean to be subjects of the Kingdom? We are not slaves or serfs! I don’t think we are minions either! St. Paul says we are co-heirs with Christ. That makes us princes […]

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3rd Wednesday of Lent

In our reading from Deuteronomy, Moses enjoins the Israelites to instruct their children and grandchildren in God’s statutes and remind them of God’s great deeds. Even the psalmist mentions blessing the children. I don’t have children to whom I can hand down my faith. I have only my friends and neighbors and their children. I

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3rd Tuesday of Lent

In today’s scriptures, Azariah, in the midst of the blazing furnace, begs God to be merciful for the sake of Azariah’s faithful ancestors. What an interesting thought! God remains faithful because our ancestors were faithful. Today would have been my dad’s 102nd birthday. Dad was a faithful and faith-filled man until his death 7 months ago.

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3rd Monday of Lent

Today we meet Naaman, the army commander and a foreigner, who traveled to see the prophet Elisha seeking to be cured of his leprosy. Naaman was a man of action, so he was deeply unhappy that Elisha did not come out to perform a miracle, sending only a message to go and wash in the

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3rd Sunday of Lent

Ever lose your temper over people distorting something you hold dear—twisting it to serve their needs? I do!! I get angry when I watch the real news and see yet another false attack on a politician or piece of legislation. The good of the country has been abandoned, or rather sacrificed at the altar of

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2nd Saturday of Lent

Today we hear Jesus’ detractors muttering, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ Remember being told to pick your friends carefully? Or not to hang out with “that” crowd. Actually, it is sound advice, but we are not to place ourselves above others. Jesus moved in many circles hoping to bring the Good News

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2nd Friday of Lent

‘After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.’ Talk about a dysfunctional family! Jacob/Israel’s family (in Genesis) had dysfunction in spades. The above quote comes when they decide to sell one of their brothers rather than let him die in the cistern into which they’d thrown him! Nice!! Still, somehow God took these petty

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2nd Thursday of Lent

‘Like a barren bush…standing in a lava waste.” What a desolate image in today’s reading from Jeremiah! How awful to feel so abandoned! I’m wondering if I know people who feel that way?  Do I even notice? Are there friends or neighbors I’ve not seen for a while? Maybe I need to reach out to them.

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2nd Wednesday of Lent

In today’s Gospel we met Zebedee’s wife. She was one pushy broad! How she must have embarrassed her sons James and John! If she had taken Jesus aside to make her demand it would have been better for the brothers. But she was a momma trying to take care of her cubs. We can learn

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2nd Tuesday of Lent

What a strange directive we get today! ‘Call no one on Earth you father.’ Goodness but that sounds harsh! Are we being told to not love and respect our fathers? Isn’t that against the Commandments? I think to myself, smiling as I do so, “I’m okay because I called my father ‘Daddy’!” But I don’t

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