|Simply put, today's readings tell us it is not enough to simply listen to Jesus' words or even to be in relationship with Jesus.  No, to be a disciple, one must act.  One must respond.  I submit, that when we are in a ...

What an abundance of rich sources for reflection in today's two readings!  Paul warns us of the danger of being idolatrous.  There are so many real and potential idols in our world today.  We just finished the Olympics, ...

Out of Hiding ||There is life in fallow fields. |Bears hibernate, plants go dormant as the cold comes on. |Trees drop leaves and pass the winter stiff and quiet. |Branches creak but do not rustle until spring. |All kinds ...

Today's Gospel text from Luke's account reminded of an experience I had as a teenager in a Benedictine boarding academy. The Dean of students was a woman I greatly admired and liked, but one Friday afternoon I needed to ...

What's in a name? What's in YOUR name? Admittedly I don't spend a great deal of time, thinking about this, but today I am. This is the feast of the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And oh, yes, my name is Maryanne||A ...

When my youngest daughter was a junior in high school, on one of those warming-up days after an ice and snow storm had passed through a few days before, she was hurrying across a parking lot before swim practice, and slipped ...

Jesus often speaks in terms of polarities, his right hand and his left hand, the last first and the first last, but he does not believe that real life exists only in such categories. We are the trees that he speaks of at ...

The first reading in today's liturgy, from St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, addresses the important issue of the Eucharist. Indeed, on several occasions in Paul's correspondence with the church at Corinth the question ...

|Today's memorial of the Holy Name of Mary brings into focus an important but subtle liturgical practice in the Church that is realized in several "double feasts," a major feast for Jesus and a parallel feast or memorial ...

|Some of you may know or have heard of one or more women named Dolores, a name that has a long tradition in the Spanish/Hispanic culture. The name was initially María de los Dolores -Mary of Sorrows, later simplified to ...