Jesus once invited his apostles to come apart and rest awhile. A wit said, “Yes, come apart so you don’t come apart.” That is what I will be doing for the next ten days as I take a vacation. I will not be providing a weekly blog. You might dip into the archives here and [...]
Since it’s May and we just celebrated Mother’s Day, I thought I’d share a few bits of information on St. Mary pulled from my book about her. Here are ten of them . . . 1. Mary’s name in Hebrew was probably more like Miryam. 2. Since there was no man involved in Jesus’ conception, [...]
In the hall of my home hangs an ancient map of the world. Whenever I look at it, I see a frowning face with eyes and a nose. (FYI: The ability of the human mind to see forms in things like clouds is called pareidolia.) This map reminds me to pray for people who are [...]
The other day my mother and I were talking about heaven. In cartoons people in heaven are angels who sit on clouds playing harps all day. How boring for us who are used to TV, iPads, Kindles and the like! So what is heaven really like? According to Jesus, it has many mansions. He could [...]
Do you know that someone counted that “Do not fear” occurs 365 times in the Bible? That’s one for every day of the year. Yes, fear is good in that it sometimes protects us from tragedy. But sometimes fear can be a straitjacket. I can think of times in my life when I was afraid [...]
Yesterday, April 15, my niece gave birth to my mother’s first great grandchild. And what kind of world is little Phoenix Thomas entering? Here we are, reeling from yet another senseless national tragedy. I feel like lamenting with the psalmist, “How long, O Lord? How long?” Isn’t it enough that we earthlings live in fear [...]
The Easter season, when we celebrate that God has the last laugh on Satan, is the perfect time to reflect on humor. This gift is unique to human beings. I love a good laugh. Yesterday Sister Sharon, who teaches second grade, said that in class she mentioned Pope Benedict XV. Immediately a little boy’s hand [...]
Pope Benedict once noted that at the beginning of time God said, “Let there be light,” and creation happened. Then on Easter, the Light of the world burst forth from the tomb and a new creation was inaugurated. Light figures dramatically in the Easter Vigil rituals. Enveloped in darkness, we hold tapers. Then the priest [...]
Three Easter memories: Every Easter my mom melted beeswax in a coffee can lid and using a pin stuck in the end of a matchstick painted graceful patterns on eggs. The eggs emerged from a bath in Chick-Chick dye vividly colored. These eggs were robbed of their chance to bring forth chicks. Instead they became [...]
By now the whole world knows what kind of man fills St. Peter’s sandals. Just the fact that Pope Francis wears his old black shoes instead of the papal red ones (or even the new black ones his friends bought for him) speaks volumes. The media overflows with other little acts of our new pope [...]
Jesus challenged his followers to make disciples of all nations and teach them. Mary Kathleen Glavich, a Sister of Notre Dame of Chardon, Ohio, has responded to this call through writing, speaking, giving retreats, and teaching every grade from first to twelfth. Her motto, adopted from Eddie Doherty’s gravesite, is “All my words for the Word.”
The Sisters of Notre Dame of Chardon, Ohio, belong to an international congregation of more than two thousand apostolic women religious. We are one in mind and one in heart for the transformation of the world in Christ. 
