God’s Forgiveness & Our Mercy
This week on Wednesday evening all churches in the Cleveland Diocese will be open for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a Lenten tradition. No matter how sinful, a person can experience the mercy of God. During Holy Week we will ponder the climax of God’s mercy: washing everyone clean by the blood of his Son. Years […]
Modern Penance: Lemons into Lemonade
Saints of old practiced what we would consider bizarre penances. St. Thomas More wore a hair shirt under his clothing. In pictures St. Rose of Lima has a crown of roses. She actually wore a thick silver circlet with spikes on the inside (like a crown of thorns). When I entered the convent, we were […]
Listening to the Spirit in Lent
During a Day of Recollection recently, in a talk “Engaging the Spirit Within” I pointed out that God dwells within us—a fundamental truth of our faith that we don’t often remember. In the depths of our being, the Holy Spirit, the Person responsible for sanctifying us, frequently nudges us to perform good acts. We used […]
A Clay Pot in God’s Hands
Not so long ago the reflection in my book Heart to Heart with Mary (seen below) prompted me to consider how saints, Mary in particular, let God use them without reservation. The Divine Potter July 20 My child, God sent the prophet Jeremiah to the potter’s house and told him that Israel was like clay […]
Holy Boldness, a Grace from the Holy Spirit
As I was contemplating making holy boldness the topic of this post, surfing TV channels took me to a preacher who was speaking on— guess what? holy boldness! Talk about affirmation. Perhaps someone (maybe me) needs to be encouraged to practice this virtue. Holy boldness is the courage to do something daring for God’s sake, […]
Precious Gift of Your Life
Today I came across this short talk on my computer. I forgot where I gave it. May you will find it inspiring: You’ve probably seen photos from the Hubble telescope that show the galaxy Andromeda, the one closest to us. It makes you dizzy. There are billions of stars in it. Beyond that there are […]
Detecting Grace in Life’s Messes
I can relate to the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day because I just had an entire week of bad days! My phone was cancelled by mistake, and it took six days and talks with seven agents before it was restored. I lost the PBS station on TV (jeopardizing […]
Grace in the Daily Grind
Most of our lives are spent carrying out necessary routines: eating, doing dishes, washing, cleaning, driving, and (hopefully) exercising. If we work, our job might be quite ordinary, menial, or boring. Day follows day, and we don’t expect to ever appear on the evening news for an act of heroism. Neither do we expect to […]
