Suffering is something that we seem to want to avoid at all costs. These words of a saint who has been honoured through the ages, remind us that love comes with suffering. This is a humble call to faith that…
On the feast of a saint like Dominic, the founder of all things Dominican, it can be difficult to see a model for our lives – legendary saints like this can stare at us more like an accusation than an…
Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was a man led by the Spirit into many places he never thought he would have gone. In the song “Loyola,” I try to capture a little of the spirit of this Spirit-filled man. Ignatius was…
If you wear the lauded Iron Ring of the engineer on your little finger, you have St. Martha to thank… or rather St. Martha via the poet Rudyard Kipling. In 1922, a group of senior engineers decided to develop an…
As a woman, I have always been inspired and fascinated by Mary Magdalene. When we consider Mary Magdalene as a model of faith and courage, the assumptions and interpretations of her place in the gospels makes her a saint for our…
Everywhere you go in Rome, when you find Saint Peter or Paul, you always find the other guy hanging around. In front of Saint Peter’s on the Vatican – there was Paul, in the basilica of Saint Paul outside the…
One day, I was in a parking lot, getting into my car, when I was accosted by an older woman who was on a mission. She approached me aggressively and asked “Do you believe in the Trinity?” I responded that…
She was there at the birth of Christ. She was there at the birth of Christ’s Church. She is here, now, at Pentecost as the Church thinks of how to be reborn in a post-pandemic world. Mary, Mother of Jesus.…
Our youngest child of the six that we have parented, graduates this year. Perhaps because I have attended a graduation in May or June most every year for twenty years, when the feast of the Ascension comes, I always feel…
The apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917 has been a source of inspiration, curiosity and intrigue for more than a century. The story of three children meeting a lady emanating glorious light and revealing three secrets…