Jesus Risen and Alive . . . Through Us!

A friend just emailed me the following story that is appropriate for this Easter season: A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago .. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush to catch […]

Beauty Mirrors God, An Easter Reflection

While praying on the third-floor balcony of my new home when I first moved in, I witnessed the glorious sunrise over our pine forest that you see here. Quickly I snapped a shot of it with my cell phone. One of my artistic Sisters, Annemarie Kall, matted and framed the photo for me, and it […]

Easter: Jesus Is Pro-Life

This week a white oak tree in Lakewood, Ohio, that was about two hundred years old was cut down because it was decaying. However, efforts are being made to keep it alive by grafting parts of it. We are all in favor of keeping things alive. When one of our plants is withering, we feed […]

How to Celebrate Easter

Weeks before Easter, my mother would begin creating Easter eggs. She used melted beeswax in a coffee tin lid to make strokes on the eggs using a straight pin in the end of a wooden matchstick. Then she soaked the eggs overnight in Chick-Chick dye. When she scraped off the wax with a butterknife, the […]

Easter Eggs, Easter Candle, and Easter Joy

A few weeks before Easter, my mom melted beeswax in a coffee can lid. Then she dipped a straight pin inserted in a wooden matchstick into the wax and quickly made strokes on eggs the way her Polish mother taught her. The eggs sat in coffee cups overnight, soaking in vivid colors of Chick Chick […]

Dying to Rise: Reflections

My weekly post straddles Holy Week and Easter Week, so I pondered whether to focus on the passion and death of Jesus or his resurrection. Then it occurred to me that I should cover both. After all, these paschal mysteries are intimately related. It was only by suffering and dying that Jesus was able to […]

Reactions to Resurrection

NOTE:  Due to a glitch, this was posted early and shortened the time of the previous reflection. I’m keeping it up another week for those who would miss it or the last one. After all, the Easter Season lasts fifty days! ***** Many people played a part in the Passion story. Some were heroes, some […]

Life Lesson from St. Clare

In this week when we ponder the eternal life won for us, I thought I’d share thoughts about our precious earthly life from a page in a book I’m currently writing:  Saint Clare guided by St. Francis, founded the first Franciscan community for women. Today at the Poor Clare monastery in Assisi, visitors can view […]

Musing about Easter and Life-Giving Light

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 […]

Easter Eggs’ Lesson on Life and Death

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 […]