Coincidences or Divine Intervention
Recently I became aware of Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity. This is the unexpected occurrence of two things happening together. I recall a few times when I experienced such a surprising event. When I entered the convent, I was assigned a four-digit “religious number,” which served to identify my articles of clothing and me. The first summer that I was admitted to the dormitory at the University of Minnesota, I was given my room’s phone number. It was my religious number! (more…)
Tending to Our Souls
Have you ever paged through Vogue? My sister gave me the issue with Michelle Obama pictured on the cover. The magazine is 324 pages mostly of pencil-thin models selling clothes, accessories, and perfume, many of them costing in the thousands! Our culture is obsessed with our bodies. Not just clothing them. We’re bombarded with programs, articles, and ads touting the latest diets, exercises, healthy food, and guaranteed-to-work medicines. What if we paid equal attention to our souls? How do we clothe, feed, tone, and heal them?
Colossians 3:12 advises us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Ephesians 6:13–17 tells us to put on the armor of God: truth, righteousness, readiness for the gospel, faith, salvation, and the word of God. Most challenging, Galatians 3:27 reminds us that in baptism we have clothed ourselves in Christ. These garments are priceless! They also are required dress for entering the eternal celebration in God’s kingdom.
How do we nourish our souls? By two of God’s precious gifts: the Eucharist and his Word in Scripture. Just as we eat every day to stay alive—three square meals and a snack or two or three, we need daily contact with God to keep our souls from starving. He is our source of life.
Yoga, tai chi, massages, and exercise keep our bodies in good form and working smoothly. We strengthen our souls every time we practice self-control. For example, we might bite our tongue when tempted to hurt someone by our words. We might refrain from shopping or watching TV. Or we might squeeze in time to volunteer to help someone. These kinds of actions are like push-ups for the soul.
Last but not least, when something is wrong with our bodies, we treat them and may go to the doctor. What good is it to have a perfect body if one’s soul is sick? Our souls are healed of sin and faults and renewed by Communion and by the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We go to the Divine Physician.
Imagine if there were a 324-page magazine focused on the soul. Do you think anyone would buy it?
Colossal Grand Canyon Visit
After visiting my brother and his family in Tucson, my sister and I drove to the Grand Canyon. Seeing this remarkable natural wonder was on my bucket list, the only item in fact. This morning when I prayed in Psalm 95, “He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the highest mountains as well,” scenes of the Grand Canyon came to mind. The views from the different lookout points were awesome: craggy mountains layer upon layer fading into the horizon, strange structures carved into red rock, and now and then a glimpse of the Colorado River that was responsible for the artwork. (more…)
Vacation Time
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 read one that you haven’t read before. In the meantime I’ll be enjoying some time away from the computer! Hope everyone has a chance to take a break and rest a while this summer. Come to think of it, even the Creator spent a day recuperating after making the universe. Taking a vacation is a holy thing to do! It makes us a better human and gives us a chance to enjoy God’s beautiful world.
What was your best vacation or staycation?
Factoids about Mary, Mother of Jesus
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, all his DNA was from Mary. He must have looked very much like her.
3. Mary’s last words in the Gospel were said at the wedding at Cana: “Do whatever he tells you.” This is called Mary’s commandment.
4. The Mississippi River was originally named Conception after the Immaculate Conception by Father Marquette, S.J., who explored the river in 1673.
5. Mary took ritual baths called mikvahs in which the entire body was immersed. These baths were required before entering the Temple, after coming in contact with the dead, blood, or something unclean, before weddings and after childbirth.
6. The full name of Columbus’s flagship, the Sancta Maria, is St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. He had his crews pray the “Salve Regina” (Hail, Holy Queen) every night.
7. Mary’s journey to help her elderly pregnant relative, Elizabeth, took about three days. Mary was a pregnant teenager when she made the trip on stony sometimes uphill paths, probably in hot weather and with the threat of bandits.
8. When Mary received Communion, she was receiving the same body and blood that she had given Jesus at birth.
9. The Qur’an has more verses about Mary than the Bible. The title of its chapter 19 is “Mary.”
10. Between 1968 and 1971 Mary appeared often in Zeitoun, Cairo, Egypt, above a Coptic Orthodox Church. People of many faiths witnessed the apparitions.
St. Anselm said, “There’s never enough said or written about Mary.” What are your thoughts about her?
