God’s Wondrous Gift of Color

Here in Ohio the trees are bursting with gold, red, and orange—one of the best features of autumn, especially when they are showing their glory against a brilliant blue sky. Sister Barbara Soplata captured the scene above by the Chagrin River. One of life’s pleasures is driving along a road surrounded by hills and mountains […]

Season of Creation Part Two

The celebration of the Season of Creation doesn’t end until October 4. How appropriate that it lands during autumn when trees burst into color. It was just announced that Pope Francis’s second letter on the environment is Laudate Deum (Praise God). Here is another post related to creation. First, here is a prayer from the […]

Reclaiming the Beauty of the World

Last year Pope Francis invited everyone to observe the Season of Creation. It begins Sept. 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and concludes Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology. The symbol for this season is the burning bush, a reminder of the […]

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 […]

The Beauty of God

In this Christmas season, we can’t help but be stunned by beautiful scenes: a church festooned with poinsettias and garlands, snow-covered mountains and frosted trees, a starlit sky, a dance in the Nutcracker, the faces of small children aglow with joy. We are programmed to thrill at beautiful sights. We take photos of them to […]

What Is Beauty?

Three experiences this week prompted me to think about beauty. First, I watched a video in which Dustin Hoffman explained why the movie Tootsie wasn’t a comedy for him. After the makeup artist had finished transforming him into a woman, Dustin asked if he could be made more beautiful. The response was “That’s as good […]