Praying with Scripture: The Bible—You’ve Got Mail!
It occurred to me that I am free to post excerpts from my books on this website. (This will give me additional time each week to write more books!) So here is the Introduction from my latest book: “Praying with Scripture: The Bible—You’ve Got Mail!” . . . I would like so much for all […]
A Book, Books, and THE Book: The Power of Words
I just finished reading The Little Paris Bookshop, an international bestseller. It’s a delightful novel about a man who sells books from his “The Literary Apothecary” located on a barge. He has a gift for “reading” people and presenting them with just the right book to meet their needs. The book is a love story […]
Spotlight on the Family 4: Christian Decor
A father’s three-year-old son was playing quietly with his trains in his room—too quietly maybe. The father went to check on him. As he looked into the room, he saw the boy get up from the trains, run to the statue of the Sacred Heart, pick it up and kiss it. “Why did you do […]
Dig into the Bible (and Maybe Strike It Rich)
This week I came across a book that was a collection of little known facts in the Bible. It reminded me of the time I heard that God shut the door of Noah’s ark after all were boarded. Really? I had to look it up and, sure enough, there it was. (See Genesis 7:16.) At […]
Tapping into the Active Word of God
Scripture says, “The Word of God is living and effective.” It speaks to us personally. In the terrific book The Greatest Reformer, a biography of Pope Francis, there is an incident that illustrates this. Shortly after Pope Francis was made pope, a few evangelical pastors he used to pray with in Argentina visited him. One […]
Birthday Gift Via the Bible
We believe that God communicates with us through Sacred Scripture. His word, which is living and effective, can speak to us personally in many ways. When I was in the novitiate, one day the novice director explained that the Scripture readings for the Eucharist on our birthday contain a special message for us from God. […]
Nuggets in the Bible: Insights from Lectio Divina
After reading and hearing the Bible stories umpteen times, when we encounter them yet again, we might be tempted to tune out. This is foolhardy. Why? Because God speaks to us ever anew in his Word. I’ve discovered that sometimes I’ve overlooked—or been deaf to—a certain element in a biblical passage. Sometimes a homily or […]
A Personal Bible Verse
One day our novice director told us that the Scripture readings for the Mass on our birthday hold a gift for us: a special message from God. My heart sank. My birthday is the feast of St. Martha, so I assumed that each year God would scold, “Stop working so hard, Kathleen, and pay more […]
The Bible by Heart
Did you ever hear a reader proclaim Scripture by heart? Or an actor present a whole Gospel? We may not be capable of such a feat, but we can always memorize a Scripture verse or two. Janaan Manternach calls this “banking prayers.” The verses will surface when we need them. For example, St. Teresa of […]
The Bible: God’s Living Word
As a result of working on the only complete Bible for children (St. Mary’s Press), I’ll be speaking on Scripture in Chicago this year. Some thoughts . . . What is the Bible? The Word of God in the words of human beings. In Genesis, God said, “Let it be,” and the entire universe came […]
