St. Joseph, the Silent Saint
Last week we celebrated St. Patrick. This week we observe the Solemnity of St. Joseph. After the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph is the greatest saint, although he doesn’t utter a single word in the Gospels. His life, though, speaks volumes. Joseph was God’s choice for a father, the right man to be “abba” on […]
Communities: From the Trinity to Us
In a few days, I will be moving to an apartment building where I will live with about forty Sisters of Notre Dame and a growing number of laypeople. We will form a community that will be a new experience for me. I’ve lived with large and small groups of Sisters, I’ve lived alone, and […]
Blessed Virgin Mary: A Mother in Time of Need
This month someone asked me, “Why do you Catholics pray to Mary?” I explained why we regard Mary as a mother and why the National Geographic once called her “the most powerful woman on earth.” At the Annunciation, when Mary conceived Jesus, she also conceived us in a sense. Jesus became our brother and his […]
Amiens Cathedral and Any Church
In doing research for my next book, I came across this fantastic site in France: the cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens. Capable of encompassing 10,000 people, it is the largest cathedral in the country. The facade has numerous statues and sculptures, and the interior boasts of a labyrinth and thousands of wood carvings and […]
Tearing the Veil before God’s Presence
A woman attending my Bible study commented that she never knew the meaning of the veil of the sanctuary being torn at the crucifixion. The next Sunday, our pastor began his homily speaking of this veil. In the Jewish temple there was a veil separating the rest of the space from the Holy of Holies, […]
Song as Prayer
At our July 4th Mass, we sang every verse of every song, something Catholics rarely do. It got me thinking about the major role song plays in our lives. I believe we are the only earthly creatures that can sing, not counting birds who each have their own sound (except for the mockingbird). Whale sounds […]
The Holy Spirit, St. Patrick, and the Conclave
A Jesuit priest once asked me if I ever prayed to the Holy Spirit. “No,” I said. “I’m surprised,” he replied, “because you’re a writer.” Ever since then I’ve turned to the Holy Spirit for help, especially when I need an idea. He or she does not disappoint. Suddenly an idea will float into my […]
Something about Psalms
I heard that one of our Sisters prayed psalms for decades but never liked them. Ouch! I love the psalms, and obviously God does too, since he gave them to us to pray. The Psalms is a book of the Bible. When Christians took over the Old Testament, the psalms came too.
