A Different Take on Poverty
We Sisters sometimes remark, “We take a vow of poverty, but it’s lay people who live it.” My poverty is not obvious at all. I live in a well-appointed apartment with a gorgeous view of the sky and forest, plenty of delicious meals are available, any health problems are taken care of, I have more […]
Humility, Humus, and Humiliations
When I was in the novitiate, each Monday we were assigned an act of humility. Of the four possible practices, the easiest was to pray Cardinal Merry del Val’s “Litany of Humility.” Some lines from this prayer are “From the desire of being honored, deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, […]
Humility: Realizing the Truth about Oneself
No doubt you remember Uriah Heep, the character in Dickens’s novel David Copperfield who kept referring to his “umbleness.” All the while, Mr. Heep was nothing but a scheming hypocrite. His humility was fake, used as a tool to manipulate others into thinking well of him. People who are truly humble are admired. Those who […]
Failure: God’s Ways Not Our Ways
Last week I was in a piano recital of classical music at the Village where I live. Not having played seriously for years, I practiced furiously for weeks, recapturing skills I had in the eighth grade. Only two of us Villagers volunteered to play for the two-hour event, so in the end “outsiders” were invited—accomplished […]
Mary Calls Us to Lent
These days I am busy preparing to give a three-day parish mission on our Blessed Mother entitled “Mary Calls Us to Lent.” My aim is twofold: 1) to convince the parishioners to pray to Mary as their God-given loving mother and powerful intercessor and 2) to inspire them to imitate her as the first and […]
Making Mistakes, the Human Condition
If you’re like me, you hate making mistakes. I like to think I’m perfect, and doing a foolish thing punctures my ego. It’s bad enough when I’m the only one who knows about it, but worse when others witness or hear about it. What pops into my mind is the day I was making cheese […]
