Happy Easter!

When I was a child, I loved Easter. For days Mom would be at the stove decorating Easter eggs by dipping a straight pin into melted beeswax and creating delicate designs. On Friday we tried not to talk from noon until 3:00 p.m. and went to church for stations. On Saturday we took a basket…

Read More

The Stone Rolled Away: Resurrection

“They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.” Luke 24:2 On the morning of the resurrection, women who went to the Lord’s rock-hewn tomb found that the stone blocking the entrance was rolled away. In Matthew’s account, the women saw an angel move…

Read More

The Resurrection and Stones

The Easter Season lasts fifty days, so the following chapter from my book Voices: God Speaking in Creation is still appropriate. Each chapter is a reflection on a physical object mentioned in Scripture. This chapter draws lessons from a stone: They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they…

Read More

Easter and Eternal Life

Time seems to go faster every year. Someone pointed out that on June 21, daylight begins decreasing again! Easter season is already drawing to a close. Here are some parting words for it that may encourage people, in particular anyone who is undergoing a hardship now or suffering the loss of a loved one. Life…

Read More

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…

Read More

Easter: Jesus Is Pro-Life

This week a white oak tree in Lakewood, Ohio, that was about two hundred years old was cut down because it was decaying. However, efforts are being made to keep it alive by grafting parts of it. We are all in favor of keeping things alive. When one of our plants is withering, we feed…

Read More

Journeying with Jesus

The first time I was to fly alone to Abu Dhabi to speak at a religious conference, I was rather frightened—petrified would be more accurate. It meant stopping in Chicago to switch to Etihad, the United Arab Emirates airline, flying over the ocean (daunting to a non-swimmer like me), and then counting on someone to…

Read More

Death, Be Not Proud!

As we approach Holy Week, I though it would be good to reprise an earlier post with a few additions . . . My theology class at Cleveland Central Catholic was on the fifth floor of St. Michael School. One topic was death and dying. As one student entered the room, he commented, “Sister, do…

Read More

Easter Eggs, Easter Candle, and Easter Joy

A few weeks before Easter, my mom melted beeswax in a coffee can lid. Then she dipped a straight pin inserted in a wooden matchstick into the wax and quickly made strokes on eggs the way her Polish mother taught her. The eggs sat in coffee cups overnight, soaking in vivid colors of Chick Chick…

Read More

Dying to Rise: Reflections

My weekly post straddles Holy Week and Easter Week, so I pondered whether to focus on the passion and death of Jesus or his resurrection. Then it occurred to me that I should cover both. After all, these paschal mysteries are intimately related. It was only by suffering and dying that Jesus was able to…

Read More