The man lies on a stretcher, desperately in need of medical attention. He’s not far from the door to the hospital, but no one will admit him. It’s a Union army hospital—and the man is a Confederate soldier. A nurse tries in vain to get him help. Finally she cries out, fiercely, “Everyone deserves mercy!” […]
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HOW WILL YOU BE REMEMBERED? – Dorcas’ Life of Charity
My great-grandma Jennie’s life is packed inside a single word: “Hallelujah!” She typed that on a thousand tiny strips of paper and tucked them into cracks and books and under dishes as she prayed. She died many years years ago—but even now, finding one of those Hallelujahs brings her back in an instant. Who was Jennie, […]
THE PARADOX OF THE CROSS: Learning from Mary on Good Friday
Above the altar in the Chapel of the Crucifixion in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre — traditionally recognized as the spot where Jesus was nailed to the cross — is a mosaic. A life-sized Jesus lies spread out on the ground where the soldier has just finished hammering nails into his hands. A woman […]
THE DISCIPLES AT THE WELL: A Fresh Reading of John 4
Nobody ever talks about the disciples at the well in Samaria. Everyone zeroes in on the woman, and understandably so: with her many past husbands and her daily slog for water, she represents that “God-shaped vacuum” in all of us that can’t be filled by anything (or anyone!) but God. We all want what she […]
MARY & MARTHA: FINDING THAT “BETTER PART”
I always want to jump to Martha’s defense, when I read Jesus’ response to her complaint. Her sister has left her to do all the work, and the Lord seems to dismiss her worry. “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried,” he says. “There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part […]
MARY: MOTHER OF GOD?
Lounging in my robe and slippers one New Year’s morning, my attention was caught by the scene over the fireplace. Candles, stars, and angels surrounded the Holy Family: the baby in his mother’s arms, Joseph standing by and looking on with love, Mary “keeping” the message of the shepherds in her heart. I was meditating […]
COME INTO THE WORD: A Healing Encounter With Jesus (Mark 5:22-43)
The mural fills an entire wall of the Encounter Chapel, which is built on the first-century stone floor of the marketplace at Magdala by the Sea of Galilee. In it, sandals crowd the floor and linen robes brush against the legs and ankles of the men who throng around Jesus. He is a man on […]
“WALK IN HER SANDALS”— Entering the Passion as Women
I leave soon on pilgrimage to Israel and I can’t stop thinking about what it will be like to stand in the Garden of Gethsemane and walk the Via Dolorosa – the path Jesus likely took through Jerusalem from his trial to the Crucifixion. I’ve walked it before, but this time I will be focusing […]
WHEN YOU’RE ANXIOUS AND TROUBLED: WHERE ARE YOUR EYES?
It was a crazy morning. I was racing around the house throwing clothes in the hamper, dishes in the dishwasher, trying to get it all done before going to work. My husband passed me on his way to daily mass and I exploded. How could he be going to mass?! Doesn’t he think I want […]
“A WOMAN OF VALOR WHO CAN FIND?”
Here’s a shout-out to all the women in my life on Mother’s Day, starting with my mother and grandmothers and aunts and my daughter and extending to my friends far and near: “A woman of valor who can find? Far beyond pearls is her value.” That’s Proverbs 31:10 in the Masoretic (Hebrew) text, which the […]
