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 […]
FAITH AND THE “ROPE OF HOPE”
Sometimes our worlds crash in on us without warning. Twenty years ago, our fourth child was born with a severe, life-threatening heart defect. We were devastated. I’ll never forget watching them wheel our baby away and wondering if we’d ever see him again. I was numb with fear. For nine months I had dreamt about […]
TRIBUTE TO ST. MARTHA, friend and servant of the Lord
It’s my opinion that Martha is vastly under-rated. Perhaps that’s appropriate. She’s the patron saint of servants, after all, and servants aren’t meant to garner attention and praise. But a servant in the kingdom of God is great indeed! With her memorial being celebrated today, I’ve been thinking about Martha’s life and witness in the […]
THE COURAGE OF MARY – The Annunciation
A year ago I sat, awed, a few feet from the place where tradition has it, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. The enormous Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth is built over a small grotto – part of the house where Mary is said to have lived. The column that stands in it today […]
ADVENT HOPE FROM THE WOMAN AT THE WELL
Only five days are left in the countdown to Christmas, and I am not ready. Christmas tree? Not yet. Lights? Nope. Gifts? Many, but not all. This is not how I want to finish out Advent! I want to be like the manger in the crèche on my neighbor’s lawn: empty and ready for the […]
