Women of the Bible

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 gets: living water that radically ...

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 and it will not be ...

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 on the readings for the ...

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 a mission, on his way ...

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 on what it might have ...

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 to go to mass? But ...

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 Revised Standard Version translates "A ...

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 this baby, wondering who it ...

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 wider context of biblical descriptions ...