Women of the Bible
The lives of women in the Bible provide vivid lessons in what it means to have faith and to follow Jesus as a disciple. Some of my reflections on them have been given new life in my book, Becoming Women of the Word: How to Answer God’s Call with Purpose and Joy. Explore those and related posts below. Some popular posts of this category are listed up top for easy reference.
- Motherhood: a Mystery to Celebrate
- A Healing Encounter with Jesus (the Hemorrhaging Woman of Mark 5)
- A Woman of Valor Who Can Find? (the Proverbs 31 Woman)
- Walk in Her Sandals: Entering the Passion as Women
- Behold Your Mother: Comfort from the Cross
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 was placed there to mark ...
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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 coming of Jesus. Here is ...
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Nestled in the hills southwest of Jerusalem is the beautiful Church of the Visitation, built on the traditional site of the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Over the altar is a luminous painting of Mary. In contrast to other paintings of the Visitation, we don’t see her greeting Elizabeth. Rather, we who look on sit in the place of Elizabeth, ...
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Today the liturgy drops us from the heights of yesterday’s victory feast—the Exaltation of the Holy Cross—to the foot of that Cross where we mourn with Our Lady of Sorrows. It is a long step down. Mary, if you think about it, did not have on that terrible day, the advantage of hindsight that allows us to exalt the Cross. ...
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My favorite spot in the Holy Land is the Church of the Visitation at Ein Kerem, up in the hills North of Jerusalem. Here is where Mary ran when she learned she would bear the Son of God. There's a lovely, simple statue in the courtyard of her greeting Elizabeth. The two of them stand there in wonder, each of ...
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Two months ago, I stood at the foot of the Cross - literally, at the spot where Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. Golgotha lies within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and it is crowned by an altar and chapels dedicated to the final Stations of the Cross. You can reach below the altar and touch the rock on which ...
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