In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is remembering Jesus, but his death, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob… has brought to fulfillment… that his son would suffer.” Peter uses Jesus’ death to encourage change, “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”…
Spending time this Advent with Mary, and women in general, we can discover women are powerful. We would not know that power from today’s Old Testament reading. It promotes atonement, meaning it promotes “sin” and “guilt.” The Gospel reading does not promote atonement but does address it with John in the desert. He proclaims…
If we spend time this Advent with Mary, and women in general, what might we discover? Today’s Advent readings lend themselves to discovering women are adventurers. The Old Testament addresses “wanderers”, but do so as a rebuke. They wandered far from their family of origin and from the tribe with its law and traditions.…
Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit. In the midst of rulers who devise division and hatred, Jesus is on a Spirited mission for community and love. “As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew.” “He said to them, “Come…
An angel said to Joseph in a dream, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod… is searching for the child to destroy him.” Who would want to destroy a child? What must be the anguish, the horror to be a parent who fears…
I think sometimes I shall never have a son. I’ve wondered why I am forsaken. I am forsaken of my legacy, a bestowing of my self, my property to an heir. How then shall I live on? How shall I show I made a difference in this world? What will be my mark, if…
Though I live in the desert, my senses bring in so much. I see the beauty of people and the verdant landscape. I see too their suffering and its depletion. I hear words of love spoken and laughter exclaimed. I hear too the cry of the poor their sobbing cascading. I feel the softness…
I have wondered if I am all alone in these feelings. Is it only me who feels suffocated? I struggle to breathe in this enclosure the world constructs for me. It feels like a tomb. They lay me in it from early on and expect I shall live in it, forever. But there is…
Lately, I’ve had the sense I’m upside down. No one has told me this, I just have the sense I am. Shall I be so forever? Will this existence here be my existence forever? Shall this home be my only home? I think not. I can conceive of so much more, for I keep…