Mary’s love and presence are so intrinsic to the Incarnation! Our Mother shows herself to us in many different ways: she’s the Queen of Heaven, she’s a simple maiden; she’s the Virgin of Guadeloupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, the Star of the Sea… wherever we are in our journey, wherever we happen to be when we need her, she is exactly where we are.We light candles, we pray, we read books about her, we think about her, but none of those things engage all the senses. Like ...

Moses heard God speak to him from a burning bush. Catherine of Siena had ecstatic visions of Jesus. Anne Catherine Emmerich experienced the stigmata. Margaret Mary Alacoque was shown the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The list of people—some saints, some not—who have seen, heard, or experienced God first-hand while still on earth can go on and on. These were dramatic encounters that left no doubt in the person’s mind that God was speaking directly to them.My name is not on that list. N...

Praying the Word of God, meditating on the Scriptures, entering into the life of Jesus in the Gospels…. We are told how important it is to pray in this way so that we will mature in Christ, transformed in the Spirit.But when we sit down to meditate, we might discover we don’t what to do. That "how" is what Saint Ignatius Loyola learned and then taught to millions who followed him both to his followers when we was alive and those of us who have benefited from his guidance s...

Once on a retreat I was finding prayer difficult. I felt dull, held back, resistant. I was praying with a passage from the Gospel of Mark, one of those simple passages about Jesus teaching and healing the crowds.As I was meditating on the Gospel passage, I imagined myself in the crowd. Suddenly Jesus approached me and took me by the hand. He started to walk with me so fast down the road that I could barely keep up. Just the two of us were on this lightning journey. I realized I couldn’t ke...

I believe healing is possible. It wasn’t always that way. For years I struggled with my woundedness and I began to think that there would be no healing for me. I would seek help and then be afraid to go the whole mile, slipping back into what I knew–isolation and distrust–once again securing the barriers I had constructed to protect myself. This even after experiencing the powerful love of Jesus crucified!In my last article of this series on the Spirituality of Healing I told t...

It’s finally here! We who live in the Northern Hemisphere are delighted to welcome the flowers that April showers (and there were a lot of them!) bring to us now. May is the most delightful of months, because it feels like the earth itself is awakening from hibernation.It’s also the Month of Mary. Many of us have childhood memories of May processions, of crowning statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the songs in her honor. But… do you know why May is especially Mary’s ...

An occupied country. A time of civil unrest. And a city about to explode.That was the situation in Jerusalem when Jesus arrived on Palm Sunday. Crowds were thronging the city for the Passover celebration, and the occupying Roman army was understandably nervous about it all. They scheduled a military parade; no one was off-duty, and additional troops had been sent for. There must have been an intense air of fear, of unease, of pressure. Something was going to happen, and the smallest spark might ...

In my many years of life as a Daughter of St. Paul, the Lord has led me not only on my own journey of healing and transformation, but has also allowed me to accompany many others on their journeys as companion, spiritual guide, sister, and friend. This has been a wonderful gift, and I continue to marvel and give thanks as I watch how even today—just as in Gospel times—anyone who draws near to the Lord and touches him experiences healing. There is power in his presence and in his name...

To many people, the Mass seems very repetitive. Going to Mass every week (or every day, as I do), it can seem like the same thing every time, with only minor variations in the readings from Scripture and some of the prayers and hymns.But while it is true that the things we do and say are the same, the graces of each Mass are unique and unrepeatable because they are for us at that particular moment. There are “never before, never again” graces available at every Eucharistic celebratio...

In my late thirties, I was sitting in my office, the entire building penetrated by an eerie silence. It was the day after 911 and the skies were silent. Uncertainty cloaked the country as the march toward war began.I felt so small, so really all alone, there in my small corner office writing a newsletter and working on a website.Tragedy and uncertainty can isolate us from others. We might lose perspective as larger-than-life problems take over our awareness. The present darkness may seem too big...