Today we honor Blessed Archangela Girlani. A woman from northern Italy – she spent her whole adult life as a sister dedicated to living in a community of religious sisters. Her favorite prayer was very simple and I love it for that. It’s become a favorite prayer of mine too: Gesù, amore mio – Jesus, my Love May we find it on our lips more and more each day. Read more

Today is the Feast of St. Issac of Ninevah. His feast is almost never celebrated in the Western Church given that he shares the day with St. Thomas Aquinas. He is, however, my confirmation saint, and so each year his feast has tremendous meaning for me. I didn’t become Catholic until well into adulthood and I did so after years as a protestant minister so the choice to pick Issac was one of tremendous significance to me. Here are a... Read more

Today is the feast of Angela Merici. She was a powerful woman who sought to empower a spiritual life among her disciples that were firmly rooted in everyday life. Founding of the Company of St Ursula, she sought to empower women in all vocations, providing education for them in order to elivate them. She did not promote a special habit for the sister to wear. Sisters lived in their own, normal homes. There was no formal set of vows to follow.... Read more

Too often people limit their prayer life to what is comfortable. The Bible paints a picture of prayer that touches all that we are, all that we do, and all that we encounter. Prayer in the Bible pushes us to difficult places and engages us more and more deeply toward a bigger picture of God and a larger vision for ourselves. Today we celebrate the feasts of Sts. Titus and Timothy. Both were early leaders in the church who have... Read more

  Today is “the feast of the conversion of St. Paul.” I’ve often felt that this title is somewhat misleading. Paul wasn’t a convert to a new religion. He was a Jew when he began his journey and remained a faithful jew after this encounter. What changed in Paul was fundamentally what he believed about how the God he worshiped was at work in the world and how he was called to respond to it. This is one of the... Read more

Francis de Sales was a leader in a time of tremendous division. As the Bishop of Geneva, he faced some of the deepest divisions of the reformation among the community he sought to serve. I can’t help but think that his experience might offer some wisdom to those of us in communities suffering from great division. One quote struck me, “Whoever wants to preach effectively must preach with love.” I might add that we could add any activity that we wish... Read more

Fr. Damien of Molokai had served the lepers of Kalaupapa, Hawaii for over a decade, and had gained international attention when he contracted leprosy.   The disease would eventually take his life, but before he died he wanted to make sure that those he was entrusted to would not be left alone. Thankfully a religious sister named Marianne Cope was there to help. She took over many of his tasks and after his death, she helped to care for many in need. The... Read more

Hospitality is a virtue that is not well appreciated by many today. However, in the scriptures and in the history of the Church over and over we read about how essential it is for a healthy spiritual life and a healthy community.  Today the Church honors Saint Publius who we read about in the book of Acts “In the vicinity of that place were lands belonging to a man named Publius, the chief of the island. He welcomed us and... Read more

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The recent nomination of Amy Coney Barrett has raised a lot of questions about her faith. People are particularly interested in her membership in one of the People of Praise. They were one of two Covenant Communities that emerged in the early 1970s and became epicenters for the movement, the other community was called the Word of God.  Both of these groups, and the many communities that eventually came to be associated with them throughout the world, all came from the... Read more