Spiritual Reflections

A gypsy man stopped at a well in a town square for a drink. After he drank he continued gazing into the well as if he was looking down at someone at the bottom of the well. A little boy…

(Editor’s note: This is a joint reflection by Agnes Ann and Mary Nelson CoL.) Do you think there was really a noise like a strong wind at this first outpouring of the Holy Spirit?  And do you think there really…

When I read the first reading, my thoughts turned to upcoming elections, both ours and those taking place here in the U.S. in November. It is interesting to look at the process outlined in the reading. The apostles used some…

Acts 1:1-11, Eph. 1:17-23, Mark 16:15-20 Editor’s note: The Solemnity of the Ascension will be observed Sunday, May 12, in the Louisville Archdiocese. The feast was transferred to that date from Thursday, May 9, which in 2024 will be celebrated…

At the Catholic Worker at Mass we took turns preparing a homily. One day the homilist forgot, and so she said, “The Gospel speaks for itself.” Well, yes, and this entire set of readings in particular speaks for itself. First,…

Growing up, I remember vines loaded with morning glories popping up every spring along the fence on the front of our property. No one ever did anything to care for them. They had been planted long before I was born…

Acts 4:8-12 1 John 3:1-2 John 10:11-18 “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, ‘It was in the name of Jesus Christ … that this man … is healed. There is no salvation through anyone else. There is no other…

In the first reading, Acts, Paul is angry and he says to his listeners, “You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.” When I took the job of director of a re-entry…

Acts 4:32-35, 1 John 5:1-6, John 20:19-31   Several years ago, during the Easter Vigil Elaine Prevallet quoted a phrase from a poem of Wendell Berry’s.  He used the expression, “Practice resurrection.”  Some years later in her Easter Vigil homily, Susan Classen…

Acts 10:34-43                      1 Cor 5:6-8               Mark 16:1-7 We have arrived this morning, at the conclusion of Holy Week, to greet a new day.  With one third of the peoples of the world, we greet this day joyously, welcoming the brilliance…

For many years this Gospel was a mystery to me. Jesus, who usually shunned the role of a public figure at the center of everyone’s attention who was to be honored and applauded, is now making plans for his entry…