Spiritual Reflections

In 1925 Pope Pius XI declared the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year to be the Feast of Christ the King. He did this to resist the rising fascism of Mussolini and the fascist movement in Europe. He was alarmed…

As I read the readings for today, especially the Gospel’s story of preparing for the end times, I kept looking for a word of hope. It is there if you read between the lines and don’t get lost in the…

Listening to the Gospel for today I imagine a tiny, bent-over, old woman shuffling up to the treasury box and dropping in two small coins from her meager funds. I wonder who looks after her. Is it a son or…

Deut. 6:2-6, Mark 12:28b-34          John McKenzie, a scripture scholar from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, says that Jesus’ answer to the question – “Which is the greatest commandment?”  – is not unusual, and rabbis of the day would have considered…

Jeremiah 31:7–9         Hebrews 5:1–6         Mark 10:46–52 The combination of the three readings this morning raises some provocative questions. What is a miracle? What does a savior do? What does it mean to…

Have you ever said a bold yes to a request or a directive and then discovered it demanded more than you anticipated?  You are asked to move from teaching third grade to teach high school freshman English and history and…

“As Jesus was setting out on a journey…” We’ve all been there, setting out on our journeys. And we do this time and time again. Like the man in today’s Gospel, asking about how to continue his journey, his attempt…

Kaitlyn Marie Wise was killed on Valentine’s Day 2023. She was 29 years old and lived in Lebanon, Marion County, Ky. On May 13, 2024, a year later, Dailin Marquez Brown- Graves, age 23, was arrested and charged with murder.…

Did you ever wonder what we would all look like if we took Jesus’ commands seriously? We might not have a hand or a foot or an eye! Or how would we feel if we knew another needed a drink,…

Wisdom 2:12-20 James 3:16-4:3 Mark 9:30-37 Have you ever been jealous of someone else’s success? I have. Have you ever grumbled about or teased someone for doing the right thing? I have. It’s embarrassing to acknowledge that sometimes I’m struck…

God really likes surprises. In 1951 when 15 of my 36 novitiate classmates and I gathered for the first time at lunch in the guest house, which is now Knobs Haven, some of us decided that Sister Antoinette would one…

As many of you know my niece, Dominica, and her husband, Fernando, were in a catastrophic car accident in mid-July.  Both were injured.  Fernando suffered massive head trauma and serious brain damage, was resuscitated at the scene, and has been…