This week has been a life-giving week of self-awareness and understanding the destructive nature of my self-reliance. Who knew that a dead tree would help me let go of a little piece of the lie I tell myself that “It’s all up to me?”
Continue reading “Lessons from a Dead Tree”
We all have some “knots” in our lives. Would you like some support in getting rid of a few of your knots?
Continue reading “Do You Have Knots of Worry, Pain or Suffering?”
Are you ready to have a happy heart to start your weekend?
Continue reading “A Different Kind of Happy Hour”
Living through the pandemic and all its challenges that have been exposed has been tough. From job loss, health crisis, identity crisis and watching the social injustice, it is easy to become hopeless and feel like there is nothing one person can do. But there is. Each and every one of us can say these five words which will profoundly impact our world:
Continue reading “Five Words That Can Change the World”With St. Mary Magdalene, let us accept Christ’s ‘Do not touch me’ with the certainty that His words give us a new mission, and a new way to be with Him, just as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton met the hardships of her life with renewed faith and strength. Written by Lisa Lickona from the Seton Reflection published last year.
This year we celebrate our great and holy Feast, the Resurrection of Our Lord, in the most unexpected circumstances, most of us separated from physical participation in the Mass and the opportunity to receive Communion.
We are cut off from our family and friends and our parish communities. And we wonder: how can we live in this new situation, separated from the Body of God—both in the Eucharist and the living Church?
Continue reading “Shining a Light on Goodness. The Empty Tomb: Easter with Mary Magdalene and Elizabeth Ann Seton”
As was the case last year during the beginning of the pandemic closures, this year’s Stations of the Cross (or Via Crucis) presided over by Pope Francis were held in the quiet and virtually empty St. Peter’s Square. This year, though, the mediations and prayers for each Station were prepared and read by children from Rome and other Italian cities. The faith and hope expressed by these children are profound and moving and are worthy of further reflection during this Easter season. As a complement to the text of the meditations and prayers provided here, you can watch a video of the Stations and hear the children’s sweet voices, as well as see several of the children greet Pope Francis with hugs after the Stations concluded.
Continue reading “Shining a Light on Goodness: We Adore You, O Christ, and We Praise You”Written by Jennifer Stavinoha for Every Sacred Sunday one April 4, 2021
It’s the greatest news to ever hit the headlines of humanity – but the arrival of Easter comes with some surprising emotions.
All will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well.
—Julian of Norwich, Showings, chapter 27
Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which allows faithful Christians to trust that, indeed, all will be well. I like to think of the resurrection as God’s way of telling us that God can take the worst thing in the world—the killing of the God-Human Jesus—and change it into the best thing: the redemption of the world.
Continue reading “Shining a Light on Goodness: A Pattern We Can Trust, A Richard Rohr Meditation”
You, Jesus, love us by dying, by suffering abandonment, by bestowing Your spirit unto us, by doing the Father’s will, by offering everything up for our sins, and trusting in the greater plan of GOD.
Continue reading “Shining a Light on Goodness: He is Risen”
Continue reading “New Life and Consolation Our Easter Celebration Continues”Amid the many hardships we are enduring, let us never forget that we have been healed by the wounds of Christ. In the light of the Risen Lord, our sufferings are now transfigured. Where there was death, now there is life. Where there was mourning, now there is consolation.
Pope Francis
Smitten With Goodness 