I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what truly connects us. In a world that often seems to focus on what divides us, Pope Francis’s encyclical “Dilexit Nos” on the Heart of Jesus reminds me that we are all united by the experience of the heart.
Continue reading “Finding Common Ground”
Saturday Within the Octave of Easter
The Gospel tells us that after Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, “she went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.” But instead of believing her, “they did not believe.” Their grief had hardened into unbelief, their sorrow into a kind of spiritual paralysis. And when Jesus finally appears to them, He “rebukes them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.”
Continue reading “Renewal That Makes Us Recognizable as His”
Friday Within the Octave of Easter
After all they had seen, the apostles return to what is familiar. “I am going fishing,” Peter says. Perhaps they are still unsure, still carrying remnants of doubt about whether Jesus has truly conquered death. Perhaps they simply do not know what resurrection means for their lives. So they go back to the boats, back to the nets, back to the work they once knew.
Continue reading “Renewal in the Name of Jesus”
Thursday Within the Octave of Easter
When the risen Jesus appears to His disciples, their first reaction is not joy but fear. They are “startled,” “terrified,” and “troubled”—caught between hope and disbelief, unsure whether what they are seeing is real. And into this swirl of emotion, Jesus offers not an argument, not a rebuke, but His humanity.
Continue reading “Renewal Through the Humanity of Christ”
Wednesday Within the Octave of Easter
The disciples on the road to Emmaus are exhausted by disappointment. Their faces are “downcast,” their hope worn thin. “We were hoping that he would be the one,” they confess—a sentence that carries the weight of every unmet expectation, every prayer that seemed unanswered, every dream that felt like it slipped through their fingers.
Continue reading “Renewal That Opens Our Eyes”
Tuesday Within the Octave of Easter
Mary Magdalene stands at the tomb, consumed by grief. Her world has collapsed, and all she can see is loss. Twice she is asked—first by the angels, then by Jesus himself—“Why are you weeping?” And twice she answers from the only place she can: “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.”
Continue reading “Renewal That Calls Us by Name”
Easter does not end in a single morning; it unfolds across days, encounters, and awakenings. On this first Monday of the Octave, we meet Peter—no longer the man crushed by his failure, but one transformed by the mercy of the risen Christ. When he speaks to the people, he does not rely on opinions or speculation. He points to what they can “both see and hear”—the undeniable work of God in their midst, including the renewed life beating within his own chest.
Continue reading “Renewal That Meets Us on the Way”
As I’m embracing the idea that “God is in all things,” in my life, I fall deeper into the mystery in which I’m certain we are to live. This Lent was a different one, where I was stretched in ways that were uncomfortable but as a priest friend noted, you have the grace of courage.
Continue reading “Easter People in a Good Friday World”
I was recently taking a contemplative walk in my neighborhood offering it as morning prayer. It was a restorative action on my part to counter all the “doing” and “input” of my life. No music, no podcast, no phone call. Just me and the Spirit walking to the tune of the sun rising and the birds singing.
Continue reading “The Mess of our Lives”
For Catholics, Easter is the most important feast of the year, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It signifies the triumph of life over death and the promise of eternal life.
Continue reading “Alive Again”
Smitten With Goodness 