Horizons - The words from Ash Wednesday reverberate throughout Lent: Now is the moment you and God have been waiting for. What if we lived each moment of the season, beholding the perfection of that moment?
I have come to Namibia to offer spiritual direction to young Benedictine women in formation who, along with their other community members, seem to be thirsting in the biblical sense, with strong spiritual desire.
Sacramental ashes are only an outward sign to remind me of its deeper purpose and meaning: my need for renewal, repentance, conversion and transformation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Sr. Ann Margaret O'Hara's story — living in her congregation's health care facility after a stroke, experiencing a nursing home as a patient — challenges us not to look away from her witness, or others' experiences in different settings.
Horizons - Although for some the pain of not belonging is more present in daily life and social structures than for others, we can all fill in the blanks in one way or another, at one moment in our lives.
Since March 2006, the Community Homicide Prayer Vigil group has organized over 530 vigils. When looked at as an accumulation, isn't that number "massive?"
I have heard remarks about sisters' "easy" lives: job and retirement security, just having to pray, free summers and vacations, no responsibilities for children or finances. Here's a reality check.
Contemplate This - The range of justice issues the church embraces challenges us to exercise our prudential judgement, honed within a well-formed conscience.
Today there are many opportunities to use our personal power for good. We all have the power to take actions to build up a loving force that counteracts the misuse of power in other circles.
Horizons - Three encounters at my motherhouse — involving significant differences of opinion — gave me pause and had me reflecting on progressive and inclusive authenticity.
It takes time and experience to find and see the values and gifts in life. Friendships are one of these gifts, as I was reminded when five important people in my life died during this past year.
Let's get rid of the old traps like: "Keep the rules and the rules will keep you." Instead, let's follow the advice of St. Francis of Assisi and, "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
Unless we grapple with matter — not only in scientific research but all aspects of world-unfolding life — we are missing out on the power of life itself, the power we name as God.
Throughout the world, an evil persists: human beings enslaving and abusing other human beings. Among anti-trafficking activists are our Medical Mission Sisters, working for a time when everyone experiences safety and well-being.
Horizons - The landscape of religious life is quaking. With every evolution of a tradition or new expression of a charism, the Spirit reminds us that our radical form of life is not about comfort and security.
One is violence-based, one is not. Recently an acquaintance asked me what it was like to be a nun. I said jokingly, "Religious life is a lot like the military except we don't carry guns."
Writing a story about the religious of "wild and wonderful West Virginia" is more challenging than ever in our current environment, but as I check in with sisters around the state, it's apparent that no one caved in and left their post or abandoned their works of service among the people.
Every person who walks in brings new experiences and realizations. Youth, consecrated persons, parents, wives, husbands, street vendors — all remind me of the value of a God-centered person's availability.
God thinks every human being can change. That's why in Bethany we don't have an age limit for entrance: Sometimes it takes a lifetime before the desire for a life as a religious grows.