“The world has many sacred places: Stonehenge, Iona, Mecca, the Ganges River, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and many other places around the world where people gather to worship and to touch the spirituality of the site. The important thing is that God is greater than any thing or any place, and can be worshiped either by our physical presence in a church or in spirit, which can take place anywhere.”
“Louise de Marillac’s life story really wasn’t very different than our stories might be now. She put a dream aside, and by all accounts, lived a satisfying, challenging, and busy life. Yet when her husband died, mere chance re-awakened her to that old dream, and the Holy Spirit created new life out of what was once an old faded memory.”
“The incarnation of God, God’s self, he helps us to see beyond the limits of human understanding even when we cannot bear to think of hope and love. He points us to the next thing we are called to do – and then the next after that – all the while showing us that he sees our inmost thoughts and fears, and loves us – not in spite of them but including them.”
“I was drawn into the pages. I was drawn into God’s word in a new, deeper way.”
“The reading in Matthew is the parable of the sheep and the goats. It summarizes Jesus’ ethical teachings regarding the care for the poor, hungry, victimized. Observing these commandments, or not, is the cut which separates this mixed flock.”
“Lent is an unsettled time, and unsettling time, as well it should be. We are experiencing, or should be, forty days walking to the Cross.”
“There have been times in my life when I have been or felt pulled to do one thing or another, some of which turned out to be excellent things and some of them which turned out to be disasters.”
“Ritual actions such as lighting candles, processing with the cross, bowing, kneeling, crossing oneself, receiving the ashes, and taking communion are all ways to make a physical connection with the deep and vast mysteries of God.”
“John points out this man, Jesus, who is not much to look at, but who has a strange draw. What does he look like? Who is with him? What do you hear, smell and taste? Here is the Lamb of God.”
“You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.”