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Let Prayer Flow
My father converted to Catholicism when I was in the third grade. I remember how proud I was and eager to help. After all, I had three years studying Catholicism…
Illustration by Br. Martin Erspamer, OSB, a monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Indiana. Used with permission.
Many Kinds of Hunger
We’re forty-eight hours into Lent. How is our fasting going? We might feel pangs of hunger, a craving for a Whopper or the Oreo cookies we stashed in a drawer…
Image from the Met Museum, New York. Public Domain.
Life is Not a Competitive Game
“For they had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest.” I wonder how often that thought enters into our thinking. While Christ taught that the last…
Illustration by Br. Martin Erspamer, OSB, a monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Indiana. Used with permission.
Presence and Process
Today’s Gospel is a story about eyes and sight. But it is also about hands and touch. The word “hand” is mentioned three times in just four verses. The first…
Photo by Br. Ælred Senna, OSB, a monk of Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, and publisher of Give Us This Day. Used with permission.
God’s Agenda or Ours?
When it comes to holiness and purity of heart, the bottom line is love of God and love of neighbor. “The whole law and the prophets,” Jesus says, “depend on…
Illustration by Frank Kacmarcik, OblSB, Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota. Used with permission.
Be Not Afraid
Our reading from Hebrews today could easily slip by us, but it bears an important message. The author contrasts an approach to God marked by fear, leading Moses to say,…
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God Gives Us the Ones We Need
“Woman, behold, your son.” “Behold your mother” (see John 19:26-27). Jesus’ last words included a dramatic family re-creation from the cross. After his death, his mother and the disciple he…
Illustration by Br. Martin Erspamer, OSB, a monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Indiana. Used with permission.
Pilgrims of Hope
The crowd in today’s Gospel has set out on a journey, coming from all corners of the land in a common quest. They have come from nearby neighborhoods, from Jerusalem,…
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The Equinox of God’s Mercy
Let’s face it: there is a reason we call winter “dead.” Lifeless. The Big Chill. In mid-January in North America, we are far from the Magi’s Star, the cozy eggnog…
Image from the Met Museum, New York. Public Domain.
Realize, Organize, and Share
When the Gospel of Mark intones the “sheep without a shepherd,” it is an invocation of an ancient prophetic theme. Prophets recognized that Israel was not without leaders, whether kings…
