Weekly Word

Contemplation is not the practice of saying prayers.

Sin, brokenness, as the Church has always said, can be a “happy fault,” an invitation to a new beginning.

Marian hymns, the four major seasonal anthems to Mary of Nazareth—Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Church—end the Divine Office at Vespers every day of the year.

It was not what I expected to have happen at a White House Conference in Washington, D.C. on the relationship of the faith community to race relations in the United States.

Christmas is a strange season. When you’re a child, it is a season of presents. When you’re young, it’s a season of parties. When you get your own home, it’s a season of preparations.

It was our second day in Erie, Pennsylvania. I was about ten years old. “Momma,” I said, “This is the place where I want to live.” My mother smiled a little.

Advent is one of the most difficult periods of the church’s liturgical cycle and all of the life questions the scriptures bring. Why? Because Advent is all about waiting.

The signal is clear: There is no time to sink into the quiet of fall that is promised with the coming of Thanksgiving.

Gratitude is not only the posture of praise but it is also the basic element of real belief in God.

Cassian wrote that Abba John, the leader of a great monastery, went to Abba Paesius who had been living for forty years very far off

In the East, at least, November is a sear month, beautiful for its bleakness.

Identity is a moveable feast. It is not a fixed concept.

The contemplative sees everywhere the One from whose life all life comes.