Many of us are in the daily grind of ministry and we don’t really know for sure if we are having a positive effect. We show up at our service sites day-in and day-out. We chime in at meetings. We help others with willing hearts and joyful faces, enlivened by our belief that we’ll encounter Christ…
This afternoon Pope Francis will arrive in the USA! Even though I can’t go the East Coast to greet him, I am very excited! During these first few weeks of school I have been doing different things with my students to get us all pumped up for his visit to our country. (I made the local…
During a recent volunteer stint at the local drop-in center for people who are homeless, I overheard a conversation between two of the guests. A man gestured toward me and said, “Don’t talk like that here, especially with her around — she’s a nun.” I don’t know what they were talking about or what words…
Note from Sister Julia: A version of the following text was written for my coursework in my Introduction to New Testament course at Catholic Theological Union where I am a part-time student. The assignment was to write a Biblical commentary on a particular Gospel passage. The passage I selected was Mark 6: 7-13, which was the Gospel for this past Sunday. Jesus…
I am proud that several sisters in my community have served in El Salvador. In fact, some of them acquainted as friends with the American church women who were martyred in 1980 during the Civil War. The sisters in my community who were in El Salvador were ordered to return to the United States in…
By guest blogger Elizabeth Diedrich It is 7 p.m. and there are two things on my mind: I am hungry and I need to use the bathroom. Dinner service ended a half hour ago but one person has yet to leave. I wait at the back door, ready to finish my job, which involves making…
A wise priest once helped me understand what Spirit means. Spirit, he said, is all that relates beyond boundaries. Our Spirits can transcend time, place and bodily nature to relate to our God, the Great Source. Jesus said His Spirit would be with us always. At times, it seems as if the spirits of those…
True story shared by guest blogger Liz Diedrich I was happy to see William pull up next to me on his bike. Last I heard he had been stabbed in a fight and I did not know the extent of his injuries. Surprised at the opportunity, I ask him how he was doing. He seems…
“Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, ‘Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’” (Mark 9:5). When I went hiking with a group of junior high students, we were going up a pretty steep mountain and we were having…
Guest blogger: Steven Cottam One of my many duties as a religion teacher involves getting the students ready for our monthly school Masses. Despite our preparations together, predictably, some of the younger kids always get anxious. Recently, I was in a pew during Mass in front of a group of first and second graders when…
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