Our version of celebrating Christmas often has little to do with the reality behind Christmas.These days, chaotic and commercialized, press in our consciousness. Who has time to think about the deeper dimensions of Christmas or Christ’s Mass? In this Vincentian Mindwa…
Almost every family has one. You know… the person who remembers the family history, the stories of Uncle… and Aunt…, the in-laws, and the outlaws. They are often the ones with boxes of family photos and letters. In this Vincentian Mindwalk I explore how we are …
What does it mean to “imitate Christ”?
The answer to that can range from a literal crucifixion, through legalism, to “putting on the mind of Christ.”
“I do not wish to imitate what the great ones of the past did. I would rather seek what they sought.” Bash…
Not recognizing our predominant fault is like walking along focusing on the latest text message on our phone. We are surprised when we step off the curb, walk into an obstacle., etc. We didn’t see it, so it didn’t exist… unless and until something makes us recogni…
Pope Francis describes God as a dreamer. Think about it! Isn’t God’s dream another name for God’s plan for us and all creation? Do we ever get beyond our own dreams to think of God’s Dream?
Changing our clocks.We can think about this annual ritual as a metaphor for our lives.
What if we could “replay” an hour that we lost in our lives. Of course, we don’t get to replay the hour we lost. Nor do we get to skip ahead and see our futures by changing.
“They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Do others know we are Christians by our practical love. Love for rich and the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, saints and sinners, those who think differently or have different color skin?
How could it happen? How could the Christian movement spread so rapidly especially in such adverse conditions?
In Lent, we think about what am I going to give up. The question really ought to be “what did I learn about God, myself and my relationship with my sisters and brothers?”
VIrtually no one thought it was a good idea for Pope Francis to go to Iraq. A great idea… BUT!
When we lose proof of who we are or memories of the joys and sorrows of our lives, something very precious is gone.
There is a special pain that cuts through the hearts of mothers especially, but fathers also, as they see their child suffer. There is so much more to Mary’s grief than the final stage so masterfully captured in Michelangelo’s Pieta.
Elizabeth Simcoe is called the “Parish Life Director”. She stands in a tradition going back 2000 years. The notion of the priesthood as we know it today had not yet developed.