December 1/First Wednesday of Advent On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. ~ Isa 25.6 At this season of the year, with Thanksgiving dinner in the rearview mirror (barely!) and the Christmas meal looming, we may find ourselves spending a lot of…
Keeping Advent 3: Being A Brownie
November 30/First Tuesday of AdventFeast of Saint Andrew As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ~ Matt 4.18 As a sister and a mother, I have both participated in and witnessed my fair share of…
Keeping Advent 2: Dialing In
November 29/First Monday of Advent Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. ~ Matt 8.8 The Roman centurion, for all his authority and accomplishment, was not part of the community of Jesus’s followers or of the larger Jewish community in which Jesus lived and moved. He was…
Keeping Advent 1: Stand and Deliver
November 28/First Sunday of Advent But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. ~ Luke 21.28 It could have been lifted right out of the daily papers and social media sites, this passage from Luke. In the cosmos, disturbance and dismay. On earth, nations in anguish. All of us perplexed by the roaring…
Song 40: A Gracious Plenty
April 3/Holy Saturday You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills, By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches. From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made…
Song 39: Broken
April 2/Good Friday I am forgotten like the unremembered dead; I am like a dish that is broken. ~ Ps 31.12-13 We arrive on the doorstep of this Good Friday after a year when so much seems to have been broken. Freedoms we took for granted — to go to the office, to attend social gatherings, to shop for groceries,…
Song 38: Debt Service
April 1/Holy Thursday How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? ~ Ps 116.12 At the day’s end, in the spirit of the Ignatian examen, I try to spend a few moments reflecting on the gifts that God has given me. They can be large — good health, a safe…
Song 37: Darkness Visible
March 31/Wednesday of Holy Week Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak, I looked for sympathy, but there was none; for consolers, not one could I find. I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. ~ Ps 69.21, 31 It is the rare person who will not have succumbed to “COVID…
Song 36: Our Help, Our Hope
March 30/Tuesday of Holy Week For you are my hope, O LORD; my trust, O God, from my youth.On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength. ~ Ps 71.5-6 Having recently celebrated, as I have noted, a milestone birthday, I am more grateful than ever for what are now decades-long relationships — with childhood…
Song 35: Lead, Kindly Light
March 29/Monday of Holy Week The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? ~ Ps 27.1 It is Monday morning, the beginning of a momentous week. The hullabaloo of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on what we know as Palm Sunday is over. The donkey…