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Go to your room to pray, let no one see you fast and do not let your left hand know that your right gave alms. The Father who sees in secret will repay you and will do so openly

My title is a cliché to be sure. However, if a bronze statue in Washington, D.C.’s National Statuary Hall Collection could talk, it would beg to differ. Kneeling prayer, Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart, S.P., (1823-1902) is an image of the strength and determination of countless other religious sisters who dedicated their lives in active ministry in our nation.

At the end of January or the beginning of February roses are for sale at HEB stores. Even if the skies remain overcast for the next several weeks and the wind that is so typical of Corpus Christi still blows strong, these roses still announce coming of spring and with it—gardening.

It is now a month or so into the new liturgical year and a new calendar year as well!  So now what spiritually? How did your Advent and Christmas season go?  For most people, these two seasons evaporated.  Again, I ask now what?  And the answer: Ordinary Time.

As part of the Christmas celebrations, many parishes include the re-enactment of the Holy Family’s journey to Bethlehem—Las Posadas. Have you ever wondered about its origin? If you have ever taken part or just watched, you are in for a beautiful history lesson.

Marian prayers appear in prayer books, in religion textbooks and on the backs of holy cards. Have you ever wondered about their history, that is, who wrote them and when they were written?

Who is Jesus really?  For you?  Do you know Him so well that you wouldn’t need instructions to live out your relationship with Him?  Can you tell Him, “Throw me the football, Lord, and let me see how far I can run with it for You!”  Or is your relationship with Him one of fear; the type of fear that buries the priceless treasure of the Good News? 

For those of you who recognize the name Vinton Cerf, would you believe he and I have something in common? We are both partially deaf. In case you don’t, he is one of the “fathers of the Internet.”

Celebrating the 562nd Anniversary of the Printing of the Gutenberg Bible.

For those who enjoy reading the gospel selection prior to Sunday’s Mass or those who would like to start—here is information and questions that can help.

​​​​​​​Summertime means travel time whether it is across the state or the country. The sisters in my community, like many travelers, say special prayers for a safe journey even if it is just a visit to the doctor’s office in town. One such travel prayer Catholics have used for centuries is “St. Christopher, protect us."

The captivated child stood who before the great rose window of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris would grow up to be the noted nineteenth-century restorer and artist Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc.

Throughout the entire Easter season, we celebrate why we are called an alleluia people:  Jesus’ resurrection. But for some Catholics, that celebration ended when they walked out of church on Easter Sunday. They go by various names, two of which could be, the “I did my duty Catholic” or “the relatives will be visiting so I better go.” But they are not the only Catholics who share our pews on those two days.  There are the others who have walked away from the Church because they disagree with her teachings. And, yet for some strange reason, many of these Catholics come back yearly to attend Mass on one or both holy days.

Have you heard the joke—the devil walks into a bar...? Probably not, but you might have if you had lived during the fifteenth century. That was the era of the risus paschalis or the Easter Laugh; a time when people made merry at the expense of Satan. Even the homilies at Mass included jokes that would invite the congregation to fill the church with the music of laughter. In time, the revelry became so raucous that Pope Clement X (1670-1676) had to finally prohibit the practice. Pope Maximillian III also prohibited the festivities in the eighteenth century.

Courage comes from the French word for heart, cour. Whatever your resolutions, commitments or promises you made on Ash Wednesday, they all came from your heart.  Even though they may have been merely routine, it still takes courage to follow through.  Or perhaps this Lent did not go so well; whatever that means to you.  But it takes courage just to begin.  Could it be that Ash Wednesday falling on St. Valentine’s Day this year was God’s gentle reminder that Lent is the season of the heart just as much as Advent and Christmas time?  

“Christianity is the only religion where you grow-up to be children,” an interesting insight coming from one of my graduate theology priest professors. Then there is the other side of the coin, “All grown ups were once children . . . but only a few of them remember it,” so wrote Antonio de Saint-Exupery in his classic tale, The Little Prince.

When most Catholics think about cloistered religious what usually comes to mind are nuns kneeling before the Lord in quiet prayer and reflection. Though prayer takes up a significant amount of the monastic day—as that is our vocation in the Church—it is not the only way we can touch our wounded world. Traditionally, monastic life is filled with a balance of work, study and conversation.

Now that Advent is almost here, I would like to revisit a blog of some weeks ago. If you decided to use any or all of my suggestions, perhaps a few questions could help you evaluate how your prayer schedule is going for you.

Advent is around the corner and that means the possibility of more prayer time for many Catholics. The first Sunday of Advent, Dec. 3, is also the first Sunday of a new liturgical year. So why not anticipate this season with a start, a renewal or a deepening of a regular prayer schedule?

A female captain and one of her top male crewmembers crash-landed on a faraway planet. As the hours slip into days it seems that rescue is unlikely. The pair settles in a bunker and now they must confront how they will deal with their relationship in such close quarters. During their discussion, the crewmember takes a surprising approach. He tells her a story rather than being direct. The captain easily picks up on the implied message that he will respect her both as his captain and as a woman who is already in a committed relationship. Because of her forceful personality, her reaction is far more surprising; her composure softens as a single tear rolls down her cheek. For me, this scene visualizes the power of a story to touch a heart.