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Learning to listen through synodality

By Sr. Constance Veit, LSP
Synodality has become a bit of a buzz word in the church. Pope Francis has been talking about synodality since the beginning of his pontificate. He believes it is “the path that God expects of the church in the third millennium,” a “constitutive,” or essential, element of the church. The pope’s focus on synodality is […]
10/31/24
Reading Time 3 min

Purgatory

By Russell Shaw
“This mountain’s of such sort that climbing it is hardest at the start; but as we rise, the slope grows less unkind.” The speaker is the Roman poet Virgil, Dante’s companion and guide in scaling the lofty mountain of purgatory in the second book of Dante’s tour-de-force account of the afterlife, “The Divine Comedy.” They’ve […]
10/31/24
Reading Time 3 min

God’s love for us

By Mary Beth Bonacci
I just finished a truly amazing, yearlong class on prayer. In the last session, we took the Myers-Briggs personality test, to help us discover which prayer methods might be the most fruitful for us. I learned I am an ENFP. In my results, I read the following.
10/31/24
Reading Time 4 min

Remembering the holy souls in purgatory

By Msgr. Charles M. Mangan
As Nov. 2, All Souls’ Day, the commemoration of all the faithful departed, nears, we ask the good and merciful Lord to grant to the holy souls in purgatory everlasting life in paradise and unparalleled peace to their grieving families and friends on earth.
10/31/24
Reading Time 3 min

Choosing to hope

By Fr. Joseph M. Rampino
Pope Benedict XVI, in the first chapter of his “Introduction to Christianity,” written when he was still a young priest professor in Bonn, describes the act of faith as clinging to a cross that hangs over a churning abyss. The believer holds on to the cross, not necessarily knowing what keeps it stable, but knowing that it alone is secure as the entire chaotic world swirls beneath.
10/26/24
Reading Time 3 min

‘Wait until next year’

By Lucia A. Silecchia
My team did not make it to the World Series.   They got close — very close. Alas, the playoffs did not end well for them. I am not the most devoted fan since I usually do not follow the team’s progress until the excitement of the later part of the season when the stakes are higher, and the disappointment greater.
10/22/24
Reading Time 3 min

One wish

By Fr. Richard Miserendino
An age-old question: If you found a genie in a lamp in the desert and he granted you one wish (no wishing for more wishes, everyone knows that), what would you choose? In our Gospel for this Sunday, James and John have undoubtably realized that, by being in the presence of Jesus, they have something better than a thousand genies — God himself. So, naturally they set to wishing.
10/19/24
Reading Time 3 min

Shake with joy

By Elizabeth Foss
I know it’s October, but it feels like the earth is glowing with the glory of God; an autumn walk is arrayed with his glory and the whole outdoors seems to shake with joy.
10/17/24
Reading Time 3 min

The seasons of Ordinary Time

By Lucia A. Silecchia
Recently, I enjoyed one of my favorite rites of autumn — the search for perfect pumpkins for home, office and anywhere else that might be brightened with glorious gourds. In a long drive through quaint corners of the countryside, I relished the splendor that is autumn.
10/17/24
Reading Time 3 min

Power of the word

By Fr. Steven Oetjen
Mk 10:17–30 “The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Heb 4:12), our second reading today tells us.
10/12/24
Reading Time 3 min

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