Colleen Gibson

Horizons - Reading the stories of the Resurrection this Easter, I have been struck by the emotions of the disciples. What is so often portrayed as a crystal-clear experience of joy, of pure and precise revelation, is, upon further examination, not nearly as clear as one might hope.

Horizons - When we feel like giving up, perhaps one of the best things we can give up is the need to control every facet of our lives. Another thing to give up: negative judgment.

Horizons - A tyrant saw a threat to his power. Filled with fear, he brought fright to the whole country. He stoked fear and incited violence. The king could not stand the truth and so he sought to rout it out.

Horizons - What we once thought would be a momentary interruption to everyday life is in fact a cataclysmic shift. Our work now is to discern — as our first sisters once did — where God is calling us.

Horizons - The apostle Paul told the Romans to graciously receive the deacon Phoebe and give her any help she needed. Can't we ask the same, for women to truly share their gifts in ministry in the church?

Horizons – If we remain blind to our actions and intentions, carrying on what is "normal" and thus perpetuating the racism ingrained in our society, we serve only ourselves and impede the work of movements to create change.

Horizons - God provides not because we will it or because we see the world through rose-colored glasses, but because faith allows us to be free, to trust that all will be well and also to know our part in the work of God.

Horizons - In these circumstances, the Passion takes on new meaning. Just as I now cringe as I notice the distance between people in life, on TV and in movies, I immerse myself in the way of the cross in a new way.

Horizons - The words from Ash Wednesday reverberate throughout Lent: Now is the moment you and God have been waiting for. What if we lived each moment of the season, beholding the perfection of that moment?

Horizons - If the decade has taught me anything, it is that change comes incrementally. God works in our desires and our desires are realized in the slow work of the Spirit played out in daily choices and prayerful attentiveness.

Horizons - The expectation of what is to come is a gift. If we choose to engage this time of waiting, Advent has the power to deepen our celebration, enlivening the joy that makes itself manifest in myriad manner of decorations and celebrations these days.

Horizons: We Sisters of St. Joseph risk so that we can grow, and in growing, we are made more flexible, stretched by the call of commitment and grounded in the grace of our foundational call.