Book bans taking place in some communities do not stop serious readers from deciding what they will read, writes Sr. Margaret Cessna. She shares lessons she has learned from banned books.
Scripture for Life: From Samuel to Jesus and the disciples, it's all about looking, listening and hearing, attitudes that lead to discovering who we are and are called to be. It's all about vocation: seeking and listening.
Horizons - The scary part of yes is that it is a leap of faith; you really have no idea what God will do with your yes. Will it lead to something else, to a closed door, or to something completely different?
By advocating blessings for same-sex couples, Pope Francis revisits the vision of Vatican II, which envisaged the new church as the "magisterium of the poor" at the margins.
We need leaders with a certain depth, who listen to the call of their people. To lead is indeed a call. It is to enter into the deep pain of human suffering with deeper solidarity. It is to lead with one's life.
A women's group in the Paco area of Metro Manila participated in a Good Shepherd development project this past year. As I journey with them, they are witnesses to me that God is our only refuge and hope.
Hearts need healing, not just after physical cardiac events. We've all been there, feeling not quite right on an emotional, psychological, mental, physical or spiritual level.
During a visit to a prison in Peru, Sr. Begoña Costillo discovered how the Gospel came to life behind bars and offered hope and liberation to those who seek conversion, healing and redemption.
Ecological consciousness is a journey that happens from the inside out. Something must change in what people believe about themselves and their relationship to others and the planet.
May we each have graced moments on whatever stoop we choose — to listen to the sidewalk prophets, to ponder the things of life and to remember who we are and what we stand for.
The end of a year and the beginning of a new one naturally leads to self-reflection, with a concurrent desire to improve one's life. I'll admit this is true in my own life.
Another year begins. Time for New Year's resolutions. Can we remember what last year's good intentions were? Maybe yes, and we are delighted. Maybe no, and those intentions are consigned to a museum, so to speak.
We do not need to frantically figure out the future of religious life or even ensure that it continues — that is God’s work. May we wisely participate in this unfolding.
This Advent and Christmas season, take some time to ponder both the gifts of the Incarnation and the second coming through the insights and words of our ancestors in faith.
Christmas is a call, an invitation and a challenge to interior conversion, communal transformation and external revitalization, letting go, to let emerge and to re-create.
Horizons - Can we dream of a renewed humanity? In this time of Advent, we are invited to explore our inner light and cleanse our gaze, welcoming both light and shadow with generosity.
We are called to straighten perverse attitudes and inadequate behavioral patterns of communication, as well as straighten the warped or broken relationships in our families, communities, presbyteries and society.