Reflections

Join the Sisters for some food for your journey.

Sorrows of Mary and Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Dear Friends in Christ,

The season of Lent is upon us. The Church, in her wisdom, sets aside 40 days to draw our attention back to the purpose of our lives here on earth. Prayer, fasting, and alms giving are the antidotes to our many faults and failings, to those aspects of our lives that need to be cleansed in the Lord's grace.

Prayer draws us into a deeper conversion and renewal of heart, which helps us to live more fully the promises made at our baptism. Fasting strengthens our skills of self denial. Giving alms, either materially or in the form of acts of kindness and compassion are tools used to spread the light of Christ to others.

Last Days of Advent

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is often difficult to prepare well for Christ's coming with all the various things we need to do and places to be. However, with the right perspective, all the things that may cause us stress can be gifts from God to bring us closer to Him. We need to take a moment to recognize that He is inviting us to invite HIM into all aspects of our lives.

To better understand this, let us take a closer look at the Feasts of Mary that we celebrate during this time of Preparation and within the Christmas Season.

Advent: A Time to Seek the Lord

Advent is a season that brings back fond memories of childhood practices: lighting the Advent wreath each day at dinnertime, putting straws in a manger after performing an act of charity, making gifts for each family member, putting out shoes on St. Nicholas’ Eve to find them full of goodies in the morning, praying the Advent prayer “Hail and Blessed”...(found below) Traditionally, Advent is a time, when like St. John the Baptist, we prepare a way for the Lord. We give ourselves the chance to see the presence of God to commune with Him, to discover His plan for us.

Praying for our Dearly Departed

I love the cool crisp mornings of the fall. Here in Michigan, each morning the leaves on the trees spread a spectacular array of orange, red, yellow and amber colors. Fall is also a reminder to me that soon we will be in the month of November celebrating two great feasts in the liturgical year, All Saint's day and All Souls days.

The Feast of All Saints is a reminder to us of the wonders God has worked through the lives of those who have lived out their discipleship here on earth. And it is a reality check for myself that if I rely on the grace of God, I too will join the ranks of the blessed in heaven at the end of my journey.

Ordinary Time, Not so Ordinary!

Dear friends in Christ, I hope your summer has been going well. That you are finding time to relax and be with family.

Since we have returned to Ordinary Time in our Liturgical Calendar, I have been thinking a lot about the Church. The Gospels have returned to sharing the story of Jesus' three years of public ministry, which was about “Proclaiming God's Kingdom to be at hand,” (Mt. 4:17) and drawing us to the Father, so that we can be one with Him as the Father and the Son are one. It was during these three years that Jesus laid the foundation for the Church. He called the Apostles to continue to lead the Church, following His example as the “Way, the Truth and the Life,” (Jn. 14:6), with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The third person in the Holy Trinity, helps maintain the Truth, and bestows the necessary gifts and graces through the Sacraments to help us on our way. Now, 2000 years later, we are still striving to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and remain faithful. However, this is not always easy.