First Sunday of Lent
A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
PSALM 51:10
A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
PSALM 51:10
Ash Wednesday launches the Season of Lent, a season of reflection and preparation for Easter.
For gracious and merciful is God, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.
PSALM 103:8
Returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner Micheal Leen reflects on loving our enemies under difficult circumstances
Sr. Dee Smith, Maryknoll Sister in Guatemala, reflects on gospel righteousness: Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'
This article was previously published on Feb 5, 2017
“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.” These are the words we hear in today’s Gospel. You don’t need a lot of salt in your kitchen, but a little bit sure does make the food taste better. We are called to be like salt.
The Gospel reading for today is more challenging and terrifying than many others in the Bible. Jesus turns our entire way of thinking upside down. The Beatitudes would have had the same effect at the time as they do today, which is to strike at the heart of our humanness and our fears. The Beatitudes could be called “radical” in any age. They contradict what society teaches.
Maryknoll Sr. Genie Natividad reflections on what it means to follow the teachings of Jesus in teh world today.
In this re-issued 2017 reflection, Sr. Roni Schweyen, MM, reflects on the readings in relation to her mission work in Tanzania
Debbie Northern, Maryknoll Lay Missioner in El Paso Texas reflects on the many epiphanies that stemmed from her mission work
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (shalom).
The prophet Isaiah proclaims that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. He was talking about his own time, some 700 years before the birth of Jesus, when Israel/Judea was oppressed first by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. The destruction of the Israeli capital of Samaria in 721 BCE was one of the most devastating in the annals of that era. Where was the light to be found?
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him ‘Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’