Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

“Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, the house was filled with the scent of the ointment” (John 12: 3) As I listened to today’s Gospel being read on this Monday of Holy Week, my mind returned to the day of my Perpetual Profession back in June 2011. The text of the Gospel was that used for the liturgy of the rite of Profession. It is a passage from John’s Gospel where a woman anoints the feet of Jesus with precious ointment (John 12:1-8). The story of Jesus’ feet anointed with tears and perfume by a sinful woman is a love story, pure and simple. Not some cheap romance or TV soap love but one of complete and oblivious donation! As I stood on the threshold of complete dedication to Christ in religious life, I saw this biblical woman’s gesture and felt Jesus  saying to me: “Louise, are you ready to do the same? To be this self-emptying gift of prayer and joyful love, unafraid of stares or conflict from an often uncompr...

St. Teresa of Avila I recently finished reading a biography of St. Teresa of Avila by Shirley du Boulay. What can I say but that once more I have been kicked out of my comfort zone. I had read biographies of her life in my earlier days in the convent but for some reason she has made a return to my reading shelf. Here as in all her major writings, the reformer of Carmel has that gift in making us believe that she is speaking directly to us. She doesn’t compose a long soliloquy on God’s wonders or present a third-person discourse on the objective conditions for a more fulfilling life. Instead, Teresa seems to sit down with her reader, seeking out individual needs and also possible resistances to what she proposes. She establishes a You-and-I relationship and tugs at your sleeve if she fears you might walk away. There is a strength in Teresa which is fruit of the strong union she has with the Lord. Her sole desire is to love him and serve Him, listening to the str...

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. John. It is a feast which I love because most of our spirituality comes from John’s Gospel, a Gospel which is powerfully symbolic and mystical. The symbolic is very close to the mystical, which goes beyond the everyday part of life and finds the presence of God everywhere and responds to it. In the transmission of our charism, our Founder Blessed James Alberione has presented us with various biblical icons as beacons which enlighten and guide us on our journey of discipleship. On our Congregational emblem, we have engraved the verse from John 14:6: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’. Our whole itinerary of holiness is based on John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat dies, it remains a single grain”.  The figure of Jesus Master Way Truth and Life is the foundational icon of our Rule of life. He is the one who has chosen us first.  We allow ourselves to be seized by him in order to contemplate him and to follow him in ...

Explaining the Trinity is not an easy task. I take some consolation in the fact that the great Doctor of the Church St. Augustine of Hippo spent over 30 years working on his treatise De Trinitate [about the Holy Trinity], endeavouring to conceive an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the Trinity. There is a story told that Augustine was walking by the seashore one day contemplating and trying to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity when he saw a small boy running back and forth from the water to a spot on the seashore. The boy was using a sea shell to carry the water from the ocean and place it into a small hole in the sand. The Bishop of Hippo approached him and asked, “My boy, what are doing?” “I am trying to bring all the sea into this hole,” the boy replied with a sweet smile. “But that is impossible, my dear child, the hole cannot contain all that water” said Augustine. The boy paused in his work, stood up, looked into the eyes of the Saint, and replied, “It ...

On this third Sunday of Easter we have a Gospel which many of us are very familiar with. There is the temptation to skip to the end and summarize. Okay, Peter betrayed Jesus three times, now the Lord asks him three times ‘do you love me?’ Reading in modern English, you may not get much out of it. However, if you look at the passage in the original Greek, it does make a difference. Basically, there are two different words translated as ' LOVE ' in this passage. It may help to put the two original Greek words in place of the English words in the same 3 verses above. Notice the changes below: John 21: 15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you agapao me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I phileo You." He said to him, "Tend My lambs." (note the two different verbs used by Jesus and Peter) 16 He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you ag...

Just a few days ago, as Christ’s followers, we began the Lenten journey. Receiving ashes on our forehead we recalled that ‘we are dust and to dust we will return’. A certain sombreness seemed to descend upon us as we enter into the privileged desert time to walk the Exodus journey. However it was almost as if our liturgical journey was interrupted and we  seemed to be surrounded  by hearts, flowers, roses and the apparent commercialism that accompanies St. Valentine’s Day. I recalled one of Pope Emeritus Benedict’s phrases from one of the Angelus’: "Every human being is loved by God the Father. No one need feel forgotten, for every name is written in the Lord’s loving heart." Valentine’s  Day can be a hard time for some people who feel alone or have been hurt because of relationships or are afraid to open their hearts to love and trust someone. It can also be an awkward feastday for many. Single people often feel isolated. People in relationships feel obliged to show...

I know I have blogged about Oscar Romero throughout the years but today, above all days, merits a blog post! Today, 23rd of May is the day when the Church proclaimed him as Blessed. Throughout history, the voice of the prophet is one of the vehicles through which God speaks to the community and to the world. Today, we commemorate one of these prophets. On the 24thof March 1980, 35 years ago, evil men in El Salvador tried to silence the voice of a prophet. Archbishop Romero gave his life, in the words of Pope John Paul II, “for the church and the people of his beloved country” of El Salvador. His death from an assassin’s bullet crowned a life of service as priest and bishop. I claim this date as being special to my life story because it was the month and the year that I was to grace the world. However God had another plan and myself being a little precocious, I arrived a little earlier on January 24th. It continues to be a day where I remember Archbishop Romero. His great motto was ...

Some of you might be surprised that I know what ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is about. In fairness, it would be pretty much impossible to be on social media and not be aware of the hype. You’d want to be living under a rock or in a convent! Well actually, yes, 50 Shades of Grey has even entered the convent. Rephrase, not literally… we haven’t read the books! At this stage, it seems that the world is going 50 Shades of Grey mad! There are advertisements everywhere, at bus-stops, cinemas making sure you book your tickets on Valentine’s Night when the movie will be released, merchandise (in some places, placed very inappropriately next to children’s items!), constant Facebook ads etc.   Critics have described the book as misogynistic, pornographic, exploitative, sexually violent, and anti-romance. I am guessing that the movie is going to be pretty much along the same lines. However, over the past few weeks we have had more and more prayer requests about this upcoming movie. People ar...

Each and every one of us is called to a particular vocation in life: “If you will be what you should be, you will set the world afire. Don’t be content with the small things: he, the Lord God, wants them great” (St. Catherine). Talk about a straight talking invite to follow the Lord. No ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’, no half measures! Don’t be contented with a mediocre life when God is holding out his hand to you to follow him in love and for love. “The heart is always drawn by love”  (Dialogue 26). Love transforms everything. Christ lives in the measure which we are transformed each day. Just like the tomb of Jesus is empty, nothing remains in death’s prison. Our existence is a manifestation of his love for us, won by the Cross. Yet, the world today tries to show us that we don’t need God, that we can have societies and families without him. Little by little we push him aside, we become disconnected from God. We will never find our real vocation in life if we do not immerse ourselves in Him...

Throughout history, the voice of the prophet is one of the vehicles through which God speaks to the community and to the world. Today, we commemorate one of these prophets. On this day, 34 years ago, evil men in El Salvador tried to silence the voice of a prophet. I claim this date as being special to my life story because it was the month and the year that I was to grace the world. However God had another plan and I arrived a little earlier on January 24th. It continues to be a day where I remember Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero. Knowing himself to be on the government’s “hit list,” Romero went to the hills to prepare himself for his final confrontation with evil. He telephoned his farewell message to Exclesior, Mexico’s premier newspaper, insisting that like the Good Shepherd, a pastor must give his life for those he loves. Romero was shot while celebrating an anniverary Mass of a  friend’s mother at the local convent. The asassin escaped in the hubbub a...

Sr. M. Louise and Fr. Dean Valentine’s Day can be an awkward feastday for many. Single people often feel isolated. People in relationships feel obliged to show their affection for their significant others in a way that may seem totally manufactured. Valentine’s Day is considered one of the most polarizing holidays in the year. You are either a complete believer in what Valentine’s Day has come to mean, a celebration of love, or else you are sick and tired of the marketing frenzy that surrounds the event.However, love makes life beautiful, at any age. Whether it’s for the first time or the 100th, expressing your love is the best way to light up someone’s day, especially when they don’t expect it! And that’s exactly what we did last week on campus at Saint Paul University! Saint Paul Students for Life group decided to mark Valentine’s Day and celebrate the gift of life and love on campus on Thursday last. Bopping along to classic love songs and handing out delicious home-made coo...