Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

Every religious experience begins with a sense of emptiness, of life being bigger than us. We began the Lenten journey in the desert and we continue to walk, making the journey from Ashes to Alleluia. On Ash Wednesday we had ashes placed on our forehead and reflected on the words "Remember you are dust and to dust you will return" or the call to "repent and believe in the Gospel". There is yearly continuity in the liturgy where the burnt palms, symbol of the joy and majesty which accompanied Jesus during his entrance into Jerusalem, become the dust and ashes placed on our forehead at the beginning of our Lenten journey. Today we began the journey of Holy Week. Holy Week is holy, first and foremost, because of all Jesus Christ did during this week, from the triumphal entry into his city on Palm Sunday, to his teaching in the Temple, to the Last Supper, to his prayer in Gethsemane, to his arrest, torture, crucifixion and death on Good Friday, to his rest in the tomb, ...

With the celebration of Vespers this evening, the Church begins the celebration of the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Indeed, it is a celebration! The first word of Archangel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary was Rejoice . And the feast of Annunciation is, first of all, a feast of quiet heavenly joy—joy over reconciliation with God, joy over the return of grace to earth. Annunciation is also a feast of triumph of humility, purity and chastity , a feast of unshakable faith in the power of God and in His unlimited love toward us his children. We see this unlimited love every day as we look at the Cross, at the outpouring of Jesus for us. At times it’s a love that doesn’t make sense. There is a Scripture passage in the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 12 which has the image of the grain of wheat. We read: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains but a single grain.” The image of the grain of wheat dying in the earth in order to grow and bear a harvest can be seen as a meta...

As the Lenten journey continues, my thoughts today went to our first sister Mother M. Scholastica Rivata. Today, 24th of March, we commemorate 39 years since she returned home to God. She was a woman who was not afraid to move through the 'desert of transformation', certain that even the Paschal mystery with all its sorrow and confusion, would lead her to the glorious celebration of the Resurrection, the explosion of life and joy upon the earth. The following is a brief reflection from our previous Mother General, Sr. M. Cesarato on the ocassion of the translocation of the earthly remains of M. Scholastica from Sanfre to the Church of Jesus Master in Rome. It also marked the opening of the cause of her beatification which is underway, having reached the stage of presenting the 'Positio'. The positio (Positio super Virtutibus) is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path...

  Dust lay quiet on his eyes, a night he never chose. From birth he walked in borrowed dark where no horizon rose. Voices passed like drifting wind, faces he could not find; the world was sound and gentle touch— a map within his mind. Then Jesus came with quiet hands, and mercy softly stirred; Clay mixed with tears, a healing touch, and grace within His word. Then light broke through—he saw the sky, the dust, the waiting crowd; the colors of the waking world that once were veiled by cloud. He saw the Light behind the sun, in every shining ray; the God who formed the burning stars had come to walk his way. The Healer God who made the sun had sent His Son to heal; Amazing grace, how sweet the sound— my sight restored, I kneel. You looked on him—You looked on me, my broken chains release; a man born blind, but now he sees, and praises Christ eternally. 

Sometimes we need precisely that moment where we catch a glimpse of our own reflection and realise that the face that looks back at us is sad, tired and confused and needs to be hydrated from the wellspring of life, the encounter with Living Water, Jesus Christ. After the encounter with Jesus at the well, the Samaritan woman becomes a well-woman. Then, the reflection which she sees is that of a beloved child of God, beloved of the Father. It took a while for her to get to that place where she could feel that. Yet, without realising it, she is like the empty water jug which she carries. It is ready to be filled. She is a container to be filled with the living water which gushes forth from the wellsprings of life. First she hesitates, she focuses on the law. Jesus focuses on grace. Jews weren't supposed to speak to Samaritans. More so, men weren't permitted to address women without their husbands present. And "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman," she reminded...

Each Sunday of Lent catapults us into a different stage of Christian journey. From the desert of temptation in last week's liturgy, we move to the Mount of Transfiguration. The desert is a place of passage to get to our destination. No-one aspires to live in the desert. Peter, James and John try to stay on Mount Tabor: "Lord, it is good for us to stay here, let us build three tents." But similarly, the mountain is not the destination. We move onwards, fortified by the experience of being with Jesus. There is a small but very significant phrase: "The disciples looked up and saw  only Jesus ." Only Jesus. Are we able to see 'only Jesus'? ? Are we able to live only for Jesus? Is all that matters to us, only Jesus? How different would our lives be if our permanent focus was only Jesus, the measuring stick for all that we do, the moral, spiritual and emotional compass in our lives? But this would mean making changes in our lives. Filtering through all the clu...