Posts

Reflection- Annunciation: Mary's Yes and the Yes of Oscar Romero

-
Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mother M. Scholastica Rivata and the desert of transformation

-
Image
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...
1 comment
Read more

Amazing grace

-
Image
  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. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Spiritual rehydration- Woman at the Well- Lent Week 3

-
Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Transfigured by Christ and bothered by the Holy Spirit!

-
Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Desert Light

-
Image
  On the first Sunday of Lent, when ash still lingers like memory on the brow, the wilderness opens— not only of sand and stone, but of the heart. Forty days echo the footsteps of Jesus Christ walking into hunger, into heat that shimmers like doubt, into silence sharp as flint. And there— the whisperer, the questioner, Satan with a voice smooth as river-worn rock: “If you are— if you are— if you are…” Who are you? Whose are you? Identity pressed like a bruise. Prove it in bread. Prove it in spectacle. Prove it in power. But hunger is not lord. Applause is not crown. Dominion is not destiny. “I am,” answers not with thunder, but with trust— with words older than the desert wind, with a Name deeper than appetite. Angels do not arrive until the last lie thins into dust. Only when refusal blooms like a stubborn flower in wasteland. On this first Sunday of Lent we walk that wilderness too— where every mirror asks who we are without the bread, without the ledge, without the throne. And ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Goodbye and hello!

-
Image
As 2025 folds into memory, I am grateful— for memories, for experiences, for encounters. We said goodbye— to family, to friends, to Sisters, to those whose pilgrimage on this earth is complete. Their absence feels like a quiet room, waiting, still, softly echoing. We said hello— to a Jubilee of hope, of mercy, of remembering what it means to walk as seeker, follower, disciple. A year of hope, a gentle flame, lighting hearts, calling names. A Jubilee for all— the young, the old, families, the servants, the struggling, the curious, the doubting. All roads lead to Rome, to the unforgettable stillness of a million young souls in Eucharistic Adoration, in a field. Goodbye to Pope Francis, pilgrim to the end, who goes home to the Father, amidst Easter bells still ringing the Resurrexit song. Hello to Pope Leo, who takes the wheel, guiding St. Peter’s Barque with quiet strength and steadfast heart. A month with our silver jubilarians— listening, learning, walking slowly together, bringing us ...
Post a Comment
Read more