Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

What can you do to be open to your vocation? Give your life to God: 'I am all yours'. Pray genuinely. Even when we pray the Our Father: “Your will be done”. Live your Catholic faith: go to Mass, celebrate Eucharist, avail of the sacraments, live the commandments. Pray before the Blessed Sacrament, it will change your life. Deepen your prayer life or begin a prayer life: set aside time each day to pray, read the Scriptures. Pray the Rosary, even just a decade. Pray to the saints. Make an examination of conscience each day at the end of the day. Pray for your future wife/husband, that they share the same values as you. Pray that the Lord will put some holy priests and religious on your path if you are interested in discerning religious and consecrated life.  Create some space in your life for silence: Doesn’t mean having to go to a monastery- Get quiet time, to let go of all activity, gain some perspective on life, listen to your own heart. Grow in holiness: b...

Today, 31st of July, we celebrate the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. The Jesuits are known for their commitment to education. Yet again, I find two of my great loves overlapping, the saints and books! A few years ago, I also wrote a post about books and saints, you can read it here, if y ou wish. Books played a huge part in the conversion of Saint Ignatius. At the age of 30 in May of 1521 as an officer defending the fortress of the town of Pamplona against the French, who claimed the territory as their own against Spain. During the battle a cannon ball struck Ignatius, wounding one leg and breaking the other. Because they admired his courage, the French soldiers carried him back to recuperate at his home, the castle of Loyola, rather than to prison. During the long weeks of his recuperation, he was extremely bored and asked for some romance novels to pass the time.The reading which was given to us in the Office of Readings goes like thi...

So apparently today is International Friendship Day! We live in an age where we can strike up a new friendship with the click of a mouse, where our 'friends', many of whom we’ve never even met, can number into the hundreds, or even thousands, thanks to social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TicToc and others. And yet, despite all the connections and links and 'likes' about everything from what we cooked for dinner last night to whom we’re voting for in the next election, most people are hungry for something more, for friendships that dip below the surface to touch the soul. One of the questions I get asked often as a religious sister is if I can have friends. Usually my answer is : “my friends keep me sane!” and this is true! I am blessed to have people in my life who enrich my existence simply by being in it. They have learned to read me and I allow them to read me. However, the beauty of friendship is that, because it is rooted in Christ, our t...

On the 29th of July, as Church we celebrate the liturgical feastday of St. Martha, a celebration marked in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches, and commemorated by the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Communion. Personally, I always feel that Martha gets a bit of a raw deal, something like St. Thomas. She is remembered for fussing about and being anxious and yet we forget that hers was a great acclamation of faith “I believe that you are the Lord, the one who is to come”. This is quite similar to St. Thomas who is renowned for his disbelief and wanting to touch the wounds of Christ before He would believe. Yet from him we have one of the most poignant prayers, “My Lord and my God”. As we reflect upon the Bethany scene of Mary and Martha, with Martha being somewhat admonished for fretting and worrying, Jesus says to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part.” There is...

Painted by our sister, Sr. Maria Elena Alvarez, PDDM. Please acknowledge if you use this image. Dejection and expectancy, Life renewed! The earth stirs, the stone rumbles, Empty … utter fullness … Nothingness … fruition … “Mary!” … “Rabbouni!” This is the dialogue which took place on the morning of Resurrection. It is a dialogue which we recall today, 22nd of July, as we celebrate the liturgical memorial of St. Mary of Magdala. Since 2016, this liturgical celebration was elevated and inscribed in the General Roman Calendar with the rank of Feast, naming Mary 'Apostle to the Apostles' and giving the rank of feast which is given to the other Apostles. It is good to recall what the decree announcing this change said: "that the special mission of this woman should be underlined, she who is an example and model for all women in the Church."  Think of Mary of Magdala. Here she is, getting up after half a sleepless night, pacing the room, eyes puffed with tears, n...

  Lust’s opposing virtue, chastity, deserves an equally unforgettable advocate. St. Maria Goretti knew the importance of chastity for union with God and its necessity for the wholesomeness of both personal and social life. Today we commemorate her in the liturgy of the Church. In every age, the saints of God have proven that they were God’s servants by their lives of faith and purity of soul. In St. Maria Goretti, youth have a heavenly patroness who, in Pope John Paul’s words, is "a model of Christian life," "a model of authentic holiness," and "the Agnes of the 20th century." Not yet 12 years of age, she was a countercultural sign to a world in the process of rejecting God and genuine love.  In the 1947 Decree of Beatification of the Congregation of Rites (a section of which was transformed in 1969 into the Congregation for the Causes of Saints), we read the following concerning the heroic virtue of the young girl who died after being stabbed 14 times...

Those of you who know me know that I cultivate a special love for icons. In English the word icon can be used as a general term for an image. It is often used in connection with religious imagery, and the term iconography can relate to any consistent scheme of imagery, religious or secular. However, two modern secular applications of the word icon have gained wide currency. First, in the world of fashion and entertainment, people can be described as icon if they epitomise certain trends in style or culture. Second, in the world of computers and electronic technology certain images on the screen are known as icons. You'll also know that my acquaintance with the modern applications of the word is more with the latter! Click on an icon and you enter a whole new world of information and imagery. This modern usage of the word icon has interesting parallels with the theological use of the term! John Paul II in his encyclical "Duodecimum saeculum" wrote: "Just as the rea...