Author: The Anchorite

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Waiting in Hope

Tuesday of the Octave of Easter

Our soul waits for the Lord,
  who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us
  who have put our hope in you.   Psalm 33:20, 22

 

With the coming of Easter, our Lenten observances are completed. During Lent, we may have given up something we like, or we may have taken on some additional devotion or charitable work. Or perhaps we have tried to correct some bad habit, or do something that expresses Christian faith and love in a concrete way. Lent may have been for us a time for repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Continue reading “Waiting in Hope”

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Feedback

This isn’t a reflection on today’s readings, as meaningful and powerful as they are. No, this is an expression of gratitude on my part for all of you who have offered such positive and powerful feedback to me since I began this blog. Some of you have shared a bit of your own stories with me. Somehow, you found something in one of my posts helpful to you in your own life’s challenges. Somehow, the Lord spoke to you through some words of mine. A few of you told me stories about yourselves or others you know who are Aspies as well, and how my blog seems to offer them some hope of finding their own voice and place. I cannot claim much credit for any of this. I share what I am given. You, in turn, have shared what you were given. In such sharing, received in love and gratitude, we experience the healing touch of the Holy Spirit. Continue reading “Feedback”

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Characters of the Passion

Palm Sunday (A)

On this day, we read two Gospel passages. At the start of the Mass, we read the account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem – the original Palm Sunday. Then, in the Liturgy of the Word, the Gospel reading is the story of the last 24 hours or so before Jesus’ death, beginning with the Last Supper. This Gospel reading is longer, and as such it presents to us a wealth of material for our prayer and reflection. What I will do here is offer a few thoughts on some of the people who appear in the Passion narrative, in the hope that it will help us place ourselves in the story and therefore be more open to whatever word the Lord wants us to hear in it today. Continue reading “Characters of the Passion”

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Children of Abraham

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent: Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59

In both readings from today’s liturgy, the figure of Abraham plays a prominent role. In the first reading, God makes a covenant with Abraham, repeating a promise that God had already made to him: that Abraham would be the father of many nations. Kings and nations would spring from him. Abraham placed his faith in God’s call and God’s promises, even when that faith was sorely tested.  Continue reading “Children of Abraham”

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A New Look!

I’ve decided to change the theme I have been using for my blog. My “old” theme looked nice and simple. But it had one limitation: it offered no easy way to search and find older posts. This new theme remedies that problem.

You will find some menus on the right. You can simply search the blog – say, if you remember the title of a post you liked and wanted to read again. You can search by category. Click on a category and you will find every post that I have tagged with that category. You can also search by month.

I looked at several themes, and this one seemed to offer the best combination of ease of searching, readable text, and simple, pleasing appearance. I hope you find it attractive and welcoming. The theme can always be changed again!