Welcome to our blog. In this space we share stories of our lives as Sisters of the Precious Blood. We hope you find our posts both enjoyable and inspirational. Please note: all comments are subject to approval before being displayed.
The Gospel today is full of movement. Upon hearing that the Baptist has been arrested, Jesus goes into action. He leaves his hometown, begins to preach, and calls disciples to follow him around all of Galilee. Pope Francis comments that in contrast to the Baptist, Jesus chooses to be an…
Notice two things about this Sunday’s readings. First, we are in “Ordinary Time I,” the seven counted weeks of the Church year between Christmas and Lent. Ordinary Time II is after Pentecost. Second, even though this is “Year A” when we read most often from Matthew’s Gospel, today we hear…
Our January 8 Gospel is the story of the three “magi” or three “kings.” This story is from Matthew’s infancy narrative. Infancy narratives are the teaching stories that the evangelists Matthew and Luke used to begin their Gospels and introduce main themes. A major theme in Matthew’s Gospel is the…
In the lectionary, the Church’s schedule of readings, the Gospel for the Christmas Mass at Dawn and the one for today are the same — the shepherds arriving at the manger. But today, one extra verse is added — Luke 2:21. It tells about Jesus receiving his name — Jesus,…
Once not long before Christmas, a group of young kids from a housing project across the street from the church where I worked was visiting with me. I asked them what their Christmas was going to be like. Then I asked them a follow-up question: Why do we have Christmas?…
The approaching birth of a child is the theme of the Gospel of the fourth Sunday of Advent. But Matthew does not tell us about the pregnancy from Mary’s perspective; Luke’s Gospel does that, in the account of the angel who announces her coming pregnancy. Matthew tells the approaching birth…
Today in the Gospel, the imprisoned John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “are you ‘the one…or should we look for another?’” There is a bit of a puzzle here: Jesus and John are relatives whose mothers were cousins, and the story goes that Mary visited Elizabeth, John’s…
Charles, a man I am blessed to do literacy work with, came to the U.S. from Rwanda three years ago because it was not safe in his country. A Tutsi, he was asked to spy on the Hutus. He refused, and so feared he would be killed. Rwanda is still…
Young children grow more and more excited as Christmas approaches. We who are older may be less easy to excite, maybe even a bit resentful about all the hype and extra obligations the season brings. That’s unfortunate, because having dreams, hoping for something good to happen, keeps us humans loving…
There is a clue for us in the last word of the official title of this Sunday’s feast day: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Perhaps in the past few months you have marveled as I have at the amazing pictures of our universe taken…
