God by Participation
One of the themes most emphasized by the documents of Vatican II was the importance of the People of God. Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, has 41 references to the People of God. This is the subject...
Author: Sister Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D.
Wholly Sacrifice
The preparation for the Synod on Synodality is enabling the Church to take a deeper look at her own reality. What constitutes the Church? What makes us the Church? How do the members of the Church fit and work together?...
“Everything Is Grace”
Two years ago, the Pew Research Center conducted a poll and found that barely 1/3 of self-described Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This realization that most of those who identify themselves as Catholics do...
Precious Oil Upon the Head
When I was in Girl Scouts (a long time ago!), at summer camp one year we learned a couple of Israeli songs. One was called “Hine Ma Tov” and it is very popular with Jewish singers. (A good rendition can...
The high bar of holiness
Recently, Dr. Larry Chapp wrote an article entitled “Rejecting the ‘low-bar Thomism’ of revisionist moral theologians.” Typically, I find that Dr. Chapp’s articles are insightful and well-written. This article is a follow-up to his recent reviews of the republication of...
Driving By the Rear-View Mirror
Recently, Mike Lewis indulged a request I made to him by writing an article on Pope Francis’s use of the word “indietrism” (or “backwardsism,” as Mike translated it). He did some excellent research, with interviews of various authors who have...
Blessed Are the Weak
In her autobiography, St. Teresa of Avila describes a challenge she was not able to meet. It was around 1542, and Teresa was having experiences that caused her serious concern. I arranged that the priest I said was such a...
To Obey or Not To Obey, That is the Question. Or Is It?
Back in January, I published an article on Where Peter Is about St. Maravillas of Jesus, a Spanish Discalced Carmelite Nun and Foundress who died in 1974 and who has had a noticeable impact on a number of Carmelite monasteries...
The Circle of Vision: An Architecture for Synodality
Some years ago, Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M., gave a series of conferences to my Community on “Images of the Church.” He said that you can also call these images Models of the Church. These models are words or phrases, nearly...
Habits of Synodality
When I was learning French, there was a phrase I picked up without paying much attention to it. The phrase was « Je n’ai pas de voix au chapitre » and it means “I have no say in the matter.” It was...
The Improvised Life
This article is dedicated to Paul Fahey who by a post published on SmartCatholics galvanized some volatile thoughts to come together and form an article. Thank you, Paul! I enjoy reading articles about science–when they are written in a way...
More Lessons from the 49ers
We saw in an earlier article how the experiences of miners during the Gold Rush can illustrate some facets of the discernment of spirits. An inexperienced gold miner could mistake pyrite or Fool’s Gold for real gold and be led...
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