Inspired by Scholastica

 As I was meditating on the Annunciation story recently, I thought about Gabriel, the angel who visited Mary with a special message. Gabriel, who had been with God from all eternity, knew God's plan of redemption. He knew that Mary would say yes to the request to give birth to the child Jesus, even though she did not fully understand how this would happen. Gentle and encouraging, Gabriel told Mary that she had found favor with God and explained that Jesus would be born of a virgin, not the normal way.  How delicate Gabriel must have been in explaining this to a teenager who was so innocent. "How can this be?" she asked. The angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would conceive. Mary's closeness to God enabled her to have the courage to say, "Be it done to me as God wills." Just as Gabriel was a "ministering angel," we are called to take on that role in our world. We can be "ministering angels" to those who are fe...

Thanksgiving is a special time of year  for many reasons. Families get together and share stories and memories of the past year. It is a time to give thanks for the many blessings we have received. It is also an opportunity to share from our abundance with others who live in poverty and need.  If our families have been protected from the coronavirus, we have extra cause to be grateful. Not all families are so fortunate. Some are missing a family member who was with them last year. We can take a moment to remember that person and the way he/she has been a blessing to others. Some people spend part of the day serving others in a homeless shelter or food kitchen. It is good for us and our children to see how hungry and poor some people are because of job loss or other circum-stances beyond their control. Being of service to the needy increases our gratitude and gives us joy too.  We also can remember the thousands of immigrants and refugees who are living in camps and makesh...

I just read about a group promoting the canonization of six Black Catholics. One of the six is Sister Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. I was excited to see this because I had met Sister Thea in person about 40 years ago and have read about her ministry in the U.S. I remember when she addressed the bishops of the United States, challenging them to practice justice and getting them to rise and sing "We Shall Overcome" with her. She was dramatic and dynamic as a speaker and the bishops responded. This group of Baltimore Catholics challenged the committee in charge of the canonization process, saying the process is not working for Black Catholics. They think these six people: Mother Mary Lang, founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence; Julia Greeley, the city of Denver's "Angel of Charity;"  Mother Henriette De Lille, founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family; Fr. Augustus Tolton, and Pierre Toussaint should be recognized as saints and are ...

 COP26, the United Nations Global Conference on Climate Change, is still going on in Glasgow. Representatives from about 120 nations are gathered to pledge major changes in order to decrease global warming. Unfortunately, Russia and China, big contributors to this crisis, are not represented. And developing countries will depend on richer nations to help them fulfill their goal. The evidence of climate change is all around us: increased hurricanes, wild fires, flooding; higher temperatures, melting icebergs, arid lands, and the dying out of hundreds of animal species. We can see the problems, but what can we as ordinary individuals do about them? One thing we can do is travel less by car and instead ride a bicycle or use public transportation. Another thing is to eat less beef which will cut down on methane gases in the atmosphere. In addition, we could use more solar and wind energy to heat our homes and buildings instead of coal and gas. And we can grow vegetable gardens to decre...