There is something wonderfully strange about beginning the church year with this reading. We turn the page to Advent expecting candles, quiet hymns, and the slow approach of hope. Instead, Jesus starts us off with a warning that feels like a jolt. No one knows the day or the hour, he says. Not the angels. […]

During the season of Advent, I have been using an Ignatian Spiritual exercise in which I imagine myself sitting alongside Elizabeth and Mary as we see them in the first chapter of Luke and getting to know them better. My spiritual director suggested this chapter from Luke to me because thought Elizabeth and Mary might […]

As I read our readings from Isaiah and Mark for today, I was struck by the fact that the authors of both were addressing grieving communities. Both passages of Scripture were written to people who were living through a time of great chaos, social upheaval, and pain. Both were written to communities who were experiencing […]