“Dense” is a one-word description for people who have trouble seeing beneath the surface of things.

by Tom McKenna, CM | May 31, 2023 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
Rereading Andre Dodin’s biography of Saint Vincent de Paul recently, I was struck with the phrase he used to weave together the various threads of Vincent’s life.
by Tom McKenna, CM | May 17, 2023 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
This homily was preached on the occasion of the taking of Final Vows by a Vincentian seminarian, Alex Palacios, in Philadelphia, PA.
by Tom McKenna, CM | May 3, 2023 | Formation, Reflections | 1 Comment
Preparing for this Sunday, which is often called Good Shepherd Sunday, I came across a description of the things a shepherd in Jesus’ time would do to care for his — or her — sheep.
by Tom McKenna, CM | April 19, 2023 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
In the Acts of the Apostles, we come across a behavior that is not quite self-explanatory.
by Tom McKenna, CM | Mar 10, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
“Dense” is a one-word description for people who have trouble seeing beneath the surface of things.
by Tom McKenna, CM | Feb 24, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
How is that the glory of God supplies motivation, gives the impetus for getting up and doing something?
by Tom McKenna, CM | Feb 10, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
Job has the well-deserved reputation as a complainer. Throwing up his hands, he whines to God, “How long is this misery going to lasts, this drudgery, these troubled nights.” (Job 7:1-7)
by Tom McKenna, CM | Dec 21, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Attuned To “The Fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:1-5; Lk. 10: 21) In Isaiah’s description of the special one God will send (“A shoot from the stump of Jesse”), he lists a number of qualities this person will have. Wisdom, understanding, strength, and so forth. But one of...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Dec 7, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Counsel for An Anxious Time (Lk. 17:20-25) All through Luke’s gospel, the underlying movement is towards Jerusalem. From the beginning that’s where Jesus is heading, and as He gets closer the pace picks up and the tensions rise. This is not only because of the...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Nov 23, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Belief Under Pressure (2 Maccabees, 7; Luke 20: 38) One of the things that has sharpened inside me on my journey into the senior years is a sense of time passing (where did it go?), and an accompanying wonderment about what happens when it does pass. What’s on the...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Nov 9, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Lost and Found (Luke 19:1-10; Wisdom 11) Throughout Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells a good number of “lost and found” parables and incidents. There’s the lost and found coin, the lost-found pearl and earlier on the lost-found tax collector, Levi. And last Sunday we come...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Oct 26, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Unchaining The Word Through Memory One short sentence in Paul’s letter to Timothy (2 Tim 2: 10) caught my attention right off, “The word of God is not chained.” Paul himself is in chains, and it’s the contrast here that’s striking him. The Word of God is the opposite...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Oct 12, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Prayer and Management (Luke 6:12-19) In this section of Luke, we find Jesus continuing a ministry that’s spreading out further into the society, and in the process selecting 12 people from the group around him to be his “apostles”, i.e., the sent-out ones. You might...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Sep 28, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Looking Out Through New Eyes (Philemon 9-10, 12-17) Some weeks ago, Mother Teresa was raised to the status of a canonized Saint. And though there are many aspects of her life and spirituality to admire and try to imitate, I pick up on one that comes through in this...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Sep 14, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Badgering God (Mt 15: 21-28) Recently I came across an interesting take on this incident of the Canaanite woman not letting Jesus up in an argument. I read their interchange as “badgering God for the future.” From many indications it’s clear that in their time, both...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Aug 31, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Formation’s Scratchy Side (Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13) All of us entering this Vincentian Family have to go through what is known as “formation.” Formation: people being formed, shaped, molded – maybe better, being re-molded, re-shaped, and maybe even...