There are actions that in their very enactment communicate more depth and meaning than the words that surround them.

by Tom McKenna, CM | September 20, 2023 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
“Listen and Respond.” If there ever were a pair of words to stir up action, these are the ones.
by Tom McKenna, CM | September 6, 2023 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
To get at a pivotal question in Matthew’s 23rd chapter, consider the distinction between two types of answers, one standard and the other personal.
by Tom McKenna, CM | August 23, 2023 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
by Famvin Media Resources | August 11, 2023 | Formation | 0 Comments
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jun 2, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
There are actions that in their very enactment communicate more depth and meaning than the words that surround them.
by Tom McKenna, CM | May 19, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
When we meet love in our lives, we are experiencing The Spirit.
by Tom McKenna, CM | May 5, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
As far as beginnings go, we’d have to look far and wide to find something more dramatic than the one portrayed in chapter 9 of the Acts of the Apostles: Paul knocked over and blinded on that Damascus road.
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...