“Handing on the tradition” is a phrase often connected with matters of faith.

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 | Apr 21, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
“Handing on the tradition” is a phrase often connected with matters of faith.
by Tom McKenna, CM | Apr 7, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
Where are the assurances that these claims about Jesus rising to new life have any substance?
by Tom McKenna, CM | Mar 24, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
All of us have heard the phrase, “living in the past.” Usually it has a negative ring – – somebody missing out on the good things happening now because he or she lives on memories of a bygone day.
by Tom McKenna, CM | Aug 17, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Past and Present, Living Through One Another (I John 4:7-16) At a Eucharist honoring the deceased members of the Vincentian Family, I picked up on a verse from the first reading (1 John 4:9). It starts out with the question, “How was God’s love shown to us?” It...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Aug 3, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
“I have seen and so can testify to…” (John 20) So much of the New Testament is about witnessing. “We have seen and testified to…the Eternal life that was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard.” (1 John 1:1-2) In one way...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jul 20, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
The Right Focus (Matthew 6) I came across an interview with a woman violinist who had just completed a concert and gotten rave reviews for it. The interviewer was asking her how she got to be so good, how she developed this great gift of letting the beauty of the...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jul 6, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
“You Are Somebody…” (John 15) (Homily at the Farewell Mass for the departing members of the 2015/16 Vincentian Mission Corps, St. Louis) Jesus confides in His disciples today, “I have told you this, that your joy may be complete.” Or to put it another way: “I...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jun 22, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
“Wonderful News.” Blessed Are Those… Matthew 5 What if we were to take these Beatitude behaviors and attitudes as descriptions of the way things already are in the world, as if we were hearing Jesus giving a kind of analysis of society as it really is? We’d have...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jun 8, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
“What Do I Do, Lord?” Gospel/Vincentian Discernment (Acts 1; John 15) There’s what you might call a woman’s quip about the man supposedly being the one who pursues the woman. It runs, “He chased her and he chased her and he chased her – until she caught him!” You...
by Tom McKenna, CM | May 25, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
St. Louise: Moving Toward Love (Is. 58: Mt. 25) There’s a famous quote attributed to Mark Twain: When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much...
by Michael Whalen, CM | May 15, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
For multiple and varied reasons the month of May has come to be associated with Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In the United States it is the month in which Mother’s Day, First Communions, many ordinations and weddings are celebrated. It is also associated in the...
by Tom McKenna, CM | May 11, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
The Saints as Bibliography Acts 4:8 There’s a writer who characterizes the lives of the saints as “bibliographic entries onto the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.” A bibliography: a series of additions to the one story; i.e., variations on how Jesus’ story plays...