What the teacher had done was prepare him to see. She had given him a way to notice more of what was there.
![Ready to See (Luke 3:1-6; Phil 1:9-10)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2016/02/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.png?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
by Tom McKenna, CM | March 24, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
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 | March 10, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 1 Comment
“Dense” is a one-word description for people who have trouble seeing beneath the surface of things.
by Tom McKenna, CM | February 24, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 2 Comments
How is that the glory of God supplies motivation, gives the impetus for getting up and doing something?
by Tom McKenna, CM | February 10, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
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 15, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
What the teacher had done was prepare him to see. She had given him a way to notice more of what was there.
by Tom McKenna, CM | Dec 1, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
More than most any other, the feast of Christ the King immerses us in this swirling dilemma of negotiating worlds.
by Tom McKenna, CM | Nov 17, 2021 | Formation, Reflections
When you hear that someone is “acting out” it usually isn’t heard as a compliment.
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jan 18, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
A scene setter. You’re out in the cold night fields, keeping close watch over your flock. And suddenly this light is shining at you and all around you. From out of this radiance a voice of an angel sings out news about the infant in swaddling clothes lying in a...
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jan 4, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
Sensing Grace (Lk: 1:26-38) The angel Gabriel reveals to Mary that she’s “full of grace.” And so the question, what is this “grace” that Mary is filled with? There are few better answers to be had than the one in the five words that follow. “The Lord is with you!”...
by John P. Prager, C.M. | Dec 22, 2016 | Formation, Social, Spirituality and Spiritual Practice
We hope you enjoyed Part One earlier today. Continue to listen and learn about our Our Way of Life, and about five characteristics of Vincentian spirituality that everyone who wants to say #IamVincent needs to practice. This presentation was given during the Latin...
by John P. Prager, C.M. | Dec 22, 2016 | Formation, Social, Spirituality and Spiritual Practice
Listen and learn about our Our Way of Life, and about five characteristics of Vincentian spirituality that everyone who wants to say #IamVincent needs to practice. This presentation was given during the Latin American Encounter of the Vincentian Family, Guatemala –...
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...