This thread of “Stop, Look and Go” winds through the words and actions of this Feast of Epiphany.
vincentian spirituality
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory (1 Cor: 10:31)
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?
In Praise of Complaining! (Job 7:17; Mk 1: 29-31)
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)
The Call: Where and What? (Mk 1:14-20)
by Tom McKenna, CM | January 27, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
God’s Call is a theme that runs all through the Scriptures. Where does God’s call occur and to what does it summon us?
“Reaching Back”(Mark 1:11)
by Tom McKenna, CM | January 13, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
There’s a phrase which often enough appears in stories having to do with someone coming up against his or her limits.
Ready to See (Luke 3:1-6; Phil 1:9-10)
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.
Intertwining Worlds (John 18: 33-37)
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.
Wonderful News. Blessed Are Those…
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...
What do I do, Lord? Gospel/Vincentian Discernment
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...
St. Louise: Moving Toward Love
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...
Mater Misericordiae: Mary, Mother of Mercy
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...
The Saints as Bibliography
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...
Moving Toward “I Believe” John 10:27-30
by Tom McKenna, CM | Apr 27, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
First, some scene-setting. You’re there with these other disciples, and this Jesus person is right in front of you looking you in the eye. He’s in the process of making this claim: “I and God are one. What you hear coming from my mouth is coming from God’s mouth.” And...
The Faces of God
by Tom McKenna, CM | Apr 13, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
The Faces of God John 8:14 I once came across a psychological test aiming to measure a person’s trust in life or fear of it, life understood in its most general sense as existence or reality. It was getting at the question, “Down at your instinctual level, do...
The Vincentian Family and extremes
by John Freund, CM | Apr 2, 2016 | Formation, Spirituality and Spiritual Practice
In a world of extremes, the Vincentian Family embraces a wide spectrum of approaches to addressing spiritual and material poverty. [Click here to view the complete listing of the hundreds of Catholic Religious, Lay Associations, and Non-Catholic groups founded in the...
Soaked Through and Through by Sense of God’s Reality
by Tom McKenna, CM | Mar 16, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
“Soaked Through and Through by Sense of God’s Reality” - Psalm 82 My Father loved and listened to classical music. Looking back on that, it’s a bit surprising because he was from a working class home, never graduated high school, played semi-pro football, and so on....