Mary’s act of humility and boldness serves a model for us. Mary is neither passive nor prideful. Filled with God’s grace, Mary allows herself to be led by the Spirit to undertake bold actions as a parent, prophet, and follower of Christ.
On February 11, 1858, in the small town of Lourdes in southern France, a sickly and impoverished fourteen-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous experienced the first of eighteen Marian apparitions at a grotto which would eventually become one of the world’s most popular sites of pilgrimage—particularly for those seeking […]
It is that time of the year again when one of the most visible signs of the faith of Mexicans, Latin Americans, and U.S.-Latinx communities becomes visible through the wondrous excess of roses, dance, songs, and piercing prayers. It is a time when hearts are poured out in […]
Advent aims to unsettle us, to make us wait at a particularly uncomfortable crossroads. Our readings, songs, and liturgies take us from our comfortable lives and situate us again where we actually are: in the the world’s and our own brokenness. Advent involves experiencing our own and others’ deep […]
When Pope Francis called for this extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in April, he announced that it would begin today, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, for two reasons. One is that it is the fiftieth anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council and my […]
Growing up in a parish dedicated to St. Mary of the Assumption, with so many stained glass windows, statues, songs and prayers dedicated to events in the life of the mother of Jesus, I think I suffered from “hypermarianosis” (an undocumented, but sincerely felt, overdose of Marian iconography […]
The year I started kindergarten, my parish school began to undertake the installation of a statue of Mary outside our classroom. Much of that first year of school, my tiny classmates and I were instructed to stay away from what they called “Mary’s area” because the workers were […]
If you were to stop your average Roman Catholic on the street today and ask them to explain the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary today, chances are that you’d get an explanation of the virginal conception of Jesus by Mary and the Holy […]
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation. In the story of the Visitation, we encounter Mary and Elizabeth providing bodily hospitality to their sons, extending loving hospitality to one another, and being held in the all-encompassing hospitality of God. And their witness invites us to consider how […]
There’s this: Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to […]
