Reflection Starter from Pope Francis

"If we want the world to change, then our hearts must change first. Let us look to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. God was able to begin a new story of salvation and peace with her. God changed history by knocking at the door of Mary's Heart." - Pope Francis

The New Christy Minstrels: "Michael Row The Boat Ashore"

As this blessed week draws to a close, I offer this version of The New Christy Minstrels presenting "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore":

Padre Pio Lenten Reflection: Third Saturday

"Peace can be a rather elusive state for us. Perhaps it's because it seems too big and overwhelming of a challenge and so we give up the fight. Padre Pio, however, had a remedy for that feeling of discouragement: Always turn to God. Only then will we even have a chance of finding any peace. As he went on to say in the letter to Father Agostino, peace 'is the holy joy of a heart in which God reigns.'"

Franciscan Media is offering a special Lenten series of meditations, "Lent with Padre Pio." The mediation for the Third Saturday is as follows:

Franciscan Media: Lent with Padre Pio: Third Saturday

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of good rules in our lives.

David Mills on the Joy of Catholic Rules

"I arrived just seven minutes late, but the priest was already preaching. My wife wasn't well that morning, but wanted to get to Mass later if she felt better, and that evening I waited until the last moment to leave home. They must have shot through the beginning of the Mass, because from past experience I expected to get there in time for the Gospel, and therefore be able to receive Communion. . . .

"I recently found that Catholic theologians and canon lawyers avoid giving a definite point at which the latecomer should stay in his pew when everyone else goes up to receive Our Lord. But they imply a rule, and, if anything, it's a stricter one. They don't allow you to show up any time and go forward. We need some rule because we must obey another one: We must go to Mass on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, unless we really can't or shouldn't. 

"I really appreciate having a rule, even if it's not closely defined. Many Catholics I know don't. They grew up with too many rules, some of them really bizarre, and have had enough rules for a lifetime, thank you very much - which I understand. It’s hard to escape one's childhood formation. The Church has other gifts for them."

In a recent commentary, David Mills, Senior Editor of The Stream, reflected on how having a rule, even if it's not closely defined, is a great gift, one that makes the Christian life easier.

To access Mr. Mill's complete post, please visit:

National Catholic Register: Blogs: David Mills: A Convert Considers the Joy of Catholic Rules (9 MAR 22)

Reflection Starter from St. Francis de Sales

"God desires from us more fidelity to the little things that he places in our power than ardor for great things that do not depend upon us." - Saint Francis de Sales (in Roses Among Thorns: Simple Advice for Renewing Your Spiritual Journey)

Padre Pio Lenten Reflection: Third Friday

"At one point or another, you have probably taken a hike in the woods and spent the majority of the time looking down so that you didn't trip over a rock or tree root. Now, imagine how much more enjoyable that walk would have been if you had taken in your surroundings, knowing that you would not fall or that, if you stumbled, someone would be there to help you back up."

Franciscan Media is offering a special Lenten series of meditations, "Lent with Padre Pio." The mediation for the Third Friday is as follows:

Franciscan Media: Lent with Padre Pio: Third Friday

Birthday Blessings, Adam!!!

Birthday greetings to son Adam, whose birthday is today!!! May this day, and each day of the upcoming year, be filled with the Lord's choicest blessings!!!

Andrea Bocelli: "Ave Maria"

As we continue our celebration of the Annunciation, I offer this version of Andrea Bocelli presenting Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria":

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. The assigned readings are Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10; Hebrews 10:4-10; and Luke 1:26-38. The Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 40 (Psalm 40:7-11).

For one version of the Responsorial Psalm set to music, please visit:

YouTube: Psalm for the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord

The Gospel reading is as follows:

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."

But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end."

But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"

And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God."

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." 

Then the angel departed from her.

Dr. Edward Sri, provost and professor of theology and Scripture at the Augustine Institute Master's program in Denver, CO, has written an interesting reflection on the life of Mary before the Annunciation. To access this reflection, please visit:

Dr. Edward Sri: Our Lady's Life Before the Annunciation (24 MAR 11)

Additional reflection:

Community in Mission: Mulier Fortis - A Homily for the Feast of the Annunciation (24 MAR 20)

Oblates of St. Francis de Sales: The Annunciation: Obedience as True Freedom

Aleteia: Philip Kosloski: Why Catholics kneel during the Creed on March 25 (25 MAR 22)

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of our humanness.

No Cure for Being Human

On paper, you might expect a conversation with Kate Bowler to be somber. After all, the wife, mother,  and associate professor at Duke Divinity School was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at age 35,  with a prognosis of less than two years to live. Though she has endured tremendous anxiety and  suffering, she also manifests joy, grace, and empathy - and can even laugh at the absurdities of life, such as her recent experience being bitten by a venomous snake. Kate won a Christopher Award a few years ago for her memoir Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved. And she has now written another memoir entitled No Cure for Being Human. We discussed the book on Christopher Closeup.

Kate has always been a person who believed she could "outpace and outwork any problem. Then, when I just kept being leveled by things I couldn't fix . . . I realized I was going to need a different framework for how to move forward. . . . Because I'm a historian of self-help and the idea that you can always fix your life, I started trying to think through it as a Christian and as a historian."

That's what led her to the title of her latest memoir. It's meant to counter "toxic positivity" and other self-help messages, such as "You Can Conquer Everything!" Kate explained, "[This book] is my desperate, loving attempt to get back to something a little gentler and a little truer, which is that we're all a lot more fragile than we expected. We're all in need of each other, community, and love. And that our limitations are, in a way, much more constitutive of who we are than these wonderful fantasies that we can do all things."

In the initial days following her cancer surgery, Kate notes that she felt "God's supernatural love" and "supernaturally bubble-wrapped" in ways she never had before. Then she asked her pastor and theologian friends whether this feeling would go away. They confirmed that it would. And it did, leaving Kate to ask, "How do you experience the life of faith when you don't always get those bursts of joy and love and all the things that make pain less awful?"

Speaking of awful, Kate was recently walking along a narrow path near her home, when an elderly man with a dog approached from the other direction. She stepped out of his way, onto a well-mowed lawn, to let him pass, then continued on her way. Suddenly, she felt an ever-increasing pain in her leg. She took out a mirror and discovered she had two fang marks from being bitten by a venomous copperhead. "It was unbelievably painful," Kate recalled, "but I couldn't stop laughing because it was so ridiculous. Like, how am I the person this stuff keeps happening to?" After 24 hours in the hospital being treated with anti-venom, Kate returned to her regular life of dealing with chronic cancer.

Kate remains alive today, six years after her diagnosis, because the cancer she has responded to a new immunotherapy drug. She will likely never be considered cured, though, so she makes the best of living with the uncertainty of what the future holds. And she hopes that readers find the comfort and guidance they need in reading No Cure for Being Human. Kate concluded, "I hope they feel a little more permission to feel limited. To feel like their lives can still be gorgeous and meaningful, but that they don't have to be superhuman."

This essay is a recent "Light One Candle" column written by Tony Rossi, Director of Communications, The Christophers; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.

Background information:

The Christophers