Even today in households where division of labor is not definitively gendered, women do the work of Christmas: To stretch the dollar to make a feast or to fill Santa’s sack, To soothe agitated family relationships or countless other ongoing worries, To accept the duty left to them to carry forward family traditions, To maintain…
“There are no words,” she tells me. As she sits on the couch across from my chair, she nevertheless fishes for the box of tissues to curb the tears and salvage some words from the inner devastation she experiences. As a social worker and psychotherapist, this is familiar territory for me. What makes this time…
On Saturday August 16, 2025, hundreds gathered for Mass outside Alligator Alcatraz in protest of reported harsh conditions for the hundreds of immigrants held at this remote detention center in the Florida Everglades. During his homily, Fr. Frank O’Laughlin advocated for “Liberty to the oppressed,” echoing Jesus’ proclamation at the beginning of his public ministry….
The Mass of the Lord’s Supper tonight marks the beginning of the Paschal Triduum, the Church’s celebration of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. Celebrated on the evening of Holy Thursday, it is my favorite night of the year — a radical feast of love in the darkest of times. We wash one another’s sweaty, aching…
Based on Luke 4 I never have good news for Jesus. I deal in the gloom and doom. But that doesn’t make me any less welcome in his home. I lower my head as I meet his mother at the threshold, then allow myself a half grin as her arms wrap around me. I am…
This is Part II of a two-part story. Click here to see Part I. The night I missed the pilgrims’ departure to honor the Virgen de Urkupiña, I imagined the procession getting further and further away… So I tried to pull the story of her appearance closer to me, but the various accounts I had…
In mid-August 2017 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, I was nearly finished with Spanish language studies and in no hurry to return home. There was so much I loved about this place: the mountains, always in the distance; “Amiga,” rather than “hey you,” as the standard term of address by strangers; the value placed on a meandering…
It is summer in Chicago, and our migrant population is no longer huddled in tents outside police stations. Yet, housing insecurity is still a reality, and many develop their own outdoor circuits to escape overcrowded shelters, to entertain their children, to sell chicle and earn their daily bread. On a recent Saturday afternoon, I saw…
“Did I tell you about the pastor and the rainbows?” my friend asks while on our way to a church event. Apparently, some catechists had taught their young class about Noah, and the flood, and the promise of that great bow in the heavens. A classroom full of mini-replicas now adorned the wall used by…
“As a result of Israel’s siege, Gazans’ access to water from all sources, including desalination and external Israeli sources, quickly dropped by 95 percent after October 9. The United Nations estimates that the average Gazan is living on only 3 liters of water per day for all needs—well below the United Nation’s emergency standard of…
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) These are not the most comforting words of Jesus, yet I have returned to them often over the years and offered them to those confounded by injustice, hate, aggression. Play it…
Whose side are you on, Jesus? I ask, as he sits down across from me. I have been reading the latest news about Israel and Palestine, trying to avoid the pictures. Haven’t you seen any of the interviews I’ve given this week?, he retorts, wincing visibly. I immediately feel bad. Usually Jesus appreciates my sense…
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