Making Room for Newness

Dear Friends, 

Springtime continues in our part of our world. Newness. Since April, the fields are strewn with new lambs and calves, baby goats, and chicks. Perennials are blossoming. Trees are visions of beauty in their new green. 

It’s still Eastertime. The season liturgically goes on for 50 days. To help us realize how much more important the Easter season is, the Church maps out more celebrations of Easter than observances of the 40 days of Lent. 

Newness is a pervasive theme of Scripture. At the end of the bible – the last chapter of the Book of Revelation – Jesus says; “Behold I make all things new!” (Rev. 21.5) If, indeed, we are in Christ, which I believe we are, then we are a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. (2Cor.5.17) May we relish the newness of this time. 

In the last year, what has been new for you? New ideas, new friends, new convictions, new places to visit, new kids or grandkids? Surely there have been new losses or new illnesses as well. Sometimes we become so overwhelmed by the new losses that we forget, ignore or just miss the beautiful new realities that have come to enrich our lives.

In our minds, hearts and thoughts, where do we put the newness of the last year? Jesus in Mark 2.22 tells us not to put new wine into old wineskins, lest the old wineskins burst. Wineskins become stiff over time – having no yield. They get tired from the work of bearing wine for a long time. Jesus says, put new wine, which is still fermenting, into new wineskins where continued fermenting can take place without danger of breakage or spillage.

Someplace, deep inside us there is a place to carry new wine/newness safely and tenderly – a place where it can be nurtured into the future. Some of the newness we put into this new wineskin will stay with us forever. Some will leave only to come back in some unexpected moment in the future. And there is some fleeting. Taste it while you can. 

You know that commercial that says "What’s in your wallet?” Each of us can also ask “What’s in your wineskin?”

In this very springtime, with its burst of color, its ordinariness, in its dailyness, may we be open to You, Loving God, and the newness You offer. May we treasure its value and value its place in our lives. Amen! Alleluia! Amen!

~ Sister Joan Sobala

A Reason for Your Hope

Dear Friends,

This Sunday many Christians will hear a portion of the first letter of Peter. This text urges early Christians (and us) to

                Always be ready to give an explanation
                to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,
                but do it with gentleness and reverence.
                1 Peter 3:15-18

The photo above helps me reflect on my own hope. On a May day five years ago, I photographed this snow challenged plant. I could see both lingering winter cold and bright green promise. I smiled as I recognized the familiar collision of decaying leaves and new growth. I felt myself rooted in creation’s cycle of death and rebirth. On that spring day, I was challenged to hope.

Five years later, I recognize the same juxtaposition of death and life. I carry many concerns and worries into my appreciation of this garden photo. I also carry hope, weather-beaten though it may be. That hope comes from stories and prayer shared with others who know the contradictions, but choose the new life Jesus promises. Peter would approve of the way we share reverently, respecting the pain and joy each brings to the table. Around that altar table we are creating another spring picture, created by Jesus who lived and died and rose. 

~ Susan Schantz, SSJ

Mary, Mother of the Heart

Dear Friends,

May and October are months when Catholics especially honor Mary, Mother of God. She is, for us, mother, sister, comforter, advocate and friend. Believers in Jesus love Mary in a hundred thousand ways!

Countries on every continent have shrines to Mary – at last count, some 350 of them. A Marian shrine is a place of apparition, or a place where a miracle ascribed to Mary happened, or a site of a historically strong Marian devotion.

Just last month, Pope Leo XIV visited the sanctuary of Mama Muxima in northern Angola. Muxima means “of the heart,” and so this is the place of Mary, Mother of the Heart. How this ever became a holy place is a matter of awe.

Built by the colonizing Portuguese in the 16^th century, this fortress became the hub of the slave trade and was subject to a complex history. This is where priests baptized the slaves and then the slaves were required to walk to the port of Luanda, 70 miles to the north. Finally, they were put on ships bound for the Americas, where their lives as slaves became real in horrific ways. It is amazing that this place of suffering has become a destination for pilgrims from across Angola. Simply put, the history and character of this shrine is remarkable.

The Angolans came to believe that Mary, confidant, advocate, mother and comforter, held her children close in their suffering. Before they even knew it was she, she held them close.

Generations after generations of Angolans to this very day have honored Mama Muxima for all she has been to their people. They have intuited her presence to them. They came to treasure what they know. Mary has seen them through as a people.

Pope Leo went to this out of the way area because the reality of slavery is woven into his being. Slaves and slaveholders were part of his ancestry. Deep down, this particular shrine in Angola must have already been special to him.

The shrine of Mama Muxima emerged as a place of pilgrimage more clearly in the early 19^th century. It stands with Guadeloupe, Mexico (1531), Aparecida, Brazil (1717), and Kibeho, Rwanda (1980) to mention a few lesser-known shrines of Mary.

Mary, mother, midwife, intercessor, is always new to us because we are always hearing in new ways how she enfolds the children who are disciples of her Son.

It is cause for us to be glad this month of May to have her as our own mother, midwife, intercessor, comforter, and guide.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Finding the Right Words

Dear Friends, 

I saw a cartoon a few weeks ago. A woman opens her front door and finds a box on the step. She is delighted. “Ah! Here’s a new supply of words to describe the current situation!”  

I write every day and often spend time searching for just the right word. When I first saw this cartoon, I imagined a box at my own doorstep. In it, I would find words to describe injustice, violence, war, famine, and drought. What impact these words could have on my congressional representative, the leaders and believers of my church, my friends, my readers. 

I need a second box delivered. I need words to describe the good and the beautiful. I need an ongoing supply of healing words, words that encourage. I need words to tell stories of resilience. I need words to describe prophetic preaching, gardens in April and the crescent moon. 

Reflection on my writing leads me to reflection on my speaking. In violent times like ours, my words lean toward the negative. I often join a chorus of critics. Words of frustration and anger come easily. If you recognize that tendency in your own language, join me in opening the second box of words that evoke hope. Together we will find the right words.

~ Susan Schantz SSJ

Rediscovering Christ on the Road to Emmaus

Dear Friends,  

The encounter of Jesus with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is a great favorite of believers. We are at home in the story. 

Later that night, Jesus would meet the Eleven in the Upper Room. But earlier, he found Cleophas and his companion on the road west out of Jerusalem toward Emmaus. There is every reason to think that Cleophas’ companion was Mary, his wife. She was, after all, one of the women cited as being at the cross of Jesus. (John 19.27) The Gospel writer, John, tells us that Jesus began walking alongside them, but “their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.” (Luke 24.16) Pain and loss have a way of doing that – preventing us from seeing that Jesus walks with us. 

In our day, all of the elements of the Emmaus encounter are what we experience with the Risen Jesus. He walks with us, listens to our laments, calls us to listen with renewed attention all that the Scriptures tell us.  

He will not intrude on our homecoming. The Risen Lord will stay with us only if we ask. Moreover, we are the ones who have to prepare the table. When we break bread with the Risen Lord, we are called to recognize him in that act and to recall feeling our hearts burning within us as we remember how He walked with us on the road. The image at the head of this blog is a painting by Dick Kane that hangs as part of a resurrection triptych in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Brighton, NY. Stop by sometime and just sit quietly with it. 

The distilled truth, beauty and the presence of the Holy One is given to us – God comes to stay with us – if we wish. Only if we wish. 

Only if we want it. Only if we welcome the Risen Lord and are willing to run back to Jerusalem to tell the others. Are we? 

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Signs and Wonders

Dear Friends,

We celebrate Easter 2026 in a world on fire with conflict, rivalry, and a good deal of madness. World community members and leaders struggle to make sense and do good. Reading John 20:19-31, we hear of resurrection, but also cry with Thomas, "Help our unbelief!"

On the Sunday after Easter, Christians also read Acts 2:42-47. This passage describes the believing community and the wonders and signs done in and through them. Some members, like Thomas the apostle, struggled to accept the resurrected Jesus. The community did not abandon them. Blessed by the shared stories, meals, and prayer, Thomas and others could share their doubts and gradually experience the presence of Jesus. 

For me, the shared experience of the Artemis II space mission offers an additional way to believe in the creative presence of God. Gazing on the earth and moon, we know the loving kindness with which God views creation. God, whose hands cradle creation, feels near enough to touch! The joy and awe of the space travelers are infectious. Even the doubters among us are drawn to rejoice in the work of divine and human hands.

Can we make our way through the current time of world crisis? Can we follow Thomas’s example? Like Thomas, we are capable of doubt and belief, wounds and resurrection, signs and wonders. Like Thomas, we will only find our way in beloved community. 

~ Susan Schantz, SSJ

Easter and the Surprise of Hope

Happy Easter, Dear Friends,

Even though it has been a long hard winter and a crucifying Lent for immigrants worldwide and others drawn into a world of war and denial of life, hope stirs in us that the promises of God have truly been kept in the risen Christ. 

Thinking about the early morning events of that First Day of the Week, we probably wouldn’t have done it that way.

It was all too silent, too quick, too unlike the Jesus whom these faithful women had known and loved. Their Jesus would have welcomed them, up, as they were long before dawn, hurrying to the tomb to be there at first light to perform the burial rites for Jesus. That’s what women of Jesus’ time did.

The cave where Jesus lay behind the stone
seemed to be an insurmountable block to their mission.

No worry. The stone had already been rolled away.
Jesus was not there.

A confusing start to the resurrection.
We probably wouldn’t have done it that way.

God had shattered the human expectation of death. 

Through his love for them during their years together, and in choosing them to be at the tomb that remarkable moment, Jesus gave them hope – 
and words – true, real and succinct –
to bear to his brothers that
violence against him during his passion
did not quench life.            

Jesus was Alive!

Amazingly and undeniably,
Jesus had linked his own resurrection
to the witness of women.

You tell the brothers I am alive.

We probably wouldn’t have done it that way.
We would have thought that the men would have heard the message first. 

But women are midwives of life. Why wouldn’t Jesus choose them?

Christ’s resurrection shattered the impossible. He was alive. 
No more bondage to the way things were.  

Easter does not disappoint.
Rather, it gives courage to all who seek to embody in their own lives all that the Risen Jesus is and stands for.

Easter is not naïve. 
Only the imagination of God 
can make the unthinkable happen.

~ Sister Joan Sobala