A Heart Full of Names

Dear Friends,

This September, print, broadcast and social media have featured stories about September 11 attacks. Twenty-five years later, we still share the names and stories of the lost. We hear the words of the bereaved and accompany them in this anniversary commemoration. Names of the dead are engraved in memorials, hearts, memory, and United States history.

A Brazilian bishop, Dom Pedro Casaldáliga, spoke powerfully about this obligation to hold dear the names and stories of others. Before his death in 2020, he wrote a poem that includes these lines:

        At the end of the road
        They will ask me
        Have you lived?
        Have you loved?
        And I, without saying anything,
        Will open my heart full of names.

Reflecting on those lines, I imagine the names of those who died on September 11. And as I pray, I realize my heart must welcome the names of all who are dying in military conflict. International disputes and violent actions offer to our attention names from battles in Ukraine and Russia, Gaza and Israel, Iran and Sudan. The dead are civilians, journalists, soldiers, travelers, relief workers, and children. Here are just a few of the first names published since 2021.

Swarna
Kevin Patrick
Vladimir
Joshua Ruben
Sadie
Cortez
Shoshana
Yugi
Jimmie
Melanie Lamar
Ghaidaa
Siraj
Cory
Suhelah
Kateryna
Eliyahu
Shiri
Carmel
Sonthaya
Tyler
Ashley
Ali
Lyuba
Aziz
Natasha
Oleg
Miriam
Leonid
Mykola
Amal
Fatima
Ivan
Roxana

Remembering these and all the war dead,

Susan Schantz SSJ

Remembering 9/11, Twenty-Five Years Later

Dear Friends,

Friday will be the 25th anniversary of the infamous 9/11. Every year since then, this horrific event is commemorated. Twenty-five years of the bells ringing at the memorial sites in New York, Shanksville, PA and at the Pentagon. Stories of heroism and loss are intertwined in the telling of the events of that day. Children of the fallen have grown up, experienced positive peak moments in their lives, but without that special someone by their side. Churches were full immediately after 9/11, at least for a while.

The media will be full of memories and reflections as we approach the 25th.

Americans are very different today than we were in 2001. Cell phones are our constant companions. AI sneaks in to shape our thinking. We have moved on.

Today I turn to silence and the poetry of David Whyte to give us space to encounter the depth of what happened on September 11, 2001:

LOAVES AND FISHES

This is not
the age of information.

This is not
the age of information.

Forget the news,
and the radio,
and the blurred screen.

This is the time
of loaves
and fishes.

People are hungry,
and one good word is bread
for a thousand.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Words About Work

Dear Friends,

What work did you do? A new neighbor asked me this question some weeks ago. Like any octogenarian Catholic Sister, I drew my response from quite a long list.

Since that conversation, I have been continuing to reflect on work and what it all means. I still work every day. For any person of any age, each day is a workday since we are made in the image of a creator God. As Labor Day 2026 approaches, I offer these random insights gleaned in the past weeks.

Work connects us with each other. Consider the work of a grocery cashier or a farmer, a maintenance tech or a teacher, a fast-food worker or bus driver.

When we work, we are part of imperfect systems, and we experience personal and societal struggle. Consider the work of a police officer or a social worker, a pastor or a union organizer, a nursing assistant or a stockbroker. 

Work is our response to the dear neighbor. Consider the work of parents and Little League coaches, hospital volunteers and bake sale donors, ambulance volunteers and grandparents who care for their children’s children.

Creative work is restorative and healing. Consider the work of the home cook who brings color and flavor to the table, the songwriter who gives words to joy and pain, the muralist who transforms a building’s gray wall. 

On September 6, the United States celebration of Labor Day will call us to reflect on human labor and the rights and responsibilities of workers. During these days leading up to the holiday, join me in reflecting on our lives’ ongoing and meaningful work. 

~ Susan Schantz SSJ

Who Do You Say I Am?

Dear Friends, 

In Psalm 62, the Israelites sing to God as their rock, their salvation, their fortress and their refuge. Even in the worst of their times, the Israelites were confident that God was all these things for them. 

Centuries later, Jesus appeared among the Israelites, humbly born, obscure for so many years of his life. Did Jesus really know what people thought of him? Was he their fortress, their rock, their salvation and their deliverer? Did he want them to see and name the depth in him? Did he want to know if they found him loveable and loving? Did they know how far he was willing to go to save them from eternal death? “Who do you say I am?” Jesus asked Peter. 

We seldom, if ever, ask people that question about ourselves: “Who do you say I am?” 

For one thing, we don’t want to give people the power of characterizing us.  

But if we are honest, we really do want to know what people think about us. 

Am I among those who tenderize life? 

Do I stand ready to turn the world upside down with a smile, a pause that refreshes? 

Do I welcome budding life and never crush the smoldering wick? 

Do I have confidence that the Father will use me to help others through to life everlasting, and am I willing? 

Jesus is ours for the asking, ours to recognize for who he is. Jesus is an endless loaf of bread and a cup brimming over with delicious wine that hints of honey and the promise of sweetness to come. 

Who do we say Jesus is? Will we learn from him? 

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Summer Stories

Dear Friends,

Today’s blog post is a look back to a letter from the late Pope Francis about enriching reading. Summer reading lists are not just for students! In mid-August many of us enjoy some leisure reading. We rely on friends’ recommendations or choose a book reviewed by Instagram or tv hosts. We select a cozy mystery or a thriller or a controversial dystopian novel. 

In July 2024, the Vatican published a papal letter about reading as part of seminarians’ formation for ministry. In his opening paragraph, Pope Francis writes that his reading recommendation is really for all believers. All the baptized are in formation as disciples called to mission.

What does the Pope ask us to read? The Catholic Catechism? A Synod document? One of the four gospels? No. The Pope wants us to read novels, short stories, and poems. Why? Francis explains why in his letter. Here are some quotations from Francis, the book loving shepherd.

This is a definition of literature that I like very much: listening to another person’s voice.

… in moments of weariness, anger, disappointment or failure, when prayer itself does not help us find inner serenity, a good book can help us weather the storm until we find peace of mind.

… we should select our reading with an open mind, a willingness to be surprised, a certain flexibility and readiness to learn, trying to discover what we need at every point of our lives.

… Each new work we read will renew and expand our worldview.

… access which literature grants to the very heart of human culture and, more specifically, to the heart of every individual.

By opening up to the reader a broader view of the grandeur and misery of human experience, literature teaches us patience in trying to understand others, humility in approaching complex situations, meekness in our judgement of individuals and sensitivity to our human condition.

We develop an imaginative empathy that enables us to identify with how others see, experience, and respond to reality. Without such empathy, there can be no solidarity, sharing, compassion, mercy. In reading we discover that our feelings are not simply our own, they are universal, and so even the most destitute person does not feel alone.

And so, dear friends, whatever your current read, dive back in. Pick up a novel. Enjoy some poetry. Grab a half hour for that short story. Know that any reading touches the spirit, and that fiction has a special way of opening our hearts and minds to God and God’s creation.

~ Susan Schantz, SSJ

PS: If you feel attracted to reading the Pope’s whole letter, you can find it on the Vatican website.

Growth in Faith and the Challenge of AI

Dear Friends,  

What, if anything, do these words mean to you? 

                        Form         Deform         Reform         Transform 

Give up? They are stages/periods/phases each of us goes through over our lifetime. 

"From my mother’s womb you knit me together." (Psalm 139.13) My parents, too, formed me, as did my siblings, my neighborhood, my church. I became someone. But along the way, I encountered deforming moments – people who violated me in some way, situations that stole my dignity, my sense of wellbeing. But then, inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit, I became re-formed. Maybe closer to my original pattern, maybe quite different. But I came to recognize myself again. The deformations faded into perspective, and I valued who I am and who I was becoming. Along the way, I became conscious of something at work in me that was beyond me, what the spiritual writer Jan Richardson calls “unaccountable grace that enter in unseen …” Divine grace transforms us into the likeness of God in ways beyond what we could imagine.  

There it is. The work of a lifetime. Welcoming formation, guarding against deformation, honoring re-formation and allowing ourselves to become transformed. 

Not once and for all, but over and over again. 

If that were all we had to deal with, it would be more than enough. But in every age and every time, including ours, unexpected challenges arise. Challenges which are initially seen as benign. In our time and in our world, a clear challenge is Artificial Intelligence. Yes. AI. Certainly a tool for enhancing life but a dangerous one.  

AI lives in our smart phones. It offers us immense control over how we spend our time. With the single-minded control it offers, the theologian Ilia Delio reminds us that AI weans out of us generous thoughts of others, and compassion for them. As AI encroaches on our lives, Ilia Delio says we have no room for the grace of conversion, no room for the many transformations in God that lead us to a deeper humanity. Religion may make us promises of eternal life, but technology claims to fulfill that promise. The love of another is endangered. 

Isn’t this overreaction? Joan, aren’t you anti-progress? No and no. One day, in the not too-distant future, AI will not need humans to advance its course. It will do it itself. Humans will be left behind. Instinctively, we don’t want that, but we have work to do to guard the human heart and spirit to continue being engaged in divine transformation. 

As we live and grow, we are called to put technology into perspective and to continue to hold God consciously close, our first love.

“Who are you God and who am I?” St Francis cried out over and over again. Words worth imprinting on our hearts and repeating over and over again.  

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Miracle of the Bread

Dear Friends, 

When we read the four Gospels’ stories about Jesus feeding the crowd, we usually focus on the numbers. Such a large crowd! How much bread would that be? And there were leftovers! Artists picture overflowing baskets of bread and hillsides crowded with people. 

Sunday’s reading from Matthew 14 has more than numbers to share. Matthew tells us that Jesus has just heard about the execution of his cousin John the Baptist. Imagine the effect this has on Jesus. Elizabeth and Zachary’s son grew up with Jesus. John was a preacher before Jesus, announcing God’s plan for Israel and dramatically pointing to the coming of the Messiah. Herod’s execution of John serves as a harsh reminder of the violent resistance Jesus can expect. So, Jesus withdraws to a quiet place, separating himself even from the disciples. He makes space for grief and fear and prayer. 

The disciples interrupt this solitude. Crowds have followed the preacher and his companions. They beg for healing for their sick. The grieving, brokenhearted Jesus responds. Hours pass. The crowds are hungry. And Jesus forcefully reminds his disciples that they, too, must lovingly serve the crowd. Jesus is the preacher of God’s great love. His followers are called to embody that overflowing compassion.

We, too, gaze on crowds in need. We see them in Congo and Chicago, Iran and Ukraine, Gaza and Texas. Our anxiety about their needs resembles that of the disciples in Jesus’ story. God, help them, we pray! The miracle we need is in human hands. May we, supporting each other, take even one step into the crowd. 

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Here is one way to help:

World Central Kitchen
Donor Services Team
PO Box 96538
Washington, DC, 20090-6538

Our Love-Name for God

Dear Friends, 

“What’s in a name?” Juliet wondered in Shakespeare’s play.

But in life, we know that names are important. They signify belonging, dignity, greatness, love and devotion. Names are most often given by someone else, although sometimes we name ourselves or change our name. Talking with a man whose baby was about to be born, I asked if a name had been chosen. “We have several,” the man said, “but we have to see her first." Almost instinctively, we name people for what we recognize as true about them  – who they are or will be for us. 

We sometimes call some people by love-names, names which resonate between us and have nothing to do with people’s formal, official names. 

When we pray as we do in Psalm 88, “I will praise your name, bless your name forever,” what is the name of God that comes to our lips?

In all of our Christian rituals and prayers, we name God "Father,” because that is what Scripture says Jesus wants us to do: “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11.27)

But Jesus never liked to be pinned down. Certainly, Jesus gave his disciples his own name for God: “Abba. Daddy.” But throughout his public life, Jesus showed them how he came to that name, which expressed his relationship with God.

We can certainly call God Father. We do.

But we can also imitate the process Jesus followed and probe our own relationship with God to arrive at our own love-name for God – a name to call God when we are talking with God in our most intimate and profound moments.

One woman wondered at this suggestion of finding our own love-name for God. Didn’t our theology require that we only call God Father, as Jesus did?

It’s not really an either-or, but rather a both-and. There are many appropriate responses to God’s astonishing presence in our life and world. We have only to trust the spontaneous praise that rises to our lips. God is the companion of our delight, our anger and frustration. God is the wind in our sails, our dream, our home. Let there be fresh confidence in the way we recognize God that arises in us. And as often as we can, let us dare to call God by His own Love-Name we carry in our heart.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Looking for Words

Dear Friends,

The second lectionary reading for this Sunday drew me to reflection, especially on these words from Paul:

The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit … intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

Romans 8:26

There is a time in my daily prayer circle when the day’s leader invites us to share intercessions for prayer. Some days I am ready with the name of a sick friend or a job seeking relative. Many days, though, I can’t immediately put into words what personal, Church, or world concerns I am carrying.  

This experience reminds me of my days teaching religion to middle schoolers. Each forty-five-minute class included time to pray. We teachers coached the students to state their concerns and worries at prayer. We challenged them to hear and respect others’ spoken prayer. We taught them the discipline of reaching outside the classroom to pray for our families, the school community, our neighborhoods, and wider church and civic community. We prayed for pets and sports teams. We named areas of war or famine. We reminded them that God was present, all days and all ways.

I need to do some self-coaching in intercessory prayer. Instead of searching for my own words, I can listen to my friends’ intercessions at daily prayer. When I pray alone, I can simply speak aloud the names of family members and dear friends. When I read world and local news, I can offer my attention as a prayer for peace and healing. When I feel pain, I can pray for those who share that experience.

Paul speaks of our not knowing how to pray and urges us to join the Spirit’s inexpressible groanings. I imagine Jesus praying in the desert or Gethsemane. I see Kiev soldiers searching for bodies. I watch mourners at a Congolese funeral. I see an online friend ring the bell after completing cancer treatment. Our prayer circles do not always have the words. Some days, with the spirit, we intercede with inexpressible groanings. 

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

The Gift of Childlike Wonder

Dear Friends,

Children across the USA are well into their two-month summer vacation. Some are enrolled in camps of all kinds; others will be in sports programs. Still, others will spend time on neighborhood playgrounds or play in the streets. There will be some who have no one with whom to play.

This summer, befriend a child or group of children. Talk with them – or better still listen to their views about life and their questions. Get down on the grass with them (if you can) and peer into the eyes of a ladybug. You’ll never experience a ladybug again in such an intimate way.

Too often, we organize children’s lives to an adult degree: sports uniforms, rules of play, and a dressing down when a child has let down a success-driven parent. Too much too soon.

Instead, play with children.

Sing with them.

Be silly together.

Learn to be a child all over again. Don’t forget how much Jesus loved children who were the disregarded, the throwaways in the society of Jesus’ time. Don’t keep them away, Jesus cautioned his disciples, for too such as these belongs the kingdom of God.

Maybe if we recaptured our child-like qualities we might find God and life so much more appealing.

In fact, we are encouraged by the world around us to subdue or abdicate our childlike qualities in favor of adult characteristics. Adult characteristics are not bad, but when mixed with child-like qualities, we enlarge the scope and delight of our lives. Like what?

Among these child-like characteristics are wonder, awe, fantasy, secret places and secret friends, curiosity, candor, silliness, mischief, being impulsive, risk-taking and playfulness. These are only some of a sparkling array of children’s ways of approaching life.

I remember visiting a kibbutz in the occupied West Bank many years ago. Among the families who lived there were Ethiopian Jews. They were Black and experienced racial discrimination. A couple of the Ethiopian children stood quietly looking at us. Would we ignore them too? Without thinking, I stepped forward, extended my hands to them, motioning them to come and dance with me. They did and others joined them. For a few moments, we were like Lady Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs 8.27-31.

Playing on the surface of the earth.
Playing before the Creator,
all the while finding delight in the children of earth.

We won’t start engaging children any younger. So, this summer, let’s go for it.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Citizenship

Dear Friends, 

As Americans celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, I have been reflecting on the ways my understanding of citizenship has deepened in the past year. Local, national, and international events call for US citizens to consider what it means to be a United States citizen. Here are some questions for reflection during this anniversary season:

• In what ways do I act with respect for the liberty of others?
• How do I exercise freedom of speech? What are the ways I support others’ freedom of speech? 
• How do I work with other citizens to demonstrate respect for the lives of others? 
• Do I prepare carefully for voting in both local and national elections?
• What people, groups, or activities nourish my energy to work for justice?

I have rights and responsibilities as a citizen of a nation, a citizen of the world community, and a member of a worldwide faith community. Do these rights and responsibilities influence each other? Do conflicts arise? 

In hope for our world and nation,
Susan Schantz SSJ

From America's Founding to Our Shared Future

Dear Friends, 

At the end of the week, our nation celebrates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. Two-hundred-and-fifty years of striving, growing, taking chances, making mistakes, being heroic, believing in God’s guiding Presence, questioning faith:  

America! America! 
God mend thine every flaw…
May God thy gold refine 
Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine. 

Not all of us have worked to gain freedom for everyone or welcome for all who came to settle in our land. The mean-spirited among us ripped security and hope from Native Americans, immigrants and former slaves. But the mean-spirited did not gain the day or the future. Among us have been and are the clear-headed and the warm-hearted, the compassionate and those who share the bounty of life – these are Americans  

who more than self their country loved
and mercy more than life. 

Take time this week, and even next weekend, to pray for our homeland, that we honor and use for good the talents, dreams and aspirations of all Americans. Talk with others about the nobleness of this venture. 

From the inspired words of Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote “America the Beautiful" in 1895, to Amanda Gorman, who read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, Americans have been inspired to become the best we can be. “Our nation isn’t broken,” Amanda Gorman tells us. “It is only unfinished.” 

Let’s continue the work of finishing it together. Happy 250th 4th.  

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Read: Katherine Lee Bates' lyrics and original poem of "America the Beautiful"

Watch: Amanda Gorman reads inauguration poem "The Hill We Climb" on January 20, 2021

Cardinal John Fisher: Patron Saint for Church of Rochester

sketch by Hans Holbein, c. 1532-34 

Dear Friends, 

In 1935, a young Salt Lake City bishop, James E. Kearney, attended the canonization of Cardinal John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, England. Two years later Kearney was appointed Bishop of Rochester, New York. Soon after his arrival he named Fisher the diocesan patron saint. Kearney then recruited the Basilian Fathers to lead a diocesan men’s college, now known as St. John Fisher University.

Beyond these Rochester connections, some facets of Fisher’s life and ministry speak to me as we celebrate his June 22 feast day. Fisher was an extraordinary leader in the English Reformation period.  He had a lifelong affiliation with Cambridge University, as student, lecturer, and chancellor. He wrote and published responses to European theologians of the Protestant Reformation. He publicly engaged with contemporary writers and political leaders. Theologians and bishops who write and speak on today’s issues can look to him as a role model of respectful and rigorous conversation.

Fisher was a brilliant attorney and theologian and was not afraid to respond to royal requests for approval. Henry VIII announced his intended divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Citing law and theology, Fisher argued for the validity of their marriage. When Henry later declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, Fisher disapproved. Fisher was executed for his criticism of the king. 

What impresses me is Fisher’s understanding of a bishop’s responsibility to engage with contemporary issues, leading believers in discerning just action. Today questions are raised about religious believers’ and leaders’ engagement in dialogue on social issues. Pope Leo XIV spoke on the Church’s mission during a recent trip to Spain (posted below). I believe he and John Fisher would agree.

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Pope Leo XIV's address to members of Spanish Parliament June 8, 2026:
…when the Church addresses anything concerning public life, she does so while respecting the proper mission of institutions and the legitimate responsibility of those who have received the mandate to legislate. She recognizes “the autonomy of earthly realities” and “the distinction between the ecclesial community and the political community”; and, precisely from this awareness, the Church offers a reflection born of the desire to serve the common good and to recall what makes human coexistence truly human (cf. Magnifica Humanitas, 18, 19, 22).

Meeting God in the Ordinary: An Examen for Daily Life

Dear Friends, 

Growing up, many of us who are Christian were taught to pray every morning and night, beginning and ending each day close to God. 

Depending on what kind of faith formation we had, we might have been given an examination of conscience to use, as we prayed at night and thought back on our day. Often, these examens were focused on calling to mind our sins and the examen topics may have left us cold. Sometimes, they simply did not apply to our lives, or if they did, the topics were bland or made us squirm without containing any valuable thoughts to build on the next day. We may have given up the examen, or if we continued to practice it, we developed our own way of assessing our days as faithful to God or not. 

What follows here is an examen designed by Sister Joan Roccasalvo of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Brentwood, NY, and is circulating nationally. It’s a spiritual practice that asks where and how did we meet and recognize God throughout the day. This practice reaches into the core belief of our congregation that we are called to love and serve the dear neighbor without distinction. If you find it potentially enlarging for you, please use it to pray yourself into a future full of grace. 

Neighbor 
Whom did I meet throughout the day? Who met me? Was there relationship, service, good and love in the meeting? 

Love 
How did love come to me today -- or the opposite? How did I love? What moved my heart? The heart of another? 

God 
What will/does/did God call me to today? What happened between us? With others? 

Summation 
Was there something of this ordinary/extraordinary day that I cherish regret, aim to carry into tomorrow/my future? 

                ***With whom and how can I share the fruits/results of this experience? ***

~ Sister Joan Sobala

A Gift on a Detour

 

Dear Friends,

On the last Saturday of May, I drove to Rochester’s Durand Eastman Park to walk along the lake shore. There’s a wonderful string of beach walkways there. I love this stretch of shore, the breezes, the sound of the water, and the sky and lake views of blue and gray. 

As I drove into the park, I was disappointed to see a large yellow detour sign. Soap Box Derby preparations had closed part of Lakeshore Boulevard. Reluctantly, I followed signs to a twisting park road. Looking for an alternate walking path, I stopped at a small field of gnarly old fruit trees, just past their flowering. I walked around the sunny field, visiting each tree and reading any remaining faded metal tags. 

The sun was quite warm. At the edge of the orchard clearing was an attractive shady glen of tangled trees and bushes. I approached the tree pictured above. Standing in its cool shade, I was inside a world of dappled liquid green. After a while, I resumed my orchard walk, but returned twice to stand in the shade of this glowing green tree. 

The photo lives on my phone screen and I smile each time I see it. I imagine that you, too, have memories of gifts received on a life detour. Join me in praying that we keep recognizing these gifts. Even on a path unchosen or a road that’s painful there are visions that bring refreshment and joy.

In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ

Enfolded in God's Love

Dear Friends, 

The sturdy looking man came out of the examination rooms as I came into the lobby of the medical office. 

“Good morning!” I said, trying to be friendly. “Good session?” 

“Wonderful!” he replied. “At 90, I’m healed of my lingering neuropathy.” 

“Thank God!” I said. 

“There is no God,” he shot back. “There’s nothing out there (pointing skyward). I have a PhD in physics from MIT. Believe me—I know there is no God out there.” 

Then he went on his way. Poor fellow! Is he in for a surprise! 

On this Trinity Sunday, I invite you to affirm with me that there is indeed a God, not just “out there," but a loving God who touches us to our depths, and who invites us into life as God’s adopted children. We belong to God as we belong to a family. 

The concept of the Trinity can test our patience in an age that expects the immediate usefulness and relevance of every idea. But we cannot fully or instantly grasp the meaning of God. 

God cannot be defined by our need. God does not fulfill our personal or political agenda.  

God simply is. God is connected to us, irrefutably and wholeheartedly. 

The boundaries of our language give us no once-and-for-all way of giving clear, unequivocal expression to who God is, but when we switch to the categories of love, ah! That’s different. Think of the people you love and who love you. God’s love is their love exponentially multiplied. We are enfolded in God’s love. 

On this Trinity Sunday, let’s speak love words to God and about God to others.  

Let us thank God for welcoming us into the family of God, for wanting us, and being our inspiration, our hope, our enlivener into eternity 

The late American Benedictine Macrina Wiederkehr prayed to the Trinity this way:
You are extravagant with your love.
You drown me with devotion and understanding.
You leave me breathless, thoughtless….
           When I hold nothing, I hold You.
       When I hold You, I hold everything.              (Seven Sacred Pauses, 2008) 

Holding God, being held by God, we move into an unknown future.

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Pentecost 2026

Dear Friends,

Sunday’s feast is Pentecost, the remembrance of the Spirit’s descent on the disciples. In the Pentecost story, we hear that the disciples can communicate with listeners of many cultures and nations. The milling festival crowds in Jerusalem heard the Jesus story in their own tongues. They were amazed.

Equally amazed are the disciples. These men and women are still reeling from the experience of Jesus’ departure. The Spirit is transforming them from mourners to preachers and pushes them out in mission. When they tell the Jesus story, their listeners hear and many respond. 

Pope Leo interprets this story as a challenge to eliminate boundaries. I share his words from Pentecost 2025 for our reflection. 

Whenever God’s “breath” unites our hearts and makes us view others as our brothers and sisters, differences no longer become an occasion for division and conflict but rather a shared patrimony from which we can all draw, and which sets us all on journey together, in fraternity.

The Spirit breaks down barriers and tears down the walls of indifference and hatred because he “teaches us all things” and “reminds us of Jesus’ words” (cf. Jn 14:26). He teaches us, reminds us, and writes in our hearts before all else the commandment of love that the Lord has made the center and summit of everything. Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for “security” zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms.

You can read the full Pentecost Homily here.

In the Spirit,
Susan Schantz SSJ

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