Sister Joan Monica Bolte, CSJ died on September 15, 2021 in the 80th year of her religious life.
Reflection We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-Corona existence was not normal, other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction…We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch together a new garment, one that fits all humanity and nature. Sonya Renee Taylor Prayer May I seize the…
Yom Kippur Reflection This evening begins Yom Kippur, the most solemn of the Jewish holidays. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. It is a day set aside to “afflict the soul,” to atone for the sins of the past year, a day for amendment of behavior and seeking of forgiveness for wrongs done against God and against other human…
Eighty-five years ago on September 14 , 1936, 15 young women gathered with 8 Sisters of St. Joseph in the parlor of the Rose Crest Mansion in Jamaica Estates and breathed life into a place we all know and love, The Mary Louis Academy. Over the past 85 years the graduates of TMLA have impacted our world in every way…
Reflection It is time to walk a different path. This path is not about accumulating stuff. It’s not about money and power. It’s not about dominating other living beings. No, walking this path is simply about living, experiencing, and caring about this precious life and this abundant world. It is a holistic experience for the body, mind and spirit. It…
Reflection If the universe is indeed a love story, then we can no longer tell this story as if divinity and humanity are opposed to each other. God belongs fundamentally to the universe, not to the human person alone. The very existence of the universe points to God. Creation exists because God exists. God is uncreated but co-inheres in created…
Reflection Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Mark 8: 34-35 Taking up the cross daily is a metaphor for the internal spiritual process. The path of death involves the death of the heart centered in the finite and the birth of a heart centered on the ways of God. It…
Reflection On this anniversary of that tragic day, we remember how we were united in shock and pain. There were no divisions then. We did not ask what race, what religion, what political party, or what country of origin were the dead. We did not withhold our compassion for their husbands, wives, partners or children. Americans had been attacked; Americans…
Reflection Connection with nature lies deep within us. Instinctively we feel our union with all that is. The recognition of the sacred in all creation fills us with peace. We understand that all originates in the same source and that all is connected. Whether or not we are members of a particular religious tradition we all find spiritual nourishment in…
Reflection The crossroads have split between our relatively short-lived modern consumer-based society and the planet that birthed our species and sustains every aspect of our existence. The choice is non-negotiable. We can die or we can change our ways. We must seek new meaning and purpose in living in balance with the Earth. It is a choice between the greed-based…