Sister Denise Wilkinson

Our General Chapter ended just about four weeks ago. The past weeks have given me the opportunity to reflect on the experience and outcomes of our time together and what I’d like to share with all of you, our partners in mission. All of my reflections center on a deep sense of gratitude, i.e., thankfulness…

Working out in my garden yesterday, I inadvertently witnessed/eavesdropped on a lovely father-child series of moments – aka father-love-in-action. A van pulled up at the fountain standing at the end of the Avenue, our “main street” if you will. A family piled out — grandparents, mom and dad — but not the toddler who was…

As we enter the final week of Lent, the deep, deep purple of Lenten liturgical environments gives way first to the blazing red of Passion Sunday and Passion week, then briefly breaks into the startling white of Holy Thursday, then back to the blazing red of Good Friday and, finally, to the gentle pastels and…

Good old Lent! Here you are again — staring me in the face … daring me to find something good about the experience — in spite of my many years of getting to Easter and thinking, “Well, another Lent when I didn’t do what I said I would.” Lent, for me, is the Catholic equivalent…

My cousin’s son and his wife have a son, Jack Alfred. (At family gatherings, use of his middle name is required to distinguish him from his cousin Jack Louis.) In my lamentably too few encounters with Jack Alfred, I find him a wonderful blend of serious and effervescent, inquisitive and definite. What I often observe…

I have a fondness for the word “merry.” For years, my Christmas card complementary closing has been “Be merry!” What am I encouraging with this sign-off? “Merry” is defined as: full of fun and laughter; lively and cheerful; mirthful; conducive to fun and laughter. Remembering the definition caused me to wonder just how many merry…

I find myself very taken with these ideas taken from Judy Cannato’s lovely book Field of Compassion: One way to speak of the Christian story is to say that God is always doing something more. Incomprehensible holy mystery is always giving more, revealing more communicating more. The only limit to that giving has been creation’s…

How many times have we witnessed (or participated in) this scenario? An adult hands something to a small child and a parent says to the little one, “What do you say?” The expected response? Thank you! We all know the drill. In addition to being an expression of politeness, this oft-repeated exchange is also a…

My least favorite explanation for anything is that’s just the way it is. I can instantly feel the resistance rise up inside me. Reflection over the years has brought me to the realization that I resist the statement of fact because I don’t like the fact-in-question itself. Case in point – death. I get it…

It’s a rare thanksgiving season that I don’t hear my grandma’s oft-repeated admonition to us for any breach of good behavior. “Don’t be such an ingrate.” My mother’s corrections were much more behavior specific. “Don’t be fresh.” “Stop bickering.” “Be polite when you ask.” “I told you to stop jumping on the beds.” Not Grandma…