Reflections
Share in the wisdom of the Providence community. Be inspired, grow in your faith and find practical spiritual guidance in these reflections from Sisters of Providence and Providence Associates.
Hardy harbingers of spring: Spring 2012
Yellow is one of the first colors of spring here at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Bright and bouncy daffodils dot gardens and spring up in the middle of ravines and lawns. Yellow crocus dot tended gardens, small areas in our cemetery and…
Gracious, spacious and precious: Lent 2012
My mom had a devotion to Saint Anthony of Padua that went beyond asking him to find lost things. I have no idea where it came from or why he was special to her; but he was. She named my…
Valentine’s Day 2012
I know my grade school sisters referred to February 14 as Saint Valentine’s Day! Perhaps just to make certain that we knew there was a “holy” reason for the annual party in each classroom of Saint Mary of the Woods…
New Year’s 2012
What’s the New Year’s equivalent of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas? I’d qualify. By way of disclaimer, I do enjoy much of this holiday … a paid holiday for many workers … time with family and friends that’s not as…
Christmas 2011
Believe! How many times have you seen this encouragement during this “holly jolly season?” For me, it usually connotes the magic of Christmas, the fun for many children of knowing that Santa will come. It also evokes a response of…
Advent 2011
Recently, I was visiting my sister who lives on the ground floor of an apartment building. The weather being mild, I had the bedroom window open quite a few inches. Every morning, my wakeup call was the cheerful sound of…
Thanksgiving: Generosity with justice
This thankful and thoughtful blog is being highlighted for Thanksgiving 2019 because it is as appropriate today as it was when it was first written. I just sat down to write this Thanksgiving reflection and every word that immediately popped…
All Souls Day 2011
In thinking about All Souls Day, I came upon this. In 988 CE, the abbot Odilo of the Cluny monastery in France wrote of November 2’s feast: “[keep] with joyous affection the memory of all the faithful departed who have…
What have we to do in order to become saints?
Happy Feast! It’s good to be here with the usual suspects — SPs, Providence Associates, SP and PHC staff, colleagues and alumnae from SMWC, our close neighbors from the Village and West Terre Haute and Terre Haute. As always, we…
Spirituality of Acceptance: Accepting Diminishment, Illness and Loss
This article is reprinted from the fall 2011 issue of HOPE. “You just get up and go and keep living. … It’s the best thing to do!” “There’s only one way: take each day as it comes!” One might think…
The 2011 installation of the General Officers
When the General Councilors and I planned this liturgy, we quickly chose as its theme the Mother Theodore quotation that appears on the cover of your worship aid: “Perfect abandonment of ourselves in all things for the future requires great…
Prayer in troubled times
Some days ago I received a request from a local newspaper reporter who was preparing an article about the 10th anniversary of the catastrophic events here in the U.S. on 9 She asked me if I thought people tended to…