Carla Mae's Blog

  What makes it possible, when all is chaos around us, when war is present, when the virus persists, when corruption abounds…to cling firmly in faith? We are told we are to trust. What makes it possible for us to do this? The sacred texts this month will speak of perseverance to the very end. We will be remembering our loved ones who have gone on into a type of life beyond our present experience. In the face of the losses that death inflicts upon us, what will prevent us from scattering like a flock of frightened sheep? One thing only…the assurance given us by the enduring presence of the Word. We are told to grab hold of him, to hide our frightened faces in his tunic, near to his heart. We are told to take refuge in the reality of a mystery many of us spend a good part of our lives trying to absorb. He will be with us, he says, until the end of the age. “You in me, and I in you,” he says. What would happen in my life if this day, this week, this month, I took that ...

We all know the intoxicating smell of autumn leaves. Pope Francis uses fragrance to tell us that hope too has a tell-tale ‘breath.’ Where the Spirit is, there is delightful fragrance, and the Holy Spirit, says Francis, is hope’s breath. How is this so? The Holy Spirit, like some lingering fragrance in the air, keeps before us the steady content of our hope. Without this presence, it would be dark indeed, and the stench of our sin would overwhelm us. But the Spirit promises new life.  We don’t have to look far to see the effects of our sinfulness. In our selfish woundedness, we pollute the very land and water we have been given as gift. Yet, like the oil and wine poured into the wounds of the robbers’ victim, the Holy Spirit comes to save us from ourselves. We groan, but our groaning is that of a woman in labor, for the Spirit draws new life from our groaning. The Spirit makes sure we see beyond our sinfulness. From our destructive greed the Spirit draws new life. Death and d...