Carla Mae's Blog

How often these words come tumbling out when children are full of expectation …a party, a treat, a trip…to hold us to our word. After all, our honor is at stake. As adults, we continue to make this plea in turn to God who has made promises, too, and has literally given us his Word. This month of August brings us two feasts that at first glance may not seem related: The Transfiguration of Jesus and the Assumption of Mary. But a closer look reveals a similarity. Both feasts have something to do with the human body. In the Trans figuration we are given a glimpse of what is behind the veil of the sacred humanity. Jesus literally shines. In the Assumption we are shown that the body that had been the temple of the Incarnate Word would not be allowed to corrupt in the grave. It is carried into eternity, risen and transformed. We need these two feasts this year in a special way. The news has been filled with violence. The human being has been destroyed, the body desecrated by ...

the one thing necessary… Summer is in full swing…ordinary time rouses itself day to day like a stretching cat. The Church is like the bride turning her wedding ring every which way to catch every facet of the diamond her spouse put on her finger. She is wedded, and her beloved is away. Every Sunday liturgy is another facet of the diamond she wears to keep his presence ever in mind. What is that ring that keeps her bonded to him? During the waiting time one must be faithful…full of faith. All the readings are presenting aspects of that faithfulness. We lose something precious in English translation of the Greek word for faith. It means much more than “intellectual assent.” The word in Greek is pistis and it means “to adhere to, as with glue; to cling, to hang on.” What marvelous meaning comes when we realize that faith is like a magnet on a refrigerator door…it keeps us so pressed to God that it takes quite a pull to dislodge us! Go to your refrigerator door, and...

  The Blessed Scandal of the Ordinary Carla Mae Streeter, OP   The blessed Feast of the Body of Christ (Corpus Christi) has been celebrated. The spectacular feasts of Pentecost, and Trinity too are behind us now. We are plunged into Ordinary Time, and summer comes upon us quietly with rain showers and the silent blooming of lilacs. The Friday and Saturday after Corpus Christi bring us the feasts of two hearts: the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary – a fitting entrance into the scandal of “ordinariness.”   The heart is the center of the human person. Where your heart is, there is your treasure, goes the old saying. So where is Jesus’ heart, where is Mary’s heart? They are love-centered. These two human beings are caught up in a compassionate love. We are given them to show us where the Pentecostal fire resides. It resides in our hearts, unless we douse it with the dampness of unforgiveness, complaining, or blaming. We need to keep compa...

…she pondered all these things in her heart… Carla Mae Streeter, OP What was Mary, the Mother of Jesus, thinking about in the time after her son’s resurrection? Was she marveling at how things had turned out? Was she learning from those dark days when the temptation to lose trust in God was so strong? Was she knitting everything together with one “Aha!” moment after another? First, there he was, her beautiful son, alive…wounds shining. Did she sense that he was no longer just “hers”? Did she realize that he was not just for the Jews, not just for any group anymore? That he belonged to the whole world now? Did she understand that of course he would return to his Father, taking our humanness with him to prepare for all of us to follow? Did she grasp that the Spirit of God that overshadowed her was now loose in the world, forming bonds between people? Is this what she was thinking about? What are we thinking about? We began our Paschal Mystery in the darkness of Holy Satu...

We are about midway through lent. Before the month is over this March of 2016, we will celebrate the Resurrection. We will breathe a sigh of relief, and think, “Thank goodness that is over now for another year!” But don’t be so sure. The Passion begins with the Infant Christ. The first step down is the Word confining itself to the virgin’s womb…the size of a man’s fist. The Word incarnate thinks it’s just fine to slowly be clothed in humanness for the usual nine months. Infinity confined to a small space. We celebrate this wonder in the Advent and Christmas season. But there is another step down. There is the day-to-day frustration with companions who just don’t get it. They need to be shown that leadership means washing feet, that we all are called to become a new kind of family where no one is excluded, and that the poor are the primary members of this new “kin-dom.” Then another step down into the chaos of agony, sin, and death. Doesn’t this Holy One realize he does...

The 800 th Anniversary is on! Celebrations abound, bringing back memories of what has been, and challenging us to dream a future for the Dominican Order of our own times. Dominic had to contend with a heresy, a twisting of truth to suit its own purpose. That purpose was to make sure we believe the lie that only “spiritual” realities matter. The physical, the material, are to be despised. It was a purist dualism, and looked so deceitfully holy. But Genesis and the Incarnation beg to differ. The universe is strewn with matter still evolving, and nothing beats a physical hug when your heart is breaking and you are crying your eyes out. The Christ could not be more explicit when he says, “This is my body.” But this is 2016, and I suggest we have the direct opposite heresy to contend with today. We don’t despise matter. We worship it. Materialism and consumerism rule, and if we listen to the media, nothing, not even God, should question my overcrowded closet or my bulging bank accou...