Carla Mae's Blog

We’ve reflected on the image of ‘Enlarge the space of your tent,’ faced the hesitations voiced by respondents, and identified the ‘pillar’ of the effort in the common dignity of the baptized, as we have considered the insights of this theological working document for the continental   stage of the synod process. This set the context for…you guessed it…touching base with the sacred scriptures. What do we learn?  The document goes straight back to the tent image, and offers the sense of exile as a start. There is the call for discernment. The many local reports envision a Church as an expansive, but not homogeneous dwelling, capable of sheltering all, but open, letting in and out, and moving toward embracing the Divine and all of humanity.  Enlarging the tent means welcoming others into it, and making room for diversity. This means ‘dying’ in a way out of love to my selfish preferences, and finding myself again in Christ, in his openness and love. This is going to be ask...

 We are into the short ‘Ordinary’ Time. The readings are a call to faith in the Word, come to make us whole. Faith is like wearing 3-D glasses. It allows us to see beyond where our reason can go. The Incarnational Mystery has been presented to us. The Word…in whom all things came to be…has married us. We have a bridegroom we cannot see…except in the faces of our brothers and sisters and in our own face in the mirror. Our senses aren’t any help. We have to rely on our 3-D faith-lenses. The Christmas season presented Mary to us as the model of ‘pondering.’ She pondered what was happening to her. She is an expert in using her 3-D faith-glasses. She believes. She signed a blank check. She never gave in to her doubts…and make no mistake, she was tempted as are we. But she hung on by her fingernails in tough times. She was like a magnet on a refrigerator door. Try to pull it off. Feel the resistance. It knows where it wants to be. So do we. But the storms get pretty wild sometimes. ...

 Last month we began our reflection on a document called, The Working Document for the Continental Stage of the Synodal Process: “Enlarge the space of your tent.” This expression comes from Isaiah 54:2. We let this tent image speak to us: the tent itself, its ropes and its pegs, as referring to the Church.  This month we will consider what the General Secretariate of the Synod considers the very pillar or foundation of a truly Synodal Church: a deep re-appropriation of the common dignity of all the baptized. This new awareness and ownership is the theological foundation of a unity that is capable of resisting homogenization, Why? Because we might tempted to think, “OK, so now we are going to do away with hierarchy, priests, and bishops, and everybody is going to do everything.” On the contrary. Not homogenization, but a unity that enables us to promote and make good use of the variety of charisms that the Spirit pours out on the faithful. It is the recognition of differing...

 As the saying goes, “What goes around comes around.” But make no mistake, when Ordinary Time appears at this time of the liturgical year there is a new twist. The Church is telling us something. Keep in mind that an Ordinary Time period follows the two central mysteries of our faith: the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery. Ordinary Time is ‘absorption’ time…time to soak the soul.  Our New Year begins with the celebration of Mary, Mother of God. Now why would Mary be placed before us to begin this time? Ah…because Mary is the one who ponders in her heart…and that is what we are invited to do. She is the Mother of believers, and that’s us.  The Word has bonded with our DNA…our carbon and calcium, our double helix. He asked Mary for a body so he could be part of our day-to-day struggle. Only by bonding with matter could he suffer from the inside, not just as a compassionate observer. The Epiphany reveals that this is universal…for everyone. On our side, we bond with him...

The New Year is here. We again receive the gift of time. As women and men of the Word, as Dominicans, in these reflections we have been keeping our ear close to the heart of the Church by listening to our Shepherd. Francis. This attentiveness has brought us smack against the topic of synodality, for this is where his developing thought for the Church leads in what he has written from Joy of the Gospel, to Laudato si, to Fratelli tutti, to Let Us Dream.  The ancient name for the Pope is Pontifex , which means bridge-builder, and that is exactly what this present Holy Father is doing: he is building a bridge. From what to what we might ask? He is bridging from Vatican II into the future of this community we call ‘Church.’ He is leading us into a future we must create as we walk it- together. The time is past for just taking ‘orders from headquarters.’ We need to listen to one another…to what the Spirit might be doing in one another, and pay attention. This is very new for some ...

This year Christmas is on a Sunday. Yes, we are remembering the coming of the Christ in history, and the Church will be reminding us during this month of the final coming in majesty. The humanness and powerful images captivate our attention. Yet there is a subtle coming that can escape us if we do not intentionally heighten our awareness of it. The risen Christ in his transformed humanness meets us in a thousand disguises. His Easter message was “Now I will no longer be with you the former way. I will be wherever you are.” This nearness, this intimacy, can be unnerving, because it is so personal. He is always at my side. He accompanies me as I fold my laundry and brush my teeth. He holds me in grief. He guards me when I sleep. This mysterious ‘coming’ is something he decided long ago. It is I who am out and about. It is I who forget and mistakenly think I am alone. The result is often anxiety, worry, fear, and sadness. These unwanted guests are in my house all too often. But there is ...

  As preachers, we’ve been putting our ear to the heart of the Church, in listening to Pope Francis dream in print. He has led us back to the original spirit of the early Church…the synodal Church.   His book, Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future , has an epilogue. We’ll now take a look at his ‘last word.’ Sometimes a thinker gives us the summation of his/her thought in an Epilogue…!  Francis does not disappoint. He gives us two words, and they both identify us as ‘pilgrim.’ The two words are decenter and transcend. In giving us these final words, he distinguishes between someone going round and round in a labyrinth, and someone on a pilgrimage. The first can return to where one has started and remain the same. The pilgrim returns different. The pilgrim is changed.  To decenter means to intentionally shift from concentrating on myself to becoming more and more aware of everyone around me. In our time, this means resisting the narcissistic urge. Decentering ...