different witches: diverse ages, social class, ethnicity, and a range of rituals…

In a series of portraits, Frances F. Denny sought to capture dozens of women who identify as witches. Her subjects are of diverse age, social class, and ethnicity, and practice a range of rituals. See more of the witches—and the items they hold dear: http://nyer.cm/cyPyzsf

Every human person is sacred and inviolable…

 “Every human person is sacred and inviolable. To ensure that a society has a future, it is necessary that a sense of respect be matured for the dignity of every person, no matter in what condition they find themselves. Chosen and loved by God, we are called to live “as is fitting among the saints” (Eph 5:3), to clothe ourselves with sentiments of goodness, humility, magnanimity, bearing the fruits of the Spirit.”
Pope Francis

God, be merciful to me , a sinner…

THURSDAY, MARCH 23RD, 2023
 “In this season of Lent, with contrite hearts let us quietly say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! Let us do so together: God, be merciful to me, a sinner! God, when I forget you or I neglect you, when I prefer my words and those of the world to your own word, when I presume to be righteous and look down on others, when I gossip about others, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! When I care nothing for those all around me, when I’m indifferent to the poor and the suffering, the weak and the outcast, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! For my sins against life, for my bad example that mars the lovely face of Mother Church, for my sins against creation, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! For my falsehoods, my duplicity, my lack of honesty and integrity, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! For my hidden sins, which no one knows, for the ways in which I have unconsciously wronged others, and for the good I could have done and yet failed to do, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

We need mercy…

TUESDAY, MARCH 21ST, 2023
 “We are sinners and in need of mercy like the air we breathe. Willingness to convert – to allow ourselves to be purified, to change our lives – is a sign of courage, and of strength. Let us ask the grace to be surprised every day by God’s mercy and to see the various circumstances of life, even the ones that are the most difficult to accept, as occasions to do good.” 
Pope Francis

It’s the birthday of poet Nizar Qabbani (books by this author), born in Damascus, Syria (1923). His mother, who was illiterate, sold her jewelry to raise money to publish his first anthology, Childhood of a Bosom (1948), and he went on to become the most popular Arab poet and to publish more than 20 books of poetry. Much of his poetry was influenced by the tragic deaths of two women he loved. When he was 15, his older sister committed suicide rather than be forced into marriage with a man she did not love, and he turned his attention to the situation of Arab women. He wrote romantic, sensual poems and poetry demonstrating the need for sexual equality and women’s rights. Many years later, in 1981, his second wife, an Iraqi woman, died during the Lebanese Civil War when the Iraqi Embassy was bombed. Qabbani was grief-stricken and frustrated with the political and cultural climate of the Arab world, and he lived in Europe for the rest of his life.
Qabbani said, “Don’t love deeply, till you make sure that the other part loves you with the same depth, because the depth of your love today, is the depth of your wound tomorrow.”

It is Spring

Between snow and cherry blossoms, the transformation begins…

We awake in the present and no longer fear the past, or the future.

Death obsession leaves us and the new growth beckons to us

Transform with me.

Brothers, sisters, the Lord comes to us when we step back from our presumptuous ego…

SUNDAY, MARCH 19TH, 2023
 “Brothers, sisters, let us remember this: the Lord comes to us when we step back from our presumptuous ego. Let us reflect: Am I conceited? Do I think I’m better than others? Do I look at someone with a little contempt? “I thank you, Lord, because you have saved me and I’m not like those people who understand nothing; I go to church, I attend Mass; I am married, married in church, whereas they are divorced sinners…”: is your heart like this? That is the way to perdition. Yet to get closer to God, we must say to the Lord: “I am the first of sinners, and if I have not fallen into the worst filth it is because your mercy has taken me by the hand. Thanks to you, Lord, I am alive; thanks to you, Lord, I have not destroyed myself with sin”. God can bridge the distance whenever, with honesty and sincerity, we bring our weaknesses before him. He holds out his hand and lifts us up whenever we realize we are “hitting rock bottom” and we turn back to him with a sincere heart”
Pope Francis

Faces, smiles, wrinkles, tears and scars reveal love around us!

SATURDAY, MARCH 18TH, 2023
 “How many luminous faces, how many smiles, how many wrinkles, how many tears and scars reveal love around us! Let us learn to recognize them and to fill our hearts with them. And then let us set out to bring the light we have received to others through concrete acts of love (cf. 1 Jn 3:18), diving into our daily occupations more generously, loving, serving, and forgiving with greater earnestness and willingness. The contemplation of God’s wonders, the contemplation of God’s face, of the Lord’s face, must move us to the service of others.
May Mary, who kept the light of her Son in her heart even in the darkness of Calvary, accompany us always on the way of love.”
Pope Francis

Look for God’s gaze…

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2023

 “Is your faith tired?

Do you want to reinvigorate it?

Look for God’s gaze:

sit in adoration,

allow yourself to be forgiven in Confession,

stand before the Crucified One.

In short, let him love you.“

Pope Francis

to be humble…to be at the service of others…

“THURSDAY, MARCH 16TH, 2023
 “The matter of equality in dignity asks us to rethink many aspects of our relations, which are decisive for evangelization. For example, are we aware of the fact that with our words we can undermine the dignity of people, thus ruining relationships within the Church? While we try to engage in dialogue with the world, do we also know how to dialogue among ourselves as believers? Or in the parish, one person goes against another, one speaks badly of another in order to climb up further? Do we know how to listen to understand another person’s reasons, or do we impose ourselves, perhaps even with appeasing words? To listen, to be humble, to be at the service of others: this is serving, this is being Christian, this is being an apostle.”
Pope Francis

They search for closeness, attention, and a listening ear. Give them a drink…

TUESDAY, MARCH 14TH, 2023
 “Give me a drink. These words are not only a request from Jesus to the Samaritan woman, but a cry – silent at times – that meets us every day and asks us to slake someone else’s thirst, to take care of someone else’s thirst. How many say ‘give me a drink’ to us – in our family, at work, in other places we find ourselves. They thirst for closeness, for attention, for a listening ear. People say it who thirst for the Word of God and need to find an oasis in the Church where they can drink. Give me a drink is a cry heard in our society, where the frenetic pace, the rush to consume, and especially indifference, that culture of indifference, generate aridity and interior emptiness. And – let us not forget this – ‘give me a drink’ is the cry of many brothers and sisters who lack the water to live, while our common home continues to be polluted and defaced.”

Pope Francis