From Season to Season

Margaret was born in Cobskill (now Skryne), Ireland, in 1515. Her Catholic family was involved in politics, particularly as the realities of the Protestant Reformation took hold in Ireland. When she was sixteen years-old she married Bartholomew Ball , an alderman of Dublin. The couple had ten children, five of whom survived to adulthood. Bartholomew was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1553 and the family moved into a large, comfortable home and Margaret used her influence to provide classes for local children in her family’s home. Bartholomew died in 1573. In 1558, had Queen Elizabeth I imposed harsher penalties for who refused to accept the tenets of the English Reformation, initiating a decades-long period of persecution that claimed the lives of hundreds English, Scottish, and Irish Catholics. In response, the Ball family provided a safe house for any Catholic clergy passing through Dublin. Despite their faith and courage, Margaret’s son, Walter , became a member of the Churc...

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received. —Luke 1:1-4   “There are three stages of spiritual development: the carnal, the spiritual, and the divine,” an old monk once explained to a novice. “What is the carnal stage?” the novice asked. “That’s the stage,” the old monk said, “when trees are seen as trees and mountains are seen as mountains.” “And the spiritual?” the novice asked eagerly. “That’s when we look more deeply into things. Then trees are no longer trees and mountains are no longer mountains,” the old monk answered. “And the divine?” the novice asked breathlessly. “Ah,” the old monk sa...

In the year 1871, France was being devastated by the brutality of the Franco-Prussian War. On the night of January 17, as German forces approached the mountain village of Pontmain, two young boys, Eugéne and Joseph, were helping their faith in the family barn. Eugéne looked outside and saw an apparition of a woman in the star-studded sky smiling at him. The woman, clothed in a blue gown covered with golden stars, wore a black veil under a golden crown.    A contemporary icon of Our Lady of Pontmain As the vision continued, the villagers—including two girls, Françoise and Jeanne-Marie—gathered outside the barn while the parish priest and sisters from the parish school led the people in singing hymns and in reciting the rosary; only the children of the village were able to see the “beautiful lady.” Eventually, a banner appeared beneath the woman’s feet, on which a message appeared: “But pray, my children. God will you in time. My son allows himself to be touched.” Toward...

In her book, The Jesus Wisdom , Cythia Bourgeault writes: Seeking leads to finding, yes, but the result of that finding is often to plunge you into confusion and disorientation as the new information rattles the cage of your old paradigm. Only gradually, as you can make room for what this gospel calls "wonder," does a new universe begin to knit itself together around you, and you come to rest on a new foundation. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which marks the end of the Christmas Season, is a feast that is actually part of the broader celebration of the Epiphany of the Lord. Although we in the West associate the great solemnity of the Epiphany with the three "kings" and their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the Early Church saw the Epiphany as including three great mysteries in the life of Jesus: the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, and the wedding at Cana (the occasion of Jesus' first miracle). But of these mysteries, the Baptism of ...