Claudia Avila Cosnahan

The images of wind, water, and fire in this Sunday’s Advent Gospel reading invite us to consider what needs cleansing within us.

Two months after contracting Covid, the brain fog refuses to lift. The first Sunday of Advent’s readings call me to pray for wakefulness and clarity.

Palm Sunday reminds us that some joys cannot be experienced until we have first experienced sorrow.

“Authentic collaboration in the Church is possible only when women are seen as whole and necessary, not as challenges or threats to the ‘purity’ of clergy.”

Pilgrimage sites can be like trusted family elders: we need to visit them, respect them, and thank them for the ways they help us throughout our lives.

We often try to avoid painful images or memories. But God asks us to cultivate the ground around them, where grace can be found.