Category: Discipleship

Listen

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Love, spirituality, Conversion, Jesus, Creation, Courage, Discipleship1 Comment

Feast of the Transfiguration
August 6, 2026

Do you have a few favorite scripture stories?

I love passages like the Widow of Nain, Zacchaeus in the tree, Mary Magdalen and her “Rabboni.” These favorites, and many others, reveal Jesus’ deep compassion in the face of the human condition. They allow me to feel close to him and to trust his mercy even for my own life.

But some other passages are not on my favorites list. They don’t move me in the same way. The story of the Transfiguration — though it may transcend many others in significance — has never been one of my top ten. And perhaps that’s because I struggle to engage its otherworldly transcendence.

Over many years of praying with this Gospel, I have entered it through Peter’s eyes. At other times, I have wondered what Jesus was thinking. Sometimes I have asked Moses or Elijah for an insight. But somehow, I never quite reached the heart of this astonishing revelation of Who Jesus truly is.

My favorite Gospel stories invite me to imitate Jesus within the familiar contours of human life: to comfort the grieving as he did, to seek Jesus with reckless longing as Zacchaeus did, to cherish the way God speaks my name as Mary Magdalen did.

So what have I been missing in the Transfiguration?

Maybe this.

Have you ever had an unexpected grace that lifted you, just for a moment, out of your circumstances? The grace silenced you, whispered that the moment was more than it appeared, and that within it, God was calling you to a deeper intimacy. More than a wake-up moment, such an experience changes us in deeply spiritual and inexplicable ways.

These spiritual encounters can come in the simplest of forms. On a warm October afternoon many years ago, I stretched out on a park bench, exhausted from co-hosting a teenage retreat. Before closing my eyes for a little nap, I glanced up toward the sky into the glory of a golden sugar maple. The tree was so vibrant that it exuded a life beyond itself, offering that vibrancy to me. In the numinous silence, I experienced an intimate sign of God’s Presence and Love – at one with me, and with Creation. That single, beautiful tree has stayed with me for over fifty years.

I think that is the kind of moment we encounter in the Transfiguration.

Peter, James, and John — and perhaps even Jesus in his humanity — are lifted beyond ordinary time into the otherwise hidden radiance of God. For one breathtaking instant, the practical and apparent world gives way to an infinitely enduring reality.

The Divine Voice affirms that our lives are curtained by time, and that we truly exist in a dimension beyond our ordinary comprehension – Eternal Life. Jesus’ mission is to reveal that Truth to us and give us the courage to pursue it in imitation of him – even unto death. As the Voice commands, we must listen to him!

The gift of Transfiguration is a Divine Promise branded on our hearts, grounding us against any cross to come by convincing us of Resurrection.

Today, praying with this powerful scripture passage, I ask God for the courage to listen!

Music: Transfiguration – Carey Landry

Suggested Scripture: 2 Peter 1:16-19

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For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

The Bethany Sibs

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Discipleship, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, friendship, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
July 29, 2026

Today, we pray with three fascinating friends of Jesus: Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Let’s shake them out of the Bible today and let them live in our imaginations.

The three are usually named in the above order, inviting us to imagine Lazarus as the younger brother of two unmarried older sisters.

Martha, likely the oldest, is the most practical. Mary, the middle sister, is the romantic, wrapped in tales of perfumed hair, contemplative sitting, and tearful pleading. Lazarus, who has little to say in scripture, actually looms large in their story!

Thinking about the Bethany trio today, I remember a similar family from my childhood neighborhood. Helen, Agnes, and Mickey O’Rourke were amazingly like the Bethany Sibs in many ways. 

Helen, the oldest, had become a young and childless widow many years before I knew the family. By the 1950s, she was elderly, but still meticulously kept the home while the younger two worked. 

Agnes was about a decade younger and had a long career as a Bell Tell operator. She once spoke of wanting to become a Pink Sister, one of the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters whose monastery stood not far from our neighborhood.

Mickey, in his 40s, was a police officer who was known to enjoy his bachelorhood.

The O’Rourkes were devoted to one another. When Agnes was widowed, the other two assumed loving responsibility for her. In turn, Agnes, always the most vigilant and practical of the three, undertook responsibility for their guidance. 

The three kept a hospitable home where neighbors enjoyed their easy camaraderie and delightful Irish wit. They shared a happy, supportive, and generous life.

Then Mickey was shot and killed by a drunken reveler on New Year’s Eve.

Think about the devastation in his sisters’ hearts. Think about the deadly silence that fell upon their joyful home.  Think about their neighbors’ fumbling efforts to offer help or hope.

It was into a grief like this that Jesus arrived one ancient afternoon in Bethany. Read about it in John, chapter 11.

Click for Scripture

This story offers so many points for meditation and prayer. You know where your heart softened at the story of the O’Rourkes. Maybe that is where your prayer should rest today as you ponder the Bethany family. 

  • Did Helen’s early widowhood touch your heart — her possible loneliness, blessedly softened only by the love of her siblings? Then pray with Martha.
  • Did Agnes’s quiet self-sacrifice move you — setting aside religious life to sustain her family? Then pray with Mary.
  • Did Mickey’s sudden death awaken memories of your own losses? Then pray with Lazarus.
  • Was it the shock and sadness of those who so helplessly wanted to heal the hurtful situation? Then pray with the unnamed neighbors whose remarks pepper the bible account.
  • But give these first prayers only short attention. Let your real meditation engage your feelings when you hear the words, “Lazarus, come forth!”, and you see the funeral bindings start to fall! Is there something dead in you that longs to rise again?

The O’Rourke sisters did not have their brother restored in the way that Lazarus was restored. But finally, their deep faith did revive their joy and unshakeable trust that they would all meet again in God’s time.

All these very real people offer us encouragement for our own faith and spiritual resilience. Why not spend some time with them?

Music: Come Out, Lazarus – Stephen McWhirter

Mary Magdalen: Spiritual Sfumato

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

July 22, 2026

Of the many techniques an artist might use in painting, among the most alluring is Sfumato.

Sfumato refers to a painting technique that blends one tone into another rather than using a clear outline. The word derives from the Italian sfumare, meaning “to evaporate,” and is related to the Italian word for smoke (fumo). Like smoke, a form rendered in sfumato tends to evaporate or disappear into the air surrounding it. Leonardo da Vinci used the term to describe how the edges of the Mona Lisa seem to blend into the surrounding shadows.
(from merriam-webster.com)

Today is the Feast of St. Mary Magdalen, a woman painted in sfumato across salvation history’s canvas. 

She is mentioned by name fourteen times in the New Testament across all four Gospels. She is explicitly identified as a key follower of Jesus who supported his ministry, witnessed his crucifixion, visited the empty tomb, was the first to see the risen Christ, and to proclaim the Resurrection. 

Nevertheless, other than her hometown of Magdala, the outlines of Mary’s life remain mysterious. Who were her parents, her siblings? Was she married? Who were her friends?

We know about Peter. He was married, had a mother-in-law, and was a fisherman from a family of fishermen.

We know about the feisty brothers, John and James. Their father was Zebedee, their mother Salome. They were “the Sons of Thunder”.

We know that Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel were neighborhood friends.

But we have no such scriptural colors to paint our picture of Mary Magdalen.

What we know about Mary is her passion for God, a passion that allowed her to be released from seven devils and to radically bond her heart to the heart of Jesus.

Yes, the “seven devils”, those undefined spiritual hindrances that caused Pope Gregory to mistakenly connect Mary to the sinful woman of Luke, chapter 7.

The number seven is interesting, and might lead one to consider the seven deadly sins against which we all struggle in our lives: pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth, and greed. Might it be that Mary, so captured by the sacred magnetism of Jesus, was freed of these inclinations and sanctified in a unique way for the Gospel mission? Might it be that this “ultra-Baptism” prepared her to be the Apostle to the Apostles, first witness and proclaimer of the Resurrection?

Albert Edelfelt

As I pray with Mary Magdalen today, I remember a quote once shared with me. It is the response of an octogenarian nun when asked about her spiritual life:

I am in Love now. 
I have entered the Fire. 
I am one with the Flame.

She seems to have perfectly described the “spiritual Sfumato” for which Mary Magdalen is an inspiring icon.

Poem: The Magdalen, a Garden and This by Kathleen O’Toole

She who is known by myth and association 

as sinful, penitent, voluptuous perhaps…

but faithful to the last and then beyond.

A disciple for sure, confused often with Mary,

sister of Lazarus, or the woman caught

in adultery, or she who angered the men

by anointing Jesus with expensive oils.

She was the one from whom he cast out seven

demons—she’s named in that account.

Strip all else away and we know only

that she was grateful, that she found her way

to the cross, and that she returned

to the tomb, to the garden nearby, and there,

weeping at her loss, was recognized,

became known in the tender invocation

of her name. Mary: breathed by one

whom she mistook for the gardener, he

who in an instant brought her back to herself—

gave her in two syllables a life beloved,

gave me the only sure thing I’ll believe

of heaven, that if it be, it will consist

in this: the one unmistakable

rendering of your name.

Music: You Know My Name – by The Holy Studio (lyrics below)

I sit in rooms
Where no one asks
How long I’ve stayed
Behind the glass
My hands grow tired
My voice grows thin
I wonder if
You’ve noticed me

I don’t have to be loud
To be known
I don’t have to prove
I’m here

You know my name
You know my name
Before I speak
Before I break
You know my name
I don’t have to earn
Your gaze
You see me whole
You know my name

The world moves fast
It doesn’t wait
For tired bones
Or quiet faith
I scroll through faces
None are mine
I set the table
Just for one

I am not invisible
To You
I am not strange
For feeling small

You know my name
You know my name
Not for the things
That I have done
But for the way
You chose to stay
You see my face
You know my name

And every night
I wasn’t seen
You were the one
Still watching me
Every word
I didn’t say
You heard them all
You know my name
You know my name
You know my name

You know my name
You know my name
I don’t have to be
Interesting to be kept
I don’t have to shine
To be held
You called me Yours
Before I knew
You know my name
That is enough

Suggested Scripture: John 20:11-16

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For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Rules That Free Us

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Faith, holiness, spirituality4 Comments

Memorial of St. Benedict
July 11, 2026

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia — a man who lived nearly fifteen centuries ago, yet whose wisdom still challenges the confusion of modern life. 

Benedict’s enduring gift to the world is a slender text known as The Rule of St. Benedict, written around 530 A.D. for monks living together in community. Though simple in structure, the Rule offers a balanced vision of human fulfillment: a life grounded in prayer, meaningful work, lifelong learning, and mutual responsibility.

St. Benedict delivering rule to monks

What Benedict created for monasteries ultimately became much more than a guide for monks. Across centuries, his wisdom has influenced education, leadership, hospitality, peacemaking, and the very idea that a good life requires both inner discipline and communal care.

Recently, while reading online, I encountered two unfamiliar terms: “looksmaxxing” and “incels.” Curious, I searched for their meaning.

Looksmaxxing (or looksmaxing) refers to the practice of maximizing one’s physical attractiveness. Originating in online forums and popularized on platforms like TikTok, it ranges from benign self-care like skincare routines to extreme, potentially dangerous cosmetic procedures.

The phrase “incel”, meaning “involuntary celibate”, was originally coined in the late 1990s by a Canadian student known as “Alana” as an inclusive, supportive space for anyone of any gender who was lonely or struggling to find a relationship. However, over the 2000s and 2010s, the term was heavily co-opted by online communities and transformed into a specific, male-dominated subculture characterized by misogyny and entitlement.

What I discovered was troubling — because so many young people are searching for identity and belonging in places that deepen anxiety rather than heal it.

Social media has amplified movements built upon appearance, resentment, isolation, and comparison. In many ways, these trends seem to reject the very foundations Benedict considered essential for a meaningful life: prayer that grounds us, work that dignifies us, learning that enlarges us, and community that humanizes us.

The sadness beneath these movements points to something deeper: a profound spiritual hunger.

Benedict matters even today, and perhaps more than ever.

His Rule invites us away from obsession with self and toward a deeper freedom rooted in humility, balance, and love. Benedict outlined what he called the “Twelve Degrees of Humility,” a spiritual path intended to loosen the grip of self-absorption and open the heart to God and others.

Because some of Benedict’s original language reflects the harshness of his historical era, I have taken the liberty of expressing these tenets in more contemporary and life-giving terms while preserving their essential wisdom.

Benedict’s Original EmphasisA Contemporary Spiritual Reading
Fear of GodAwe before God: delighting in the beauty of Creation
Restraint of Self-willFlexibility: meeting life with generosity and openness
ObedienceWisdom-seeking: learning from the insight of others
Patient enduranceCourageous Trust: Knowing that God abides with us always
Confession of faultsRepentance: Honest and positive change
Contentment with littleLiving from abundance rather than endless desire or greed
Self-abasementHumility: recognizing the equal dignity of every person
Observance of the RuleDiscipline: commitment to healthy spiritual routine
SilenceSerenity: allowing peace to shape our interactions
Avoiding frivolityMaturity: growing in depth, honesty, and joy
Gentle speechReverence: Using words to bless rather than diminish
Physical humilitySimplicity: recognizing that authenticity surpasses display

In the end, Benedict’s wisdom is not about becoming less human, but more fully human. His Rule reminds us that meaning is rarely found in self-obsession, status, or performance. Rather, it emerges slowly through prayer, purposeful work, humility, simplicity, and life shared with others.

In an age marked by loneliness, noise, and relentless comparison, Benedict still offers a quiet but compelling invitation: live deliberately, live gently, and live together in love

Poem: The Neophyte by Alice Meynell

(I love this poem for what it expresses about the early commitment to a disciplined spiritual life, intended to bless us by making us blessedly human.)

Who knows what days I answer for to-day:
Giving the bud I give the flower. I bow
This yet unfaded and a faded brow;
Bending these knees and feeble knees, I pray.
Thoughts yet unripe in me I bend one way,
Give one repose to pain I know not now,
One leaven to joy that comes, I guess not how.
I dedicate my fields when Spring is grey.
Oh, rash! (I smile) to pledge my hidden wheat.
I fold to-day at altars far apart
Hands trembling with what toils? In their retreat
I seal my love to-be, my folded art.
I light the tapers at my head and feet,
And lay the crucifix on this silent heart.

Music: Ora Et Labora:

Suggested Scripture: Proverbs 2:1-9

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For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Apostles

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Hope, inclusivity, Mary, spiritualityLeave a comment

June 29, 2026
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

St. Paul’s in Rome
St Peters Basilica in Rome

Peter and Paul – names that embody the foundation of Catholic magisterium, those who offered initial inspiration and counsel to the early life of the Gospel. The celebration of their feast today engenders deep reflection on the themes of faith, and of authority and tradition in the Church.

That reflection is intended to give believers confidence in all that the Apostles’ Creed proclaims: the Trinity, Incarnation, Paschal Mystery, Baptismal Salvation, and Eternal Life – and of its pristine transmission through the millennia.

Over the course of 2000 years, this confidence has been enshrined in cathedrals and encyclicals, in the declaration of saints and the condemnation of heretics. It has been studied in Scripture and edited in the candlelit scriptoria of the Middle Ages.

It is a living confidence that ever struggles against the mumification of theological reactionaries and misspellings of semi-literate interpreters. It is a confidence that, while hallowed and foundational, bears the taint of uncontested patriarchy and obdurate dogmatism.

For some of us, particularly women, who deeply love the Church, today’s feast can be a source of discomforting reflection.

  • What if the deposit of faith had been predominantly sourced and interpreted, not only through men like Peter and Paul, but through the experience of Mary, Mother of Jesus and First of the Apostles? Or of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles on Easter morning?
  • What if the women who quietly nurtured the work of the Gospel, who gathered and sustained the churches of the first Christian millennium, had not had their insights disappear in a flood of masculine ink?
  • What if another four evangelists had been Mary, Mary Magdalen, the woman at the Well and the deacon Phoebe?
  • What if rampant patriarchy had not been inextricably threaded through Catholic tradition?

How would the Church be different today if any of those things had happened?

Of course, they didn’t happen. But how would the Church be different today if those who held influence had included these testimonies? What if Peter and Paul had demanded that the only true apostolic succession came through Peter, Paul, … and Mary?

Hats off to the great Saints Peter and Paul! And wistful hearts raised to our “Marys”!

Music: What Wondrous Thing – Jann Aldredge Clanton

What wondrous thing is happening here
where minds and souls are opening?
The scales fall off our blinded eyes;
new sight arouses hoping.

A new thing springs forth on the earth
with blessing, hope, and healing;
the power of woman saves all life,
Sophia-Christ revealing.

Epiphany surrounds us now,
as we reclaim our wholeness;
Sophia-Christ within us all
inspires us with new boldness.

Refrain:
Look, look, for She is here;
Her wisdom words have long been near.
Now, now, behold Her grace,
Divinity in Her image.

Suggested Scripture: Romans 16:1-16

Click for Scripture

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Faithfulness

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Scripture, Service, spirituality, VirtueLeave a comment

May 14, 2026
Feast of St. Matthias

Faithfulness, a Fruit of the Holy Spirit,
strengthens us to be loyal to God and God’s promises.
Faithfulness is demonstrated by loyalty to friends,
duties performed, promises kept, commitments fulfilled,
contracts completed, vows observed, and being true to one’s word.

Today is the feast of St. Matthias, of whom we know very little except this:

Peter said, “Therefore, it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
Acts 1:21-26

Thus, a central theme when considering Matthias is that of choice – who chooses, what they choose, and the outcome of that choice?

MATTHIAS

Matthias’s own choice seems central here. He chose Jesus from the very beginning and stayed faithful to that choice. He continued his discipleship even though Jesus did not elevate him to apostle. How might Matthias’s humble faithfulness inspire us when our efforts seem unrecognized or unappreciated?

JESUS

What about Jesus’s choices, silently referenced by this passage from Acts? Did Jesus make a poor choice when he picked Judas over Matthias? How might Jesus have dealt with his disappointment in Judas?  Within our own lives, how do we incorporate failed choices into our spiritual understanding? 

JOSEPH BARSABBAS

Then there’s the bit actor here, Joseph called Barsabbas? Joseph was likely an unassuming man. Rather than call him by his given name, people called him “Barsabbas” – a reference to his perhaps more important father. Maybe Joseph was still young and hadn’t established recognition for his commitment. What was it like for him to be nominated, but not elected? When the lot fell against him, how did it affect his understanding of God’s call?

APOSTLES

Finally, let’s look at the Apostles and their choices. They responded to Peter’s call for action.  They prayed. Then their decision-making seems to have been vested in the casting of lots, a rather popular method in biblical times. ( See Proverbs 16:33, Leviticus 16:8, Joshua 18:10, Matthew 27:35, 1 Chronicles 24:5, Jonah 1:7, Leviticus 16:8.)

YOU AND ME

Tossing the dice may be an easier way, but how well have I learned the process of discernment? To what degree do I participate in the synodal dialogue initiated by Pope Francis and continued by Pope Leo to create a renewed dynamic for the Gospel mission?

That’s what the Apostles were trying to do – recharge the Gospel Mission. Just as they sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their choice of Matthias, we do the same today, albeit through a different method, but hopefully with the same faith.

Poem: Fear of Being Chosen – Sister Natalia, member of Christ the Bridegroom Byzantine Catholic Monastery

O Matthias, what did you think,
what did you feel,
when you were beckoned forward?
Did your heart race at the idea
of joining ranks with those eleven?
Eleven different types of broken,
all seeking to be whole.
Did you fear the possibility
of secret brokenness revealed?
And did you also feel
the thrill of sure adventure,
after having seen the ups and downs
of the men whose eyes were now on you?
You’d seen their pain, their dying,
and in your heart felt a pull.
One thing you must have known,
known without a doubt
being witness to the resurrection
would mean a life of miracles.
And when you heard your name called out,
and reality sunk in,
did you feel that joyful pain of knowing
that all now know that you are His?
Did your thoughts bounce back and forth
between death and resurrection?
And did you steal one more glance
at Joseph Barsabbas
and wonder, “Why not him?”

For Your Reflection as you pray with the scripture passage beginning the reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Music: I Will Choose Christ – Tom Booth

Love Afire

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Creation, Discipleship, Faith, holiness, Love, Prayer, spirituality1 Comment

Feast of St. Catherine of Siena
April 29, 2026

Today, we celebrate the feast of the great St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church. Her title means that, by her life and writings, her spiritual wisdom has substantially influenced Catholic theology and doctrine.

Billions of people have been baptized as Catholics, but only thirty-eight of them have been given this title. Of those thirty-eight, only four are women. Catherine’s sisters with this status are Teresa of Ávila, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Hildegard of Bingen. Many of us know their stories and have read some of their writing. Of them, the one least familiar to me is Catherine. So, I set out to learn more about her.

Like her three companions, Catherine was a woman of extremes – extreme intelligence, behaviors, choices, and declarations. She had twenty-five siblings, which should have made her mother a saint, in my opinion! When she was just twelve years old, Catherine dedicated her virginity to God, and at sixteen, became a Dominican lay sister. She spent three teenage years in seclusion in her own home, followed stringent dietary customs, and experienced spiritual ecstasy.

These extremes, and historical distance, might make her seem quite different from us, maybe even a little eccentric. But to learn from her, we must meet her on her own terms and in her own time, not within the frame of our modern perspectives.

Like any young person, as Catherine grew into the faith, she absorbed the customs of her culture. The Church was the dominant force in medieval daily life, serving as the spiritual, political, and communal master. Early in Catherine’s development, she was influenced by 14th century Church practices such as protracted solitude, strict fasting, and intense meditation.

Catherine of Siena
by Francesco Vanni – 1566

But as Catherine matured, she emerged from these extremes with a profound relationship with God and God’s Creation. She had developed an exquisite sensitivity to the needs of her society’s poor and outcast, in whom she saw Christ. Her confident relationship with God and deep love of the Church allowed her to speak truth to power, shaping both the theological enlightenment of her times and the historical evolution of the papacy.

Catherine of Siena, negotiating with Pope Gregory XI on behalf of the Florentines
by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale

So, I ask myself what Catherine can say to me from the distance of six hundred years and some outdated spiritual practices! Here’s what I came up with:
• To grow close to God, we must give sincere attention to our spiritual life, using the best guides available to us, and prioritizing it beyond all other considerations.
• Deep spiritual growth aligns us with Truth, and calls us to action on behalf of God’s People, especially the poor and marginalized.
• Prayer is a divine gift and should be the constant conversation of our lives. For that to happen, we must deepen our understanding of prayer and commit ourselves to its practice.

After my reflections, I feel I know Catherine a little bit better. I hope I have encouraged you to get to know her too.

Music: Set the World on Fire – Britt Nicole

This song gives a modern interpretation of Catherine of Siena’s famous quote: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire“. 

Suggested Scripture: Romans 12:1-2

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For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eastertide, Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

April 25, 2026

Living the Gospel

These reflections during Eastertide 2026 are reblogs from 2023.

Our readings for that year were the same as this year’s, and some of the thoughts might be worth rethinking. I hope my long-timers enjoy them a second time, and that my new-timers appreciate a trip back in time. I thank all of you for journeying with me on Lavish Mercy.

Fall in Love Again

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Discipleship, Eastertide, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Easter Sunday
April 5, 2026

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In God’s great mercy, we have been given new birth into a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.

1 Peter 1:3-4

They woke up one morning beside each other as they had for fifteen years. The scent of last night’s acrid argument lingered in the corners of the room. After a few moments, he turned to her and said, “We need to learn how to love each other again. Can we try?”

Over the course of long-term relationships, the parties change. Phil and Judy wanted to remain committed to their marriage, but they found themselves strangled by years of unpruned misunderstandings. All heart commitments meet similar challenges. All dreams fray a little on their way to fulfillment.

We have followed Jesus through Holy Week on such a road. Passover Sunday filled his spirit with the fresh scent of palms and possibilities. But as the week waned, the Father led Jesus in a daunting direction. He asked his Son to give the ultimate price for love.

Our lives too will teach us this: every ride on a palm-strewn road meets a fork toward Gethsemane. There is no true love without sacrifice. But the road does not end at the foot of the cross. Loving sacrifice lifts us to see this morning’s Easter sunrise. The life that had lain hidden in darkness now rises triumphant in our hearts. Today, we are offered the grace to live this mystery on our own journeys. Amazingly, Easter invites us to fall in love again with God and to begin our lives anew

Music: Love Is Come Again (Now the Green Blade Riseth)

Suggested Reading: John 20:1-9

Click for Scripture

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Awesome Expectations

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Cross, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, spirituality, sufferingLeave a comment

Holy Saturday
April 4, 2026

We expect things, don’t we? Things as simple as rain. Things as complex as babies. We expect to wake up tomorrow, to have a safe drive home from work, to complete the to-do lists stuffed in our pockets. We expect life. We even expect death. We expect much of the in-between.

But it is the things we don’t expect that profoundly change our lives. These things shatter our routine and make a passageway for extraordinary grace. You have had such moments. During them, you were like the ancient Jews standing at the fracture of the Red Sea. Your soul was in a battle between fear and awe.

These moments came to you in various disguises: tragedy, surprise, celebration, disappointment, betrayal, or forgiveness. From the vantage point of time, you may be able to see how these moments freed you, redeemed you. Or, now within such a moment, you may still be struggling to discover its Divine Potential.

The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb by Hans Holbein (c. 1522)

We are not unlike the disciples experiencing the Passover of Jesus’s life. They, even He, may not have expected the Thursday of Transubstantiation – the giving of his body into the eternal bread and wine. They did not expect the cleavage of their sacred world by an unholy crucifixion. They did not expect a dislodged stone to yield a golden resurrection.

All that they did not expect we now call “Easter” – a rebirth in the steadfast assurance that God’s life ever triumphs. May we all be broken and blessed by this astounding and unexpected grace!

Spend some time today considering your hopes. Look for the things yet hidden behind the stone of expectation. Are they worthy of the awesome soul God gave you, and the immense invitation within the Paschal Mystery? Are we looking into an empty tomb, expecting new life? Or, on this hollow and hallow Saturday, are we quietly listening for whatever unexpected grace Easter will offer us?

Music: Exsultet – setting by Ryan Clouse

(And yes, I was annoyed by what I thought was a misspelling of “Exultet”. However, I did some research and this is an acceptable, though archaic, version of the word. There is an unfortunate ad near rhe end. Hit “skip” in lower right to view end of video. It’s worth it.

Suggested Scripture: Isaiah 53:1-12

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For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?