I had a small revelation about Mary at the Annunciation during this year’s 8-day Spiritual Exercises. Maybe because we’re used to emphasizing her tender age when she became pregnant with Jesus, not to mention her innocence, I had always seen Mary as basically naïve. I had understood her inner movements around the Annunciation and Visitation more or less like this: first (when the angel shows up) she’s scared, then (when he explains what’s happening) she asks an obvious question, then she accepts, then she goes and serves (her cousin …

I feel that God has been inviting me to “step up” and take on a more adult role. Over the last few weeks, very familiar situations at home and at work have felt somehow different. For most of my life up to now, I would leave initiative and decision-making to others, focusing my “priestly” efforts on building little bridges, doing little favors, and otherwise trying to help other people’s projects and relationships go smoothly. Lately, though, I’ve begun to perceive people looking to me for initiative and advice on big …

I often find myself in a state of mourning, emotionally affected by the violence, corruption, poverty and racism, not to mention many other ills, that surround all of us. Because I have opted to live close to excluded people, these realities are undisguised and easy to see from my perspective. But, since I’m not marginalized or impoverished myself, I am very rarely a victim of violence or injustice – on the contrary, I live in a country where Catholic clergy are privileged and treated with great respect. …

“Peace be with you,” he says. (Lk 24, 36)

And I think of the woman who came for domestic violence counseling last week, and the rumor that the next day her husband was sharpening his machete to chop off her head.

“Peace be with you,” he repeats. (Jn 20, 19)

What about the refugees arriving here from Sri Lanka, flung halfway around the world like shrapnel from the explosion of war in their country?

“Peace be with you,” again! (Jn 20, 21)

I don’t get it, Jesus! Drugs, corruption, …