Many years before South Africa was liberated from apar tide when Nelson Mandela was a student Lawyer in Johannesburg, he had a friend whose name was Paul Mahabane.  Mahabane was a member of the (ANC) the African National Congress and had a reputation of being a radical.  One day the two of them were standing outside a post office when the local magistrate, a white man in his sixties, approached Mahabane and asked him to go inside to buy some stamps.  It was quite common in those days for a white person in South Africa, to call on a black person to perform a chore.  Paul refused.  The magistrate was offended.
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Voice from the Pew Reflection
​Sr. Phyllis Jaszkowiak
September 5, 2021

​In the gospel of today, Jesus cures a deaf mute through touch and prayer.  Jesus cures his deafness, “opens his ears” by putting his finger in the man’s ears.  Jesus cures his speech impediment by touching his tongue and praying.  The man’s deafness and speech impediment went away.  He could hear and he could speak plainly.
 
Jesus took him away from the crowd so both Jesus and the man could focus on what was needed for the cure.
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Leif Kehrwald
August 22, 2021

​Alignment. You’ve heard me speak of this before. On numerous occasions you’ve heard me say something like, “We simply seek to align the things we do in the world with the things that God does in the world.”

Sr. Phyllis Jaszkowiak
August 15, 2021
 
We celebrate today the feast of the Assumption of Mary.
 
Mary – wholly in God and God wholly in her.  The first reading today tries to express this wholly in God through visions of other worldly happenings.  The sun and moon, a great dragon with seven heads, the child spirited away immediately after birth to heaven, the woman running to a safe desert place prepared for her by God.  It is this author’s way of trying to tell in story and vision of God’s greatness, of Mary’s greatness.  The greatness of her saying ‘yes’ to God to becoming the mother of Jesus.

Leif Kehrwald
July 25, 2021

Today is the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly as established by Pope Francis, and will be celebrated every year on the fourth Sunday in July. I cannot think of a better way for Pope Francis, whether he knows it or not, to honor the 100th birthday of our own Jeanne Allen! Happy centennial birthday Jeanne!