Catholic Women Preach

Preaching for Good Friday, Sr. Melinda Adrienne Pellerin, ssj offers a reflection "Were You There When Love Costs Everything": "The Goodness, the holiness of this particular Friday is the ultimate act of love and we should tremble! The African American Spiritual’s lyrics, composed by the enslaved: Were You There, when they crucified my Lord? We place ourselves there. We remember, an...

Preaching for Holy Thursday, Leslye Colvin offers a reflection on Jesus' questions that serve as invitations to metanoia: In the Gospel of John reading proclaimed on Maundy Thursday, Jesus does not disappoint. He captures my attention by asking a question. At initial glance, it may appear to be quite simple. Yet, in pondering it, we may see it as a profound invitation to metanoia. "So whe...

Preaching for Palm Sunday, Elsie Miranda offers a reflection on the cost of discipleship: "It is my hope that as we prepare ours minds for Holy Week, with palms in hand—may we might find new meaning in the passion--- that calls us to renew how we understand our call to discipleship—and thus discover that the cost of discipleship simply requires that we be open to encountering Christ along the...

Preaching for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, JoAnn Melina Lopez offers a reflection on our call to journey to the tomb and co-create, with God, new life: "God is bringing life to birth, restoring and renewing our world. Do we see it? God is calling us to partner in rolling away the stones and untying the bonds of injustice. Do we hear it? This resurrection hope in the life-giving power of God is n...

Preaching for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Sr. Nicole Trahan, FMI offers a reflection on seeing and dismantling systems of injustice in our world:   " As we continue to engage in the process of seeing, analyzing, reflecting, and responding our vision becomes more clear. Much like the man Jesus cures in today’s Gospel...The process doesn’t end there, though. Then, it is time to respond. Today’s...

Preaching for the Third Sunday of Lent, Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley offers a reflection on seeing each other as Christ sees us:   "Where the world makes us invisible – we are made visible again in Christ! This is the faith we are initiated into at the well of Baptism. It is this proclamation of conversion and metanoia and faith that we are called to run and tell about. We are called to lead other...

Preaching for the Second Sunday of Lent, Jung Eun Sophia Park, SNJM offers a reflection on the "Rhythm of the Paschal Journey":   "We, the people of God, are also invited into the Rhythm of the Paschal journey, which first begins with our receiving blessings, to then become blessings ourselves. We experience these abundant blessings and then encounter the cry of the poor, the lonely, and the...

Preaching for the First Sunday of Lent, Crystal Catalan offers a reflection on journeying through the desert times in our lives:   "I am so grateful that the Gospel passage for this Sunday does not end with Jesus suffering in the desert. Rather, the passage ends with, 'Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.' For me, this is the beauty of our faith. That we abs...

Preaching for Ash Wednesday, Rose Lue offers a reflection on living our Lenten practices from our heart:   "May what we do, and say, come from this greater capacity for life and love that is found in the heart, where God resides deep within us. May it give witness to our true communion with God, with one another, and with all of creation."   Rose Lue is a community organizer, justice adv...

Preaching for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sister Eileen Reilly, SSND offers a reflection on the gospel's call to "be perfect" through the lens of her ministry with people who have lost loved ones to violence and murder:   "As you can see, each of these folks has taught me something about this Gospel call to be perfect. So, my answer to the question, Does God really expect us to be pe...

Preaching for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Crystal Caruana Sullivan offers a reflection on our relationship to God's law and our journey of discipleship:   "A 'rule book' may work as a moral guide for a three-year-old.  But we need something more than the prescriptive starting point or set of rules or list of laws. We need Jesus. We need Jesus, who takes us deeper into the mystery...

Preaching for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mary Miro offers a reflection on the life's work that is playing our role in the Reign of God:   "I also know this work is about more than handing out bread to the poor. This is more than a one-time public policy measure, philanthropic event, or election; this is a life’s work. Let us bravely step into the light and, together, be about liberating...

Preaching for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Beth Ford McNamee offers a reflection on embracing our call to be a part of God's unfolding reign of justice:    "Consider your calling, Paul says. Can we show up for this upside-down reigning of God? Can we place ourselves in spaces where we are not trying to be first, best, or boasting before God and others? Can we place ourselves inste...

Preaching for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Karen Ross offers a reflection on the radical vision God has for God's people:   "Since God is an active God working in and through the lives of those who suffer, we can be assured that this new world is not only possible, but that she is already on her way. May we have the grace and bravery not only see this light amidst the darkness, but be t...

Preaching for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lisa Frey, offers a reflection on our calling to give witness:   "At family tables or meeting tables, at bedsides or on laptops… testimony needs to be lifted up everywhere there is a hunger for it. It is not the time for shrinking, for protests of inadequacy, unprepared, overwhelmed, too young, too old, not the right gender or race or orientat...

Preaching for the Feast of the Epiphany, Stella Baltazar reflects on the call to unite all humanity in cooperation with Nature and the Divine toward a new reality:  "[The Epiphany] is a call to humanity to  enter the circle of life and breathe as one. The journey of the wise men is an act of regeneration to a new existence. This is the discovery made by the Magi. Their keen observation o...

Preaching for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Lauri Przybysz offers a reflection on Mary's love and concern for all individuals and families, and particularly those are are victim to violence:   "Mary was chosen for the role of Mother of God, to make God present in the world. Someone experiencing a dangerous home situation may choose you – when they seek guidance and help. They may need...

Nontando Hadebe preaches for Christmas, offering a reflection on being "Christmas People":   "So Christmas is not a once-off event that happens on the 25th of December, but it is a calling at the very core of our identity to be a Christmas people...Christmas cannot be celebrated without people experiencing the mercy and the love of God in tangible ways. And the only way they can do that is th...

Preaching for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Colleen Dulle offers a reflection on Mary's faith:   "Mary, like every new parent in the face of very imminent physical and material fears, is still holding on to faith in the intangible thing that has been promised to her: That she will have a child, who will be a sign to her and to the world that God is with us."   Colleen Dulle is a multimedi...

Preaching for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Elisabeth Roman offers a reflection on Mary's model of discipleship:   "But it is Mary who truly inspires us to go forward in faith; to say yes to God each and every day, as we care for those suffering still from the COVID 19 pandemic, for those mourning the losses of family members; to care for the sick, the poor, and the elderly. And the mig...

Preaching for the Third Sunday of Advent, Julie Hanlon Rubio offers a reflection on Prophetic Patience:   "Patience is a theme in this week’s readings. A virtue. While patience seems appropriate when I’m thinking about resting in Advent rather than rushing to Christmas, when patience is presented as an anecdote to impatience with injustice, I worry. Though it may seem as if this week’s readin...

Preaching for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Patricia A. Parachini, SNJM invites us to give consent to God's invitation in our own lives:   "Consenting to God’s call in our lives can be a difficult process and sometimes even emotionally draining   It often requires a response based on very little information.   As you know from your own experience, consent requi...

Preaching for the Second Sunday of Advent, Joanna Williams offers a reflection on cooperating to bring about God's peace, justice, and freedom:   "And if we have the grace of that hope, we are better equipped to do the hard work of the journey to get there. Which means winnowing and clearing and cutting down and burning what doesn’t bear fruit."   Since 2021, Joanna Williams has bee...

Preaching for the First Sunday of Advent, Teresa Maya CCVI offers a reflection on what it means to prepare:   "Preparing the way is not just decorating, reading, or meditating- though, all those practices are graced reminders of the season we begin. Preparing the way is moving, walking in Jesus’ paths, and finding those he blessed, healed and accompanied...May our first candle of Advent remin...

Preaching for the Solemnity of Christ the King, Angélica N. Quińónez offers a reflection on the "kingship" of Jesus:   "It is easy to call Jesus King, to proclaim his Kingship, to sing hyms of praise to Christ our King, but it might still challenge us to understand that Jesus flipped what it meant to be a King with a kingdom. We are called to build that kingdom of mercy and love. But, until w...