Category: Connecting Point

How does prayer guide me to do the right thing? We learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the Word of the Lord and sharing in his Paschal mystery, […]

How can my living attract someone who is lost? I remember when I was in my twenties someone asked me what I thought was the most attractive feature of a […]

How can I rely more on God’s wisdom and less on my own?” We live in a time when knowledge and information are easily accessible. If you want to find […]

I write my Connecting Point reflections in the evening after taking about an hour to sit and pray with Jesus. For this reflection, I prayed for quite a few days […]

How can I up my game to enter the kingdom? From Luke’s Gospel, we read that Jesus responded to the question, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” by […]

How can I get fired up for Christ’s mission? It was that time of year again. Football Season! Michigan State vs. University of Michigan. The food was prepared and the […]

How do I find the courage to live my faith? Music; especially prayerful, powerful sacred music. Life can be frightening with all the bad stuff happening around us,  but we […]

How can I use my hard work to glorify God? ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;and the things you have prepared, to whom will they […]

What impact does prayer have on my daily life? “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of […]

How can I choose to be more attentive in the moment? Have you ever been in a situation where you’re in a group having a conversation with friends or family, […]

What more can I do to show others mercy? Jesus is tested by a law scholar on how to inherit eternal life. When Jesus asks him what the law says, […]

How do I find the trust to take a risk? In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends the seventy disciples to continue his work of “casting out demons.”  In this context, ‘demons’ […]

How can following the Lord lead me to true freedom?  When I think of freedom, many ideas and images enter by mind. I think of the brave men and women that […]

How can I do more with what little I have? Today we hear the well-known story of Jesus feeding the multitude gathered before him with only five loaves and two […]

How does the Trinity shape wisdom, faith and truth in my life? As a lifelong Catholic and a long time employee of the Church, I feel that I should have […]

“I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you […]

How do I live as a witness to Christ’s message? My father passed away when I was 16 years old.  I was in the tenth grade, frozen with fear, and not […]

How can I find Christ’s Peace when I am not feeling peaceful? Finding peace has been very difficult for me lately.  Most days I am literally one hot mess of […]

Love one another. God instructs us to “Love one another.” It seems difficult, this act of offering love to all. What does it mean to love one another? Have you […]

How is a good mother like a good shepherd? In recent months two of my nieces, both of whom grew up and received all of their sacraments at St. Isidore, […]

How can I realize Christ when I’m struggling? Jesus is on the shore off in the distance while the disciples were on the boat fishing all night. They did not […]

I think we all have people in our lives, often including close friends and family, who are just not ready to believe in Christ. We hope that Christ will one […]

Keep your eyes open to see Christ Today! In John’s account of the Resurrection, we are told that as the Beloved Disciple entered the empty tomb he “saw and believed.”  […]

How can I commit myself to Jesus to honor his sacrifice this week? There are several opportunities for you to honor all Christ has done for us this week. Sacred […]

“How can I show compassion for those I am tempted to condemn?” In today’s society we see people placing judgment and giving condemnation in the news, at school, in the […]

What relationship in my life do I need to unconditionally reconcile? This weekend we find ourselves halfway through the Season of Lent.  We began the Season on Ash Wednesday by […]

What can I do to adjust my attitude and be a more positive influence on others? Be Positive! I remember one of the first cell phones that I ever purchased […]

How can I adjust my attitude to be a more positive influence on others? Be Positive! I remember one of the first cell phones that I ever purchased allowed users […]

Where are the dark places in my life that need light? This week’s Gospel reading discusses the Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The word “transfigured” comes from […]

How can I block temptations and focus on deeper desires? Where do we look for help to deal with temptations? How do we block out the daily temptations that plague […]

When has my focus on the shortcomings of others blinded me to my own? This is a difficult question to answer. If we are truly blind to our own shortcomings, […]

How can I show love for those that bother me? Today’s Gospel is another well-known passage that contains a motto by which we should live as Christians:  …love your enemies, […]

How do I recognize God’s blessings in times of need? This week’s readings are full of Jesus’ teachings about the many gifts and blessings He has given to each of […]

One of my favorite sayings is “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”  If you are like me, you have at times felt insecure in becoming more involved […]

I often take time to thank God for the gifts God has given me, and try to find ways to share those gifts with others. I thank God for the […]

Rejoice!! This Sunday’s readings bring us a message of rejoicing for we learn that the Spirit is upon Jesus AND upon us.  Jesus shows us clearly in the Gospel Reading […]

How can I trust that God’s got my back? This is for everyone – yes that means you, too – the overworked, high-stressed, short on time – busy person with […]

You are a beloved child of God…. And we are, “not because of any righteous deeds we have done but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5) As this new year […]

Epiphany a good chance to reflect on the the story of the wisemen, three wealthy foreign “kings” who traveled a long way to seek Christ and offer him their gifts. […]

“How do I receive Jesus as the most important gift of Christmas?” Giving and receiving gifts at Christmas is a spiritual activity of the highest order.  Gifts are an expression […]

How can I make room for unexpected God moments? The Scripture from Luke this week tells of the moment when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth to let her know she […]

I love the celebration of Christmas.  It is an opportunity for the Church to look like it could and should look like every weekend of the year: the parking lot […]

In this week’s Gospel, John the Baptist proclaims “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” In our Church, we can seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but […]

How can I find strength to work through my daily anxieties? When I look back over the high & lows of my life, I sometimes wondered why God kept the […]

All of us experience times of darkness.  These dark times are usually the result of the hardships life gives us: the death of a loved one; serious illness; broken relationships […]

What can I learn from the changing of the seasons? Seasons remind us that change isn’t bad, especially when we’re prepared for it. Seasons are the epitome of predictable change. […]

Are we naturally creatures of responsive love or are we reactionary creatures of a variety of emotional responses good, bad and ugly? Habitual responses can be difficult to break especially […]

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. We find this quote in both the […]

This week in the Gospel we have the story of Bartimaeus the blind man. Bartimaeus was healed by Jesus because of his faith. Before he met Jesus Bartimaeus was blind […]

Who do I look up to for their humility, and how can I learn from them?  Like most people, I look especially to people in my own profession. The priests, […]