- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- December 4, 2023
Today we’re going to take a stroll through the story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus, the tax collector. It is found in Luke 19:1-10. The story begins with this curious statement: Jesus intended to pass through the town (Jericho). So, even Jesus changed his plans sometimes. What made him change
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- November 27, 2023
Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is the season of the church year that celebrates dreams and miracles. The dry parched desert can burst into a field of poppies and forget-me-nots… Helpless little lambs can snuggle next to mighty ferocious lions… A wild scrawny man dressed in
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- November 20, 2023
Deborah Meister, a writer and artist in St. Louis, MO, tells this true story. She was in the church parking lot before Mass one Sunday and overheard a child arguing with his parents. “But I don’t want to go to church,” he cried. “It’s boring!” She wondered if the father
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- November 13, 2023
This is the first paragraph in Frank Bruni’s book The Beauty of Dusk: They say that death comes like a thief in the night. Lesser vandals have the same MO. The affliction that stole my vision, or at least a big chunk of it, did so as I slept. I
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- November 6, 2023
As many of you know, I collect quotations. I have drawers of 3 X 5 cards filled with thousands of quotes from a wide variety of people. I started doing this as a college student. I file my quotes under topics such as adversity, beauty, happiness, Jesus, love, prayer, writing,
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- October 30, 2023
A good friend handed me a book the other day, saying, “Here, I think you might like this book.” The book is Inspiration Sandwich by an artist named SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy). My friend was right. I really enjoyed this unique and highly imaginative book. In one section SARK
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- October 23, 2023
I can’t let autumn fly by, without a few thoughts on this beautiful time of the year. So, today I’ve put together some brief reflections on this season by four writers—all happen to be women. The first is a quote by George Eliot—whose real name was Mary Ann Evans. She
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- October 16, 2023
As we know, there’s a very important meeting taking place in Rome right now. It is the Synod on Synodality. I wrote something about it on my October 2 post. The Synod runs from October 4-29. But it began on October 1 with a three day retreat outside of Rome.
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- October 9, 2023
There’s a famous black and white photo from the Third Reich taken in Hamburg, Germany in 1936. It shows a crowd of shipyard workers, a hundred or more, with their right hands raised, saluting their allegiance to Adolf Hitler. But if you look more closely, you see one man who
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
- October 2, 2023
Recently Eric (my grandnephew) and Mary Ann were married. Mary Ann’s father Ron is a deacon at the nearby church and he presided at the service. Deacon Ron wanted to walk his daughter down the aisle in a suit—not his clerical clothes. This meant he had to change after doing
