Kathy Coffey

St. Augustine got a few things right, others spectacularly wrong. But his mother, St. Monica, never gave up on him.

People found Jesus scandalously ordinary. Why couldn’t he muster some pyrotechnics, or at least a last-minute save from the crucifix?

How respectfully St. Paul speaks with Athenians, “looking carefully” at their shrines. He credits their poets for expressing that we too are God’s offspring.

“God has a dream for you,” St. Ignatius of Loyola said. And best of all it accords with our own deepest desires.

A still life painter or an artistic photographer helps us see something as ordinary as bread, bird or pear with new appreciation. If we don’t pause to thank, we might assume such mini-blessings will always be there.

The whirlwind of activity in Catherine of Siena’s life flowed from a grounded spiritual center. She couldn’t have addressed and resolved so many conflicts had she not been clear within.