“As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)
“Like Mary whose name we bear, we are called to hear the word of God and keep it. Our attentive listening shapes in us a contemplative and prophetic attitude toward the whole of life and enables us to act in ways which witness to God’s love and justice.” (SNDdeN Constitution 47)
Perhaps our reflections on the weekly Gospel will help you nurture your own relationship with God.
Through these reflections on the Gospel Readings for the Sundays and Major Feasts of the Liturgical Year, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur from various parts of the world share with you their thoughts and ponderings on these Scripture passages. These reflections are posted in the language of the author with links to translation.
These Scripture readings and reflections reveal Glimpses of God’s Goodness in our daily lives. We pray that these reflections will strengthen your faith, renew your hope and enflame the love of God in you, and through you, to others.
Pentecost Sunday
John 20: 19-23 Sunday Reflection by Sister Priscilla Aliu, SNDdeN The feast of the Pentecost is the birthday and the inauguration of the church. The apostles in company of Mary received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy gave the apostles a communal confirmation to...
Seventh Sunday of Easter
John 17: 1 - 11a Sunday Reflection by Sister Barbara Thiella, SNDdeN Early March of 2020, my large California living community withdrew and began waiting for the coronavirus to go away. Sequestered, the 400+ began our long wait for healing. Like the community of...
Ascensão do Senhor
Mateus 28, 16-20 Reflexão do Dia da Festa pela Irmã Rebecca Spires, SNDdeN A mensagem de Jesus é muito clara: Vai ao mundo inteiro, não deixe ninguém de fora. Ensina o que eu vos ensinei, faz o que eu fazia. E isso me lembra das palavras de Madre São José:...
Ascension Thursday
Matthew 28: 16 - 20 Feast Day Reflection by Sister Rebecca Spires, SNDdeN Jesus' message is very clear: Go to the whole world, let no one be left out. Teach what I taught you, do what I did. It reminds me of Mother St. Joseph's words: "Live with the life of Jesus,...
Vigil of the Ascension
John 10:1-10 Feast Day Reflection by Sister Angele Lewis, SNDdeN Today’s liturgical readings mark a shift from Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances to selections that feature the teachings of Jesus on discipleship. This Vigil of the Ascension identifies us as SHEEP...
Sixth Sunday of Easter
John 14: 15 - 21 Sunday Reflection by Sister Barbara Barry, SNDdeN Happy Easter! May the joy and hope of the resurrection give you strength during these difficult days. Over the years I have become more conscious of the fact that our scriptures, rather than being an...
Fifth Sunday of Easter
John 14: 10-12 Sunday Day Reflection by Sister Elizabeth Sichangi, SNDdeN Solve life’s problems with prayer and discernment There is a common understanding that out of insignificant can come the infinitely important things Jesus teaches us today, to see opportunities...
Fourth Sunday of Easter
John 10:1-10 Sunday Reflection by Sister Sandra Araujo Santos, SNDdeN “I have come so that all may have life and have it to the full.” My first reaction in reading this Gospel is a question. How does one know if this affirmation of the person, Jesus, as “the gate,”...
Third Sunday of Easter
Luke 24:13-35 Sunday Day Reflection by Sister Eileen Burns, SNDdeN Carol Schuck Scheiber, editor of Horizons Journal of the National Religious Vocation Conference writes in their Winter 2020 edition: “Music lovers everywhere recognize that in pop songs (and songs in...
Second Sunday of Easter
John 20:19-31 Sunday Day Reflection by Sister Marie Tighe, SNDdeN It is not difficult to picture the disciples as they huddled behind closed doors on the evening of the day of the Lord’s Resurrection. John tells us that the doors were closed for fear of the Jews. Fear...
Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord
John 21:1-9 Sunday Day Reflection by Sister Barbara Metz, SNDdeN As I moved into reflection on the gospels for the Easter Vigil and Easter morning, I found myself present to a depth of grief that was hard to describe. It touched in me the deepest grief I had ever...
Feast of the Vigil of Easter
Matthew 28:1-10 Feast Day Reflection by Sister Agnes Nelson, SNDdeN There are really two stories in this Gospel. In the first we hear about the soldiers who were so overcome with fear that they seemed like corpses. The women too were afraid but the angel is quite...
Feast of Good Friday
Matthew 28:1-10 Feast Day Reflection by Sister Josephine Threlfall, SNDdeN Our Lenten journey this year has been like no other in our life time. None of us would have thought that we would reach Good Friday with all our Churches closed and without Holy Week Services...
Feast of Holy Thursday
John 13:1-15 Feast Day Reflection by Sister Ellen Keane James O’Connell, MD, founder of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program recalls his first assignment to the Pine Street Inn, a shelter for homeless men in Boston. He shared the following experience as a...
Palm Sunday
Matthew 26:14 - 27, 66 Sunday Gospel Reflection by Sister Mary Ann Cook There are lessons to be learned from the realities of climate change and the global coronavirus pandemic: that we are fragile, vulnerable, mortal human creatures that we are interdependent with...
Fifth Sunday of Lent
John 11:1-45 Sunday Gospel Reflection by Sister Maureen O'Brien Up until this Lent, the death and new life scenario involving Jesus, Lazarus, Mary and Martha in John 11:1-45 had always helped me to pivot from a somber, though hopeful Lenten journey, into that moment...
Feast of the Annunciation
Luke 1:26-38 Feast Day Reflection by Sister Nancy Wellmeier Sometimes we find that the words we use obscure the real meaning. IF this feast were called “the Announcement” would it lift the veil of mystery just a little? What was announced was the Incarnation, the...
Fourth Sunday of Lent
John 9:1-41 Sunday Gospel Reflection by Sister Edna Maier Because I am a music lover, a song and poetic enthusiast, I delight in the various melodies that have been created to accompany God’s word. They can and often do touch our hearts with wisdom and renewed...
Third Sunday of Lent
John 4:5-42 Sunday Gospel Reflection by Sister Magdalen Lawler Glimpse: THE SAMARITAN WOMAN an encounter with Jesus. My fascination with this woman goes back many years. I was familiar with a number of images that portrayed her as a promiscuous woman. I had also heard...
Second Sunday of Lent
2nd Sunday of Lent Matthew 17:1-9 Sunday Gospel Reflection by Sister Godlieve Ziunga On this second Sunday of Lent, the Church our mother, presents the Gospel which recounts the transfiguration of the Lord. This Gospel begins by the words: “at that time…”. The...
