“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.
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Luke 2: 22-40 - Sister Sandra Araújo dos Santos, SNDdeN February 2, 2021 Fall and Rise - Pain and Consolation - Just and Devout This Gospel, so familiar to us, can always surprise us if we allow it to. Today, as I read it to prepare my contribution to the...
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 1: 21-28 - Sister Jo Threlfall, SNDdeN The experience of the Pandemic in the past year has probably given us the time to stop and reflect on life and events that have changed our world. It has also given us the opportunity to do some self-reflection....
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 1: 14-20 - Sister Agnes Nelson, SNDdeN In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus proclaiming that the kingdom of God is close at hand and we then see him calling his first disciples. I think these two incidents are intrinsically linked. The first call of the Apostles was I...
Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time
Matt. 18: 21-35 Sunday Reflection by Sister Marie Andre Mitchell, SNDdeN Forgiveness without Limit. Today’s gospel is all about forgiveness. It begins with Peter asking Jesus, “How often must I forgive…” Peter was feeling magnanimous and gives the largest number he...
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
There are many ways is which we may be called. People may call us directly or by the phone. They may call us by silent signs or send somebody to call us to them. Some of the earliest converts to Christianity came from the circle of John the Baptist’s disciples....
The Baptism of the Lord
Mark 1: 7-11 The Baptism of the Lord - Sister Esther Adama, SNDdeN The Church today celebrates the feast of the Baptism of the Lord which is regarded as the second feast of the Lord’s manifestation after the feast of Epiphany. In both feasts the identity of Jesus was...
Feast of the Epiphany
Matt. 2:1-12 Sunday Reflection by Sister Ellen Keane, SNDdeN The journey of the Magi was a pilgrimage to a holy place, but more importantly, their pilgrimage was, first and foremost, an inward journey…the kind of journeying that was soulful, that was sacred…that...
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
Luke 2: 16-21 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God - Sister Tess Rynn “For today a child is born for us, a son given to us.” Seemingly just that – a child is born. Today’s feast however points us to that other momentous reality -- Mary is the mother of this child and Mary...
Feast of the Holy Family
Luke 2: 22-40 Feast of the Holy Family - Sister Biddy Rose Tiernan, SNDdeN The celebration of this feast each year soon after Christmas is always a reminder to me of the thoroughness of the Incarnation … the full humanity that the Word of God, Jesus, took when...
Christmas Dawn
Luke 2: 15 - 20 Sunday Reflection by Sister Maria Delaney, SNDdeN Major celebrations normally encompass extended opportunities for people to gather and enjoy each other’s company. Multiple Masses beginning on Christmas Eve and extending into Christmas morning allow...
Christmas Midnight
Feast Day Reflection by Sister Priscilla Aliu, SNDdeN I want to begin this reflection with the words of my favourite and timeless Christmas song, “O Holy Night” written by Placide Cappeau and later composed into music by Adolphe Adam in 1847. The first few lines and...
Vigil of the Nativity of the Lord
Matthew 1: 1-25 Feast Day Reflection by Sister Marilyn Kerber, SNDdeN I don’t think I will ever forget the introduction to a Christmas Eve homily I heard many years ago. The celebrant began “It’s a girl!” This certainly brought me, and I would imagine the other...
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Luke 1: 26-38 Watching and Waiting with Hope Recently, the words from this hymn came to me, “O come, O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.” They woke me in the early morning to watch and wait for the dawning of a new day. This year the world is watching and...
Third Sunday of Advent
John 1: 6-8, 19-28 Sunday Reflection by Sister Mary O'Brien, SNDdeN The third Sunday of Advent is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday – ‘Rejoice for the Lord is near’. I am writing this at a time when, in England, we are in lockdown at least until 2 December. There...
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Luke 1: 26-38 Feast Day Reflection by Sister Anne Louise Nadeau, SNDdeN DOES IT REALLY MATTER? Mary, what are we to believe about you? How do we strip away the myths, the folklore, the falsehoods, and the mysteries surrounding your personhood? How do we look under the...
Second Sunday of Advent
Mark 1:1-8 Sunday Reflection by Sister Ginny Scally, SNDdeN In today’s Second Reading, we are assured that “the Lord is not being slow. The Lord is being patient…wanting (us) to change our ways,” so that “righteousness will be at home” among us. But God DOES seem, not...
First Sunday of Advent
Sunday Reflection by Sister Marna Rogers, SNDdeN The Nobel Poet for 2020 is an American writer, Louise Gluck, of whom the Nobel Committee notes in the award statement..."a poet of radical change and rebirth, where the leap forward is made from a deep sense of...
Feast of Christ the King
Matthew 25: 31-46 Sunday Reflection by Sister Roseanne Murphy, SNDdeN As we come to the end of our liturgical year, we find the images of Christ as Shepherd and as King. In the first reading for today, the prophet Ezekiel portrays an image of Christ as a loving,...
Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time
Matt. 25: 14-30 Sunday Reflection by Sister Esther Adama, SNDdeN Beloved in Christ, the word of God today talks about how active and committed we ought to be as Christians with our God given talents. It also calls us to action, not carelessness in faith. The three...
Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time
Sunday Reflection by Sister Eileen Cassidy, SNDdeN An initial reading of this parable about the wise and foolish virgins feels rather uncomfortable on two counts: it seems to approve of the wise virgins’ apparently selfish behaviour which resulted in the foolish...
