Posts by Celina Manville
Our Father: The Perfect Prayer
Hundreds, maybe thousands of beautiful and insightful books, homilies, papal addresses, and gospel reflections have been written about the Our Father prayer! The treasures of this prayer are inexhaustible. It is truly the Perfect Prayer. It contains the keys to becoming a Saint! Each line offers a truth so deep, we cannot ever fully mine…
Read MoreLove & Obedience
“Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me, I will love him and reveal myself to him.” – Jn 14: 21 “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” – Jn 14: 23…
Read MoreHoly Saturday
Deep Stillness The jeering of the angry crowds The questioning of the authorities The lashing of the scourge The jabbing and shoving of the soldiers The hammering of the nails The sobbing of those witnessing the horror All of it has now passed. There is a deep stillness. Deep quiet and deep stillness. Holy Saturday…
Read MoreApproaching God in Prayer
Let me begin this reflection by asking myself: · How do I approach daily prayer? · What is the content of my prayer? · What is the disposition of my heart? · Is it routine? A task on my schedule? · Or is it love? Let me be honest with myself, and if I find…
Read MoreDesire for Greatness
The desire for greatness – while it sounds like a selfish wish or purely worldly pursuit, it is not. It is a holy desire. Each of us, as a son or daughter of God the Father, is created in His image. So, our DNA is encoded for greatness! To be any less means we are…
Read MoreOutside Our Comfort Zone
As Jesus entered the town of Bethsaida, the people brought him a blind man, and what was the very first thing Jesus did? He took this man “by the hand and led him outside the village” (Mk 8:23). Jesus led him outside what is familiar, outside his comfort zone. Jesus guided him away from this…
Read MoreLessons from Cana
When the wine ran short… What an interesting beginning for Jesus’s first recorded miracle! So many of His recorded miracles involve healings—giving sight to those who are blind, hearing to those who are deaf, health to those who are ill, and even life to those who have died. But wine running short? Somehow that doesn’t…
Read MoreThe Mystique of John the Baptist
It is interesting to think about a person like John the Baptist. Jesus points out the obvious. John certainly wasn’t someone fashionably dressed or living the life of the kinds of celebrities we see today, yet he was indeed a celebrity of sorts. Crowds came to follow and hear him. So, what drew so many…
Read MoreThrough Zacchaeus’s Eyes
During this Gospel reflection, let me enter into this beloved Gospel scene. Let me see Christ through Zacchaeus’s eyes, and let me see myself through Christ’s eyes. O Holy Spirit, flood my heart, and make me keenly aware of Your Presence. Pause and reread the account in Luke 19: 1-10. Actively visualize this event. Place…
Read MoreAm I Ashamed of Christ?
Acknowledgment is a common courteous behavior parents teach their children in their earliest years. Parents want their sons and daughters to acknowledge a person’s presence as well as gifts they have received. Acknowledgement is a way of saying that the person matters. In the beginning of today’s Gospel, Jesus is very clear about this basic…
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