Category: Easter Hope

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A heart burning with desire

On By dpavinatoIn A life worth living, a season of hope, Coming home to myself, contemplation, Daily Prayer, discernment, Easter Hope, Every day Catholic, Ignatian prayer, Jubilee Year of Hope, Life in the Spirit, sacred listening, sacred seeing, sacred waiting, spiritual healing, Spiritual Journey, spiritualityLeave a comment

Last week I saw the movie released about Blessed Carlo Acutis, the impact of technology on us, and how Carlo used technology, by creating a website on Eucharistic Miracles, to spread his message of the importance of the Eucharist. Carlo was a 15-year-old Italian teenager known for his devotion to the Eucharist. His canonization, as the first millennial saint, was postponed, from April 27, due to the death and funeral of Pope Francis. Besides being an amazing young man, he is also the new patron of the Catholic grade schools that will consolidate in my home town area in The Fall. I attended the movie with two friends, Kelly and Mark. Kelly and I are parish point people for the Eucharistic Revival, for which Carlo is a selected “intercessor”, so we enjoyed seeing the bonus video at the end with highlights from this past summer’s National Eucharistic Congress. As I watched it I felt my heart fill with the same emotions that I experienced during the events of the Congress in July of 2024.

But, I wondered where those feelings of excitement and passion for the Revival went? Did they leave me, were they lost forever? Did I just get busy and forget about the importance of the topics discussed during the keynote speeches and guided prayer? Did I let others things take their place?

Later in the week, I talked to my spiritual director about my experiences during Lent, Easter and the death of Pope Francis. I commented that life got so busy at the end of Lent, that I felt I rushed through those final sacred days of Triduum and Easter. While I felt Lent and Holy Week were deeply transformative this year, I lamented that I didn’t want the intensity of the penitential days to go away. I wanted to be transformed by them, to make sure the experiences carried on beyond the Easter season. I wanted a life that reflected my beliefs as I mused on how Pope Francis lived his life. He was a Jesuit during his priesthood and papacy, keenly aware of the teachings of St. Ignatius, shaped by the Spiritual Exercises and discernment. He was a Contemplative in Action, one of the ideals of Christian life and Jesuit spirituality. He lived what he believed.

I asked “who am I now that Lent is over?” How do I feel I am being called to live the grace of resurrected life beyond Easter?

It became clear as we talked that rather than viewing these feelings as regret over something that didn’t last, it was, in fact, an invitation by the Holy Spirit to go deeper, to enter the mystery and grace of life with the risen Christ more fully. The desire was welling up in such a way that the resistance to moving in that direction could easily feel like sorrow and discouragement. I prayed for the ability to see that truth more clearly as I discerned what I was being called to. Later that day, I reflected on the gospel story of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Easter Wednesday, Luke 24: 13-35).

In the gospel account, Jesus walks with some of his disciples, who are so focused on his death, they can’t recognize who is standing in their midst and what is happening as Jesus discusses all the prophecies of his ministry, death and resurrection.

My heart burned with desire to live life differently, so much that I almost missed the invitation to go deeper. I focused on what I thought I lost instead of the Spirit inviting me into a deeper union.

How often do we miss these occasions of grace? How often do our hearts burn to move closer to Christ and our mission in life? How often do we pray and focus on the change we desire that we miss a potential opportunity to look at a situation in a new way?

Would you be willing, this week, when things look like they aren’t going the way you would like them to, or you are wrestling with a deep desire for change, that you might pause and look for a threshold moment to live in deeper grace, faith and hope? What are you being called to embrace, what new perspective is waiting for your glance and awareness?

As always, I would love to hear from you, in a private message or in a comment, as you reflect on these invitations this week.

Wishing you abundant peace and hope, Deena

Photo: a fire burning at Stronghold Retreat Center this weekend.

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A lost sheep

On By dpavinatoIn a life of joy, A life worth living, a season of hope, Benedictine Oblate, Catholic faith, Divine Mercy, Easter Hope, Every day Catholic, Jubilee Year of Hope, Laudato Si, Pope Francis, sacred listening, sacred seeing, season of change, Spiritual Journey, spirituality, waiting and reflectingLeave a comment

I woke up Friday morning from a dream and felt lost. In my dream the school children did a presentation in our church, before Mass, but moved the ambo, altar and tabernacle. As I was helping to remove their displays, a visiting priest came from the confessional. He didn’t know where everything was and I could’t find the items to help. How were we going to go on?

I woke with the realization of the heavy loss and sadness of this week. The loss of our shepherd, Pope Francis, is weighing heavily on my heart.

The week has been full of beautiful tributes and remembrances of Pope Francis’ writings and impact, so I won’t presume that I can say anything different, or more eloquently, than others have already. I have lived in a church and world guided by 7 different popes. Pope Pius XII was only pope two more years after my birth, but each of the other popes since Pope John XXIII have influenced me and my faith in various ways, but none as much as Pope Francis. He focused on themes such as joy, mercy and hope and lived a life that honored the dignity of all people. He asked us to hear the cry of the earth, our common home, and the cry of the poor and respond with love. He called us to evangelize with our lives and let our joyful way of living be the way we share the Gospel with those we encounter. His smile radiated love and compassion. These teachings, his spirituality and catecheses on other topics, were tenets that I resonated with, more than any other pope, therefore I feel the loss more deeply.

I watched the Requiem Mass live from the Vatican on Saturday morning and thought it was so fitting for the person he was and the way he lived. If things can be simple by the standards of the Vatican, and all the trappings of being Pope to a church of a reported 1.4 billion people, I think it was. I captured images so that I can recall the day, but as I watched the Mass and journey to his final resting place, I was especially moved by two images, that I felt represented the man that he was. There was something very poignant about the unadorned casket in St. Peter’s Square. Later, as the proceedings came to a close, I loved watching the white “Pope mobile” travel the city of Rome from the Vatican to Santa Maria Maggiore, where Pope Francis has been laid to rest. The Pope’s body moved through the streets of Rome among his people, close to the people, just as he preferred his pontificate to be.

I was fortunate enough to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore during my 2023 pilgrimage and now that his tomb is open to the public as of today, Divine Mercy Sunday, I have a reason to want to return.

The picture that I used for this blog image was taken during our general audience with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square. I posted it on social media this week, and in 2023 during our visit, it’s my favorite picture from the pilgrimage and I am delighted I hadn’t used it in a blog post previously.

So now I turn my prayers to formidable task ahead for the College of Cardinals. I pray for the future of the Church and for the Holy Spirit to guide the cardinals to select someone with a pastoral spirit similar to Pope Francis and with a heart and mind capable of offering wisdom to leaders in the world today.

Wishing you abundant trust in God’s mercy, and a heart full of joy and hope, Deena

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A pilgrim journey

On By dpavinatoIn a life of joy, a season of hope, Benedictine Oblate, Catholic faith, Coming home to myself, Easter Hope, Every day Catholic, Jubilee Year of Hope, Lenten journey, sacred seeing, Seeing things in a new way, Spiritual Journey2 Comments

Our Lenten journey has brought us to the glorious Feast of Easter, it is the Solemnity of all Solemnities, a joyful conclusion to our Lenten penances and the beginning of the Octave of Easter (Easter is eight days long!). I wish you and your loved ones a grace-filled Easter Season!

If you participated in the Triduum Services of the Lord’s Supper, Good Friday and Easter Vigil, there is so much to reflect on from the solemn liturgies we prayed with and today we celebrate the gift of God’s love in the Resurrection. A few thoughts came to mind as I reflected on my own journey through Lent.

Meditations written by Pope Francis for the Good Friday Way of the Cross in Rome’s Colosseum explained that the world we are faced with can be cold and calculating, that we become prisoners of ourselves when we focus on selfishness and indifference to those in need. Writing about and using the analogy of each of the Stations, Pope Francis explains our human journey and that only when we focus on the way of Christ, are we able to make sense in our lives, to bring about a restoration of joy and we feel as though we have come home.

Pope Francis’ meditation reminds me of the essence of a book I read during Lent, Jesus and the Jubilee; The Biblical Roots of the Year of God’s Favor by Dr. John Bergsma. It’s a deep and profound study of the history of the Jubilee Year in the Church and an invitation to reflect on this current Jubilee Year of Hope 2025, as a way of life, not a single, special event in the Church. He shares practical ways that we can bring the Spirit of Jubilee into our lives. We reflect on how we might make Jubilee a lifestyle and encounter the liberty that Jubilee offers us. If I approach the crosses of daily life with a heart of the Beatitudes and the “divine economy” of God, then we are able to experience the liberating grace of Jubilee.

I spent time on Holy Saturday reflecting on words written by Fr. James Martin, S.J. for America magazine on waiting. Fr. Martin wrote that most of our life is spent waiting. Our days waiting aren’t always “the unbearable pain of a Good Friday. Nor are they suffused with the unbelievable joy of an Easter.” Most days, Fr. Martin proposes, are “in between”. We wait for changes in circumstances, health, job, and relationships. I know I often think, “when this happens” (whatever “this” is), then I’ll be happier or find more peace, that my life will change or be better. But, our waiting becomes bearable when we change our approach to the outcome we desire and when we choose to wait with hope.

As I look back on this Lent, I’m a little sad it has ended. I have benefited from the extra prayers and practices. I have grown and changed in ways I hoped to, but desire so much more. That, I suppose, is our Easter pilgrimage, a journey that continues beyond this Lent and each day of our lives.

Wishing you abundant peace, Deena

Image: A fresco of the women encountering the angel at the tomb of Jesus, painted by Fra Angelico viewed in the Museo di San Marco in Florence, Italy.