Kathy Coffey

St. Bonaventure said that creation was God’s first book, leading us back to God if we “read” it properly. Jesus said “consider the lilies”—not look at them or smell them, but reflect on them. What do they show you about God?

The way we see others is determined by the lens through which we look. Perhaps a previous experience shades this one, or the other person is influenced by some other event or action, not necessarily mine.

We need not only appreciate the gifts of earth, water, and air, but learn to care for them. If we simply fear climate change and planetary destruction, it freezes our creativity.

Through Elizabeth Ann Seton, we see poignantly the motherly face of God. As St. Anselm wrote, “Christ my mother, you gather your chickens under your wings.”

It’s harder to show compassion if we disconnect from our own wisdom and experience—perhaps rejecting some part of ourselves we think is shameful. The key to loving another is the ability to love all of ourselves—being flawed but fully human, whole.

Julian of Norwich wrote, “This beloved soul was preciously knitted to God in its making, by a knot so subtle and so mighty that it is oned in God.”