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Happy Birthday, Shero Joan Chittister!

Happy Birthday, Shero Joan Chittister!

Celebrating 90 years of life on April 26, 2026, Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister’s prophetic voice is a call to action in a polarized world.

I call her my Shero, but most people call her Sr. Joan Chittister. A Benedictine nun for over 70 years, a modern-day prophet, spirited and prolific writer, she has authored more than 50 books (many of which are on my bookshelves) and hundreds of articles. Her voice inspires, encourages, guides, heartens, and provokes in all the good ways.

Meeting Sr. Joan at the 4^th World Congress of Benedictine Oblates in 2017 was a dream come true! I felt I could have talked with her forever, a real soul sister.

A woman with a heart on fire—Joan is unafraid to use her voice for justice, equality, inclusion, and peace. Joan’s energy, hope, resilience, and overall sassiness are an inspiration to me. She has served in a variety of leadership roles, including prioress of her monastery, President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and President of the Federation of St. Scholastica, but it is her voice in the world that cannot be contained, bringing new ways to understand faith and spirituality and a woman’s place in it all.

As a leader of women, she is unapologetically outspoken on behalf of women’s causes. Of course, a strong woman’s voice seems to inevitably result in a controversy or two, but Joan is not shy about doubling down on her beliefs, even if it puts her at odds with the Vatican. For this, I love her so. She is courageous and convicted.

Having grown up in a Catholic diocese where doubt and certainly questions were not welcome, imagine the appeal of Chittister’s spiritual memoir, Called to Question. REALLY, I am also called to question? The answer: Yes, I am. Not only do I have permission, but I also have a role model. I, too, can and must ask questions, trust the answers, and use my voice—not without consequence, of course—with an unashamed, authentic spirituality open to deeper learning.

“It is a discouraging process sometimes to need to begin over and over again to complete the process of spiritual growth, which we tend to believe should be linear when it is, in fact, circular to the core,” Chittister writes in Called to Question.

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April 27, 2026 0

Celebrating my love of books and synchronicity on World Book Day!

As both a bibliophile and a believer in synchronicity, I love it when the right book comes along at just the right time.

Whether at home or away, I always have a book, or ten, by my bedside and a couple of audiobooks in progress. I like to have choices.

I have dozens of books on my shelves that I want to re-read (and do) (and will), especially for planning retreats that I lead, and I have dozens waiting for just the right time to open. I have a To Be Read shelf on Goodreads that I add to daily (467 at last count). There is no chance in my lifetime that I will get them all read, but no matter. I find this advice wonderful:

“Think not of the books you’ve bought as a ‘to be read’ pile. Instead, think of your bookcase as a wine cellar. You collect books to read at the right time, the right place, and the right mood.” -Luc van Donkersgoed

Reading a good book can inspire, motivate, and encourage. A good book can take you to another world in your imagination, create or satisfy your curiosity, help you learn new information, or impart life lessons. A good book can make you wonder, help you solve a problem, and make you laugh or cry. A good book can challenge you, make you angry, make you happy, or help you understand. A good book is satisfying.

I have heard “the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching toward infinity.”

–A. Edward Newton

I cannot get enough of books, and I am okay with that. For all of my days, I will reach towards the wonder of stories yet to be read, things to be learned, feelings to be felt. My soul reaches toward infinity…

Sharing a few reflections on books that have touched me (and so many more to come):

The Right Book at the Right Time: A Divine Encounter (The Red Bird by Paula D’Arcy)

A Journey with The Little Prince (The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

Atoms of Delight: A Pilgrimage to Iona (Atoms of Delight by Kenneth Steven)

The Book of Longings (The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd)

Why I Teach (The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer)

You Say I am Loved and That Is Enough (Made for Goodness by Desmond Tutu)

Home Is The Nicest Word There Is (Soul of a Pilgrim by Christine Valters Paintner)

Naked Before God (Soul of a Pilgrim by Christine Valters Paintner)

The Soul of a Pilgrim: A Benedictine Pilgrimage, Part 1 (Soul of a Pilgrim by Christine Valters Paintner)

A Journey with The Little Prince

It has been several years since I spent time with “Le Petit Prince” and the young pilot, but when I read that it was the 80th anniversary of The Little Prince, a novella written and illustrated by French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, I immediately ran to my bookshelf, pulling the slim blue volume from my cherished re-reads shelf.

Each time I read it, I glean something new—a spiritual lesson, an insight about what is essential, a new way to think about time, friendship, life, and death. The Little Prince is a treasure to many. Over 300 million copies have been sold worldwide, making it one of the best-selling and most widely read books in history.It has been translated into 600 different languages and dialects worldwide, second only to the Bible. There is something very special, mystical even, about this story that transcends age, culture, religion, or language.

It took less than an hour (in real life) to take the transcendent journey with the six-year-old pilot who had “flown almost everywhere in the world,” and the Little Prince who traveled from his home asteroid B-612, “where everything is very small.” They meet in the Sahara Desert, “in the face of an overpowering mystery,” where the pilot has crash-landed, and the prince has been on a voyage to other planets.

As the pilot and the prince share the journeys that brought them together, I am in awe of the impact that great literature and storytelling can have on a reader, offering so many spiritual lessons. As if through the lens of a kaleidoscope, with each turning, one sees a little different story, a new perspective. Rotate it towards the light, and yet another image is revealed. This is the mystery of sacred reading, or Lectio Divina. For me, this turn of the kaleidoscope captured the importance of living life more soulfully with childlike wonder and joy, a reminder that my worth cannot be counted.

How Grown-Ups See The World

In The Little Prince, we see, for instance, that the way grown-ups see the world is less than ideal. Consumed with facts, tasks to be completed, and accumulating possessions, grown-ups with heightened self-importance are more concerned with financial value, usefulness, meeting expectations, and making sure their expectations are met.

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April 4, 2026 0