Sample Spiritual Reflections
Sample Video Reflection
Acts of the Apostles 2025-2026
Witness a sample reflection from St. Anthony Day Member Nancy Anderson. Her words are shared in the video transcript below.
Video Transcript
Okay, good morning. My name is Nancy Anderson. I’m with the St. Anthony of Padua Day branch in the Woodlands, Texas. This reflection is on lesson one of Acts of the Apostles. It is called looking intently for more.
Let’s begin with a prayer. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Come Holy Spirit, wherever you move, you create life. Hover over us here in our upper room this year. May we be open to your touch and be transformed.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
You can see I brought a painting with me. Show and tell day. This painting has been a focal point of my prayer time since I ordered it back in May. I saw it featured on the April issue of the Magnificat, and I was so drawn to it that I just had to order it.
You can see, it’s really muted. It’s dark, kind of gloomy, right? It’s a bit hard to make out the details. But can you spot two disciples and another figure approaching from the side? You’ve probably already puzzled out that this is a depiction of the story of the ‘Road to Emmaus’. And when I read about the artist’s intent, I was intrigued that he put the disciples, two of those disciples, so close to the front edge of the painting, it looks like they’re about to walk right out of it. That’s to allow those of us who are viewing to stick ourselves right there in their place, and while it’s dark and grainy, I can see the head of one of the men is turned to observe who’s approaching, while the other one seems to be trying to look ahead through the gloom.
We know from the gospel of Luke that they don’t recognize who’s coming in their clouded state of minds. How often can I recognize Jesus around me when I’m absorbed in my troubles?
Well, all summer this painting seemed to be giving me a way to enter into our first chapter of Acts of the Apostles. Luke begins the chapter with a review of what’s occurred since Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus has been appearing to his apostles and the others for the last 40 days. The Apostles are trying so hard to understand what’s been happening, and in his time left with them, Jesus has been trying to redirect their attention to the higher purposes of God’s kingdom. He knows their eyes still see with an earthly focus.
We can see those struggles reflected in the question they ask Jesus as to whether he’s going to restore the kingdom of Israel. They’ve not yet disengaged from thinking in terms of the Earthly domain around them. And while they now know that Jesus, as the son of God and savior, they do not fully understand from what they have been saved.
They’ve been through a pretty tough time lately. Nothing turned out as they expected. Their teacher, the one they call “messiah”, was tortured and killed in a really traumatic and gruesome way. They’ve got the guilt of their own betrayals to deal with, and they’re afraid of the possibility of their own suffering and death. Add to that, the glorious but oh so overwhelming resurrection and Jesus’ appearance among them for the last 40 days. Confusion is hardly the word.
Now Jesus says he’s leaving and he’s commanding them to wait for the promise of the Father. ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.’
Well, that’s a lot to grapple with. It’s all so confusing. Luke’s first chapter of Acts reveals that while they were befuddled, the apostles did indeed comply with Jesus’ command. They went back to Jerusalem and obediently gathered in the upper room. They devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, just as scripture tells us. They were a community, unified in purpose, waiting and following the instructions of their teacher.
Did they understand for whom they were waiting? Are we acquainted with the Holy Spirit that Jesus wants to send us?
Luke emphasizes the importance of community in following the Lord, especially community united in prayer. He emphasizes that even with the betrayal of Judas, God’s plan continues, and in the selection of Mathias, we see the continuation and succession in God’s plan. His plans are never-ending, not brought to a halt over difficulties, even when things seem so murky and distressing. God’s sovereign plan and providence is at work. Hence my focus on this picture.
When I look at this painting, it just seems to capture the dark, bewildering mood the apostles might still be in. So much is obscured and tenuous. What’s ahead for them? And aren’t there so many elements here that are reflective of our own lives today?
Everyone in this room knows what it feels like to face uncertainty, dark days, and even tragedies. It can leave us frightened and feeling so fragile when things look ominous and we don’t know what’s ahead. Like the two disciples on the road of Emmaus, and like the apostles gathered around the risen Jesus, who are trying so hard to understand, unforeseen circumstances can be overwhelming, or at the very least unsettling.
How do we recognize Jesus, when things are so clouded? When they’re bewildering? When they’re devastating? Luke’s description of the ascension has me pondering if what I’m studying here can be applied to those times. I became hyper-focused on two words he used. Two little words. I couldn’t get them out of my head and I kept – I’m thinking they’re a guide for how I wanna approach this study of Acts, and they may be a help to me to face all that’s put before me.
When Jesus was lifted up, Luke says the apostles were looking intently at the sky. Looking. Intently. Just two words, but they leaped off the page for me. I wrote them all over my journal, and then in God’s outstanding sense of timing, I happened to hear the homily that Bishop Baron gave on the ascension. He said, the Greek word for ‘looking intently’ is atenizó and it’s used in only a few places in the Bible. Most of them right here in Acts. We see it here in Acts 1:10, and again in Acts 3:4, when Peter and John encountered the man crippled from birth outside the temple. They looked intently at the man. It’s used again in Acts 7:55, when Stephen was being stoned, and he beheld the glory of God in heaven. Atenizó means looking deeply, seeing beyond what we see. Seeing with the eyes of God.
Bishop Baron said that at the ascension, heaven opened up and met Earth, as something really – really someone – son of God ascended to heaven. In Acts 3:4, Peter and John gazed intently. Heaven opened up again, and the spirit of Jesus – the Holy Spirit – descended from Heaven to Earth. Peter, John, and Stephen each looked with eyes beyond what they could see. This is where conversion happens, and hearts are changed.
Anytime we respond to God’s invitation by allowing him in, we are going beyond. We are looking intently. Thinking intently. We’re in the area of more. We see with the eyes of God. We act in cooperation with the Holy Spirit and the power of God. And there’s more. So much more.
Jesus has been encouraging his apostles to look beyond the world they live in. To look to the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. Jesus knows they will need help to empower them for the work that lies ahead. He tells his apostles, “Wait for the promise of the Father, about which you have heard me speak.”
Father McBride, in his book, ‘The Gospel of the Holy Spirit,’ reaffirms exactly where this help is going to come from. He says in his introduction, ‘One of the striking teachings of Acts is that being flooded with the spirit of God is central to whatever else happens. Be it organizing the church, knowing what community means, or sending forth the missionaries. The command from Jesus to gather as one united in prayer, to wait for the Holy Spirit, which is the promise of the Father, is for us too.’
This chapter, just like every bit of the Bible, is not just a story written for historical significance. We too need to be empowered for this specific purpose for which God created us. We need to be re-energized. We need to allow the Holy Spirit in to give us what Jesus longs for us to have. It’s a reminder of the necessity of relying on the strength and guidance the Holy Spirit can provide. We can turn and trust, allowing us to be vulnerable and open to the Creator’s hand.
Some time ago, maybe 13 or 14 years ago, I went through a period of spiritual confusion, where things were murky just like in that painting. I couldn’t find my footing and was fearful of what was ahead. I’d been to a powerful retreat, the Holy Spirit was definitely moving, and it resulted in the cracking and crumbling of that mask of self that I tried to project. I hadn’t wanted anyone to see the flawed person I truly was, and I didn’t really want to acknowledge it myself. The retreat started the process of bringing down the walls and allowing vulnerabilities and imperfections to show.
I didn’t understand that the Holy Spirit was already beginning to work in me. I knew I was struggling with big life-type questions, but I was nowhere near understanding that the struggle is the perfect place in which to meet God. I was right where he wanted me. Big or little, those struggles are the tent of meeting with the Lord. I only knew I had the distinct feeling that God was calling me, and I was uncomfortable. Have you ever heard the term, ‘hound of heaven’ in reference to the Holy Spirit? Well, that was what it felt like to me. God was calling and I knew it and I was resisting and knew I was resisting, because frankly, I was afraid. How would my life change? I wasn’t sure I wanted anything to change.
Still unsettled, I heard people at church talking about an upcoming ‘Faith in the Fire’ program. Maybe that’ll help. Well, that was literally from the frying into the fire. That was my first experience with the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and that left me confused too. I didn’t know what to do with what I had experienced. Just like this painting depicts, everything was perplexing and murky and I was confused. Rather than looking intently for where heaven meets Earth, I was inclined to avert my eyes. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what was beyond.
The struggle I was going through reminds me of the words in John 6 when some of Jesus’ followers said, ‘This is too hard, who can accept it?’ And they turned away because it was beyond their understanding. Well, I certainly didn’t want to turn away from God, but I couldn’t seem to say yes either.
Well, I’m an introspective girl. I’m a researcher at heart and by training and I don’t like leaving things unanswered, even if I don’t like the answers. I knew I was resisting God and that just didn’t feel good to me. Maybe this was a good time to just stop and ask myself, why? Why am I resisting his spirit working in me? Why am I fearful? I needed help with discernment.
I am so thankful for the nudge from the very God I was resisting to go the spiritual direction for the first time. With the help of a spiritual director, working with the Holy Spirit, I was gently helped to examine why I was fearful, and to face my fear of responding to God. My whole perspective shifted and I learned how to begin looking intently for where the spirit of God was moving and acting in my life. I began to see the role of prayer and discernment, and I began to hunger for, and look for more. And that was the beginning of more. I’m learning that this new beginning was just one in a never-ending series of new beginnings, and that is a source of so much joy and excitement for me, that God is always inviting us to more, to so much more.
Do we choose to accept?
Father McBride said the early Christians had the good grace to let down their guard, their walls, so the flight of the spirit could enter their marrow and bones and was totally successful. Well, perhaps by looking intently and living expectantly, we too can begin to allow the Holy Spirit into our marrow and bones and gratefully perceive and receive that outpouring from the Holy Spirit.
As scripture tells us in Matthew, what father would give his children stones when they ask for bread? How much more then will our Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him? I pray in the study we will follow Jesus’ command to gather in the upper room, devoting ourselves with one accord to prayer and wait on the promise of the Father. Wait on the Holy Spirit. May we invite and welcome the outpouring of the spirit of Jesus that God loves to pour out. May we allow this to enliven and transform our hearts and flow out of here, energized, to witness and build the kingdom of God. And let’s end in prayer.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Holy Spirit, start a fire in me. Stoke that flame so it burns away any part of self that keeps me from you. Open my ears to hear you. Soften my heart to discern your spirit. Help my eyes to recognize you when you are weaving something new in my life. Help me to know that nothing happens that doesn’t first pass through your hands. May I surrender to being filled with the love of Jesus, and thankfully carry his heart to others. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Genesis 2021-2022
Witness a sample reflection from one of our founding mothers and gifted Reflector, Maryann Rice. May she rest in peace. Her words are shared in the video transcript below.
Video Transcript
This is Maryann Rice at the St. Joe Branch of The Cornerstone. It’s Wednesday morning, February 16, 2022. We’re on Lesson 16 and this is our Reflection for today.
I like going back and connecting with last week’s lesson – bringing what we learned last week with us as we come into this week’s lesson. So when we got to chapter 32 this week, where Jacob wrestled with God – it reminded me of last week – chapter 28 when Jacob fell asleep and in his dream he saw angels ascending and descending from God – he SAW God and heard God speak to him. He woke up and –– as though he was really surprised –– he said “Surely the Lord is in this place and I didn’t know it!
I think if I asked any one of you whether or not you know God is there with you right now – you’d say yes – God is everywhere. That’s something we learned in first grade. But I think even though we KNOW that, we forget about it sometimes. Or sometimes there are things that make us wonder, like when things get scary or sad or bleak, or heavy and dark – we think, where is God NOW – I thought he was supposed to be everywhere, all the time, but it sure doesn’t feel like he is here NOW.
But I ALSO think we all have had situations where we could look back – in hindsight – and say the same thing Jacob said – “Surely God is in this place and I didn’t know it.” God was there all the time and Jacob just didn’t recognize it.
There is an old legend of the Cherokee Indian boy’s rite of Passage that goes like this.
The boy’s father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. The boy has never been told what happens on this night by the other young men because each of them has to come into manhood on his own, in the same way – so it’s kept a secret.
The boy is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not fall asleep and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He is terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises – all the sounds of the night. He imagines wild beasts all around him.
Finally, the sun appears and he removes his blindfold.
And he is a MAN.
And it’s THEN that he discovers his father – sitting on another stump — very near to him.
He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.
The moral of the story: Just because you can’t see God, doesn’t mean God’s not there.
That seemed like a good connection with Jacob’s realization in last week’s lesson that God was there — and he had been all the time. So we bring that idea of God being with us all the time into this week’s lesson. And this lesson is a good part of three chapters of Genesis – so a lot happens in that much space. Looking back at the very beginning and going forward from there – in a real sketchy way – I see in chapter 30 – vs 1 – Rachel is the first person mentioned – she had no children, she was envious, actually she was beside herself — about her childlessness — and she demands that Jacob give her children or she will die! –– and Jacob comes out with “What am I, God?” Doesn’t that sound like a stand-up comedian? So, in her distress, Rachel gave her maid to Jacob so she could have a baby that way. Not a plan we could decide on now days, but that was acceptable then.
Vs 9 – Leah – she thought she had finished having babies – and she wanted more babies, so she gave her maid to Jacob. She got babies that way. She went on, though, to have more of her own babies – by Jacob.
Vs 25, Rachel did too. She went on to have more babies – she had Dinah and Joseph – by Jacob –— Jacob was busy.
Vs 31 Jacob has a talk with Rachel and Leah – he says, your Father – Laban – doesn’t have much regard for me anymore – but you KNOW that I have served him well – even though he has cheated me and changed my wages TEN times. But God has been with me and has told me to go back to my homeland.
And so he goes – and on his way home – vs 32 – he sees Esau coming toward him. His twin brother. Jacob was worried — he knew this could go either way — so he came up with a plan. BUT surprise!!! Esau had no ill will – he wanted to reconcile.
He didn’t say – I’m finished with Jacob, this is it – I see him over there – I’m not interested in ANYTHING he has to say, I don’t want him back here.
He could have done that – and that would have put up a wall that would destroy that whole relationship and all that would go with it for the future. That’s what Esau DIDN’T do.
And Jacob – he didn’t say – that Esau – here he comes – I remember so many things that I don’t like about that guy. I don’t know why God thought it was a good idea for me to come back here. This is NOT what I want to do and I’m gonna turn around and go back where I came from. God was wrong THIS time. That’s what Jacob DIDN’T do.
And Leah – she had her own particular distress – but she didn’t say – that God – he should have given me more babies – I should not have to send my husband out to the maid – what kind of a god would do something like that. I don’t believe there even IS a God – I’m an atheist from now on. That’s what Leah DIDN’T do.
And Rachel – She certainly had her distress – she didn’t say – here I am barren – if there was a God he wouldn’t let something like this happen to me – I have prayed and he hasn’t given me a baby – I give up on this – I don’t even think there is a God there – if there were he would have answered me by now. That’s what Rachel DIDN’T do.
I think we have to notice that. We’re supposed to be making personal application of the scripture as we study it. And here we see a group of people who were all raised in their religion and who were all in some kind of individual distress, and NONE of them just give up on God or on their religion.
We have the expression in our vernacular – throwing out the baby with the bath water. Because you don’t like all the murk and dirt in the babies bath water – you throw the whole pan out – but you throw the baby with it – there’s something you don’t like – and because of that – even the good part – get’s thrown right out the door. That’s what we mean when we say throwing out the baby with the bath water.
And that’s what Rachel and Leah and Jacob and Esau did NOT do. There was something they didn’t like – or something God wasn’t doing the way they wanted – there was – but they didn’t throw God out the door – they worked out the thing they didn’t like and KEPT God. They threw out the bath water but NOT the baby.
But that’s not what I see people doing these days. People have a belief in God for years, they grow up in a religion – and then something happens – something they don’t like – something they don’t want to live with – they don’t like Vatican II – or they don’t like something their pastor does – or there is a death of a loved one, or they want women to be ordained, or they think the church is all about money, or they are angry and embarrassed by the priest abuse scandal – or their bishop won’t let them get married on the beach –whatever it is – and I am NOT minimizing all these problems – I know there are some BIG problems and I am NOT making light of that. That’s not the point I’m making at all.
What I’m saying is, I think people get offended by something in their religion or their church or the faith they grew up in – and because of that one thing or maybe more than one thing – they throw it ALL out – all of it. Leave the church. That’s it. All the good things that the church has to offer, all the good the church is – it’s all out the window – because of something they don’t like. That’s throwing out the baby with the bath water.
So why am I saying that to you? You know whenever I say any of these things to you it’s because I’m saying them to myself. So why am I saying it to us? We’re the ones who HAVEN”T thrown out the baby with the bath water.
I’m saying it because I think we have to be able to see what’s going on – recognize what’s happening and be able to deal with it ourselves.
Because there will be things – if there aren’t already – that WE don’t like – about the church, about our religion, about anything in the world – and we want to know how to deal with them WITHOUT throwing the baby out with the bath water.
We have to know what we want to do and what we want to say in those situations where we are with people who are mad at something or object to something and have thrown out the baby with the bathwater – because of that. There are people like that all around us – and there are becoming more and more and more of them – some of them are our own children – our own families – our own grandchildren.
We have to know how to stand there, knowing what we love about the church, knowing the personal encounters we have had with God, remembering the bazillion times God has answered our prayers – and hold on to that – and at the same time – continue to be kind and loving and courteous to people who don’t agree with us. Hold what we believe – and at the same time – continue to be kind and courteous and caring.
In that way we can be an example to people who are about to throw out the baby with the bathwater – or already have. We have to be able to say – I don’t agree with you and I don’t like your ideas about that – but I like YOU! I don’t agree with you but I see what you are trying to defend, I understand. I see the point you’re making.– I just don’t see it that way. We have to learn how to be kind and appreciate that people as God’s children just like we are.
What Jesus calls us to is metanoia. Change our minds. That’s what that really means. We need to be people who are trying to do that – trying to change our minds – and some of that mind changing has to be about people and their decisions and their ideas – when they don’t agree with ours – and learn to hold two opposites — and yet keep our peace.
And not just in the church or about religion. Look at our government. Nobody seems to know how to hold their own position and at the same time – LISTEN and be kind. How can there be any metanoia – if we can’t even LISTEN and be kind.
In this culture we live in we don’t have any practice at standing in the middle and keeping our peace. Everyone wants to be right. But if we are gonna call ourselves Christians, we have to learn to be kind and loving and forgiving. We have to be able to see all the good there is in working toward that, and we have to be able to show that to other people by our example. There is so much contention everywhere it seems, and we can be the ones who by our example show that you don’t have to be disagreeable to disagree.
A couple of weeks ago I said – maybe we should have a homework assignment – and you know that when I say that to you – it means I’m saying it to me. I said – the next time something hurtful comes along, see if you can do what Jesus did – take it in – and do not return it in kind. Instead, let something good come out – something loving or forgiving – something that’s not a retaliation.
And some of you have told me that you were trying that and it’s REALLY hard. It IS. And today brings us to another one that’s hard – the next time you disagree with someone, see if you can listen and be kind, say you don’t agree, say that you see what they mean – you understand what they are saying – you just don’t agree – but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you – or I don’t want to be around you – I DO.
Why would we do that? Why would we take that home and try to work on it? Because that’s what Jesus called us to do. Metanoia is hard. But isn’t that the kind of thing we come here for?
If this were a scripture study that doesn’t try to make personal application of the scripture – what good would that do? I heard a preacher once who called that kind of thing a hallelujah society – everybody sits around and says Oh sweet Jesus, O glory be to God, O thank you Jesus, O praise the Lord, but nobody does anything to change. Just come back the next week for more O sweet Jesus! O praise the Lord!
So. . . . Let’s be a real scripture study, where we really try to let the scripture into our lives. And we really try to let it change us.
Let us pray – Lord you have called us here today to be together and to study your word together. We have shared what you gave us when we answered our questions, and we have tried to make personal application of what this lesson holds. We see again today that following you is not easy, Lord, and it takes a LOT of practice. We ask you to send your Holy Spirit to do our homework assignments with us and we look forward to learning the ways you would have us change our minds so we can be transformed.
We pray this in the name of our Triune God – In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen and amen.