Jesus was obedient to God the Father; he and the Father are one. Christ Jesus was obedient, and he learned obedience through his human experiences.

There are many layers of communion among persons, one layer building on another.

Three other religious sisters and I attended an event called Trivia Night.

This is a familiar Scripture passage, and we can visualize the scene. Saint Augustine described this scene in his own, powerful imagery:

Self-denial or renunciation of one’s own will happens throughout life.

While acts flowing from good resolutions may be small, think of the bountiful harvest.

Last fall, I greeted visitors at the door of a diocesan event.

Truth has its own weight. Think of times you said or did something impulsive. “I could have been more patient.”

“A mother of this mettle, of this quality, was the mother John Bosco had to have. The innate vocation of the saint from childhood cannot be explained without her."

Simply stated, members of a religious institute express the human life of Jesus Christ, who was poor, chaste, and obedient and who lived in community with the apostles.

Insincerity erodes from within because insincerity is a form of deceit. And one act of kind deception excuses the next act of deception, and the next.