LETTER FROM KATIE • March 25, 2026

Father John Giuliani (American, 1932 – 2021), Mi'kmaq Annunciation #13, Oil on Canvas

Dear Holy Comforter,

I have really enjoyed our times of silently praying the Examen together on Sunday. I couldn’t believe how quiet it was (for a congregation that is 50% children) as we prayed the entire Examen for five minutes this past Sunday. 

It seems fitting to return to the final step of the Examen today, on the Feast of the Annunciation, as we begin to turn toward Holy Week. Ignatius of Loyola encourages us to ask God for the grace we will need for tomorrow. But among all the good things we might ask for, there is one prayer that matters most: that we might love God more than we do now.

Today’s feast places before us Mary, the mother of Jesus, whose quiet “yes” to God is perhaps the clearest example of what that prayer looks like in practice. Mary does not ask for a detailed plan or for guarantees about what lies ahead. She is troubled, she wonders, she questions—and still she says yes. Her yes is not rooted in certainty, but in trust. It is a willingness to receive what God gives and to step into a future she cannot yet see. And her assent carries her to the foot of the cross where she sees her son’s body broken for her. 

Our desire to love more will unsettle us. It will expose the ways we can grow comfortable in our spiritual lives, content to do what is required, to keep things manageable, even safe. And loving more will take us to painful places inside ourselves and in the world. Yet this deeper love is how God heals us and the world—mending what is broken and softening what has grown hard. 

As we enter into Holy Week, let’s be guided by Mary’s yes in our prayer. May we ask not only for what we need, but for the grace to trust more, to surrender more, to love more generously without expecting anything in return. May we ask to see more clearly who God is, revealed in Jesus; so we might love him more deeply; and to follow him more closely on the path ahead, wherever it leads.

This Holy Week, I encourage you to take some time to accompany Jesus on his way to the cross on your own and with the community of faithful. For those who are unfamiliar with Holy Week, the days between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, you can find a helpful overview here. 

This link also takes you to the collects (prayers) and scripture readings for each day of the Holy Week which can be a simple way to mark the days of Holy Week at home. And I suggest you find a time to visit the Stations of the Cross which will be set up all week at the Kuniholms’ property. 

The Stations of the Cross, also known as the Way of the Cross, are fourteen stations that depict moments on Jesus’ journey to the cross and his death through art, prayers, and reflections. The practice of walking the way of the cross began with pilgrims tracing his path through Jerusalem, but for those who could not make the trip, the Stations emerged as a way for believers to be with Christ wherever they were.

Let us pray with all of of Christ’s church as we enter Holy Week,

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon himself our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

With much love,

Katie