During the start of the global pandemic 2020, A new Patheos blog appeared on the scene,
on Mother’s Day May 10.
Three Years Later, the blogging continues at post # 518.
Here is a look back at some of our milestones in writing.
We Are Writers
I am so thankful for this opportunity to write for Patheos
It is all due to my husband
And a woman named Rebecca who I have yet to meet, even via social media
And yet I am thankful for her
We write differently, Mark and I
I’m the poet though not always a rhymer
I like to reflect
Remembering and showing concern for situations
I thank you Rebecca and my dear husband Mark
Thank God for this page online
I hope my writing is welcomed by other readers and writers
Only so that I do not get thrown off the page
Catholic Bard
Kristin Wilson O.C.D.S.
By the Light of My Prayer 1st Post MAY 10, 2020
1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
Mother’s Day (Día de la Madre) – Mexico
In celebration of the Catholic Bard’s 25th Post, here are 25 thoughts that are either funny, thought provoking, inspirational or just plain interesting.
Sometimes time flies faster than the speed of light
and you suddenly realize a week has past
or even a month
You work, you pray and you help others,
and you spend time with your family
then you tweet about it
then time keeps flying
before you know it eternity will be yours
CatholicBard @BardCatholic (Mar 13, 2019)
25th Post: 25 Tweets From Twitter Catholics JUNE 15, 2020 25th Post
This is our 50th post,
Not that anyone cares
Not even me, I was not counting
But my husband was
There are much more important things
Like, faith, God, Covid 19, Love
Well you have come this far
So, thanks for reading this poem
Thanks for reading any of our other posts
Past or future
Ask the Patron Saints of Writers
St. Francis de Sales and St. Lucy
To Make our Blog more Interesting and Inspiring
50 Years of Catholic History During My Life: The Next 25 | JULY 19, 2020 50th Post
My friend Marshall (who has been a grand knight) who has known me for close to 30 years says that writing for the Catholic Bard is one of the most consistent things he’s ever seen me do. We have an expression, “I remember the first thing we didn’t do together”. I just happen to love writing and have finally found an outlet that lets me hone in and focus on that skill. So, when I hit milestones like my 100th post on our 5th month anniversary of professional blogging I like to write a post about it. I have also come to love timelines by writing several of them. I like to get an overview and glance of history. I like to think of where we’ve been and make connections between people, places, and events. It helps me to ponder the great wonderful mystery of it all and it helps me to really concentrate as I look up facts and figures.
100 Posts and 100 Years Ago…OCTOBER 10, 2020 100th Post
150 Posts ago, The Catholic Bard published its first post.
150 years ago, Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States on June 26,
1870 in a bill signed by President Ulysses S. Grant.
July 18, 1870– Pastor aeternus (“First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ”), was issued by the First Vatican Council. The document defines four doctrines of the Catholic faith: the apostolic primacy conferred on Peter, the perpetuity of the Petrine Primacy in the Roman pontiffs, the meaning and power of the papal primacy, and Papal infallibility – infallible teaching authority (magisterium) of the Pope. Blessed Pius IX is the current pope when this happens.
And on…
October 20, 1870 – The First Vatican Council adjourns.
While you were Opening your Presents, This Happen… DECEMBER 25, 2020 150th Post
On the 200th Post of the Catholic Bard we present to you a piece that was originally published in Fairy and Fellowship magazine.
On St. Patrick’s Day (what would have been my father’s 100th Birthday) we present to you Kristin’s Travels Through Ever-Changing Ireland.
Ireland 1982: Age 7. I had never traveled by plane anywhere. I’ll never forget that we went from Boston to Shannon via “Pan Am” and fell asleep. When we were approaching Ireland we looked out the window as the plane came closer, and closer to the ground. My sister and I looked out the window as best as we could. Kathleen said she could see matchbox cars, and then we went on to say, “matchbox cows, matchbox houses…” until we landed in a different world that hit us with a culture shock that I will never forget.
Traveling through Ever-Changing Ireland MARCH 17, 2021 200th Post
One Year,The Catholic Bard
One year the Catholic Bard
My dear husband works so hard
It is his hobby, very devote
This time what will he write about?
What thought was Catholic Bard true
My husband widened the niche for you
He writes more than me
But sometimes I’ll give some words
My dear husband, thank you for all you do
I may not write as much
but I love you!
Catholic Bard 1 Yea r Anniversary MAY 10, 2021
But I’m just a mere layman who now works at a Catholic nursing home 5 minutes from my house. This is my third job in a place that houses the blessed sacrament. Well it used to before Covid came and took Jesus out of the chapel. I wonder if going to what my wife calls an expensive school was really worth it, if I ended up working in a job I didn’t need to go to an expensive school for. I used to teach CCD before CatholicTV gave me the boot, but the new job ended up killing the nights I would devote to training up young minds in the faith. But even then I was very undisciplined in my approach to teaching.
Writing Thoughts On My 250th Post | JUNE 10, 2021
Moving overall helps you prioritize your life. It helps you to detach from things. I would have been fine just staying in my comfortable familiar life. It made sense for us to live in Framingham all those 12 years ago. But our life has changed since then. My mother has died, our daughter won’t talk to us, and I don’t see my side of the family all that much. We do get along however. Also, we don’t have roots in Framingham, no real attachments to friends in the area. We’re not involved in our church as actively as we once were. The type of job I have is one that I could get anywhere, and I did. It won’t have the same sweet commute time of 5 minutes sadly.
In Rhode Island, Kristin will be closer to her family. She wants to be there for when her relatives get older. Some will need care. Some will eventually pass on. Living in Framingham we sometimes missed family parties and other events. And now we won’t because we will be living closer. I can still hop in the car and visit people in Massachusetts. It’s not like were moving to California.
So, a new chapter is about to begin in our lives. We don’t know what will happen, but what ever happens we will face new challenges together and hopefully have several more years to make new memories together.
I don’t care what you say anymore this is my life
Movin’ Out 300th Post OCTOBER 06, 2021
The Catholic Bard is the one blog I love to read. I recommend everyone read it. –Pope Francis (Leader of the Catholic Church)
2 years ago the Patheos Catholic grand poobah Rebecca Bratten Weiss decided to take me in and graft me into the Patheos Catholic family. This has so far this has been my first and only real professional writing gig. Kristin and I published our first post on Mother’s Day May 10, 2020. Now on this May 10, 2022 Post 400 has been published. God willing will publish 400 + more posts.
Rebecca for some reason believed in an unknown Facebook commenter who left his opinion on several FB posts of different Patheos writers. I also compiled a list of quotes in a document on my unknown and unread blogger blog, Joking with Immortals. She is very kind and generous, passionate and fiery person. Thanks Rebecca for giving a focus to expanding my creative skills as a writer.
I originally wanted to call this blog Joking with Immortals but went with Kristin’s title of Catholic Bard.
With all the chaos going on in the world and even in our own little corner of it, its’ good to remember that everyone around us have been brought into existence and are now a permanent part of it. Lets remember that before we comment negatively about someone else. C.S. Lewis reminds us that…
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (1942) Joking With Immortals | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)
400th Post on 2 Years of The Catholic Bard MAY 10, 2022
My writing partner the Carmelite (who doesn’t write that much anymore) is gracing us with a blog post that I requested for my birthday that was on January 27th. And now on what would be the 102nd birthday of my father Harold Wilson here is Kristin telling us her
Musings on her Catholic Childhood.
I wanted to be famous.
Why, who knows.
I decided that when I was about to die I would have a cross, a big one, laying in the grassy yard.
Obviously I could only nail one hand onto the wood, which was pressure treated in my mind.
For my feet and the left hand I would just slip them under some duct tape already wrapped around the wood leaving just the right amount for my feet and left hand.
After all He was famous for dying on a cross.
POST 500 -Musings on my Catholic Childhood MARCH 17, 2023
3 years ago Mark and I started this blog on Mother’s day. While it is not an official Christian holiday we tend to treat it as one. People visit their mothers, or perhaps the grave of their mother. As for me this is my first Mother’s Day without a living grandmother. My mother is living in a different state so I will send her a card with lovely words, a gift card or something nice. I will phone her. I will pray for her at Mass and remember her throughout the day.
On the other side of my brain will be thoughts of my daughter. She will not call me, I’m nearly sure of it. More than missing all my grandparents who are , one hopes, in heaven it is missing my living daughter that will bring me to tears. She is in her twenties and in a different state. She will not pick up the phone if I call and has stopped calling us. Why did she have to run away? Why did she take so many risks with men she did not really know? Yes, she had challenges when we adopted her, and always will. Does she know we love her no matter what? Why did she run away? I will always blame myself. I hope we can somehow fix our family dynamic before it is too late. She did leave us with one beautiful gift, who altough we can not take care of her here because I am disabled, she can still be a part of our lives. We are grandparents. So, to my daughter I say thank you,even though you broke family rules, and risked your life for a fleeting pleasure. A child is a beautiful gift from God. Sometimes the most wonderful things come from dangerous risks. Happy Mother’s Day!
Catholic Bard 3rd Year Anniversary
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