Last week, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany. The three kings Melchior, Balthazar, and Caspar journeyed to Bethlehem to give the Christ their gifts. They studied the Heavens and sought Him over time, over distance, despite difficulty. It had to be a faith journey, layered with scholarship, fellowship, and a deep desire for true knowledge. They came away with so much more than even what they hoped. They went home different from how they came. Now,... Read more
Resolve to be kinder. Resolve to let yourself rest. Resolve to take care of those things you’ve ignored, and to ignore those things that drain hope, happiness and time. + Resolve to write letters ad read books. Resolve to take walks and go on dates with your children. Resolve to take walks and go on dates with your spouse. Resolve to take naps. Resolve to draw, sing, or do something creative that you’ve always wanted to try. Resolve to work... Read more
Every once in a while, someone asks this question in real life or online. “Do you really have ten kids?” Sometimes, it requires a response other than yes. Today, I answer. 20) I’m not sure. I stopped counting. 19) I rounded down. 18) No one makes up that number. 17) I made up that number. I’m very desperate for attention. 16) Some of these people may have just shown up. They do the dishes, so they can stay. 15) Do... Read more
Photo by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto We are five days from Christmas, and no matter what we’ve done, we are not ready. God knows this, it is why He gives us Himself at Christmas. We were not ready then, and we are not ready now, and even knowing we are not ready, we are not fully willing to make ourselves so. We wrestle with “how much do we need to do?” The answer is, “How much must you do to love... Read more
We’ve had saints give us descriptions of Hell. Few of us have considered the spiritual reality of an eternity without the capacity to endure love. Imagine a reality of impatience and a forever of boredom. Consider an infinite hunger and an unceasing bloat. Reflect on never experiencing wonder, or surprise or joy. Hell tires of everything, longs for anything and values nothing. The absence of being able to give or endure love leaves the soul coated with the dull dusty... Read more
Christmas Day is in nineteen days. Cue panic. My kids created a contest for the season, the Mariah Carey count. Every kid made a guess. The winner gets a karaoke microphone or earplugs –whichever they prefer. The current pace would indicate +100 by December 25th. It has rejuvenated everyone’s enthusiasm both for the song and listening to Christmas carols. It’s a kid whistle when the first three notes chime forth. How do we keep the holiness of the season... Read more
Is always the same. Stay home. Do not under any circumstances cook or shop. Make a microwaved warm turkey stuffing gravy cranberry mashed potatoes sandwich. Two hours later wonder if I should make another. Discover children had the same brilliant idea and one of these ingredients (usually the mashed potatoes) is no more. Remind myself not to cook. As the leftovers thin, this resolution becomes less and less tenable. I go to the kitchen. Husband is already prepping a second... Read more
One thing I love about being Catholic, is the grounded nature of our faith. It never denies our capacity to engage in self-deception and genuine self-examination or to be both a prayer warrior and the wounded one being carried to Our Lord by others. We come to the cross with all our wounds and we wound Our Lord by our sins. Christ takes on all our sufferings, all our sins, all our pains, and offers us His friendship and somehow... Read more
I know, I wrote that last time…but we’ve spent the past week dealing with an injury. My daughter broke her ankle and had to have surgery, which has put the rest of life on hold. We’ve discovered our home is decidedly not ADA-compliant. I’m wanting to enlarge every door by six inches and now hate any and all stairs. The mini-van has become the MVP car of the house. Writing got to wait behind bills, grading, managing my daughter’s pain,... Read more
I’m not putting a picture here of a messy world or people screaming at each other or declaring that justice is impossible or committing injustices because they’re easy to find. If you want that sort of stuff, just go to the first web page of what used to be your local news paper. The world is full of people, and all of them are broken, and all who came before were too. The world is screaming from the wounds caused... Read more
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