I own a dog. She’s cute and friendly and endlessly entertaining. What she doesn’t do, is work. Working like a dog in my house means nothing, because she is at best, a creature of leisure. She likes pillows or sleeping on our bed, preferrably on a pile of clean laundry. Somehow we managed to get through thirty-three years without this creature, and now, we rejoice to have a beastie that spends sixteen hours sleeping and the other eight requesting to... Read more
These days, if you look at the news, there’s a strong case to be made for feeling a bit like Alice falling into Wonderland. The disorientation is strong. Couple that sensation with the constant shifting sands of existing government policy, spin, and the take over of the Washington Post by Jeff Bezos, and discerning what is, from what is not, becomes much less managable. As a graduate student, I was taught by a very wise professor to look at every... Read more
The pope is in the hospital. It’s the Jubilee Year of Hope. Given how he started his papacy with a Jubilee year of Mercy, I pray he has many more Jubilees here to celebrate. So I pray for his health, his restoring to fullness. I know what it’s like to struggle with breathing. I’ve followed Pope Francis since he became Pope, covering his visit to the United States and the Basilica back in 2015 during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. ... Read more
Happy Saint Valentine’s Week! Why limit ourselves to a day? Why not a lifetime? Want more joy in your life? More happiness? More love? Then decide today, you are going to be a person who gives. Be a gracious and generous Martha. Love and resentment cannot grow in the same heart, one will overpower and destroy the other. If you are counting how many times your spouse does things that help you out, you need to stop counting. Love... Read more
Today I went to confession. I talked with a friend and my husband made dinner. It was a good day, but not without reminding me all along the way, that the path to salvation for all of us, involves accompanyment with the other –whoseover the other is. We tend to forget that even just asking for others to pray can lighten our own hearts’ burden. It’s why the mass has petitions. So I sat there thinking about the hard reality,... Read more
I tried to watch the Grammies, but they didn’t pull me in, not with the songs or the dance or the spectacle. I recognized the art, I love a lot of the artists. Thanks to some of my adult children, I’ve learned how to dance to “Hot to Go,” and laughed at the tongue in cheek lyrics of Sabrina Carpenter, and I’ve enjoyed my fair share of Lady Gaga and Beyonce over the years. But the show didn’t pull me... Read more
Many who heard the speech given by our former and present President, felt ill at ease with his sweeping indifference to the worries voiced by the Episcopal Bishop, asking for mercy. Ill at ease is too polite, too soft. People feel angry, upset, and disturbed that someone and his followers would froth at the mouth uttering mockeries and slander and smugness that a person of faith speaks the words of Jesus. I am not Episcopal, but I stand with her. ... Read more
If you follow Christ, you will suffer, but you will suffer joyfully. Not happily mind you, but with a full heart, knowing that your pains, your tears, your agonies, your injuries, your fears, all of it, is united in Christ on the way to, or on the cross. You will know rejection, whether before you are born, or on route to the place of your birth, or after your birth, as a babe, as a child, and as an adult.... Read more
Ten thousand steps, Duo Lingo, did I read, did I study, did I write? Did I do ten push ups? Did I try to do ten sit ups? Routine helps but when I run up to the end of it, I am left with the grief again. It keeps showing up like an unwelcome guest. Why is it hard to think? Where is my energy? What’s for dinner? My brain hopscotches from thought to thought, feeling to feeling, until it... Read more
10) I stink at Dulingo, so don’t ask me anything in spanish. 9) I am reading a book, it’s slow going. 8) I did submit a piece to two places this week. 7) Exercised several days. 6) Studied some for National Board. 5) went to adoration. 4) Wrote several personal essays, of which two I submitted. 3) Sent a letter, reached out to a friend. 2) Visited with my brothers and sister. 1) I am studying for the Praxis on... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In