Congratulations! You’re confirmed. You’re considered an adult in the Catholic Church now. Feel on fire with the Holy Spirit and certain about the gifts entrusted to you to help build the kingdom of God? Ready to begin fulfilling God’s will in your life and know exactly how that’s to take place? No? For many, the day after Confirmation signals the long walk into a spiritual wasteland. The pews remain empty, and the hearts stop searching or coming to mass until... Read more
I need to write. Writers do that, every day. I’ve been managing as many words as I do steps as of late. It’s a red letter day when I break six thousand with the walking, and likewise three hundred fifty with the writing. Not sure why putting thoughts down on the page has become harder than exercise. Blaming illness doesn’t work, because this started before I got sick. It can’t be because I’m too busy because I’ve always been too... Read more
I had a beautiful piece about how important each of us is to the whole universe, and most especially to the creator of the universe. The piece had pictures and I hit publish and the internet vaporized my work. Now, trying to rewrite the piece, I find the threads are hard to grasp, though I know the fundamental reality I wanted to share. We are created in God’s image, male and female. God imagined us into being, and each... Read more
After Easter, the apostles sat around in the upper room knowing they ought to be about doing something, but unsure as to what. The same holds true for me as I recover from what has been a two week long bout of Covid, complete with hospitalization and trying to get to three thousand steps on my fitbit. I have not made it yet. There is so much to life, to being, to doing and yet, the accomplishment of the day... Read more
Happy Easter! He is risen! Now what? Easter is fifty days. However, unlike Lent (40 days) and Advent (4 Weeks) and Christmas (12 days), we don’t have a calendar or candles or scheduled rituals other than mass to really mark the reality of these sacred days. There are devotions and traditions but not specific elements that uniquely celebrate this time of joy as we do for Christmas (gifts, feasts, songs), and it makes this time rather parallel to the time... Read more
Now this post would have been really timely to present back in 2020 when everyone was homebound, but I’m homebound now so, I’m offering these ideas to help you if you need it with your observance of Holy Week. I have Covid so I’m stuck observing from my bed. 1) Watch the Holy Thursday mass. I’ve followed the Daily TV mass for most of Lent, so I turned to them. Bonus if you follow along with your Magnificat if... Read more
I’m Catholic, I’m passionate about my faith, but Spy Wednesday is a weird name. So I’m wiling to mock it a little (just a little) with top ten rejected activities to observe Spy Wednesday. 10) Playing “I Spy.” as you wait for mass to begin. (I promise, these bunnies were all for the baskets. Really). 9) Ratting out Mom for buying extra Easter Candy that will never see the inside of an Easter basket. 8 ) Spend the day reading... Read more
So sometimes I will wake in the early mornings and the words won’t leave me alone. Back in early October, musing over the world events of that week, I wrote a piece, “This is a Time to Get on Our Knees.” It ran this past week. Right after it ran, life went nuts at home, with multiple squabbles amongst my children that seemed to pop up like thunderstorms. The demand of my own words came to life and I found... Read more
L Whenever we encounter God, and recognize the reality, we are challenged. Christ always nvites us to grow, to sacrifice, to serve and to love where we didn’t think we needed to go. It’s why I suspect the new film Cabrini is good. It demands we look at the reality of a life of faith –having a relationship with God doesn’t shield one from harm or struggle, but it does open one up to recognizing miracles in real time. Submission... Read more
We live in an age that understands not ceasing. The internet and television stay open twenty-four seven. Every college kid knows the restaurants that never close. We are rapidly becoming a society that does not value rest, sleep, or waiting for physically or virtually anything. The cure for the exhaustion and despair that must follow living a life without rest, is silence, contemplation, God. Adoration is both the inoculation and the cure for the busy-ness our world values. However, being... Read more
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