Why do short weeks sometimes feel sooooo long?! I started off the week with a post about how I was in a bit of a funk. I have to share that I was so very moved by the many kind messages I received from so many of you who wrote to say that you were lifting me up in prayer. Honestly, if I ever begin to doubt that the Body of Christ could possibly extend via the Internet, I only... Read more
I’ve been praying all day about what to write today. My day started early with a radio segment on the Sonrise Morning Show where host extraordinaire Matt Swaim and I had a scintillating conversation about the iPhone-Jennifer-Lawrence-nude-photo-icloudgate situation. We agreed to skip beyond talking about why women would choose to photograph themselves au naturel and to instead focus on how you and I “feed the beast” when we choose to click on such content in the blogsphere or in social... Read more
As rarely happens to me, I have been in a dark mood for the past few days. I don’t have a good excuse. And try as I might to simply “snap out of it”, my funk has lingered beyond its welcome. I’ve tried all of the usual strategies in my arsenal: prayer, more prayer, the Eucharist, prayer before the Eucharist, exercise, sleep, not sleeping, not exercising, talking about it, not talking about it, and yes — even ice cream. And... Read more
Turning on the news is challenging lately. It seems that at every moment, we are confronted with so much pain and suffering that it becomes impossible to take it all in. How can we begin to fathom the pain of a mother whose son is beheaded (or the nameless dying in urban settings every day)? How can we possibly help those suffering in the squander of an Ebola contamination zone or the wreckage of a bombed out village (or the... Read more
On Sunday, I sat in my usual spot at my home parish. These days, I hesitate to call the center of the third pew “my spot” because I’m only in it about once or twice a month due to frequent travels. But when I do worship on Sundays at our home parish, I’m a creature of habit. I have a variety of reasons for loving that particular pew. And I notice that those who sit around me seem to have... Read more
On his Facebook profile, Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna, Auxiliary Bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon, challenged his Facebook friends (and their friends) to spend 30 minutes in silent prayer on Tuesday to pray for peace in Iraq and for the refugees who are suffering in his part of the country. Post by Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna. This is one challenge I’m planning to accept. Read more
If you don’t know much about California or the agriculture industry, you might have laughed off the early morning Napa earthquake on Sunday with thoughts of your favorite wine and how the price might rise. Because when we hear “Napa”, we think “wine”, right? In reality, this earthquake is likely to have devastating economic impacts for Napa area families for quite a long time. We Californians know that the region has already been dealt a challenging blow by our drought... Read more
I love this week’s lead “sweet tweet” from Pope Francis, which reminds us that we are each “children of God”. What a precious notion – we parents know how much we love and would give our lives for our children. Many of us are sons and daughters of living parents who would do the very same for us. And yet as deep as this love is, it’s only a tiny foreshadowing of the immense love that God has for each... Read more
A great article ran at OSV this week “Parishes could offer a solution to the problem of a caregiver’s 36-hour days”. The article shares how prevalent the role of caregivers is in today’s society: By one count, the overall total of caregivers in America now stands at more than 65 million, which is around 30 percent of the adult population. The number is certain to rise as the number of elderly grows to 71.5 million by 2030. Two-thirds of the... Read more
If you’ve been watching the nightly news and wondering how in the world you can possibly help amidst the rising tide of violence that seems to be running rampant, mark your calendars for September 6-7. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for a special collection that will enable each of us to help with the work being done by Catholic Relief Services, Caritas, and other Catholic agencies in the region.... Read more
Lisa Hendey
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