My husband is a devout bibliophile who has collected books his whole life; he still owns many of his beloved children’s picture books from the early 80s, and they have been passed on to my four-year-old daughter, Rose. Her favorite books to be read aloud are her father’s collection of joyless and cynical dinosaur stories. This is a collection of about twenty stout, colorful, lavishly illustrated hardcover books, each telling the story of a day in the life of a... Read more
I am a city child, but once a year my family used to visit a state park deep in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, and it was there that I learned everything I know about Divine Mercy. Once, I hiked the Anne Bailey Lookout Trail with my great uncle who had hiked it many times. It’s five miles, gradually up a mountain and into a patch of tasty huckleberries; then to the lookout post where you can see for... Read more
In the moments before the first light of dawn, darkness seems eternal. So it was on the morning of the First Day of the Week. It was over. Over forever. Man had killed God. Christ walked among us and we knew Him not– or perhaps we did know, and were afraid. But whatever He meant to do, He could not do it now, could He? He was dead. His mother wept, his disciples fled; He Himself declared that He had... Read more
Truly great are You, Lord Jesus Christ. Mighty are You- so mighty that you need not show strength. Indeed, You are strong enough that you have dared to bear even weakness, and the greatest weakness: the cross. But was it in fact your cross? Was it not our cross, our weakness – our inability to be strong, to triumph over sin and even death? That, and our inability to bear up to our own inability and to stand before... Read more
I hope that, whatever else you do with your life, you one day take a toddler on an outdoor Way of the Cross. I hope that you take them on one that involves stairs, and trees, and mud on the path. The best time to take them is today, particularly if today is inconvenient. Then you might come to understand. When you take a toddler on an outdoor walking Way of the Cross, you will begin by thinking... Read more
In Union Cemetery, there are many old trees with great character. There are straight-backed pines that make me dizzy if I stand on the roots and look up. There are irascible cedars that prickle me as I walk past. There are oaks that drop the noisiest acorns, so my feet crackle irreverently if I pass too close. There are groves of Hemlocks that drop a carpet of needles and shade the ground all day long– you could dig your... Read more
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