I cut my hair off for Lent this year. Well, that’s not exactly the sequence of events. But it’s Lent, and my hair is nearly all gone. This is yet another humiliation brought to you by poly-cystic ovary syndrome. This is the culmination of a long battle. I’ve struggled with my hair and my appearance since I was very young. I was not a beautiful girl in my teens. I was just developing many of the odd chronic illness symptoms... Read more
I want to talk about what’s going on in Texas. Well, two days ago I wanted to talk about what’s going on in Texas. Now I hardly know where to start. I have good friends who live in Texas. They’re always trying to get me to move down there and live near them, and I’m always joking about how my fibromyalgia reacts to hot weather and that I’d have to wear a Mr. Freeze suit just to walk from... Read more
Friends, I’ve got a work of mercy for us to perform for the first week of Lent. As Steubenville residents already know, there was a tragic house fire in town two nights ago. The Thorne family narrowly escaped death, and even had to lift one of the children out the window at the last moment. Thankfully, they are unhurt, but the house is a total loss. Everything they have but the clothes on their backs is gone. They’re going... Read more
It’s Lent. If you’re Christian, that’s a time for reflection and turning away from sin. Many of us are also taking up new spiritual practices of adding prayer or practicing self-denial. And if you’ve been a victim of spiritual abuse, that can be tricky. Spiritual abuse can change the way you look at pain and discomfort. It can make it harder to discern what God is calling you to do. It can also make you imagine you have faults... Read more
A reading from the book of Leviticus: The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests among his descendants. If the man is leprous and unclean, the priest shall declare him unclean by reason of the sore on his head. “The one who bears the sore... Read more
Many years ago now, I went on retreat for the weekend with my FUS “faith household.” A faith household is an institution unique to Franciscan University, kind of like a combination of a sorority or fraternity and a mini religious order. The members have mandatory daily prayer, business meetings and once-a-semester retreats; they also hang out together and have a lot of fun. Each of them has a theme, patron saints and a charism; when I was at Franciscan... Read more
I just read the news about the case of Shania Bell, who lost custody of her children for trying to feed them. Her mug shot is all over the news, looking shocked, with a tear glittering in one eye. I can’t blame her for crying. Her story is very simple: Bell left her two daughters, aged two and ten, alone at the motel they lived in for a few hours so she could work a shift at a pizza restaurant.... Read more
Let me try to explain something you might not know: narcissists love inciting gullible people to hurt others on their behalf, and they’re good at it. It’s one of the most predictable behaviors for a narcissistic person. It’s one of the most baffling forms of abuse they commit. Many of us have been the victims of that abuse, and it’s such a confusing experience we might still be unable to articulate what happened. It can look a number of ways:... Read more
Imagine a B horror movie– the most formulaic of B horror movies, the kind you throw popcorn at for fun. Imagine the group of unwitting protagonists approaching a haunted house. It doesn’t feel right but there’s nothing overtly wrong. It’s just spooky. There’s an atmosphere of anxiety about the place but the protagonists aren’t afraid. And then things start to go awry. We, the audience, begin to see things that aren’t right, at first just in hints. One of... Read more
I went to Mass. A year ago, that wouldn’t have been news. A year ago I was just beginning to think I might have to stay home from church and other crowded places for a few weeks. I had not been to Mass since July. Michael’s asthma and my hodgepodge of chronic illnesses make it very risky with COVID. We’d resolved to watch Mass on livestream until we could get the vaccine, but the vaccine rollout is going so... Read more
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