Finding and Keeping Faith During a Pandemic
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I wrote about finding encouragement during the pandemic from St. Paul and some ways to keep connected to Christ during a pandemic.
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Finding Meaning in Laundry and Dishes
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I have spent more time in my house this year than any other. I know you have too.
Because I have been in my house so many hours, days, weeks, months, my life seems to be all about laundry, dishes, vacuuming and cleaning that little area right around the base of the toilet.
Read MoreThe Moment of Inhale
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Caravaggio’s art is incomplete without our gaze, the painted narrative waits for our eyes to unravel it. He needs us, the viewers, for the mystery in his paintings to be revealed. As his hues and figures set the stage for a narrative already in motion, Caravaggio allows the viewer to interrupt a story in progress, beholding the precise moment that the narrative curves from ordinary to astonishing."
Read MoreFind God everywhere with writer Brian Doyle
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Absolutely honored to write about my hero and favorite writer, Brian Doyle for U.S. Catholic Magazine! In Doyle I found a kindred spirit. Like me, he found God in the ordinary...well everywhere really. His words breathed life into my faith.
Summer Prayer
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Will we look back at this time with nostalgia? Will we be reminded of the time we learned to be our true selves, the ones you created us to be? Will we remember this was the beginning of something beautiful or sacred?
Read MoreThe Hope of Sidewalk Victory Gardens
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“I love the sheer audacity of these gardens. In the midst of a global pandemic and civil unrest, there are people who endeavor to thrive.”
Read MoreIn Times of Suffering, God's Love Strengthens Us
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My latest column for Northwest Catholic . St Paul wrote that nothing can separate us from the love of God. These words for a Roman community facing oppression connected with me as 15 year old goth wannabe and speak to me now in our new found isolation and turmoil.
Read MorePicture This: Using Art As a Path to the Holy Spirit
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Today I sit with artist Andrew Wyeth’s “Wind From the Sea”…I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to quiet my heart and mind. I invite God to speak to me through the picture.”
Read MorePatience: Catholics are people who wait — and people who love
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We are waiting. Waiting for what? We don’t really know.
We used to wait in line, on hold, in traffic. We waited with anticipation for dinner with friends, our cousin’s wedding or that big vacation. Now, waiting for a routine cleaning at the dentist office sounds like a luxury.
Read MoreResisting the Spirit of Fear
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I know how easy it is for me to fall back on fear. It’s my default. Wired in me. If I look away from Christ for a second, I am lost, and all I can hear are voices telling me lies. I must remind myself of what is true and not to give in to fear.
Read MoreBook Review: Spiritual Conversations with Children
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I can now add reviewer to my resume.
Check out my book review on Spiritual Conversations with Children: Listening to God Together by Lacy Finn Borgo for U.S. Catholic Magazine
Read MoreThe Body Of Christ Speaks: Where Did You Find Joy Today?
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I had so much fun writing this piece and then making this video for my parish, St James Cathedral in Seattle. I hope you enjoy it just as much. And let me know, where did you find joy?
Read MoreJohn Singleton Copley's The Ascension
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I was asked to make a video reflection on John Singleton Copley’s painting The Ascension for Loyola Press’s Waiting for the Spirit retreat.
Read MoreBlessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
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The first time Mary became part of my faith, I was a sleep-deprived new mother. I hadn’t grown up Catholic and converted just a year before my son joined our family. As I nursed him in a darkened room, in the middle of the night, I realized that Mary had fed Jesus just like this. I found this comforting as I looked down at my son, his long eyelashes wet with tears from calling to me in the dark, and prayed that he too would know her Son.
Read MoreReal presence is the heart of Catholicism
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I was completely honored to be asked by U.S. Catholic magazine to write the companion essay for their reader survey on being Catholic in the US.
Read how the Eucharist connects us, not only to Christ, but to each other, locally, globally and through the span of history.
Read MoreStruggling with anger? God gives you the tools you need
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As a kid growing up in Southern California, I’d pull out the little, red portable record player from under my bed and play one of my favorite records, Music Machine. This Christian record for kids had catchy songs about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. I can still remember all the words to songs about kindness, patience, and joy, but the song on self-control really struck a chord with me.
Read MoreHoly Spirit Still Breathes Fire
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In the coloring books and flannelgraphs of my childhood, the disciples of Pentecost stood erect with red teardrops upon their heads. They looked like rows of lit matches. My religion teacher wore her hair in a low bun that covered her ears and told us that on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit arrived like a violent wind. The rest of the class was wondering if she actually had ears under that black hair, but I was wondering how those flames stayed lit. Wouldn’t they blow out?
Read MoreGod Shows Up In the Sunrise
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I want to see the sunrise because I want to see how God is going to show up, not just in the sunrise but in this mess of a pandemic.
I feel as if I am almost daring him to show up. I know he’s here but I want something big.
Read MoreLiving a Resurrection Life
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This is the moment when all those things I said I believed in, hold most true—under duress.
Read my reflection for Ignatian Spirituality.
Read MoreFra Angelico’s ‘The Entombment of Christ’
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Fra Angelico’s “The Entombment of Christ” places us at the tomb as those who loved Christ and were loved by him prepare his body for burial. Christ’s pallid body, cradled in burial cloths, is suspended off the ground between two men tenderly carrying his body toward the tomb.
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