Healing Hospitality
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After over a year of not being welcome in each other’s homes, and when currently there are many places that limit who is welcome, this act of hospitality seems nothing short of revolutionary.
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Noisy Praise
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At night, as I lay in bed, the pond just outside my bedroom window
burst into a cacophony of croaking, gulping, chirping, and guzzling.
It was not the silence I was seeking — but it sounded like a symphony,
On Advent Waiting: Wisdom from G.K. Chesterton
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What if we reframed the act of waiting -- as a gift?
Read MoreListen to Your Inner Voice
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Do you ever wonder if you even know the sound of your own voice — what stream of thoughts running through your mind are authentically yours? Or are you just hearing an echo of voices from throughout the day or your life?
Read MoreFrank Mc Court: Angela’s Ashes
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Frank Mc Court’s childhood in Limerick, Ireland was so dire, reading his memoir, Angela’s Ashes, you’ll be grateful you ever had a full egg all to yourself.
The bleak stories seem to spill over one another with Mc Court’s run on sentences and dialogue meant to evoke the Irish cadence of speaking over one another (and not necessarily listening). This style of writing works well to convey desperate nature of the lives of the Mc Court’s but leaves very little in the way of respite.
Read MoreOctober Book List
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I read about a book a week. Sometimes for reviews. Sometimes for fun.
I get asked often what I am reading, so I thought I’d make this a regular feature on my website. Maybe you’ll discover a new read or reminded of one you’ve been wanting to pick up.
Read MoreThanksgiving: A Spiritual Exercise
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I have a theory. It is very unofficial. I haven’t done any scientific research on it. I wouldn’t even know where to begin – well, especially since I am not a scientist. Here’s my theory: Those people who go around the table and say what they are thankful for at Thanksgiving dinner – they are happier than those who don’t.
Read MoreFinding God in the Present Moment
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I know a woman who used to watch the news religiously. She would get caught up in the latest mandate, scandal, or expose until it took over all her waking hours. She obsessed over these stories until she was so incredibly anxious, she forgot how to live.
Read MoreTell Your Story
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As Catholic Christians we seem to be most comfortable sharing our faith by our acts of service. This year Pope Francis challenges us to share our stories. Stories is how the church began.
Read MoreOn Being the World to Our Vision
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Contrary to popular narratives, Motherhood and Creativity might not be opposed but rather intricately, intimately linked. Read my essay On Bending the World to Our Vision for Dappled Things.
Read MoreJosephine Humphrey: Rich in Love
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“Perhaps someday we’ll recall with joy even these things”
These are Aeneas’s words in Virgil’s The Aeneid; spoken to encourage his men in the face of hardship. They are also the words of Lucille, the seventeen-year-old narrator of Josephine Humphreys’ novel Rich in Love, spoken to encourage herself. This is the story of the unravelling of the Odom family and the seventeen-year-old who tries to keep them together.
Read MoreWhat Does Love Mean?
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"When I hear “Love is love,” I know it is simply not true. My love looks nothing like the love of God. Love that gave up both his only Son and his own life for us. Love that suffered physically, emotionally and spiritually for us. Love that we can never be separated from. Love that banishes fear — and hate. And while we are still his enemies, while we hated him, while we still hate him, he loved us first. It is easy to love those who are like us, or those we like, but those we hate? Those who actively pull away?"
Read MoreA Discipline of Noticing
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I think of these words as a directive. They are my prayer for my vocation as a mother, that I would teach my sons to see the life at play in everything.
Read MoreJulian Of Norwich-A Revelation of Love
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There is a tenderness of language in Julian of Norwich’s A Revelation of Love. These sixteen mystical revelations manifested at what Julian had thought was her deathbed one night over several hours.
Read MoreMiddle School
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Middle school is an awkward time as it is, and now these young people have to deal with it during the disconnect of a global pandemic and wearing masks that hide our subtle facial expressions and stifle our mumbled words.
Read MoreWhat is my Identity?
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"My life story has been one of learning to be loved by God." My latest column for NorthWest Catholic What is my Identity? I wrote this as a love letter to the middle schools I see struggling to understand who they are.
Read MoreAnne of Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery
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“No commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child of whom shy Matthew Cuthbert was so ludicrously afraid.”
Read MoreA Gentle Saint: St. Peter Faber
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Inspired by Jon M Sweeney’s new book, Peter Faber: A Saint for Turbulent Times, my reflection on Peter Faber, a gentle saint for Loyola Press
Read MoreThe Boyfriend List: E Lockhart
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Have you ever wanted to get inside the mind of a teenage girl? Me either, but this is exactly where we live for 229 pages in E. Lockhart’s The Boyfriend List.
Read MoreFirst Art Love
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I don’t think any of us had grown up feeling like art was something we could approach. Graffiti, silkscreen and maybe Disney were for the likes of us. But the stuff in museums, that was for kids in John Hughes movies or people who lived in New York. Not us.
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