We are in the midst of a bitter, cold winter and a strong flu season. If the ice and snow doesn’t keep you inside, the threat of germs and viruses may keep you from venturing out into public and risk being laid up for weeks. Or perhaps you are already dealing with one of the […]
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Now doesn’t that sound more celebratory than a chicken dinner? That’s how we celebrate in my family! Steaks, preferably rare and cooked on a grill. On Wednesday at 5p.m. I entered the winner’s circle, having completed my 50,000 words for the NaNoWriMo challenge. The novel isn’t done yet. I have at least another 5,000 to […]
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Our Lady of the Rosary, October 7 Anxiety, creeping up on me, sneaking up till it grabs me by the throat, like a lion on the prey, swooping in to attack. Little fears and worries grow bigger in an instant. I find myself beset by worries and I don’t know what to do. So I […]
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Ordinary Time – Feast of Dominic Dominic, great preacher and teacher, he left the confines of a contemplative lifestyle in order to be an itinerate preacher. Founder of the order of Preachers, his mission–to speak only of God, or with God–lasts long after he is gone. His ministry continues: a continuation of that great mandate […]
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Ordinary Time – Season of Stability Sometimes Scripture fails me. It is flat and tasteless in my mouth. No words of inspiration or exhortation. Sometimes it misleads me. I focus on that which isn’t for me and ignore that which is truly directed at me. Sometimes prayer fails me. Search though I might, I find […]
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Ordinary Time – Feast Day of Ignatius Loyola Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, but even more important, originator of the Ignatian method of prayer, the examen, author of the 30 day Ignatian retreat and a guide for discernment of spirits. He was also a patron for those confined to bed for long recoveries. Wounded […]
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Ordinary Time – Season of Stability “It’s very hard to hate somebody you are praying for,” a friend once told me. The wisdom of these words! The very nature of prayer, if it is sincere, will lead us to see our enemies with new eyes, to have a growing compassion for them. It’s very hard […]
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Ordinary Time – Season of Stability “To pray is to dream in league with God,” according to Rabbi Abraham Heschel. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, book three of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, there is an island where all of your dreams come true. At first the travelers thought this would be a wonderful […]
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Ordinary Time – Season of Stability As a cradle Catholic, I’ve been reciting the same prayers for sixty years. Of course I have them memorized, er, actually, I do and I don’t. Sometimes the lines are so familiar that I forget them. The words role off of my tongue as long as I don’t stop. […]
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Ordinary Time – Season of Stability What do you do when the well runs dry? When you’ve run out of tears, but not out of grief? When you’ve exhausted all possibilities, everything humanly possible? Do you dig a new well? Try something different or a new approach? Or do you continue in the same well […]
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