making sense of life in the details
For the past several years on New Year’s Eve, our sweet hosts have pulled out a sheet of cardboard on which everyone writes their goals for the year ahead in permanent sharpie. One year I wrote that I would find our dog, Bailey, and I did. Another year I wrote that I would run a... Continue Reading →
Jochebed knew her baby boy was in danger, as were all of the firstborn sons of Israel. She hid Moses as long as she could and then, with no options remaining, prepared a basket, coated it in tar and pitch, and placed the child in it to float among the reeds along the bank of... Continue Reading →
After their Teacher and friend was brutally murdered, along with all their hopes, they did the only thing they knew to do. The disciples of Jesus went back to their lives, back to their work, back to their fishing boat. We can only imagine the desolation they felt as they prepared the nets and set... Continue Reading →
During Lent, we hear a lot about how God is knocking on the door of our hearts. My husband and a few friends are on a cursillo retreat weekend as I type these words, and I know it’s a theme they’ll look at as well. God knocks, and we let him in. Seems simple enough,... Continue Reading →
My friend Deacon Jerry came to mass today and that doesn’t seem all that weird except for the fact that he died a couple of weeks ago. During the Eucharistic prayers, several of my friends who art in Heaven gather around the altar and I acknowledge them there and pray for their families and their... Continue Reading →
“Bye, Kristen!” I called to the beautiful, curly-haired Mom I had met a few weeks before at church. We had been in similar circles over the years, but had not officially been introduced until that Sunday. When I extended my hand and told her my name, Kristen laughed and replied, “Everyone knows who you are.”... Continue Reading →
Our Lady of Guadalupe is on the move and I'm so glad. She crossed my path around mid-December as I waited in a college chapel for my freshman daughter to be done with finals and come on home for winter break. There was a small alcove there dedicated to her, and as I read her... Continue Reading →
There is a lightness in my heart today and it’s fragile and warm and cool at the same time. It is a physical feeling in my chest that I feel when the Holy Spirit is present and communicating, a gift of a feeling that I’ve had maybe a dozen times in my life, maybe less... Continue Reading →
I walked into church, and found an earwig in the holy water. It was a picture of how I felt today; a skittering, slimy creature swimming in the midst of all that’s holy and spoiling it for everyone else. It’s been a rough couple of days (and months and years), and it’s sometimes hard for... Continue Reading →
