making sense of life in the details
I was watching this video last night and was about half-way through when I burst into tears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUtll3mNj5U It’s a collaboration of over 65 churches and Christian movements in the UK, their music ministers calling down blessings over their country. And if you watch their faces, you see their connection to the Holy Spirit,... Continue Reading →
I’m a Catholic and my heart is broken, again. An audio recording of a meeting between Catholic bishops and President Trump reveals a modern-day exchange of silver. Catholic school funding + defense of the pro-life cause = political support and Catholic votes. Never mind this administration’s horrific, bungling, and careless late response to the pandemic,... Continue Reading →
“What’s that yellow thing behind you?” asked a book club friend on our shared zoom call. I turned to look behind me at a pair of quilts that are draped over the rocking chair in my bedroom. Made up of squares from the long-outgrown clothes of my children, these quilts are in the background of... Continue Reading →
I’m having a hard time today. I found I didn’t want to get out of bed and face another day filled with the same stresses, fears, and challenges we’ve been facing for weeks. I’ve been working hard to find the positive, and as a person of faith, to find the resurrection part of all this... Continue Reading →
It’s Good Friday, and in this coronavirus time, we’re not gathering in our churches for the Stations of the Cross or for the services we’re used to. We’re not venerating the Cross or singing the solemn songs together. It may be harder for Christians to enter into the Story than it’s been in Holy Weeks... Continue Reading →
I hadn’t bought asparagus in months as I couldn’t bring myself to spend $4/pound, but we all know that with the spring comes the very tasty and also much lower-priced asparagus, so I had planned on waiting it out. Then came a pandemic, and all thoughts of non-utilitarian vegetables moved pretty far down the list. We... Continue Reading →
I was watching a live feed of a Palm Sunday mass yesterday and the internet connection was cutting in and out, making it a little hard to focus on the readings but at one particular choppy bit, one word came flying out at me in a way it hadn’t before. Barabbas. You know him, he’s... Continue Reading →
I’m a Catholic making beef stew today on a Friday during Lent and I’m not going to eat it. But, Kerry, I hear you saying, didn’t you hear that your local Cardinal Sean O’Malley lifted the obligation to abstain from meat during Lent due to the coronavirus? Yes, friend, I did hear that news, but... Continue Reading →
In this time of crisis, we’re being stripped of quite a lot. Roles, practices, relational habits and interaction, labels, even jobs or our health. In addition, the way we practice our faith has completely changed. Within my own church tradition, Catholics are being told we can confess our sins directly to God without a priest... Continue Reading →
“I just can’t wait until this is all over and things can go back to normal.” I felt the fatigue and worry in my friend’s voice as she spoke these words, and I feel it, too. I want to see my preschool music students face-to-face, want to gather with my friends and family. I want... Continue Reading →
