making sense of life in the details
I was praying for a particular person recently and felt an image of a bucket of light being poured out at their feet like paint from a can. The light spread like paint, slowly, into a puddle and it was just enough to step in, just enough to give direction but not nearly enough for a... Continue Reading →
Last Sunday, we gathered in the early morning with some friends who have not returned to our Catholic chapel community since March. We brought chairs and spread them out physically distanced across our sweet friends’ big backyard on a beautiful Sunday morning. We sat in masks, made the sign of the cross, sang, practiced Lectio Divina, prayed... Continue Reading →
Have you ever heard someone say they were “raised Catholic?” or were you raised Catholic yourself? Me too. There’s a lot of us, “raised” from birth as “cradle Catholics”. Strangely, you hear these descriptors far less among people of other faiths. I don’t often hear about people who were “raised“ Jewish, or of “cradle” Protestant Christians or Muslims. The idea... Continue Reading →
I woke up this morning really missing my pre-COVID life, specifically teaching early childhood music in person in classrooms with real human kiddos. I’m working hard at making remote classes work in some of my usual settings, but as of now there are three schools plus a children’s museum for which my connection has been totally... Continue Reading →
My devotional sent me to the book of 1Kings this morning, to the story about Elijah the prophet who, running for his life, fell exhausted and prayed for death. The story leads to one of the most recognizable passages in scripture, about how Elijah retreated to a cave, and experienced first a great and powerful wind... Continue Reading →
Hey there, Catholic friend, I see you. You were brought up with CCD and necco wafer communion and mass. You gave up candy for Lent, ate fish sticks on Fridays, and know the meaning of a Holy Day of Obligation (get thyself to church). Your grandmother or some other sweet church lady used to pray the rosary... Continue Reading →
I’ve had a few doors closed on me lately. If I’m honest, it’s more than a few, and it’s caused me to look out for new ones: new doors, new windows, new possibilities. I’m training my eyes up and out to see if I can recover the plan, if there is such a thing, and I’ve had... Continue Reading →
Last week I was on my way to an outdoor mass when the skies began to look threatening. Sure enough, as I pulled up, people were headed inside due to impending rain, and I found myself in overflow, socially distant seating downstairs in a church basement. Happy that the parish took such care to keep... Continue Reading →
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. ~Isaiah 43:18-19 I’d be surprised if there’s a soul reading these words who doesn’t feel we’re... Continue Reading →
Remember that scene at the end of Castaway where Tom Hanks pulls over at a four-way intersection, gets out and flips open his map? And then, a woman in a red pick-up truck pulls up and says, “You look lost,” and then proceeds to educate him about precisely where each road will lead. The roads,... Continue Reading →
