Category: Blog
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‘And They Remembered His Words’
When I first reflected on this year’s Easter Vigil, I felt a very slight disappointment for a very brief moment. I recalled the community members who, just the night before, received sacraments as new members of the Body of Christ, and I somewhat envied their new, fresh beginning. This fresh…
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Drawn to Watch Again
When I watch TV, I’m a channel flipper. During commercials, I look to see what’s showing on other stations. By doing that, I often come across good movies. Usually, they are older films I’ve seen before. It strikes me that there are some movies I can skip – though good,…
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Thankful for St. Joseph
Yesterday (March 19) was the feast day of St. Joseph, and I wish we knew more about him. As we know, there is not a lot on him in scripture, but I think there is enough to give us a pretty good idea. Engaging our imaginations, we can close our…
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Worth the Time and Effort
We’ve had unusually nice weather for this time of year, so I’ve been taking advantage of it to do some yard work. When I’m in the yard, I don’t take my phone or listen to my playlist. Lately, it’s just been my rake and my thoughts. And as I spend…
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Unexpected Lent
I had great plans for this Lent: go to daily Mass at least once per week; go to Adoration at least once per week; attend Stations of the Cross multiple times. Well, three strikes so far. Now that we’re about halfway through Lent, I haven’t done any of them yet,…
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A Memory for You
Several times per week, I receive a notice on my phone of a photo ‘memory for you.’ Do you get those, too? Sometimes the notice even provides multiple memories or photos of the same person (or pet, etc.). To be fair, most of the photos ‘selected’ for me are indeed…
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With the Help of Your Grace
Every time I pray the Act of Contrition the line above stands out for me. I am sorrowful of my sinfulness, so the rest of the prayer is of course an important part of repenting and seeking forgiveness. But the idea of the help of His grace is, for me,…
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Return to Me
We could consider some lines from the readings that begin our Lenten journey today as a spiritual conversation. In the first reading, we are invited: “Return to me with your whole heart.” The refrain from the responsorial psalm is perhaps our reply: “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.”…
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A Week of ‘Hoopla’
Are you going to watch the big game on Sunday? I watch it every year. My favorite part is actually the ‘hoopla’ that happens just before game time. The player introductions, the anthems, etc. The hype beforehand is exciting because the outcome is unknown. After watching weeks of playoff games,…
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Lots of Little ‘Thank Yous’
In trying to overcome a good amount of frustration and disappointment, I challenged myself recently with somewhat of a gratitude exercise. I absolutely know there are plenty of things in my life to be very thankful for, and I regularly offer prayers of thanksgiving. But I’m not always as thoughtful…
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A Call to Pray
I recently had a little spiritual ‘wow’ moment. One of those small, quiet moments when I realized later that God was telling me something. I’m typically not very good at noticing those immediately. I’ve often joked that I would like Him to provide a neon sign or something equally unmistakable…
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Sometimes You Gotta Crop
Do you have photos you love, but they’d be even better with a little cropping? I’ve done that often, especially with Christmas card photos—get rid of the wall and couch so the people fill the space. It’s more pleasing to focus on the main image and not be distracted by…
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Mending the Broken Pieces
I was blessed to have spent my 15th birthday in Vienna, Austria. I remember it was a Monday, and our family went out for Hungarian goulash. The only disappointment was the band that regularly played at the restaurant was off on Mondays. In Vienna, we visited extraordinary sites of course.…
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Freeing Our Nets
Well, here we go. We can tell by tomorrow’s Gospel reading (3 OT, Mk 1:14-20) that it’s about time to get moving. I’m struck by this image of Simon and Andrew, then James and John abandoning their nets to follow Jesus. What they believed and felt in their hearts must…
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Listening Through the Noise
The Catholic Church closest to me has a small 24-hour Adoration Chapel. Thankfully, it is open to anyone during regular business hours. I try to go once in a while and am certainly fulfilled by my time there. The chapel itself is small, just two rows of a few short…
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Setting (Faith) Goals
So, we are just over two weeks in – how are your New Year’s resolutions going? Instead of coming up with something new this year, I’m actually carrying over some unfinished items from 2023. There are some things I didn’t quite accomplish even though I hoped to, planned to, meant…
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A Horse of Course
The Wonder of a New Year My black lab Bella and I were out on our regular morning walk, enjoying the sun which hadn’t shone for two days. It was cold, snow was still on the ground, but the sidewalks were clear for the most part. As we made our…
Journeying to Grace 