Have you ever heard angels singing? I think I have for real, once at a charismatic prayer meeting. But earlier this week, I swear the angels came down and joined the choir at Mass. Or maybe it was we who were lifted up into heaven, “joining our voices with angels and archangels” as the liturgy […]
ARE YOU LOST? FIND YOUR WAY IN JESUS
I woke this morning from a dream of being lost. In it, I found myself suddenly alone in a strange place with no purse or phone, with no one to ask for help. It is a dream I have had before. I struggled to wake up, to get going on the day and fill my […]
FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION: Priests in Nazareth pray the Angelus
On a visit to Nazareth in the Holy Land, I had the privilege of entering into the grotto at the Basilica of the Annunciation that marks the traditional site of Mary’s childhood home. Imagine – this might be the very place where she heard from the angel Gabriel! On the altar it says, in Latin, […]
STAY CONNECTED: A New Series for Catholic Women
My corner of the office is festooned with little gifts from women: a tiny pewter teapot that reads “Women are like teabags; we don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water” (Eleanor Roosevelt). Another tiny teapot made of cloisonné. A hand-lettered prayer. A card engraved in red: “We will always be friends […]
COME PRAISE AGAINST THE DARK!
The tune is 60’s-folk and more old-school than retro-cool. But it is embedded in my memory and comes to my rescue on days when I wake up under a load of problems and can’t see my way out. Personal problems are bad enough. But now it seems our government is being pulled apart and polarization […]
HIS MIRACLES COME THROUGH OUR BREAKING
“This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad” I roll out of bed groggy, but give thanks before my feet hit the floor the way Dad taught me. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good — his mercy endures forever” The verses rise unbidden from some dark […]
CARING FOR PEARLS (Or, Turning Trials Into Things of Beauty)
Talk about a “pearl of great price”! A Filipino fisherman this week revealed the unusual good-luck charm he’d kept hidden under his bed for ten years: a 75-pound pearl. No, that’s not a typo – his two-foot-long, fresh-water treasure weighs as much as your average 5th-grader. The extraordinary beauty of natural pearls comes from the […]
CHRIST IS RISEN!
The third time is a charm, they say, and it was for me. The third time in Labor and Delivery and I knew what to expect, knew the pains would come and go and be replaced by the unutterable joy of a child. When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour […]
WHAT’S YOUR FAMILY’S STORY?
Pope Francis is coming to Philadelphia this week, and the whole town is in a whirl. Welcome signs and banners with the Holy Father’s picture are everywhere, and people of all ages, carrying green World Meeting of Families backpacks, are filling the streets with their smiles. One thing it’s hard not to notice is the […]
REDEEMING THE FAMILY
I had no idea, growing up, how grateful I would one day be to have a mother and father who love me, no matter what. Today, things I took for granted — I am loved and I love; I am precious and uphold others’ worth; I am forgiven and I forgive — these things are […]
