Blog
October 17, 2021
Never forget our friends in heaven Upon conversion to Catholic Christianity, it was if I’d landed in another universe, one filled with women I did not recognize and could not relate to. I met joyous moms with five, seven, ten kids who seemed filled with light, life and children. Women who continued their pregnancy through to the birth of a child she knew would live only hours or days. In a word, saints. Or so they seemed to me. Too far away for friendship-even conversation…unreachable. But after I read about a “conversation” between St. Teresa of Avila and Christ about the […]
October 10, 2021
In the Belly of the Whale: Jonah, The Reluctant Prophet. We’ve all been there. Alone. In the dark. Terrified. In the belly of the whale: Jonah, the reluctant prophet. Just four chapters long, the book of Jonah seems at first to be just another fantastic Bible story. Surely a wild tale, of course it’s allegory, right? And yet, Jesus Himself speaks about Jonah, calling him an “early preacher!” A fact that is both consoling and terrifying- I’ll return to this comment in a bit, first, some background. 38 Then some of the teachers of the Law and the proud religious law-keepers […]
October 3, 2021
Sin is not in my lexicon, dear friend Modern woman and her psyche Sin is not in my lexicon, dear friend—I do what’s good, defined my way. The end. No sense of sin? Friend, then how do you knowthe right, the wrong, the which-way-to-go? Honey, I simply do what I think right:I never harm, I give no spit, no fight. Darling, how do you know your “right” is right?Which one authority supports this might? Authority? Why ask me that? My mightis right! My kindness clearly guides my sight. What about consequence, sorrow, remorse?Sacrifices, mercy, and love, full course. Love? You […]
September 26, 2021
Take the snakes away! The reading for the September 14th celebration of the Triumph of the Cross takes us back to the nation of Israel’s escape from 400 years of slavery in Egypt to a forty-year desert journey. Complaining. Again. Not noticing the fact that their clothes and sandals are not wearing out. Or remembering how they walked through the sea with walls of water on each side. Or that water appears out of a rock when needed by them and their livestock. More and more, these readings about the ancient Israelites are like looking into a mirror which reveals […]
September 19, 2021
Ode to Hope: Todd Beamer, Pope John Paul and Peter What could a twenty-first century computer salesman, former pope, now saint and Peter, the first pope, share? What could men living millenia apart, varied cultures and relgious backgrounds have in common? Especially an ode to hope: Todd Beamer, Pope John Paul and Peter? Indeed. Do you remember Todd Beamer? His then pregnant wife Lisa? Here’s a hint. Todd’s last words ‘Let’s roll’ traveled the world. And now, upon reflecting on them twenty years later, we stop. Still. To wonder, “What would we have done?” Todd Beamer was the thirty-two-year-old Oracle […]
September 12, 2021
The devolution of rights into structural sin. It’s a mouthtful, I know. Certainly for me the phrase, the “devolution of rights into structural sin”, is a heady one. Until reading a piece by Jeffrey Mirus, I’d never heard of structural sin. And yet only a second or two of thought recalls the events of 9/11/01. Twenty years ago yesterday. There was no question in any heart that this was evil. No disagreement between races or political parties or persons of the immensity and magnitude of it. Or of the nobility of those who gave their lives trying to save those […]
September 1, 2021
We will never win the culture war until Christians reclaim Sunday. Sunday: a day dedicated to our favorite sport, shopping, or watching movies, or…? Or to the Lord? “One of the saddest things I see is a sign on a business that says, ‘Open 7 days a week.'” So states Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, President of Christendom College in his three minute video, “Reclaiming the Lord’s Day.“ Emphasizing the vastness and pervasive materialism which has invaded much of the western world, O’Donnell quotes Pope John Paul. “We will never win the culture war until Christians reclaim Sunday.” An unequivocal statement like […]
August 29, 2021
Same kind of different as me, the movie “Sometimes you successful folks can rise up so high reaching for more stuff that you miss knowing God. But you can never stoop low to help somebody and have God miss knowing you”― Denver Moore I’d never heard of this film or the book and for the first ten, maybe fifteen minutes, disliked it. I kept hoping that my husband John would feel the same way and turn it off… and find something absorbing. Although I knew Renee Zellweger played the leading female role, she looked too different to captivate me. The Zellweger […]
August 22, 2021
Image provided by Fr. Chris Kanowitz The futility of man’s wars vs heavenly weaponry It’s been a remarkable week. Last Sunday, we celebrated the Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary body and soul into heaven. The day before, August 14th, the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Saint and Martyr of the Immaculate. And then we see the horrific images of terrifed Afghans fleeing Kabul. “John, those people were hanging onto US planes then fell to their deaths.” “Same thing happened when we pulled out of Viet Nam,” my husband replied to me. “My clients used to tell me about the […]
August 15, 2021
Custody of the senses: Path to sanity. Think about these words for a second. The word “custody” connotes legal guardianship: We understand it to mean supervison or in charge of a person, child or entity. Therefore the phrase, “custody of the senses,” means that each of is guardian of our senses- what we decide to touch, smell, hear, taste and see. That is more than an arresting thought, isn’t it? And calls into question all that we permit to enter those five sensible gates of ours. Fr. Marc Foley writes that curiosity, … increases our distractability and destroys the tranquility […]
August 8, 2021
It is good for us to be here…the understatement of all time. Peter’s words, “It is good for us to be here…” make me smile at the massiveness of the understatement. I reflect on what it must have felt like to those three Apostles. Jesus tells them to come up to the mountain with Him. After a nanosecond, the smile fades into…awe, wonder and ineffable gratitude. Had He extended such an invitation before? Come up to the peak of Mount Tabor and pray with me. Usually we read that Jesus went up to the mountains and prayed. Alone. Perhaps then, […]
August 1, 2021
Reflections on George Bailey-It’s A Wonderful Life. Until I met my husband, I had neither heard of nor watched Frank Capra’s classic film, It’s A Wonderful Life. From the very first moments of the movie, I was hooked. In fact, each Christmas season, we watch it at least once, sometimes twice, despite being able to practically recite the dialogue along with Jimmy Stewart, Henry Travers (Clarence) and Donna Reed. One would think that after seeing a movie over twenty-five times, it would lose its effect. But it never does. Why? From the very beginning, I felt dropped into a world […]
July 25, 2021
Real Poverty-Not knowing what we lack. We hear the phrase a lot: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” And recall that St. Mark qualifies St. Luke’s with two words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Until hearing a homily by EWTN priest Fr. Mark Mary, I’d not given any thought to the qualifier, “poor in spirit.” When hearing that beatitude, my mind automatically interpreted the words of Christ to mean material poverty: the poor have far more chance of making heaven than do we who have received such abundance. Real poverty-not knowing what […]
July 18, 2021
In praise of criticism, albeit with gritted teeth About four or six weeks ago, I sent the first draft of my newest book, The Reluctant Queen-The Story of Esther– to my four readers. These four people are generous enough to read the word document online and tell me what they think. It’s not editing I want from them. Instead I’m looking for honest reactions by people who love reading a great story. And can tell instantly if there are problems in these areas: Overall coherence “Feel” of the characters and plot. Whether or not main character-Esther- can be clearly visualized […]
July 11, 2021
Not me! You’re joking, right? Called to be prophets: each of us? Prophets were the Old Testament men. Like Isaiah, Ezekial, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Amos. They were called by the Lord to prophesy repentence to the Chosen Ones: the Israelis. Right, but it did not end there. Last Sunday’s homily from Bishop Robert Baron is titled, You are called to be a prophet. This one echoed in my mind and heart, hence this piece on the obligation of each Christian, each of us, to take stock. Not of our neighbor. Not of our politicians. Nor our priests, Bishops or pastors. […]
July 4, 2021
Is anger an emotion? Or a learned reaction: habit? We feel it everywhere: Anger. Whether a seething whisper or bellowing roar, resentment, anger, even rage, feels like the fuel of this brand new year as the second decade of the twenty-first century heads south…The youngest child of a mother who seemed slightly to very discontented for the majority of her time on this planet, I began my acquaintance with anger at an early age. I wrote that paragraph five years ago, but it accurately descibes what we read, watch and hear in 2021. Hence I have revisited the question, “Is anger […]
June 27, 2021
Thomas More, Patron saint of politicians. This past Tuesday was the Feast Day of Saint Thomas More. Sir Thomas More was Henry Vlll’s Lord Chancellor during the King’s attempts to persuade the Catholic Church to grant him an annulment. His marriage to Catherine of Aragon was invalid, claimed the King, for it had produced no heirs. Henry argued that he should be free to marry Anne Boelyn so that the reign of the House of Tudor would be protected. King Henry’s argument failed. So the King declared himself-and successive monarchs- head of the church through a Parliamentary move called the […]
June 20, 2021
The real competition is for souls I have read and heard St. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians numerous times. I speak of the passage referring to the “super Apostles.” But had always assumed that St. Paul referred to some of the original twelve, (Including Mathias.) After listening to Fr. Alphonse Van Guilder’s homily for Thursday of this past week, however, I realized that St. Paul was not referring to Peter, James, Andrew or any of the original disciples. Instead, the Super Apostles that Paul spoke of were those who changed Christ’s message to suit their own agendas. …But I am […]
June 13, 2021
The talkative man is not stable on the earth Thi phrase is from the extensive treatment of humility by St. Benedict. Chapter seven, the reading for this past Monday, June 7 was: The ninth degree of humilityis that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence,not speaking until he is questioned.For the Scripture showsthat “in much speaking there is no escape from sin” (Prov. 10:19)and that “the talkative man is not stable on the earth” (Ps. 139:12). When I read it last Monday morning, the words echoed in my mind and have not left. Augmented and amplified by its antecedent: […]
June 6, 2021
Ever think about people from your past? Well, sure, we all do. Especially teachers or professors who changed our lives. Or bosses we were privileged to work for. And, of course, those rare friendships lost through a move, or a divorce, or some kind of disagreement which could not be resolved. But I had never heard of thinking about people from your past as “good spritual practice” until listening to Fr. Alphonse Guilder‘s homily for Wednesday’s daily mass. Fr. Alphonse was speaking of the reading from Tobit: the one detailing Angel Raphael’s restoration of Tobit’s sight and exorcism of Sarah’s […]
May 30, 2021
It’s Memorial Day Weekend Traditionally, Memorial Day opens the gates to summer: barbeques, beaches and bathing suits, concerts. But this holiday (holy day) is so much more than summer fun. Since we are obligated to honor those countless men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice, shouldn’t we think about the cost of freedom? It’s Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day’s beginning was, fittingly, during the Civil War. According to the Library of Congress, southern women decorated the graves of dead soldiers long before the war’s end. June 1, 1861 may be the first such grave to be decorated in Warrenton, […]
February 23, 2014
I think there was a book by this name- or close to it- published a few years back…or maybe it was a movie. Regardless, I think about that question now and then, perhaps we all do. When I read something that prompts me to consider this possibility ( CS Lewis is almost always my catalyst, more on why in a moment), I get stuck on a few details. Like these: Will I get there? If and when I do, will there be a recognizable I…? Will who I was while here, what I did and what I thought be accessible […]
March 27, 2014
When Christ meets her, she’d had 5 husbands and is currently living with a man to whom she is not married. But in the eastern Catholic Church, she became St. Fantine…Fantine, the mother of Cosette in Les Miserables, Victor Hugo’s tragic story we know because of the splendid-at times celestial- music from the Broadway play and the recent film. We are taught that the Gospel is the living Word…despite all the iterations of translations through the centuries, that truth becomes evident to me with a March 9th homily on the conversation in the Gospel of John which should never have […]
April 15, 2014
It’s been a little over a month since I lost my best friend- a Doberman named Ally. And this is the 4th post I have written in my attempts to come to grips with the loss of this remarkable creature with whom I was graced for a little over 7 years. Over 3000 words before I felt that the tribute had been written. As I write about what I have learned, I think of one of my many teachers, CS Lewis, when he talked about experience: ‘But we learn, by the awful grace of God, we learn,’ because that’s what […]
April 17, 2014
The last couple of months have been filled with difficulties-ranging from trivial to awful. And so we decided to spend Holy Week and Easter weekend down here. I was dreading yet another series of “firsts”; this RV suffused with memories of our boy, now gone, the 4 mile walk along the ocean that the boys and I took so many times while on holiday down here over the last several years. Both Shadow and I had lots of trouble last night with those parts of this RV that were Ally’s…I could see Shadow carefully avoiding them…tough to do in less […]