Today is the Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church, instituted by the Holy Father, Pope Francis. Here is an excerpt of a short little fiction I wrote for the day, a while back: She was grinding grains of wheat and barley when he came up from behind, startling her with a quick kiss to the cheek that made her jump and give a little cry out loud. “Yeshua,” she chided as he laughed. “You Read more…
O God, by whose command the sands of our lives run fast or slow, clean or clotted, your psalmist sang, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and a right spirit renew within me…”. Today I join this song, humbly asking that in your mercy you may will for me a clean heart, a fresh heart, a strong and healthy heart, a heart renewed. By your will, I beg that the heart of my Read more…
The funerals are beginning. We are seeing gut-churning images of parents, siblings, playmates, a whole community in grief. We’ve gasped and cried our way through such footage and photographs before, of course. And there is no saying we will not do so again, because hyper-individualism, bullying, unhealthy isolation, madness and spiritual darkness have permeated the fabric of our society to a degree that seems unfathomable to us, even as we struggle to recognize all of Read more…
I was nosing around through scripture last night and found myself looking at Revelation, a book that — thanks to the promptings of a dear old religious sister who was my spiritual advisor for a while — I have learned to love. I’d not read Chapters 12 or 13 in a while, and if you’re not familiar with them, this is where we get the bits about about the dragon and the beast — the Read more…
Blogging is dead, so the saying goes, but you know… it’s where I’m comfortable so I will be eschewing the trend toward Substack and parking myself and my thoughts back here for a while, writing for myself without the constraints that naturally come whenever you’re working for someone else. For instance, I enjoyed my writing/editing career the most during my years as Editor-in-Chief at Aleteia.org because we were striving to create a site that had Read more…
A friend of mine, a deeply faithful and kind man, and someone I’d call a true classical liberal, because he listens and then thinks (there is lots of “responding” from him rather than “reacting”), said he was trying to put a thought together and wanted my opinion. He wrote: “White nationalism is a dangerous ideology. White Christian nationalism is a dangerous ideology and idolatry. White Catholic nationalism is an ideology, idolatry, and bordering on heresy. Read more…
This little Christmas litany is one I had forgotten I’d written and was glad to find. May we praise you, Christ Child, and welcome you into our world, and into our hearts. May we grow in gratitude and intimacy with you, as we live within your light. May we begin the renewal of our relationship with you in a prayer of recognition: (Our Father…) Lord, have mercy… Christ, have mercy… Lord, have mercy… Incarnate Word, Read more…
It’s that time of year again, and thank God for it, sez I! Thank God for 26 days in which to turn away from all of the “new” and “improved” must-haves-of-the-season in order to ponder some ancient things that cannot be improved upon; psalms and prophecies – a promise of a new way, and fresh beginnings, brought to us by the One who Is, Was and Ever Shall Be; who existed before all and will Read more…
Well, it is cold and windy this election day here in New York, and my husband and I stood in line for over two hours to cast our votes. This is pretty much unheard of in our little Long Island town, where voting usually takes five minutes, tops. And there were all kinds of people voting, lots of older folks who were smart enough to bring chairs and turned their political hats backwards so as Read more…
Isn’t that a beautiful young couple up there, circa 1957? They’re still a beautiful couple 62 years later, but the joy of that day — one that was reflected for all these decades through all of the ups and downs that go with a marriage, and a live fully lived — has become a bit strained. Through years of financial struggle and toil, and holding several jobs while trying to make ends meet in a Read more…