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“It is good to let the jeering skulls laugh…”

A little something worth keeping in mind: Mostly, we are powerless over the vagaries of life. Rather than disturbing us, that reality should help Christians embrace a daily mindset of pragmatic surrender. Yes, we are responsible for ourselves, for our families, our bodies, our neighbors. We are spirit and matter and so, to a point, material considerations do matter. But our lives are brief (“our years are 70, 80 if we are strong” says Psalm Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Advent: Come on and work it on out

Okay, so what do our boys up there mean? What does it mean to “Rock Advent”. Well, as with anything else, “it works, if you work it.” If you follow a food or exercise plan to become more fit, and you keep to it pretty well, you’ll see results. If you tend a garden, pulling the weeds and watering it a bit every day, you’ll generally have beautiful flowers or nice fresh salads in the Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

The blessing I’ve just remembered, thanks to Taylor Swift

Did you know there is within the Catholic Church, a blessing offered to parents who are grieving the loss of a child through miscarriage or stillbirth? It’s one of those things I think I may have known but forgotten — and I wish I’d known it when my husband and I were experiencing the horror of miscarrying. Our daughter would be 29, now, and no, you never forget the birthdays and school plays and Christmases Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

BOOKS: A Perfect Gift for Your Favorite Gardener

It feels like those of us who knew it was coming have waited forever for Margaret Rose Realy’s Garden Catechism to finally be published and become available. Boasting the loveliest illustrations you can imagine from the immensely gifted Mary Sprague (and with a foreword by Sherry Weddell) and full of Realy’s commingled (and extensive) knowledge of plants and Christian history, planting times and Catholic myths and legends, seasons and scripture, this book is not merely Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

In Flood, In Disaster, in Human Pain, Where Are Our Angels?

October 2 being a Sunday, the day takes precedence over the memorial on the calendar of the Catholic Church, but as we look at images left by the devastation of Hurricane Ian (and, at this writing, its continued threat), it would not be uncommon to hear some ask, “Well, where were the Guardian Angels? Why weren’t they protecting lives and homes?” Such questions always extrapolates into, “Why do bad things happen at all, if the Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

The “Nones” and the Church: “Sometimes God matters so much they can’t stay in the structure.”

I’ve left the idea that “better catechesis” will end disaffiliation w/the church, or with Christianity in general. I have too many well-catechized pals who KNOW their faith but have still walked away. This piece does a good job of addressing why, and do read it to the end. What people know of the church is simply not jibing with what, and how, it is being taught. Maya Angelou once said something like “People will forget what Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

A 5 Mile Queue for ERII: Bishops Missing a God-Given Cue

We’ve seen nothing like this since the funeral of John Paul II, but in England, an uncountable crowd is queueing up and patiently waiting to quietly file past Queen Elizabeth’s flag-draped coffin. People are being warned that this may involve standing and creeping along for as much as thirty hours in the autumn dampness and chill. On one hand, it’s not surprising. Aside from authentic grief, there is always a “be here, now” sort of Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Polio, again? George and Frassati are 2 great intercessors

The news would have seemed unthinkable a decade ago, but it seems that here we are, in the Year of Our Lord 2022, once more facing the scourge of polio. Officials have said that it is possible that hundreds of people in the state have gotten polio and don’t know it. Most people infected with polio have no symptoms but can still give the virus to others for days or weeks. The lone confirmed case in New Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

On Charles III and the Value and Power of Ritual

Most people now living have never seen the level of pageantry that will be coming out of England over the next two weeks, and again when Charles III is crowned in a year. It surpasses, by far, even the pomp and ceremony of a papal election or pope’s funeral. I’m curious as to whether it will inspire or repulse the young. Images have power, as do words, and while most of the world lives daily Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Science and the Sacred Heart: Hello, Mandelbrot Set!

During this month of June — the Month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the Church – I have been each day** posting an image of the Sacred Heart with some little thought, either my own or someone else’s to my Twitter and Facebook feeds. The action feeds my own devotion to and meditations on the Sacred Heart, but the thoughtful responses of others is certainly gratifying and sometimes enlightening, too. There was Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago