As a mother, there are many times—even throughout one day—when I am tempted to fear instead of placing all my trust in God. Questions pop up, at times assaulting my mind and heart: “Will my child still believe in God as an adult?” “Is what I am doing enough?” “What if it’s not? What
Not too long ago, we heard Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Let your yes be yes, and your no be no’ (Mt 5:37); that is, don’t swear to things, but be honest. When you agree to something, keep your word, and when you don’t agree, be clear, so you don’t cause confusion
The Lord is constantly calling us back to himself. Let us turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God who is generous in forgiving (Is 55:7). In my own humanity, when someone hurts my children or me, I am more apt to want justice rather than mercy. But with the Lord it is not
It was August 15th, the Solemnity of the Assumption, and I was rushing my homeschooled children to Mass. We were late. My ten-year-old son ran to the car with what he thought were two shoes in his arms. It wasn’t until we pulled up to the church that we realized the truth: he had only
Sometimes, my child scares me. Is that a bad thing to say out loud? Maybe. But I’m hoping other moms can empathize, if not truly relate. I have a child who does everything with his whole self. He loves deeply; his excitement is contagious, but his anger and frustration fill the entire room. Sometimes those
Whoa! Jeremiah did not hold back! In today’s first reading, he makes it clear that he’s pretty frustrated about his role as a prophet, and downright angry! But be honest, doesn’t it sound like mothering? Sometimes? Jeremiah tells the Lord, You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped (Jer 20:7). I was
Life has felt a little overwhelming this summer. My mom is aging and having health issues, and we all agreed it was best to have her move in with us—which meant we had to move our family as well in order to have enough space. But big life events like this don’t mean that the
Today’s Gospel gives us a window into the heart of a mother and into the sacred space of her relationship with Christ. I missed the grace of this understanding for many years because I had misinterpreted Jesus’ response to her in this reading. I had wallowed in my defense of the Canaanite woman at every
How great is our God? He literally feeds us with his Word, and today’s Word is all about feeding people. Isaiah told us long ago, You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! (Is 55:1) Our little ones come without money and
Our baby is almost ten months old. It always amazes me when they get to this age and suddenly go from being so tiny, so helpless—unable to sit or move or eat without their mothers—to suddenly sitting up without assistance, crawling everywhere, and eating everything off the floor. At the same time, our oldest is
The prayer of today’s psalm struck my heart as I reflected on a recent challenging moment with my son and pictured the way God would have responded to him, how God had intended for me to respond to him. Turn toward me, and have pity on me, pleads the Psalmist (Ps 139:112). In our suffering
I have many gifts. Keeping our front flower bed alive is not one of them. Every season, bliss with optimism, I purchase copious amounts of annuals, haul them home, weed and till, apply generous scoops of fertilizer, plant the flowers deep, and water plentifully. They, in turn, thank me for my hours of labor by
Being a grandmother is one of the most joyful experiences I have ever lived. Seeing our children gift us with “grands” is a truly amazing miracle and proof of God’s great love for his people. Recently, my husband, Ed, and I traveled West to visit our second-oldest daughter, her husband, and their seven children. Because
When I was younger, I often envied the faith of my spiritual parents. One, a Jesuit priest, served as my spiritual director for several years; the other was my former employer turned spiritual mother. Their calm replies to my distress when life was not going according to my own plans, I found at once both
Throughout salvation history, God has spoken to his people. In the beginning, he walked with them and talked to them face to face. Then he spoke through Moses. God made it clear in Exodus 19 that if we hearken to His voice, he will be our God, and we will be His people, a priestly
This the truth each Christian learns, bread into his Flesh he turns, to his Precious Blood the wine/ Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives, but a dauntless faith believes, resting on a pow’r divine. (Lauda Sion). Have you ever had a moment when the enormity of Christ’s suffering, death, and ultimate gift of himself
The whirlwind of glorious Easter celebrations and wonderful saints’ feast days—Anselm, Mark, Catherine of Siena, Athanasius, James, Philip, Matthias, Joseph, and Our Lady of Fatima, to name a few—culminated last week in the solemnity of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit infused the Apostles, and by extension us, with the same courage and conviction he gave
Motherhood is a universal experience of womanhood, I firmly believe. We are called to it, certainly, by our very biology, as men are called to fatherhood by their biology. Most certainly, we may be called out of our biological vocation into the extraordinary vocation of religious life, but as women, our bodies are made receptively—to
The Apostles, after having witnessed Jesus’s ascension, stayed in Jerusalem and kept vigil in prayer, waiting for the one who was promised them—the Holy Spirit. There is no way to really know what they were feeling or thinking as they waited, but the author of Acts says they devoted themselves to prayer along with some
We are still celebrating Easter. The Church, in her wisdom, gives us fifty days to celebrate and to anticipate the coming of the Holy Spirit. I often think about what these days must have been like for the disciples, and especially for Our Blessed Mother. She saw her son brutally beaten and crucified; she stayed
Today, we hear about the institution of a new ministry in the early Church, the diaconate. Luke tells us that the Greeks were complaining that their widows were not getting a big enough helping at dinner…and the apostles decided to appoint some reputable men filled with spirit and wisdom to serve at table (Acts 6:3).