My husband and I are in a time of waiting, which is appropriate for this Lenten season. The doctors have still not found the cause for why my dad is so sick and so we wait, try not to worry (super hard), and leave it to God's loving care. We are also in the middle …
Frequent Confession, the Eucharist, and the Need for Conversion
During this Lenten season we are called to examine our lives more closely in light of our relationship with Christ and His Church. Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving bring us deeper into the mysteries of Christ and our own journey to holiness. Lent is also a time to draw closer to the Sacraments, especially the Holy …
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The Peace in Leaving Facebook Behind
I have written multiple blog posts about my increased understanding that I needed to give up Facebook. I only rarely used Twitter and saw it as an overwhelming amount of information with absolutely no real human connection. It is a place to vent political ideology in 140 characters, and that largely includes Catholic writers too. Facebook was …
Strange Beauty in Art and Life: The Agony in the Garden
Today I am waiting for my dad to undergo some medical tests to see why he is so sick and whether or not it is life-threatening. Ever since I got word last week that my dad's chronic illness was not the cause of his weakness and he is bleeding internally, I have been thinking and contemplating the …
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The Cardinal Virtues: The Queenship of Prudence
The moral life has been hampered greatly by the prevalence of both nominalism (a system based on opposition) and a system of morality based on obligation over charity. For the first 1500 years of the Church, the moral life was seen as the movement of grace within the individual who then strives to live the …
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The Cardinal Virtues: Introduction
It has been a very stressful week for my family and me with multiple health scares and the ever present agony of waiting for news. I did want to start a brief series on the cardinal virtues based on a term paper I wrote for grad school. This first part is from that paper. We …
What is Conscience?
In the United States it is a presidential election year, which means the word conscience will be thrown around in Catholic circles and in the culture. At times the use will be correct and other times it will be wrong as individuals fall victim to a desire for the subjective and an abandonment of objective …
When Painful Anniversaries Come and Go
I should probably learn to be more aware of dates. It would help me to better understand why certain days seem to be harder than others. Yesterday was one of those days. It didn't dawn on me until this morning why yesterday had more weight to it. Yesterday was the 3 year anniversary of my …
Pursuing Virtue, Falling on Christ, and the Battle with Being Overweight
Temperance is a struggle in our culture. We struggle to rightly order food, possessions, sex, money, etc. This is very true with food as is evidenced by the obesity epidemic, of which I am a part. The struggle with food usually has many root causes and is agitated by health issues or medications. For people …
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Sinful Anger: Confronting the Beast Within
In my most recent article for Catholic Exchange I discuss the beginning of my own Lenten journey and life-long journey to confront sinful anger, which I have battled since childhood. For this Lenten season, I finally decided to confront one of the deadly sins that has beguiled me since childhood: sinful anger. Over the years …
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Swimming the Depths 