We Are All Called to Lives of Holiness
It is fitting that my daughter came to me on a dark November night. It is the month the Church remembers the dead and prays ardently for the poor souls in Purgatory. The days are cold while the trees shake off the last remnants of autumnal glory to enter into the silent deep of winter. November …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: Responding to the Painful Reality of Death"
I realized that my writing may make people think I have it more together than I actually do. The thing about writers is, we see great truths--especially in the grips of suffering--and want to share those insights with others. That doesn't mean we've actually mastered what we write about. I am no exception. I have …
We are made for happiness. At the deepest level of our existence, God has made us to be happy. This happiness, we must remember, comes from God alone. He created us to find our total and complete joy within the Blessed Trinity. Everything else we experience in our daily lives is a shadow of the love …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: Made for the Happiness Found in the Beatitudes"
There are periods in our lives that feel like a raging storm. The winds swirl up at high speeds, the clouds darken to a night sky mid-day, and rain pours down. The torrential downpour comes in unrelenting waves and we feel like St. Peter standing in the boat staring in fear and awe at Our Lord …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: When Life Feels Like a Raging Storm"
**Hi all, I know my writing has been sporadic the last few months. Thankfully, it looks like our health issues are abating. My husband and I have both had one of those years. I am hoping to return to more frequent writing. I had to take a break from grad school due to my gall …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: Getting Out of God’s Way and Cooperating with His Divine Plan"
Christ is risen! Alleluia! We have entered into the great and joyful season of Easter. It is a time of re-birth and hope as we live the Resurrection. We rest in the truth and wonder that sin and death are conquered by Jesus Christ and that all things are being made new. Even in this …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: Waiting on the Lord During Easter"
I stood on a cold, frosty afternoon looking out the window at my daughter playing in the snow. She was bedecked head to toe with winter gear to protect her from the bitter wind, a wind she hardly noticed. Her fuchsia snow pants insulated her knees from the icy snow and she sat contentedly eating …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: On Being Human and the Need to Wonder"
I will admit that after I wrote about leaving Facebook again, I struggled to deactivate. That is until God knocked me upside the head. This is the "letter" I wrote to my Facebook friends, many of whom have been very important to me at various times in my life. To My Dear Facebook Friends, …
Continue reading "Holiness: What Really Helped Me Leave Facebook, Again"
In a Fallen world where suffering abounds: What is the Christian answer to suffering and uncertainty? What is it we have been given in the face of pain, sorrow, uncertainty, and agony in our lives and the world? The answer is the supernatural virtue of hope. The Christian life is one lived in hope, no …
Continue reading "Catholic Exchange: We Rest in Hope, Come What May"
Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Apostle St. Jude (as well as St. Simon). The biographical information on St. Jude is scarce. We know that he was selected as one of the Twelve by Jesus. Tradition holds that he preached the Good News throughout the Middle East. He was martyred around 65 A.D. …
Continue reading "Seek St. Jude’s Intercession in Suffering and Desperate Times"
Swimming the Depths 