Death
Beginning Holy Week Again
Each Palm Sunday offers something new. I’m sure part of it is due to the fact that I’m in a different place of life each year spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Today at the beginning of Mass, we all went outside where the deacon read the Gospel, then gave the homily. Even though there were so […]
Welcomed In
After the retreat yesterday, I went to Mass, then to the grocery store since it was supposed to be a snowy day today. By the time I got home, I was pretty tired. I had some dinner and fell asleep on the sofa. I woke up a little after midnight and saw that I had […]
Friend From the Past
In the past couple days, I have seen 2 friends unexpectedly. Both of them had husbands who had Parkinson’s disease. I met them at the exercise classes that I used to take my mom to. While our people were exercising, we would go for a walk and talk. That was many years ago. We have […]
Four Birthdays
Today I watched an interview with Mother Olga, a woman who started the order of “Daughters of Mary of Nazareth” in Massachusetts. I was intrigued as she told her story about coming to America from the Middle East as a young woman and having to learn the language and culture. She brought a sense of […]
Honoring and Remembering
It is difficult to believe that my dad died 4 years ago today. For the past few weeks I have been thinking about him a lot and dreaming about him. Most of my dreams continue the saga of how I was unable to care for him during the last several months of his life and […]
A Catholic Funeral
Today I heard from a woman who I know from a prayer group. She has a friend who recently died. While her friend knew many people in the community, she didn’t know many Catholics. Her funeral is coming up and it will be in the Catholic Church. The woman asked the group if anyone else […]
Adventures in Time and Space
My dad loved science fiction and had many old books. Today I was looking at one of them; a 1954 paperback, “Adventures in Time and Space”. I was also listening to a classical radio station. As I was looking through the book, a selection of Holst, The Planets came on. I always think of my […]
Weekly Flowers
I went to lunch with some friends today and one of the older ladies talked about visiting her husband’s grave at the National Cemetery where my parents are also buried. We agreed that it was heartwarming to see all the Christmas wreaths laid on each site. She also talked about the camaraderie felt with others […]
Life From Death
Today as I continued to listen to the podcast about the O Antiphons based on the hymn “O come O come Emmanuel” I payed attention to the lyrics of the fourth verse: O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,unto your own and rescue them!From depths of hell your people save,and give them victory o’er the […]
Illuminating Presence
I went to Mass this afternoon, which was specifically for those who have died this past year. I prayed for those I knew and my parents. The priest talked about a funeral he recently attended for a young woman. From his description, I recognized the story I heard at the Newman Center. The teenager was […]
Still Finding God 