Death
Family Priest
I chatted with my daughter in law a little today. She said she and her sisters are getting everything in order for her mom’s funeral. She was happy to say that a priest who has been an important part of the family life will be able to be the celebrant. He married my son and […]
Support in Tragedy
I received a phone call from my son very early this morning, which is never a good thing. He told me that his wife’s mother died unexpectedly last night. It was quite a shock. I could hear my daughter in law crying in the background. They were able to make arrangements for her and my […]
Hats For All
My mom’s piano friend came over today and told us a story of a woman that she knew from her church. Every week the woman would wear at hat to church. That reminded me of a woman I used to know who also wore a hat to church every week. We lovingly called her the […]
Encouraging Prayers
A couple of months ago, I scheduled to have a Mass celebrated for my dad this morning on his birthday. Unfortunately, I was up with my mom all night last night and didn’t make it to church. This morning, however, I received a text from a friend that she and her husband attended. I so […]
To the Cemetery
My mom has been wanting to get out to the cemetery for the past couple of days, but she hasn’t felt good and the weather has not cooperated. Today, it was chilly, but the wind was not blowing. Mom felt ok after lunch, so we decided to go. I bought her some flowers the other […]
Grateful for a Sad Heart
The other day, a friend of mine wrote that she was “grateful for a sad heart” after her aunt passed away. That statement seemed like an oxymoron. Today my parents would have celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary. We all had sad hearts here. I pondered my friend’s gratitude as, to me, the pain my mom […]
Grateful For People and Healing
It had been a very long time since I went for a walk outside, so was very happy to go out with friend today. Evidently it had been a very long time since we caught up. We walked and talked and it felt wonderful. As I recounted what I had been up to, I found […]
Faith Through Violence
On this Good Friday, my mom was all tuckered out from attending Mass last night, so we didn’t make it to church. However, we read through the scriptures and prayers together. We also watched the Stations of the Cross on EWTN. It took place in the Colosseum in Rome. The scene was beautiful and somber […]
The Red Tip
When my mom’s friend comes over, we usually talk about religion and politics. Today we talked about the big question as to why some who were raised in the faith and/or practiced regularly stopped somewhere along the way and no longer go to church. We talked about several reasons why this might be – a […]
Survivor Tree
My sister went to New York to visit a friend and returned today. While she was there, they went into New York City and visited the site of 911 among other things. She showed pictures and talked about the “Survivor Tree”, which I had never heard of. Amongst the rubble of the aftermath of the […]