Faith

Tangible Grace

I talked with a young woman today who told me the story of her Baptism. She was raised Protestant and her parents felt that she should get baptized when she wanted to. We talked about how a Christian Rite of Baptism is seen as valid even in the Catholic Church. When she was 5 years […]

God’s Good

I went for a walk with a friend today who shared some of the recent medical struggles her husband is having. He has been suffering from a traumatic brain injury for years. His decline is slow and painful for him to experience and for her to watch. They are both very faithful Christians. As we […]

Finding God in All Things

Today I came across the words, “finding God in all things”, attributed to St Ignatius Loyola. When I researched further, I learned that the Society of Jesus – Jesuit – order was founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius. Part of their mission statement reads: “Our spirituality is grounded in the conviction that God is active […]

Every Life is a Story

I listened to a reflection by Fr. Mike Schmitz this morning. The idea that he expanded on was a simple, yet incredibly deep truth. At least, to me it was deep and there were times during the day when I thought of it. He said, “Every life is a story, every person is an author, […]

Generous Founders

Today I went with a group of friends to a museum which was the oldest house in the city. The beautifully preserved brick house was built in 1873 by a former military man. He was good friends with and served under the general who was a founding father of the city. Both of the men […]

Lenten Food

Today my son and his wife started on a road trip. They are visiting some south-eastern states to see if they may want to move there. They have talked for a couple years about living in a smaller community, especially now that our city has gotten so big and expensive. I talked to them for […]

Prayerful Neighbors

As I was outside welcoming my neighbor home, another neighbor joined us. She had shared the story of her husband’s emergency surgery on our neighborhood prayer email. He had heart surgery last week, then starting having pain in his legs. It turns out that he had blood clots in both legs. The hospital he was […]

That’s Perseverance

My neighbors just returned from another mission trip. They had gone every year, but recently the wife had health issues and they thought perhaps their travelling days were over. However, upon her recovery, they discerned that God was still calling them to the work, even though they are well into their 70’s. This time they […]

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 […]

A Rough Start

I have had a pretty rough start to Lent. On Wednesday, I started getting a cough. It was the dry, irritating kind that would come and go. I didn’t think much of it as it has been so dry here. I spent the afternoon at the Newman Center as usual and was planning on attending […]