Faith
Jubilee Year of Hope
Today I read an article in the Word Among us about the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope that was proclaimed by Pope Francis. The history of a jubilee year goes back thousands of years to the Old Testament. Leviticus 25:8-55 describes a jubilee year to be celebrated every 50 years. Simply put, it was a […]
Thinking of 2025
Coming to the end of the year gave me good reason to reflect back and look forward as perhaps many people do. I have seen several suggestions and ideas of how to do this. It is helpful to me to process through and write things down. I’m going to try to make it simple – […]
Holy Family
As it does every year, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family the week after Christmas. The Gospel was Luke 2:41-52 – the only account we have of Jesus’ childhood. The family was in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. But on their way back, travelling in a caravan, Mary and […]
Mountain Climbing
This morning I listened to a reflection by Matt Maher on the Hallow app. He brought up the fact that, “There is a tension between the joy of the Christmas season and the difficulties that so many of us continue to experience.” He introduced his song based upon the folk song, “Go Tell It On […]
A Different Christmas
After much anticipation, Christmas arrived. Yesterday I kept myself busy cooking and baking and delivering goodies. I made my mom’s Christmas bread which she made every year. This year I was on my own. I asked her for help particularly to determine if the dough was the right consistency. It did turn out a little […]
Crying Day
Today was very emotional for me for many reasons. When I wake up early in the mornings, I start my prayers. This morning that included listening to an Advent podcast on the Hallow app. Over the past few weeks the focus has been on a book called, “A Severe Mercy”, by Sheldon Vanauken. It is […]
The Madrigals
Last night my sister and I attended the Madrigal Banquet and I have been pondering it all day. It was held at a castle nestled back against the foothills, which belonged to one of the founders of the city. It had many technologically advanced features for the time such as an elevator and a steam […]
Notre Dame Cathedral Reopened
Tonight I watched some of the Mass of the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. It took 5 years and $1 billion in donations to rebuild and complete the structure since the fire in 2019. In the homily by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris, he stated, “Generation after generation – believers experience it – the […]
Padre Pio Docudrama
Tonight as I was cooking dinner, I clicked on the TV. It was on the EWTN channel. They were playing the docudrama “Saint Pio of Pietrelcina – Man of Hope and Healing” Padre Pio has always fascinated me and I wanted to know more about him, so I watched. The movie included first hand accounts […]
Cleansing
Today my parish made the Sacrament of Confession available almost all day. So I went. It’s always a bittersweet experience, but feels cleansing. Afterwards I went to Mass with my priest friend. I was happy to catch up with him a bit. Then I had my appointment with my counselor. She does a great job […]
Still Finding God 