Mary

Relaxation

On New Year’s Day, my son’s tradition is to have a Lord of the Rings marathon. I love the movies, so this year I decided to join him. All of them take about 14 hours, so they have to start pretty early. When I arrived in the morning, my son and his wife had made […]

Holy Family Shrine

The Gospel reading for today was about Joseph’s encounter with an angel in a dream who told him not to be afraid to take Mary into his home. I love when the spiritual world meets the human world and the first message is of peace, ” Do not be afraid.” Joseph was a faithful man […]

Great Expectations

Sometimes I feel like I have heard some biblical stories so many times, that the meaning can be lost on me. I know the words and what comes next. But, what makes any story engaging is when you are able to use your imagination or put yourself in the scene. In a meditation that I […]

Faith and Courage

One of my sister’s friends was a huge blessing and support when we were caring for my mom, particularly during her last year. I had met her and talked with her online as she helped us give my mom some comfort using more natural supplements. In the videos, I could see faith symbols in her […]

A Recollected Spirit

Today I went to a craft fair and saw several friends there. One walked around with me, some were part of the fair, and others had come to shop. It was busy and bustling with people looking, buying, and selling. There were so many different products and so many vendors it was really somewhat overwhelming. […]

Buying Cheese and On Our Knees

Some time ago, a friend gave me the book, “Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles – A Traveler’s Guide to Catholic America”. I have had the dream of traveling and visiting many of the sites. The first time I was on the highway to visit my aunt, we drove by a sign to a shrine and I […]

Sharing My Story

The other day I came across a few prayer cards to Our Lady of Lourdes. Typically I go to Mass on the feast day, which is today. I thought it would be nice to go to the Newman Center for Mass with my friend who also was there when we buried my father 3 years […]

Sharing Cells

Today I heard a fascinating presentation about the somewhat recent discovery of how the baby in the womb shares cells with his or her mother. It’s called microchimerism. It’s been known that mother and baby share cells through the placenta. However, recently scientists found that a woman who carried a male baby had the male […]

Making it Home

Today was the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus – when we celebrate her being taken to Heaven. I felt so blessed that a friend had my mom as the intention for Mass in the church I used to work for. That is in another state, but I went to Mass […]

About Suffering

I have been listening to a couple different series on the Hallow app. This morning I was focused on Mary, the Mother of Jesus. I thought about her willingness to follow God and trust Him with her life. Even so, it didn’t keep her from suffering. The worst was when she had to stand by […]