Present

Giving Tree Gifts

My son and grandson were also sick this week, but my daughter in law and other kids were able to pick out some gifts for the church giving tree. They brought them by yesterday and my mom and I enjoyed wrapping them. I was happy I felt well enough to go to church today and […]

Gifts For Elderly

Every year I choose 3 tags from the church’s giving tree at Christmas time. I have been choosing kids that are the same age as my grandchildren. Then my grandchildren come shopping with me to pick out the gifts. This weekend as I was perusing the tree, I learned that the parish chose to give […]

Always Have God

Today was a particularly challenging day. As always, God showed up. It was in today’s meditation from “Jesus Calling” which my mom read to us after dinner. It said at the end, “You will always face trouble in this life. But more importantly, you will always have Me with you, helping you to handle whatever […]

Ancestors

I watched the Disney movie Coco last night. It gave an opportunity to think about the importance of family and all those who have gone before. Today a friend shared a graphic called Ancestral Mathematics that I thought was interesting and thoughtful as well. It counted back 12 generations – 4094 ancestors over about 400 […]

Begin Now

I saw a beautiful quote this morning that made me pause: “Begin now to be what you will be hereafter.” By St. Jerome. I have done much soul searching and have wanted to be different myself. I am all too aware of my shortcomings and can get discouraged that it takes much hard work to […]

Early Presents

Tomorrow is my granddaughter’s birthday. She and her mom stopped by after school today so my mom could give her gifts. Before they arrived, my mom practiced playing the Happy Birthday song on the piano. When they walked in the door, I told my granddaughter that her first gift was at the piano where my […]

Born For This

I started listening to a podcast on the Hallow app called The Rescue Project led by Fr. John Riccardo. Yesterday was the first session. It was incredibly encouraging as the priest talked about how God breathed life into you and me at this particular point in time. Each of us is here, in this place, […]

Take the Day

I chatted with a neighbor today whose mother had recently died. We exchanged sorrows for a while, then moved to grateful that the sun was shining. He said we should, “Take the day for what it offers.” I liked that thought. It’s a reminder that each day is full of unforseen possibilities. I may have […]

Loving Relationships

My mom’s friend came over today as usual. She told us about their mutual friend who she has been visiting in a nursing home. She described how their friend has been declining and is in a bad way. Her husband died a few years ago. She is estranged from her daughter and her son who […]

Angels Always

I have been continuing to listen to the podcast of reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a year and trying to stay caught up. Today I listened to and read a couple paragraphs about angels. According to scripture, God created Heaven and Earth. Heaven is everything spiritual, including the angels who have will […]