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Jan 5, 20233 min read
"He has a toy boat because they believe in the afterlife." Beyond Gold, Frankincense & Myrhh
When I wrote this piece, my oldest grandson (shown in his beloved John Deere tractor on Christmas Day) was in first grade. He graduated...
Nov 29, 20224 min read
The Christmas Letter, If You Dare
It's 20 degrees outside. There's a light dusting of snow on the ground. I'm wrapping presents. My Christmas cards — with all the...
Nov 13, 20224 min read
I'm Walter, All the Way
Do you remember the first time you saw a production of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play, “A Raisin in the Sun”? The multi-generational,...
Oct 31, 20223 min read
The Genius of These Days — All Saints & All Souls — Saints All Around Us
The trouble with saints is that they can seem so alien. I was pregnant with my fifth child when we decided to begin reading through...
Oct 30, 20225 min read
On this night, children are the actors and adults are the watchers
This is an old one, written when my first grandchild was a toddler. And you can see what a fierce whatever-he-was (Radioactive Man? The...
Oct 19, 20222 min read
We are more than our labors; we are human beings made in the image and likeness of God
Angelus v. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. r. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with...
Oct 12, 20222 min read
Under thy protection
Sub tuum praesidium Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus nostris,...
Oct 1, 20226 min read
Memorial of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus
The Little Way of St. Thérèse is perhaps the hardest way we will ever be asked to walk. I am staying with two lovely young girls, my...
Sep 22, 20224 min read
A "more generic receptivity toward the impossible?" Yes, please.
This fall my daughter and I are teaching a Sunday School class for kindergarteners and 1st graders in our parish. We're reading them...
Sep 14, 20225 min read
l'shana tova, Batya
At sundown on Sunday, September 25th, Jews around the world will begin celebrating their new year, Rosh Hashanah. I wrote this piece for...
Aug 31, 20223 min read
It's September & I Miss Mercurochrome
I was at the drugstore yesterday. There are signs both outside the store and in exhorting me to get my flu shot. Those signs are just...
Aug 23, 20226 min read
Thinking About Marriage & The Rule of St. Benedict
Today is the last of the five wedding anniversaries my five children will celebrate in 2022. From January (once) to June (twice) to...
Aug 19, 20225 min read
...A gateway to contemplation...and an instrument of freedom
Last Monday we celebrated Mary's assumption, when, like the Prophet Elijah, she was taken up into heaven. It is a harvest feast. I have...
Aug 15, 20221 min read
Happy Memorial of the Assumption of Mary
Come, O festive angels, let us prepare ourselves to dance and to make the church resound with songs on the occasion of the deposition of...
Aug 15, 20227 min read
Thinking of My Mother
My mother was born 104 years ago on August 18, 1918. She spent her last birthday, her 93rd, in the memory care unit of a nursing home....
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