About Laurelin Ontai

So I don’t know about you guys, but I’m really excited about this Lent. I don’t know why because I usually dread Lent when it comes around. The thoughts that usually enter my head are things like, “Well, here we go again. Time to deny the flesh and things. Joy.” or “Goodbye, happiness. See you… [Read More]

Are you discerning married or religious life? Do you want to know what a holy marriage looks like? Prayerfully consider attending the UT Campus Based Discernment Retreat on Friday, Feb. 28th through Saturday, March 1st! Even if you aren’t discerning, this is a great opportunity to learn more about finding your vocation. The retreat will include… [Read More]

Tomorrow is the Baptism of our Lord, thus officially ending the Christmas season. I love the Advent and Christmas seasons. I love the lights and decorations, the readings from Isaiah, the rose (not pink) vestments and the Nativity scenes. I love how the whole world stops everything to celebrate our powerful, almighty God entering our… [Read More]

For many Protestants, the subject of Mary is a touchy one. When Our Blessed Mother is brought up in conversation, statements such as, “How dare you worship Mary!” and “You idolater/heathen/other damning names!” usually come up. And honestly, when I was a lukewarm Catholic, I didn’t really get the whole “Mary-business” either. I mean, I… [Read More]

“That people today, often overwhelmed by noise, may rediscover the value of silence and listen to the voice of God and their brothers and sisters.” – Pope Francis With Spotify and Netflix and texting and tablets, it seems like all the world wants is to make our lives noisy. In our culture, it’s so easy… [Read More]

Different people have different reactions to the end of summer. Moms rejoice at the dream of a quiet household. Children dread the thought of spending the next seemingly endless nine months cooped up in a classroom. With the prospect of this next school year, I for one, want to curl up in the fetal position… [Read More]

In this Year of Faith, I have really been challenged in the mission of evangelization. I’ve found more and more people asking me about my Catholic faith. We as humans are naturally curious. Aside from the “haters”, people are fascinated by the Catholic faith because of its supernatural uniqueness. Ya sure, some people are easily… [Read More]

St. Martha holds a very special place in my heart, so you can imagine my excitement when this past Sunday’s Mass held those famous “Martha vs. Mary” Gospel readings. I always feel kind of bad for Martha because she’s remembered as the one who got schooled by Jesus for being too wrapped up in her… [Read More]

Wow. What a challenging week for Catholics and Christians. Between the HHS mandate, Prop 8, DOMA and SB5, God has put before us quite the challenge (Sidenote: anyone else think it’s crazy that this is all happening during the Fortnight for Freedom??) Amidst the chaos of arguments on Facebook and the emotionally-charged accusations, it has… [Read More]

No matter how many friends we have or how big our families are, we are all bound to experience loneliness at one point or another. Even if we are surrounded by people, there are times when we feel like nobody understands us. When we feel alone, the devil tries to trick us into thinking that… [Read More]

Praise the Lord, I’ve survived yet another year of college! It wasn’t pretty. There was a lot of caffeine and a lot of hair pulling and a lot of wanting to drop out of school, but by the grace of God I survived. Unfortunately, this means that I am getting closer and closer to my… [Read More]

So a couple of days ago I went running at Town Lake. Well actually, it wasn’t really running as much as it was jogging for 2 minutes and walking for the next 10. (I haven’t worked out in a while, ok!) As I was run-walking, I couldn’t help but be in awe at the beautiful… [Read More]

Fear. Despair. Grief. These are just some of the words used to describe this past week’s events. I can’t even really comprehend what all has happened. The pain seems so senseless. It makes me wonder why God would allow such tragic things to happen to us. I think one of the most terrifying things is… [Read More]