They say Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer. Alongside being a day where we remember those who’ve given their lives for our country, and a day where families and friends gather to celebrate at the lake, at the parks, etc, it’s also a day that signals the end of the school year and… [Read More]
Summer for your Soul
In the Sunday homily yesterday, the priest preached about the relationship between the body and the soul, taking this line of scripture from the Gospel reading as a starting place: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy… [Read More]
Need Some Humility in Your Life? Become a Parent!
We had it all planned out: My husband and I would leave our little girl with my mother on Friday night. We’d drive to Houston and stay in a nice hotel for TWO. WHOLE. NIGHTS. Two whole nights of sleeping straight on through until we felt like waking up, be it 8 AM or noon…. [Read More]
Let the Children Come to Me
[This is a guest post by Norine Shaivitz.] “[Jesus] called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, ‘Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.’” Matthew 18:2-3 I wonder if the child Jesus chose was perfectly quiet and still, after… [Read More]
Mind Blown: Top Quotes from Pope Francis’ Visit to America
Unless you’re living under a rock that doesn’t get Wifi, you’ve heard about Pope Francis’ visit to the United States of America. His visit was historic. It was inspiring. It was filled with surprises and joy and humility. Everything he said could be turned into a semester-long study on theology or ecology or human rights. If… [Read More]
Making the Rosary Fun for Kids
It’s never too early for children to learn how to say the Rosary. Here’s some documented evidence: That was my younger daughter when she was just two-and-a-half years old. I didn’t know how (or have any desire) to say the Rosary until well into my 30s, so let’s not make the same mistake with the… [Read More]
Why Kids Are Pro-Life
Yesterday afternoon, while walking through HEB with my family, a hurried mom with her two little girls rushed by us in the coffee aisle. The mom didn’t look at us or say anything as she moved past us, but one of her little girls (probably 4 or 5), stopped and said, “I like your baby!”… [Read More]
Easy Green: A Reflection on Ordinary Time
My daughter, Maire, got in trouble at her Catholic middle school for wearing green nail polish, which was against the rules. (Only clear or light pink nail polish allowed, if I remember right.) When asked about her indiscretion, she said, “It’s for Ordinary Time!” I laughed hearing about that. At least she remembered what season… [Read More]
Wails from the Cry Room: A Design for the Future
What’s the least desirable place inside any church to attend Mass? The cry room, of course. Spending time inside a cry room is a little bit like visiting a mini war zone or taking a trip back to the wild, wild west. You step into a crowded cry room and immediately feel, and sometimes smell,… [Read More]
To All Adults, at Christmas
I would like to give you, dear reader, this poem as a gift, in the spirit of the 12 days of Christmas and traveling with the Magi towards Epiphany, to give our humble gifts to the Christ Child. Many Christmas blessings to you all, and a joyful New Year! My dear Adult, ‘tis Christmas time,… [Read More]
The Perfect Christmas Gift
This Christmas give your child “the perfect Christmas gift”: Your Blessing! According the Church’s official book on blessings Jesus loved blessing children for when God took on our human flesh he, “Gave us a new gift in every blessing.” (Book of Blessings # 2,3) Even when Jesus was most exhausted and the apostles wanted him… [Read More]
Don’t Hinder The Kingdom; Another Reflection on the Immigrant Crisis
And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, ‘Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’ -Luke 18:… [Read More]
Back-to-School Jitters: How to Help Kids Cope with Anxiety
It’s that time of year again, where parents breathe a sigh of relief as they prepare to free their children from the seemingly endless days of summer. Off they go to school again (sometimes begrudgingly, sometimes excitedly), to make friends, to learn new things and to bust out those shiny new school supplies. While some… [Read More]
Transparency, Not Hypocrisy
Sometimes the Scripture is approached as if Jesus was an authoritarian parent, giving us demanding lists of do’s and don’ts. As I was listening to the readings at daily Mass on Wednesday, and to the priest’s beautiful homily that followed, I could see how someone might only hear the do’s and don’ts. Don’t blow trumpets when you… [Read More]
Four Attitudes of Evangelical Parenthood: Patience – Part 4
The third attitude of evangelical parenthood is patience. As we write this, we’ve just returned from a stint at the grocery store – one that we thought was going to be 30 minutes. An hour and a half later, we’ve just put up the last of the groceries. And …. where are/were our children? Somewhere… [Read More]
Four Attitudes of Evangelical Parenthood: Approachability – Part 2
In order to answer our parental vocation to evangelize our children, Pope Francis says we must be approachable to our kids. We must develop and cultivate an attitude of approachability. As a parent, you want your children coming to you to ask difficult questions, right?! After all, if they don’t come to you, to whom… [Read More]
Are You the “Disciplinarian” in Your Family?
The description of someone as a “disciplinarian” carries certain connotations. Typically, the “disciplinarian” in the family is considered to be the person who administers punishment, who is considered the more strict of the parents. You may remember when you were a child hearing your mother say (after disobeying her or talking back) something along the… [Read More]
The Giver and the Gift: A New Year’s Resolution
Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights – James 1:17 A little over 40 years ago, my mom taught me a lesson that I will never forget: The giver of a gift is always more important than the gift itself. I believe that it was either… [Read More]
The Holy Innocents
Christmas was only three days ago. The day after Christmas we honored St. Stephen, the first martyr. Think about that: we honor a martyr- the first martyr- the day after Christmas. The day after that we honor St. John the Evangelist, whose authorship is attributed to one Gospel and four books in the New Testament…. [Read More]
Part 4 of 6 – Pope Francis, Parenthood, and the Importance of Admission
By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them. (Cathechism of the Catholic Church, 2223) Early in his pontificate, Pope Francis has given parents yet another tip – admitting our failings to our children. One of the common themes of Pope Francis has… [Read More]
Pope Francis and Parenting by Example – Part 2 of 6
Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2223) From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has led by example. He has put flesh on the message, so to speak. He as our “Papa” has taken ideas, concepts, and truths and concretely put them into… [Read More]
Parenthood, Faith, and Mystery
In reality, it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear … Christ the Lord, Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of His love, fully reveals man to himself…He, who is the “image of the… [Read More]
The Catholic Student Backpack: 5 Things You Should Have
Say it isn’t so. Even though the pool is still cold and the heat index over 100, the start of school is in the air. I know this because of all those back-to-school commercials that started in July. Thanks, Target. Last August, I shared five things every Catholic family should do before school begins. We… [Read More]
on Tolstoy, summer and gold in the sand
Summer is half way over, and I’m just now getting into the groove. Staying up a little later, waking up later, too. Letting things go slack, allowing everyone a little more space, more time, more freedom. It’s like I’ve exhaled, finally, from the school-year before. And I realize how much stress I carry with me… [Read More]
Homeless People Aren’t Zoo Animals
The chaos in the backseat of my van was undeniable. There were screams, yells and giggles. It wasn’t a rockstar, a marching band or even Johnny Football that caught their attention. No, it was the homeless African-American single mom, holding a cardboard sign, baking in the hot 95-degree Texas heat. Her sign simply said, “please… [Read More]
Four Keys to Setting Our Families Ablaze – Part 1 of 5
I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! (Luke 12:49) Jesus desired then, and He desires now that a fire be kindled on earth. Today, as much as at any time before in history, we as Catholics, as Christians, must take these words to heart. We must “rekindle… [Read More]
Summer Is For Living: Enjoying (not just surviving) the Season with Your Kids
Whether your children go to school, stay at home or do a combination of the two, there is no doubt that summer brings a new schedule to the house. I mean, you can smell the chlorine, taste the ice cream and feel the heat, am I right? At our house, there’s a schedule, albeit much… [Read More]
The Mystery of Parenthood
Fifteen years ago at St. Mary’s in College Station, I walked down the stairs with my then 3 year old son. What happened on those stairs opened my eyes and subsequently my wife’s eyes to the fact that parenthood does more for the parents than it ever does for the children. On that stairway, our… [Read More]
5 Secrets of a Happy Summer at Home
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. Ecclesiastes 3:1 Central Texas is amazing place to live. I’ve been here for 10 years and never desire to live elsewhere… unless of course it’s summertime…..when (as a visiting friend once described to me) we feel as though we… [Read More]
5 Things I Wish I Would’ve Known About Motherhood
Before I had children, I was an expert on parenting. Weren’t we all? But in twelve years of motherhood I’ve finally learned the one universal truth: we’re all just faking it. Pinterest World is not reality. Yes, we have “pin worthy” moments, but that is not our life. Did you hear me yelling at my… [Read More]
5 Tips: How to Be a Good Mom and Not Lose Your Mind
While I’ve been ‘Mom’ now for almost 13 years, it seems that I’m still figuring out this motherhood thing. It can be hard to balance being an individual woman with thoughts, ideas, plans and inspirations that are all my own with the… thoughts, ideas, plans, inspirations, hunger, laundry, homework and tantrums of everyone else in… [Read More]
they trusted and you rescued them…
In my complicated life, I find it amusing that God often reminds me of His eternal truths by demonstrating them through my children. As intellectual as I might like to think I am, I have probably learned more about the love of God for his people by watching my children play, learn and live in… [Read More]
With This Cross, I Thee Wed
Today my husband and I celebrate our 4 year anniversary! It seems like our wedding was just yesterday! With marriage comes a lot of unknowns. Saying “I do” in some ways is like walking the plank without knowing whether the plank gets you to land or to a long drop into the ocean! None of… [Read More]
VBS is for Catholics, Too
As a Protestant “it” was a must-do summer event. Every church I knew saw “it” as their greatest evangelizing week. Of course, I’m talking about one of the greatest weeks of summer, Vacation Bible School, otherwise known as VBS. Growing up as an evangelical and mainstream Christian, some of my fondest “Jesus memories” stem from… [Read More]
Lent is like … a round of Mutton Bustin
I went to the Austin Rodeo this weekend and it was so much fun! As a Texas transplant I get a lot of child-like enjoyment (“Let the children come to me!”) in seeing show animals, pig races, deep-fried-everything-you-can-imagine, unique rhinestone belts, and decorative cowboy boots. This year I even got to see a baby kangaroo,… [Read More]
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Communion of Saints Coloring Page
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31st Sunday In Ordinary Time Coloring Pages
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Mass and Children
Last month, I wrote about some ways to prepare for Mass, intellectually, in light of being distracted more because of the kiddos. But, how can we prepare to reduce those distractions? First, a disclaimer, we are no experts. I’m just a father of a two-year old and an eight-month old. These are some suggestions that… [Read More]
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Coloring Pages
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