I’m looking forward to offering these thoughts to you, dear readers, to be a small light on your Advent journey towards Christ. In His Providence, all these pieces fell together over the past few weeks. That doesn’t always happen in blogging, but when it does, it gives me the sense that the Lord is up… [Read More]
Litany of the False Self
You know those moments at work which you wish you could take back? Where you make a mistake in front of a whole group of your coworkers and your cheeks flush and you shrink a size or two? I had a few of those moments this week. And in God’s fantastic sense of humor, on… [Read More]
Tis Humility
A remark during the homily at midnight mass really struck me. The priest reflected how each Christmas is different, not because the Gospel story changes -indeed the story is everlasting – but because we come to Christmas each year a little bit different. Each year we bring with us the lived experiences of the whole past year…. [Read More]
Objectivity & Healthy Self-love: An Advent reflection on “Catholic Guilt”
“Catholic guilt” came up recently in a conversation about psychology and religion. It also came up sometimes back in my grad school counseling classes. In these conversations, I often hear the question, “Isn’t “Catholic guilt” psychologically unhealthy?” I think it’s a great question. Can there be something unhealthy about guilt? I think so. How can we clarify… [Read More]
Humility Alone Conceives the Truth – a poem
I hope you are all having a restful and blessed Christmas season! Pope Francis invites us to contemplate what God teaches us in coming as a child: “He makes himself small, he becomes a child, to attract us with love, to touch our hearts with his humble goodness,” and also”Pope Francis said the creche reminds us that… [Read More]
Changes
Right now my life is going through many changes. I have a new job that signifies a new phase of my professional career. I moved into a new home in a new part of town, and there is a lot yet to be settled and figured out. It’s a whirlwind of a Lenten season, with… [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 Advent of Our Mission
I spent this Thanksgiving looking into our country from the outside, since right now I’m doing a bit of traveling in South America. So naturally, I had to explain to lots of curious friends and strangers what exactly we were celebrating last Thursday. And being the typical American that I am, I had to research… [Read More]
I don’t want to be rescued – I want to be redeemed.
“I don’t want to be rescued. I want to be redeemed.” When I first heard JJ Heller sing these words (listen here) I didn’t quite understand the difference. Why not rescued? Don’t I want God to rescue me? What is the difference between being rescued and being redeemed? I listened to the song again and… [Read More]
Satisfaction Guaranteed or Taste and See
In our consumer culture, we’re used to investigating products before we purchase them. We want our satisfaction guaranteed before we commit to spending the money. Makes perfect sense from a market standpoint. It is safe and healthy to be a bit critical (and very healthy to practice daily discernment), but this structure of trying to guarantee satisfaction first… [Read More]
Pickin’ up the Crumbs
I wasn’t going to write a post this week. But I came across a quote on my friend Maria Scaperlanda’s facebook that made me pause – and since there are no coincidences, here is the post. That’s my take away for the week – from this very long, wearying, pushing-the-limits week: There are no coincidences. Starting Sunday… [Read More]
Mother of Pentecost
Last Sunday, the glorious Easter Season came to it’s pinnacle in the celebration of Pentecost. Just in case you didn’t get a big enough dose of the Holy Spirit then, I’d like to draw your attention back to that moment– to the Mother of that moment – Mary. If you’ve ever seen a painting or… [Read More]
