A month ago when I wrote that I was a big fat whiner novice concerning pain, I decided not to waste good penance but to offer it for a particular intention and to use the time to foster gratitude and prayerfulness. A few days after writing that I found myself admitted to the hospital and …
In 1 Kings 19 we read what happens right after God orchestrates a huge victory through the prophet Elijah. Fire from heaven. The enemies of God slain. The prophet is exhausted. He tells God that he’s had quite enough and he’s ready to die now. According to Scripture he just lays down where he is. …
I don’t know how he got there so fast, but he beat me to the hospital the day they said they were admitting me. He sat glued to me in the ER, anxiety in his eyes. He funneled his nervous energy into the little things like charging my phone and making sure my water bottle …
If you’ve followed this blog or my socials for any length of time you know that I’ve had some health challenges over the years, primarily beginning in 2020 with Giardia, Crohn’s disease, and nearly dying, continuing on to 2022 with pyoderma gangrenosum which left gaping holes in my back and scars on my chest, which …
Years ago in spiritual direction, an Opus Dei priest told me to ask Jesus to “Teach us to awaken our memories with you.” It was an exercise to assist in those moments when the memories come in like a phantom pain, like an old injury one forgets they have until they move just a little …
If I read one more post or article that begins, “No one tells you marriage would be this hard…” or “Why is no one talking about how hard marriage is…” I’m going to crash out. Because the idea of marriage being hard is ubiquitous, alongside the idea that motherhood is mostly a daily struggle of …
This weekend our parish had our first priestly ordination. A young man I have known for almost a decade was ordained to the priesthood right there in our little parish. The Maronite Bishop, Chor-Bishop, the Roman Catholic Bishop, and dozens of priests, deacons, subdeacons, and seminarians from the Maronite, Latin, and Byzantine Churches were there. …
I found this little book at an antique shop that contained two essays by William James, one of the founders of American psychology. It was published in 1899 and cost 75cents in the 1922 reprint. I paid $15. That’s the inflation rate on antique philosophical little books that you can read by the lake for …
When I was pregnant with my first child we went to a natural childbirth class. In God’s providence we met another couple there. We became friends. And by friends, I don’t mean the kind of friends to whom you say, “We should get together” every six weeks until you’re both dead. Not the kind of …
I was recently sitting at a party attended by mostly homeschooling moms and their children–a delightful and smart group of women who talked about everything from the best pedagogy to teach children ancient languages to politics and the economy. Most in the group, like myself, own older homes in rural Maine, which means the list …
