As we’re now in the Easter season and summer is just around the corner, I want to strongly encourage all of you to sign yourselves up for a silent retreat this year. Yep, just look at your summer calendars, and do it. Unfortunately for me, I’ll have to wait until my latest baby is done […]
For the second time within a year, England has a high-profile case of court-mandated murder of a desperately ill child. The first was Charlie Gard, and now comes Alfie Evans. Alfie missed several developmental milestones in his first seven months of life, which did not alarm physicians at the time. It’s not known precisely what […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 9:26-31 Responsorial: Psalm 22:26-28, 30-32 2nd Reading: 1 John 3:18-24 Gospel: John 15:1-8 Opening Ourselves More to the Work of the Holy Spirit in Our Hearts Let us love . . . in deed and truth. (1 John 3:18) In today’s second reading, John […]
Some of you may be wondering how it might be possible to survive sickness in your household and teach school all day? Since I am in the midst of caring for Sick Children right now, I thought I’d offer a few tips of advice. This is mostly to encourage myself and cheer on the rest of you, who […]
In the wake of the tragic St. Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, much of the “national conversation” in the mainstream media about mass shootings and gun violence has been missing a key element: recognition of the widespread lack of respect for the dignity and sacredness of human life […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 2nd Reading: 1 John 2:1-5 Responsorial: Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-9 Gospel: Luke 24:35-48 Opening Our Minds and Hearts to God’s Glorious Plan The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead. (Acts 3:15) Let’s […]
Today is Tuesday, and I have not yelled at my children at all. So far. Yes, I know it’s 6am, and they’re not up yet, but hey, I’ve got to start somewhere, right? Last week I was listening to a great show on the Sin of Wrath, and it got me thinking that I should […]
Welcome back to a day in my life. This is the final part. After the children have completed their dinner chores, they usually have time to mess around for a bit until the next part of our evening begins, which is the Rosary 7pm Rosary Around 7pm, my husband calls all the children to Rosary […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 4:32-35 2nd Reading: 1 John 5:1-6 Responsorial: Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24 Gospel: John 20:19-31 Letting the “Peace of Christ Control Your Hearts” (Colossians 3:15) Peace be with you. (John 20:19) It’s tempting to stay shortsighted when we think about these words of […]
To the secular world, our celebration of Easter Sunday is an odd event. In their eyes, we celebrate a corpse rising from the dead, and they really can’t figure out why.
Easter Sunday is not the end of our Easter celebration. After forty days of preparation with Lent, and the Easter Triduum from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday, it is easy to miss looking ahead on the Church’s liturgical calendar. This is, after all, the climax of the Christian year with the celebration of the Passion, […]
Today is Good Friday. Now I know that I ought to be focused on the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and I am, but I am also a mother. Therefore, I must plan ahead for my family accordingly. And this entails preparing any necessary music that my family will want to sing and listen […]
These days of the Paschal Triduum are a very special time. For me, they are not an easy time, but they are a wondrous time. They are full of traditions…traditions common to the Church throughout the world, traditions I brought from home, and traditions I have developed personally during my time here at St. Anne’s. […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43 2nd Reading: Colossians 3:1-4 Responsorial: Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 Gospel: John 20:1-9 Receiving the Good News of Jesus Christ and Sharing It with Others Not to all the people, but to us. (Acts 10:41) Happy Easter! On behalf of everyone […]
“You’d better take down your article,” I was advised in an email. “The Blessed Mother has warned that anyone who interferes with her message will suffer consequences.” Ah the joy of writing about condemned apparitions. The article being referred to was five years old. The odds of me taking down an article I had carefully […]
Welcome back to “A Day in the Life of a Crazy Fool.” Today we pick up with Dinner Time. 5:15pm: Dinner Time After I’ve greeted my husband, we sit down for dinner together as a family. Fortunately, our schedule allows this to happen almost every single night. If it’s at all possible, I encourage all […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: Procession Gospel: Mark 11:1-10 1st Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7 2nd Reading Philippians 2:6-11 Responsorial: Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24 Gospel: Mark 14:1-15:47 Palm Sunday, A Day to Fix our Eyes on Jesus and His Death on the Cross Not . . . something to be grasped. (Philippians […]
I wish you could have been at Bethlehem. You could have held Me and kept Me warm. And I would have smiled at you. You probably would not have wanted to hand Me back to My mother. I wish you could have been with us at Cana. My mother was there. I made some really […]
Meeting a Future Saint In the 80s, my husband Cliff, a news photographer and reporter, accompanied Bismarck, ND Catholic Bishop John Kinney to Rome to record his five-year Ad-Limina visit, which is an obligation of church hierarchy to visit the tombs of the apostles, and to meet with the pope, in this case, Pope John […]
I could have been talking to the devil rather than a man ordained as a Catholic priest. He clings to the title “Father” while operating far outside the Church. During an interview with him for another article, at one point he yelled, “Screw the Catholic Church!” He said that he hates JPII and that, “Pope […]
ST. JOSEPH was by birth of the royal family of David, but was living in humble obscurity as a carpenter when God raised him to the highest sanctity, and fitted him to be the spouse of His Virgin Mother, and foster-father and guardian of the Incarnate Word. Joseph was, says the Holy Scripture, a just […]
There’s some crazy stuff in the Old Calendar that is just interesting to learn about. My husband is forever telling me this. (By Old Calendar I mean those things connected to the Traditional Latin Mass.) For example, this Sunday is called Passion Sunday. It always falls on the Sunday immediately before Palm Sunday and serves […]
I rise today with the strength of the sky, with the light of the sun, with the splendor of the moon, with the brilliance of fire, with the blaze of lightening, with the swiftness of wind, with the depth of the ocean, with the firmness of earth, with the firmness of rock. — From the […]
In 2004, I was making my way through the canned goods aisle at my local supermarket when I heard the opening chords of MercyMe’s hit song “I Can Only Imagine” being broadcast over the store’s sound system. I had two conflicting responses: 1) this song doesn’t belong in a grocery store, and 2) I think […]
