Personal Spirituality
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First Sunday of Advent: Bearing Life into the World
Nine months pregnant. Aching back and feet. Exhaustion. And on top of it, traveling by donkey for three whole days in order to fulfill a command from a far-off governor to count the inhabitants of Bethlehem. Yet – Mary never claimed exemption because of her circumstances. I probably would have tried to claim exemption. I have claimed an exemption for jury duty for much less than three days on a donkey at my due date. Why didn’t she refuse to go or claim an exemption? Why didn’t she make it easier for herself? Caryll Houselander puts it in hauntingly simple terms: “...Mary never claimed exemption from the common lot, from…
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Advent Emptiness
I decided that for Advent this year I would read The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander. It’s a book I’ve attempted before without success. As I perused the first chapter, I realized this is what I need. And as I read through the first chapter entitled “emptiness,” I realized how perfectly it makes for a pre-Advent examination of our hearts. Please join me as I share some reflections as we prepare to enter into a new church year and the penitential season of Advent. In the coming weeks I hope you continue with me in my walk through The Reed of God. If we are to receive fully from the…
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Lessons from the Garden: Patience
In the dead of winter, the idea of planning a new little cut flower garden was a bright spot. A meager 4ft x 8ft garden bed was full of possibilities. Can we actually make dahlias grow and flourish? They have a reputation for being finicky. Should we start our zinnias from seeds inside? Where should I get unique varieties of the cosmos I want to grow? The possibilities are endless. In mid-March we started our seeds in a corner of the basement, complete with a seedling tray, grow light and heat mat. It all went well, and seedling deaths were kept to a minimum. The preparation that goes along with…
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How to Begin Again: Lessons from Nature (and Lent)
The doldrums of Lent are upon us. Several weeks of slogging through, haphazardly trying to fulfill commitments of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, sometimes doing them well and sometimes not doing them at all. But everything worth doing is worth doing, even poorly, right? Even in the midst of Winter’s Last Stand, (read: winter’s last shot at causing nasty viruses that knock whole families on their feet, keep small babies up at night with congested noses and keep preschoolers down all day, bound to the sofa with a fever) we must try to slog through, even if it’s poorly. Because as most people know it’s hard to keep commitments and fast…
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Learning to Surrender
Who likes to be in control? To plan? To know the next steps? Or at least choose those next steps? I do! But life has a tendency to get in the way. It feels like so often we are thrown into unwelcome circumstances and situations that we would never have chosen for ourselves. Back in February we found out we were expecting again. Happy news, certainly. After having had a miscarriage in the past, it always comes with certain levels of fear and anxiety. Around eight weeks pregnant, feeling sick as ever, I was able to go on a unique retreat. It was a beautiful and peaceful (and deeply nauseating)…
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My Domestic Church: Parents are the Models
Have you ever noticed how young kids are like tape recorders? You really have to watch what you say around them. One day I was driving Lucy somewhere and I was getting really frustrated. At one point, I said “Geez people!” in a very frustrated tone and a moment later I heard that little voice from the back seat “geez peee-ple, geez peee-ple.” Little ones don’t limit themselves to what they repeat, however. Hence the reason it’s so important to watch what you say. Children absorb so much from their parents. When they are young, it’s important to watch what you say, but this doesn’t change as they get older.…
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Have Peace in Me
This daily reading reflection was originally written for the Nativity Parish blog. You can read today’s mass readings here. Fr. Jacques Philippe, a favorite spiritual author of mine, said in his book Searching for and Maintaining Peace, that “all the reasons that cause us to lose our sense of peace are bad reasons.” He dedicates a whole section to this very topic. When I read that phrase, I found myself coming up with excuses as to why all my worries and anxieties were justified. Regardless of the severity of whatever it is on my heart and mind, I kept coming back to a few realizations. First, I can control virtually…
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You Can Still Go to Confession!
Just a friendly reminder that you can still go to confession! I spent most of the quarantine so far lamenting that there aren’t any opportunities for more creative ways to receive the sacraments like I see in other places. Or that Easter doesn’t feel quite the same this year. Then I “went” to mass with Fr. Mike Schmitz on Divine Mercy Sunday and was convicted. I realized there are some sacraments that I do still have access to and I really don’t have any excuses. I need to step up and take ownership. In life in general, waiting on other people to make things happen for you means you could…
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Living Hope.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…” 1 Peter 1:3-4 I have grappled long and hard with hope. What is it, really? How do I hope? Why do I even need to hope? Last year felt hopeless and difficult. I felt like my prayers were useless. My sentiment was generally “Why do I even pray if I’m not going to get what I so deeply desire?” In my heart,…
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The Temptations of Jesus
Before we dive into the temptations of Jesus, please take a minute to read the 1st reading and Gospel from the 1st Sunday of Lent. I am forever amazed by the scriptures. The way the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament, the ways that the Old Testament is a shadow of all that is to come in the new. Our Lenten observance is no different. It is steeped in scripture, and has its roots in the garden with the fall of man. The temptations of Jesus don’t come out of nowhere, we see where they come from when we look closely at the account of the fall. Now, I’m skipping…