• Living Abundantly,  Personal Spirituality

    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…

  • Family,  Personal Spirituality

    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…