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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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A Parade of Priests: Thank you for being there.
When my dad was in the hospital, the priests kept coming in. The nurses were perplexed as to why there was a seeming parade of priests in and out of my dad’s hospital room. My mom let them know he’s the catholic bookstore owner in town. His network is large and he knows quite a lot of people and priests. And let me tell you, they showed up, and it was a beautiful witness. Friday On Friday, Fr. Eric Powell, our pastor, showed up to anoint him. He sat with my mom for some time as well. He likened this time to keeping vigil, a Holy Saturday of sorts. After…
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Are You Wasting Your Time on Your Children?
Our society is hyper-focused on productivity. I could see it in high school students who were in twenty different time-consuming activities while taking ten different high level courses all while trying to hold down a full time job. Alright, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but whether you’re a high school student trying to build the resume for college applications or parents trying to provide all the best opportunities for their children, there’s a high societal (and also internal) pressure to perform, to win, to be the best, to have the best, to do the best. I’m a stay at home mom with two little children. I often times feel…