Last year, as a new parishioner and recently retired, I felt God's gentle prompting to host a marriage retreat. This meant asking the Pastor, who didn't know me well, to take a chance and give me his permission to go forward. I appreciated his trust and vote of...
Getting old is happening faster than I imagined. I knew we would; it's what's supposed to happen in life if all goes well. I'm not suggesting I'm shocked every morning at the wrinkled old lady who greets me in the mirror. But I am. Oil of Olay, you lied to us. As a...
The day after Christmas, the readings at Mass took a wild turn. Airwaves wrapped up their nominal tribute to Christmas by continuing to divert our attention with the remnants of Santa Baby and fa la la. The Scripture readings instead douse us with the icy water of...
"Unplanned" is often used as a scapegoat and reason to justify the unthinkable. This is not what I planned... fill in the blank. Most of my life was not what I planned. Yet as I look back there is evidence of God doing something good in all those unplanned moments. I...
On this Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I pray for our country and all peoples of the Americas. Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen. Forty-five years have passed in what feels like an instant. Unforgettable are the wild...
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that humans, starting at a very young age, tend to gather stuff. I observed this firsthand with my grandkids and any child I’ve had the good fortune to spend time with. “Mine,” shouts the toddler, and thus begins the desire to...
Is anything more frustrating than a tree that will not produce the fruit it was designed to deliver? After purchasing a lemon tree and following all the prescribed directions for it to flourish, we rightfully expected to find lemons. Instead, we got a dead tree that...
I know what it feels like to lose a baby through a miscarriage. Not once, but twice. I understand the crushing pain of infertility for years. I, too, have grandbabies that I hope to someday meet in Heaven, who were also miscarried. Even though I never met my own...
Have you ever wished you could talk to your younger self and share more ingenious ways of doing things? I've been thinking about this as I age. I've grown wiser. I fought with my neighbor when I was in sixth grade. We decided we should duke it out after school....
As a teenager, I dreamed of becoming a nurse and moved toward that goal in college. I worked at the local hospital, so I knew what I was getting into- and then I met my husband, who whisked me off to beautiful South Korea for the first year of our marriage. As my...
It's my least favorite time of the year when antagonistic, badly-behaved politicians claim to have what America needs by bombarding the airwaves, commercials, and billboards. Rather than bringing peace and assurance that we are in good hands, I cringe. As a veteran...
Over the years, I have opened my heart and shared many stories about my spiritual journey as a Catholic Christian and how God has allowed me to play a tiny part in His plans. I have given the reader an inside peek at our ever-evolving family and some goofy situations...
When asked about our recent vacation in Kauai, I enthusiastically replied, "It was really nice." That same daughter later inquired about a dessert she had made: "That's nice; I like it." Maahmum!!! Quit saying nice! Use other words. She overheard me using that...
Each time we sneak away this summer, we come to the mountains. As beautiful as the desert is in the summer, having your flip-flops melt on the pavement gets expensive. While a sauna is fabulous at the spa, my personal sauna on wheels has turned my car into a sweatbox....
In our germ-a-phobic, post-pandemic world, it’s hard to imagine why Christ would request that the remaining fragments from feeding five thousand be gathered up. For what? Ewww, somebody else touched it, and I won’t eat it. Clearly, we have never gone hungry. Sadly,...
St. Paul was elated due to an abundance of revelations from Christ. The Lord allowed a thorn in his flesh, an agent of Satan to beat him. (2Cor 12:7)To be elated is to be ecstatically happy. That's the kind of joy that requires beatings to lessen. I think I want that...
Dutifully following my new husband, we slid into our circa 1960 Japanese right-hand drive automobile. It was the tiniest car I had ever ridden in besides Autotopia at Disneyland. Maneuvering through the streets of Seoul, S. Korea, felt like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. As we...
How many times do we make excuses for our sins? “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.” (Gen 3:13). Sadly, I am guilty. I’d go so far as to say evil doesn’t even have to lift a finger- I fall easily on my own. Bless me, Father, for I have sinned; it’s been...
“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like a child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 18:3-4 My young life was a preparation for adulthood....
“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” (Jn 15:16) Each time I’ve heard this passage over my lifetime, I assumed it referred...
If I am not mistaken, these are the exact words shepherds use to call sheep. Or maybe not. The closest I've ever gotten to a sheep was on a dinner plate in France. "Can I get this cooked more, s’il vous plaît!" I've heard today's gospel (Jn 10:11-18) countless...