by Barbara | Feb 14, 2024
Yeah, it’s that time again. Wait! Wasn’t Christmas just last week? Lent begins today, despite being St. Valentine’s Day, and NO, there is no need for a dispensation. I mean, how do we expect to grow stronger and battle-ready by looking for excuses to opt...
by Barbara | Feb 4, 2024
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch one of our granddaughters at her swimming lesson. When it was complete, and time for her to change from her wet clothes, I naturally started to assist her. "I can do it myself, grandma." Well, okay then! I'll wait out here....
by Barbara | Jan 1, 2024
I sat there in the first pew staring at the nativity scene before me. What does one give the King of Kings that he doesn't already have? Oh that's easy, said the voice in my head. Give him yourself, your love, your surrender. I already have, piped another voice in my...
by Barbara | Oct 17, 2023
I love it when I discover years later, the gift wrapped inside the trappings of something painful from my past. I did not always look deeper into life’s more distressing experiences. Instead, I asked, why me? Why this? When is it over? Others received answered...
by Barbara | Sep 30, 2023
We just returned from our France pilgrimage and are still working through the jet lag. This means early bedtimes and wide-awake pockets in the night. When this happens, I say a Chaplet of Divine Mercy. As I leaned over to grab my rosary, I sadly remembered losing...
by Barbara | Sep 17, 2023
Thanks for joining us on this pilgrimage in France to some of the most beautiful and holy sites. Today we arrived on the Rue de Bac, to visit the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal. It is here that we see the incorrupt body of St Catherine Laboure. You can read more about...
by Barbara | Aug 23, 2023
We can all relate to Jonah at times. We want people to get what is coming to them, good or bad- mostly bad- especially if they have hurt us. In this case, Jonah wanted Nineveh to die for the ill-treatment of his people. We're told in Scripture that "Jonah...
by Barbara | Jun 12, 2023
Novena Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive from it great peace and great rewards, even when I confer on you the grace of immolation, of repentance and of love. Then what does suffering matter? It seems impossible to you. Close your eyes and say...
by Barbara | Jun 11, 2023
Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away on the flowing current of my grace; close your eyes and do not think of the present, turning your thoughts away from the future just as you would from temptation. Repose in me, believing in my goodness, and I promise...
by Barbara | Jun 9, 2023
Novena You are sleepless; you want to judge everything, direct everything and see to everything and you surrender to human strength, or worse – to men themselves, trusting in their intervention, – this is what hinders my words and my views. Oh how much I wish from you...
by Barbara | Jun 7, 2023
NovenaYou see evil growing instead of weakening? Do not worry. Close your eyes and say to me with faith: “Thy will be done, You take care of it”. I say to you that I will take care of it, and that I will intervene as does a doctor and I will accomplish miracles when...
by Barbara | Jun 6, 2023
Novena How many things I do when the soul, in so much spiritual and material need, turns to me, looks at me and says to me; “You take care of it”, then closes its eyes and rests. In pain you pray for me to act, but that I act in the way you want. You do not turn to...
by Barbara | May 31, 2023
Immediately you may balk at this title. Isn't surrendering for cowards? Not necessarily. If you are stressed, anxious, confused, or even frustrated with feelings of helplessness, I invite you to read on. Have you dreamed of an abiding peace that seems only to evade...
by Barbara | May 22, 2023
What memory, if any, do you have of a time you felt completely loved? Not the mushy fleeting feelings of giddiness and butterflies. Rather, a deep abiding love not dependent on conditions. A love given exclusively for your own good. No strings attached. Parental love...
by Barbara | Apr 12, 2023
Pt.3 /4 The previous articles covered what the Catechism and Sacred Scripture teach us about marriage and love. This week we will look at what makes a marriage sacramental. God provided all that was necessary to thrive for our first parents in the Garden of Eden;...
by Barbara | Jan 31, 2023
Crap happens in more ways than one, metaphorically speaking. Perchance, you remember the popular bumper sticker a few years back that explicitly proclaimed that very thing. So why are we so surprised when it does? We can tend to live life deluding ourselves that...
by Barbara | Aug 28, 2022
I had the pleasure of attending a meeting with young moms a few evenings ago. I've been honored to call many of them friend. Their dedication to marriage and motherhood is heroic. I would include my own daughters and daughters-in-law in this category. I am a mother...
by Barbara | Jul 19, 2022
I began the Bible in a Year podcast with Fr Mike Schmitz late last year. I have been plugging away (binging at times) and am pleased to report that I have reached day 278. Yeah me! I know it is still far off, but God’s timing is always perfect. I love that Fr Mike has...
by Barbara | Jul 1, 2021
Over the years with the continual alteration of the English language, we realized for a short time that sick was cool, the latest rendition of dope means neither dense nor drugs, and “spilling the tea” has nothing to do with the common drink. “Rotten” however, still...
by Barbara | Feb 13, 2021
It is a beautiful evening nearing sunset. The sky is ablaze with color, pinks and blues and greys. You can’t help but thank God for the eyes to see such beauty, and the legs to walk in freedom wherever you like. You are lost in thought as you round the corner out of...
by Barbara | Nov 14, 2020
I sit staring at my one-eyed gingerbread man who I have managed to dismember piece by piece. He is delicious by the way. When I contemplate my own talents, I get a sense of what they are as I look back at my life. If the “inability to say no” is a talent, I have tons...