by Barbara | Jun 13, 2021
A couple of weeks ago I posted an article about faithful Catholics feeling rather abandoned by their shepherds during this past year. My article “Flocking Mad, An Open Letter to Catholic Priests and Bishops,” was read by thousands with much feedback echoing...
by Barbara | May 26, 2021
Greetings from the pasture! I thought I would reach out and apprise you about life from your sheeple’s perspective after being devastated from every angle. Perhaps you may think you know what it is like down here in the pasture--based on vetted emails, random blogs,...
by Barbara | May 8, 2021
It is hard to fathom, frankly. Could it possibly be true? Is it as He says? I suppose for me the starting point would be in my own heart. Who do I understand God to be? Everything and nothing hinge on that very point. Everything changes if I believe despite what I...
by Barbara | Apr 5, 2021
Your plan so grand to fill the earth, with sea, and sky, sand, and dirt. Reptile, mammal, and wild beast, predator, and prey, greatest and least. Then scooped into your mighty hand, the dirt that lay across the land To form a being unlike the rest, made in your Image,...
by Barbara | Mar 30, 2021
I have been both betrayer and betrayed. When you think about it, you probably have too. Starting with Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. These are harmless examples you might think. I remember when our oldest son was nine or ten, it occurred to me that I should...
by Barbara | Mar 19, 2021
This week was an anniversary of sorts for me. Tuesday would have been my father’s eighty-fifth birthday and the sixth anniversary of my near fatal bike/car accident. The date is bittersweet. I am sad my father is gone but happy that he is home with our Lord. I am...
by Barbara | Mar 11, 2021
I got it my head to create a replica of the Crown of Thorns this Lent. You know, like the one Christ wore in His Passion and Crucifixion. Living in the desert we have lots of prickly things and thorns in abundance. I started with the trimmings from the beautiful...
by Barbara | Feb 20, 2021
Listening to Relevant Radio today, Fr Richard Simon spoke about the need to be truly repentant for our sins. Sure, we say we are sorry and might even feel bad, but he suggests substituting the word “failed” instead of “sinned.” "Bless me Father for I have failed…”...
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 | Jan 30, 2021
Sometimes we can get caught in the trap of thinking that God only loves us when we do the right thing. We can assume wrongly that our sinfulness turns Him away from us until we get ourselves back on the “right” track. That would be a lie evil wants you to believe and...
by Barbara | Jan 24, 2021
Why is it Catholics go through all the hoopla each Lent starting with getting a smudge of ashes on our foreheads? We look ridiculous as the miniscule particles fall like ashen snowflakes on our nose and cheeks creating sometimes unintended comical effects. However, I...
by Barbara | Jan 18, 2021
Our lives for the last year have had to incorporate a whole new level of unanticipated online activity including gatherings, meetings, classes, weddings, funerals, and grocery shopping, to name a few. It has required that we learn a new language and crazy computer...
by Barbara | Jan 10, 2021
Many of us do not remember the Baptismal promises that were stated at our own Baptism. We relied solely on our parents and godparents to speak on our behalf. This weekend and several times throughout the Church year we are given the opportunity to speak for ourselves....
by Barbara | Jan 1, 2021
It is appropriate to take stock of 2020. Like every year before it, there were aspects out of our control. However, there were and continue to be much that is firmly within our power. Some questions we should ponder deeply are: Where did I grow and improve this past...
by Barbara | Dec 31, 2020
Naughty or nice is our choice after all Even when life throws us a curveball. No one can make us kind or sweet, not in life, nor in a Tweet. Our mothers tried to do their best may their efforts be forever blessed. For us to choose rightly is their bequest. We are big...
by Barbara | Dec 19, 2020
Working at a Catholic Church feels like I am right there in the vineyard of the Lord at times. It certainly does not imply that only those who work in churches are knee deep in grape juice. No, the world is the vineyard and opportunities abound in every corner of it....
by Barbara | Dec 13, 2020
Mothers are a sturdy bunch. In fact, motherhood is not for wimps. We all had one, and it is easy to overlook the role and influence our mother had in our lives. While there is a plethora of “how to books” and plenty of unsolicited advice, there is not much that can...
by Barbara | Dec 5, 2020
As I age and have more life behind me than in front of me, I find myself in my deepest emotional and physical pain, identifying most intensely with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here is the woman who in her own Earthly life experienced so much suffering through her fiat....
by Barbara | Nov 28, 2020
I remember bringing a meal and spending time visiting a friend of mine who was having another bout with cancer a few years ago. In a strange turn of events, months later it was that same friend who brought dinner to me as I recovered from a hospitalization. Just two...
by Barbara | Nov 21, 2020
We are halfway through our collective efforts to grow in holiness through the Journey Toward Holiness campaign. “What’s that”, you query? It is a Divinely inspired initiative we have launched to help us form habits that lead to holiness. You can read more about it...
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...