Think about the lead-up to the recent solar eclipse. For months there was non-stop coverage as scientists tracked the path of totality, giving us the locations ...
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Life Lines
When I was in Guatemala on retreat earlier this month, I was humbled and heartened by the visible presence of Lent not just in churches but on storefronts and ...
Each year, as Lent begins, I can’t help but remember a scene from Sunday Mass a few years back. A little boy sitting in the second pew with his grandmother ...
When it comes to our prayer lives, we too often fall into the trap of setting goals, mapping “progress,” and jumping through spiritual hoops, as if our ...
The Advent season — with its message to “Be watchful! Be alert!” — felt uncomfortably timely for me this year. Coming off a recent health scare, I have been all ...
During these tumultuous and terrible times in our world, it can be easy to spiral down into the rabbit hole of despair, thinking we have no right to be happy, ...
The poet David Whyte says that most people are “living four or five years behind the curve of their own transformation,” refusing to accept a new season of life ...
When was the last time you let fear keep you from doing something you really wanted or needed to do? Maybe it was a lifetime ago, something in the distant past ...
Born in 1962, I am one of those tail-end Baby Boomers who doesn’t really fit the mold; my husband is at the leading edge of Gen X. All three of our children ...
One warm-and-sunny weekday recently, I took advantage of a canceled work appointment and headed to Five Rivers Environmental Center, just a short drive from my ...
At this point in the season, we’re past our Lenten promises — many of them unfulfilled — and wondering if we’ve allowed ourselves to be changed at all during ...
As I was wrapping up a Lenten retreat recently, someone in attendance approached me afterward and asked if it’s appropriate or even possible to wish someone ...
Back when I was younger, I would approach Ash Wednesday in spiritual attack mode. Armed with books and an overly ambitious plan, I entered the Lenten season ...
Most of the world moved on from Christmas as soon as the presents were opened and the dinner consumed, but we Catholics savor the season, soaking up every last ...
We are approaching the mid-point of Advent, which, of course, includes the lighting of the rose-colored candle in our Advent wreath. It’s not just a pretty ...
This autumn has been a season of deep gratitude and growing awe. Whether it has to do with my age or my circumstances or a combination of both, I increasingly ...
A few months back, my husband, Dennis, called me from work and said, “I have to tell you something that is going to make you cry.” He followed it immediately ...
It's funny how we have certain expectations of life, from the biggest events to the smallest details, and we are quick to label the results: good, bad, lucky, ...
As I sat in my beach chair late last month, toes in the sand and eyes fixed on an endless horizon that gave me the slightest inkling of eternity, I found for ...
As I settled into my pew at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago one recent Sunday morning, I gazed up at the beautiful interior, a feast for the eyes, and hoped for ...