When I left my office job four months ago to return to my home-based writing and retreat business, I was mainly focused on doing the work I love most on a ...
Columns
Life Lines
I recently did a search of my past Life Lines columns to find something I wrote here six years ago: “Sometimes happiness isn’t a choice.” I remembered how deep ...
We are nearing the end of our 40-day pilgrimage through Lent, but the truth is that we are on a pilgrimage that never ends. Our entire spiritual life is ...
News of Russia’s attack on the people of Ukraine hit like a nauseating wave as news headlines scrolled by on TV the morning of the invasion. I could feel a deep ...
Back when my husband, Dennis, and I were teaching a two-year confirmation prep program at our parish in upstate New York, I wrote a column saying that when I ...
Hanging on my office door is an image of Joan of Arc in all her courageous glory, with a version of her famous quote: “I am not afraid. I was born to do this.” ...
It’s amazing how we can convince ourselves that we simply don’t have the time to do even the little things that might make our lives demonstrably better. We ...
When I signed onto Facebook this week, I found a private message from someone who told me that a Life Lines column I had written about surrender eight years ago ...
As a child of the ‘60s and ‘70s, I grew up with my share of interesting entertainment options when it came to exploring the life of Jesus. I performed songs ...
Rosary-challenged. That’s how I’ve described myself for most of my life. Don’t get me wrong. I have more sets of rosary beads than I can count, tucked away in ...
Last week I was working out in a corner of our backyard where I decided to create a meditation garden. The area, which had once been home to a swing set, had ...
As we round the corner on pandemic and see a faint light at the end of our long Covid tunnel, I’ve found myself stuck—physically, due to some minor injuries and ...
One of the great joys—and occasional challenges—of being a writer is getting letters from readers via email, social media and even snail mail. Those messages ...
The editor of the Albany diocesan newspaper came into my office recently and asked if I wanted to share a memory of an experience with a religious sister for ...
Flannery O’Connor, the American Catholic southern gothic writer,
once said, “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”
That line ...
The column originally ran on Huffington Post in 2015, but it's a favorite so here it is one more time, just in time:
Lent is one of those seasons that ...
With 2020 in our rearview mirror, most of us are hoping for a new year that looks nothing like the old year. As we struggled through past 10 months of pandemic, ...
Advent in our modern world has long been behind the cultural eight ball. It’s a season of waiting in a world of instant gratification, a season of quiet ...
When I was leaving my gynecologist’s office recently, I exited the building with a younger couple leaving the same practice. I guessed that they likely were ...
When I arrived at Pyramid Life Center in the Adirondack Mountains last month to lead a retreat, I was excited but nervous. As is always the case when I lead a ...