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An Awakening
There have been some bad moments in our Church lately — and we need to recognize that — but almost imperceptibly in the background, there also seems to be an awakening going on in the hearts of Catholics around the world. The truth is, there has been a weight that has been dragging us down, making us tired and lethargic — I know that I have felt it, and maybe you have, too. It was like we couldn’t quite name the darkness or our lethargy, but as members of the same Body, we were feeling the sickness that hadn’t yet been diagnosed. There was a rot that had set in,…
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That Time We Went to Killarney (With Kids)
Happy last day of Summer! Does anybody else approach Fall with the bittersweet feeling of what is to come — a long, dark winter? As the days get shorter, I always find myself contending with what doctors refer to as Seasonal Affective Disorder, abbreviated SAD. Um guys, could you have possibly come up with a worse name?! So, not only do I experience a lack of energy, general melancholy and difficulty in focusing at this time of year — I now have to be reminded I’m SAD? Heck no! From now on I will refer to it as HAPPY, Having A Pity Party (about the weather) Yessiree. It’s all in…
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The Power of Beauty in Times of Darkness
I have a feeling that when God made Ireland, He knew that the Irish would have the rain and dark winters and melancholic temperaments to contend with — and so He made Ireland amazingly, shockingly, jaw-droppingly beautiful. I am sure He knew that they would need this beauty to give them hope throughout centuries of oppression that they would face. I have no doubt He intended to use this beauty to draw them closer to Him as they walked these paths and fields, climbed these mountains and descended these valleys. I am pretty sure God was whispering “I am here and you mean everything to me” when He formed this…
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Will He Find Faith? A.K.A. What’s Next?
We all survived our Irish pilgrimage — hip, hip, hooray — but the transition back has had it’s challenges. Not going to lie, I am also missing Ireland a bit — I wasn’t expecting to miss it like I do. It was a grace-filled time, and when a time of grace comes to an end, it is challenging to enter into “ordinary life” again — whatever that is. Honestly, I knew it would be beautiful and we would have fun as a family, but I was worried that the faith would be missing from our trip to Ireland. I wondered if all the priests would just be going through the…
