-
Holding on to Hope
Oh February! It has come close to getting the better of me on several occasions — bouts of sickness, exhaustion, little sunlight and motivation — but I am happy to say I think I’m going to make it through! How about you? If there is anything good to be said about February, it is that February is the month that I grow the most in the virtue of hope. Like any virtue, hope can only grow when it is tested. More specifically, it can only grow when we are tested, and so I guess I should be thanking February for always making me exercise the virtue of hope in new…
-
The Winter of Our Discontent…a.k.a How to Make Good Choices in Life
“Now is the winter of our discontentMade glorious summer by this sun of York;And all the clouds that lour’d upon our houseIn the deep bosom of the ocean buried.” William Shakespeare, Richard III Can somebody please make it stop snowing? Really! I’m absolutely done with all the cold and the slush and the ice? How about you? For those of us in the Midwest, summer is but a figment of our imagination — a promise of better days, soaked with sunshine and berries and every good thing. February, on the other hand, is the absolute worst of all the winter months — and so we buckle up and we grow…
-
A Call to Honesty: Art and Architecture
“We’ve had enough exhortations to be silent. Cry out with a thousand tongues – I see the world is rotten because of silence.” St. Catherine of Siena I should begin this post by saying I am no art expert. I am just a girl who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, subjected to the typically horrendous art, architecture and music that made its way into many Catholic Churches in those decades. Even as a small child, I had a strong visceral reaction to it. I sensed there was something off, something discordant about it. Then I went to Europe and was immersed in beautiful art and architecture — and…
-
Taking the Time to Be Renewed
That time I hiked Croagh Patrick in Ireland, looked down upon all the beauty below and had a pretty good idea why St. Patrick decided to spend 40 days in prayer and fasting here. 😍 Don’t get me wrong. It is cold and windy and the conditions on top of this mountain were quite extreme — but Patrick knew the value of sacrifice, of mortification, of taking time away from the world around him so he could be with God — and God alone. Patrick loved the pagan world around him, and wanted to bring the Light of Christ to them — only he was well aware of all of…
