Praying
-
Getting Ready for a Family Pilgrimage
Hey guys! I figured I’d put together a quick post as I work feverishly to make sure we have all the loose ends tied up for our upcoming trip. It’s going to be a full time job to get ourselves out the door and on that plane in a week’s time — but it’s always worth it in the end. Somebody please tell me, why is it so hard to get ready for a family trip? Yikes! It still feels a long way off, but we’re beginning to feel the excitement of it all. We have made the conscious effort to make every family trip a pilgrimage of sorts —…
-
How to Pray, Why to Pray & Books I’m Currently Using For Morning Prayer
Prayer isn’t just a good thing, in many ways, it’s everything. Prayer does for the soul what breathing does for the body — it is essential. The truth is we were made for prayer, but that doesn’t necessarily make it easy. Prayer takes effort, patience and trust that God is working — especially when you can’t feel God’s presence or wonder if He’s even there. Our prayer life can be a bit of a mystery at times — incredibly hard to gauge, because God is often working below the surface in ways we may only understand later. It takes faith to put aside your doubts and come before God and…
-
The Day Mary Inspired Me with the Perfect Prayer
How’s your May going? Ours has been full of birthdays and family visits and lovely weather and it’s been quite enjoyable. Sometimes I find myself just surviving May — like I almost die in the middle of it — but this May has been a little less hectic. I think it has something to do with having another driver in the home. So yay for teen drivers! This post is scheduled to publish on my oldest son’s birthday. I have to say, he is turning out to be a wonderful young man, and I can’t help but think that it has something to do with the way he entered into this world. Bear…
-
Entering Into the Triduum
“Why is tonight different from all other nights?” The phrase appears at the beginning of each line of The Four Questions, traditionally asked by the youngest child during the celebration of the Jewish Passover Seder. It’s a great question to ask ourselves as we enter into the Triduum. How was this night, over two thousand years ago, different than all other nights? Holy Thursday began with the celebration of the Jewish Passover. But Jesus didn’t take the traditional fourth cup and drink it on that night — He even asked if that cup might pass him by — because He knew what it meant. He knew that He would be…
-
Fr. Solanus Casey’s Beatification and Asking for the Things We Need
Faith is a funny thing. When you’re a child, it often has no bounds. As you grow older, though, faith can begin to grow cold — almost without our noticing it. We can grow skeptical, jaded, and even weary of our prayers. Which is why we need a man like Fr. Solanus Casey to remind us of the place of faith and miracles in our lives, even today. It’s why we decided to trek to Detroit with people from around the country to celebrate the Beatification of Fr. Solanus Casey this past November. These are big deals in the life of the Church and we wanted to have a celebration…
-
On Pilgrimage: One Day in Fatima
Why go to all the time, effort and money to go on pilgrimage? Certainly that money could be given to the poor or spent on the many practical needs of every family — so how can a person justify the time and money spent on such a trip? Fortunately for John and I, traveling with our six kids has helped to purify our motives a bit. Let’s be honest, traveling with 6 kids for two weeks can be akin to traveling in the dessert for 40 years with the Israelites — complaining, moaning, hunger, thirst, wondering if the agony will ever end — and did I mention complaining? So, yeah,…
-
Making Time for Prayer
Why should I make time for prayer? It’s a worthwhile question to ask yourself. I mean, we can try to do this day on our own –we can try to be patient and kind when faced with those moments we want to scream and yell –we can try to hit that never-ending “to do” list–or make that difficult decision we’ve been worrying about –but why try to do it alone when you can walk through all those moments with Someone who loves you and knows you better than you know yourself? Life is very busy– homeschooling, raising 6 kids, working in the family business, writing — they all take more time than I have to give.…
