In the last twenty years, my husband and I have had ten permanent addresses. It hardly seems right to call some of them permanent, because we’ve moved so frequently. We’ve lived in five states and often moved to communities where we knew no one.  I’ve gotten very familiar with the loneliness that comes with new surroundings. When all the faces you see are new and you aren’t sure where you fit in, it’s easy to get discouraged and forget that we can take steps to shorten this season of loneliness.   The Church Welcomes You The universality of the Catholic Church welcomes us wherev ..read more

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Kgs 4:42-44/Eph 4:1-6/Jn 6:1-15 “I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” Ephesians 4:1-2, NRSVCE Read More Monday Jer 13:1-11(401)/Jn 11:19-27 or Lk 10:38-42 “But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”” Luke 10:41-42, NRSVCE Read More Tuesday Jer 14 ..read more

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 23:1-6/Eph 2:13-18/Mk 6:30-34 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13, NABRE Read More Monday Sg 3:1-4b or 2 Cor 5:14-17/Jn 20:1-2, 11-18 “Hardly had I left them     when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go     until I had brought him to my mother’s house,     to the chamber of her who conceived me.”  Song of Solomon 3:4, NABRE Read More Tuesday Mi 7:14-15, 18-20/Mt 12:46-50 “And stretching out ..read more

Neither my husband or I grew up Catholic. We came into the Church as adults shortly before our first child was born, and we continue to create a “domestic church” on the fly as we go. We learn about feast days from friends at church, hear about saints we didn’t know on podcasts, and go on retreats where it seems like everyone knows prayers we’ve never heard.   My kids didn’t know the rosary because I had always shied away from it. I knew the basics, but I had never invested in the regular recitation of the rosary. I wanted to create a rosary habit, but I kept putting it off. That all ..read more

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Ez 2:2-5/2 Cor 12:7-10/Mk 6:1-6a “Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. “ 2 Corinthians 8-9, NRSVCE Read More Monday Hos 2:16, 17c-18, 21-22/Mt 9:18-26 “Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch ..read more

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24/2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15/Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43 “Because God did not make death,     nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.  For he fashioned all things that they might have being,     and the creatures of the world are wholesome; There is not a destructive drug among them     nor any domain of Hades on earth,  For righteousness is undying” Wisdom 1:13-15, NABRE Read More Monday Am 2:6-10, 13-16/Mt 8:18-22 “Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds ..read more

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jb 38:1, 8-11/2 Cor 5:14-17/Mk 4:35-41 “For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, NRSVCE Read More Monday Is 49:1-6/Acts 13:22-26/Lk 1:57-66, 80 “And now the Lord says,     who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him,     and that Israel might be gathered to him ..read more

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Ez 17:22-24/2 Cor 5:6-10/Mk 4:26-34 “So we are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,  for we walk by faith, not by sight.  Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord. “ 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, NABRE Read More Monday 1 Kgs 21:1-16/Mt 5:38-42 “ Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. Some time later,  Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it is close by, n ..read more

The week before I entered the Catholic Church, a friend took me to a Benedictine monastery. We arrived well after the monastic community had retired for the evening, but a monk in a black habit greeted us and showed us to our rooms. This was my first experience with the famed Benedictine hospitality. “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” as the Rule of Saint Benedict directs.  That weekend introduced me to a way of life that continuously informs my idea of what it means to be Catholic. I am a happil ..read more

Sunday Gn 3:9-15/2 Cor 4:13—5:1/Mk 3:20-35 “Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we too believe and therefore speak, knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence.” 2 Corinthians 4:13-14, NABRE Read More Monday 1 Kgs 17:1-6/Mt 5:1-12 “So he left and did as the Lord had commanded. He left and remained by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank fr ..read more