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Ashes and Delight
How quickly things change. Just a few days ago we were eating king cake, finishing up bottles of wine, delighting in the company of friends and extending the celebration of Fat Tuesday over the course...
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What do you mean? – on writing about prayer
Just a few revisions, they said. I have learned to love revising, eliminating unnecessary words, shifting ideas, and adding clarity to phrases. A few revisions should have been no problem at all. But I...
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In between miracles
On the April day that I went to the emergency room for the first time, I returned home to learn that my cousin and godmother had died after a bewildering health emergency. It had only been a few years...
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Make Today Matter: when the small voice speaks
Not long ago my husband and I were contemplating a big purchase. It would have been a financial sacrifice and a pretty big change, but we could have made it work if it was what we really wanted. After...
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Generosity, community, and connection: Three lessons from a summer with...
If you want to have your world turned upside down, take the Bible seriously. Just over a year ago I began an intense writing regimen to prepare the 2019 edition of A Book of Grace-Filled Days for...
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Restoration
Not far from the Sanctuary of Loyola, near St. Ignatius’ family home, pilgrims can visit the Magdalene Chapel. When Ignatius returned to his homeland having fallen ill in Paris in April 1535, he stayed...
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The grace we need
Once we he was going out of devotion to a church situated a little more than a mile from Manresa…as he went along occupied with his devotions, he sat for a little while with his facd toward the river...
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In hac lacrimarum valle
To you we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to you we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Quite close to St Ignatius’s childhood home in Loyola is a shrine to Our Lady of...
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Redeemable
Last Sunday I read an article titled “Is the Catholic Church irredeemable?” I thought maybe I would write something on the topic, but then there was another article to read, this time about abusive...
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A Lent of Less
Around this time a few years ago I was trudging through winter weather to get to a rehearsal on a weeknight and I thought to myself “It’s amazing that we ask the same things of ourselves during cold...
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Nothing more
Someone invited me to join a young adult group today and my heart skipped a beat at the thought that I am still young. Youth is in the eye of the beholder, but numbers are numbers. Though I’m a bit...
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Enough as you are, in every way
Eight years ago this week I was diagnosed with a chronic illness after decades of perfect health. For about a year I only had periodic instances of debilitating pain, but with time Crohn’s disease took...
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Giving up performing for Lent
Let me tell you a secret about performing, one you might not see in soapy movies or reality shows: the best artists are sincere and generous, seeking not to manipulate, but to give. That’s not the kind...
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A cascade of mercy
Mercy: forgiving with another’s well-being in mind. Letting something pass without condemnation. Like many virtuous qualities, I often find it easier to define by its absence, by what it looks like...
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Ready to be good: when we want to help but don’t know how
God is always ready to bring about good. This doesn’t mean that the world is perfect, or that God always comes crashing in to undo our bad choices or bad luck. There is always goodness waiting to...
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Now and Forever
I’ve learned it’s just easier to accept that I live in a time of decline. The climate, social and economic equality, political discourse – all of these things are getting worse. There are a number of...
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Stubbornness and grace
“Margaret, I didn’t know you were a runner.” “Oh, I’m not, not really” I said this the day after running my 19th half-marathon, and immediately sensed how ridiculous I sounded. “I mean, I’m not really...
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A place for grief to go
We don’t often admit the tough stuff. We cover it up to get through the day, not out of deceit but for everyone’s good. When people ask “how are you?”, it’s not the time to say I’m sad, I’m confused....
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Finding Lady’s Wells
I told them I was going for a run, but that wasn’t the whole story. When driving to our accommodations in west Cork, I spied from the passenger seat a sign marking a “Lady’s Well and Mass Rock” and...
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