Charity by Accepting Charity

Did you ever offer to help someone who firmly rejected your offer to help?  If so, how did you feel?  Conversely, how did you feel when you were able to be of assistance to someone?  Maybe you helped a person carry a load or cook a meal or drive somewhere. No doubt this act of […]

Let Them Help You. Jesus did.

This will be a short post because during my week retreat, the projects have piled up!  A recent experience gave me an idea for this post. At lunch I was with someone who was struggling to open her ice cream bar. She pulled and pulled on the paper and even used her napkin to get […]

Asking for Help

In a homily on the Good Samaritan the other week, our pastor, Fr. Tom Fanta, had a new perspective. He had us consider “the view from the ditch.” The man who was beaten by robbers and left at the side of the road needed help. Did he call out for it? We don’t know. Often […]

The Holy Spirit Takes 911 Calls

A spiritual director once asked me, “Do you pray to the Holy Spirit?” When I said, “No, not specifically,” he was surprised and replied,  “You, a writer, and you don’t pray to the Holy Spirit!” Since then I’ve addressed prayers to all three persons in the Trinity: the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, who […]