Cornelia Connelly, Woman of Trust
As I was preparing to give a woman’s retreat on our Sorrowful Mother, I wondered what example I could offer of a woman who suffered much and never gave up the faith. Cornelia Connelly came to mind. You’ve probably never heard of her, but her incredible, arresting story is worth telling. Read on. Cornelia was […]
Making Suffering Meaningful
Who hasn’t suffered? Suffering may stab us periodically, like a toothache or a friend’s betrayal. Or we may be awash in it constantly, as when we have a chronic illness. The mystery of suffering has always tormented us—in particular, why do the innocent suffer? Why is there such devastating misery in Ukraine? No answer satisfies. […]
Advice from Two Spiritual Experts
Arguably the world needs joy more than ever as we grapple with the natural disasters of fire, hurricanes, earthquakes and Covid in addition to human-made tragedies such as the horror in Afghanistan and the surge of refugees in our southern border. Besides these challenges, some of us are dealing with personal tragedies. How do we […]
Tiny Things That Bring Happiness
Recently someone posted on Facebook a list of tiny things that bring joy. I wish I had copied it. Because I didn’t, I’ve come up with my own list. At the end is something worthwhile that I did copy: a reflection on happiness. Although it is attributed to Pope Francis and sometimes to a poet […]
Easter and Eternal Life
Time seems to go faster every year. Someone pointed out that on June 21, daylight begins decreasing again! Easter season is already drawing to a close. Here are some parting words for it that may encourage people, in particular anyone who is undergoing a hardship now or suffering the loss of a loved one. Life […]
Where’s God When You Can’t Pray?
Lately I’ve been writing books on prayer, in particular about praying on empty. Maybe you can identify with this: During your prayer you keep checking the time and the minute hand seems barely to have moved. You understand why St. Teresa of Avila shook her hourglass as she prayed, attempting to speed up the time. […]
Dying to Rise: Reflections
My weekly post straddles Holy Week and Easter Week, so I pondered whether to focus on the passion and death of Jesus or his resurrection. Then it occurred to me that I should cover both. After all, these paschal mysteries are intimately related. It was only by suffering and dying that Jesus was able to […]
Detecting Grace in Life’s Messes
I can relate to the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day because I just had an entire week of bad days! My phone was cancelled by mistake, and it took six days and talks with seven agents before it was restored. I lost the PBS station on TV (jeopardizing […]
No Bed of Roses for Saints
Writing a book on saints, I’ve come to realize how much they have suffered. You would think that a person who lived a good life and loved God would be blessed with a peaceful, easy life. So often this wasn’t the case. Instead of enjoying a charmed life, saints endured conflict, criticism, persecution, not to […]
Life as a Test
Star Trek fans might recall my favorite episode in which aliens test a woman to see if her race is worthy of saving on another planet. The woman is an empath, someone who can absorb the suffering of others. Her test is to take on the pain of Dr. McCoy when he is dying, and […]
