Every night before going to sleep, we say our family prayers – my wife or I lead and our children (ages 4 and 2.5) follow and sometime contribute. Continue reading »
One of the wonderful things that I learned upon rediscovering my faith and re-entering the Catholic Church is that Catholic Christianity tends be more “both and” instead of “either or.” Continue reading »
Over the past few weeks there has been a tremendous upheaval in the Catholic community in the United States. The HHS mandate that requires catholic institutions to violate their own teachings and morals has been codified in the federal register. In the face of this, all U.S. Bishops are united in the cause of its repeal. The strategy that the bishops are pursuing is to utilize the legislative branch of government to pass a law (H.R. 1179/S. 1467) to declare that the conscience rights of individuals and entities are protected, which would then make the mandate unenforceable. Continue reading »
How does one live out their catholic faith while being a member of a modern US political party – very carefully!
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Here is my response to Nourishing Hearts:
Being a wife and mother isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I struggle with striking a balance between caring for my family and taking care of myself. When I fall short, complain, or neglect to count my blessings, I can be pretty unforgiving of myself. Try incredibly unforgiving. Not to mention that my heart often feels like it’s going to implode when I read the news. There is so much pain, suffering, and sadness in the world… My heart needs nourishing.
“What do I live on? What keeps me going? How do I nourish my heart?”
Sometimes it seems like I live on worry and regret, but this does not nourish my heart. Instead, they steal my joy and erode the present.
I NEED to be in control and to feel secure. They keep me going, right? If I’m in control, I’ll feel secure, right? Not exactly. Striving to fill these “needs” does not nourish my heart; rather, striving for control and security gives rise to all sorts of stress and discontentment.
Come to think of it, I don’t do much to nourish my heart. Not intentionally anyway. So I started to think about WHEN my heart feels nourished.
My heart feels nourished– I feel nourished– WHEN:
I know that worry, regret, trying to be in control, and striving for security pretty much leave God out, but I forget. And when I forget, I struggle.
On the other hand, my husband and my children are gifts from God through the Sacrament of Marriage. All that I am and all that I have are gifts from God. Answering the call of stewardship sets me on the path of discipleship, which is exactly where I should be. Prayer and the Sacraments help me along the way, and all of these have God’s Word as their source.
So how do I nourish my heart? I don’t. God does. If only I didn’t forget…
Heavenly Father, my heart needs nourishing. Worry, regret, and struggles for control and security leave my heart weary. Please help me to remember that it is Your Word that nourishes my heart.
Lord, my heart needs nourishing. Please open my heart to receive Your holy, life-giving Word, and guide me in the ways of good stewardship so that Your Word will be fruitful in my life and the lives of those around me.
Amen.
Last Thursday, the kids and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things we had forgotten on our previous shopping adventure. During the checkout process, the groceries ended up in a different cart, which left no room for the kids. As I struggled to corral two shopping carts, a man and his young son approached us and offered to help. I gladly accepted. As we pushed the carts out to the truck, I explained to my kiddos that the man and his son were our Good Samaritans that day, that they saw we needed help and decided to do something about it. We were all very thankful and expressed our gratitude to the man and his son with great enthusiasm. Continue reading »