When I was a child, “Good Friday” was good. I was too young to really understand anything about the day except that we had no school. That was good. That was great. By the time I was in middle school, I realized what we were remembering and couldn’t understand for the life of me why we called it “Good.” As a young adult, I finally realized that the “Good” was a reminder of the loving goodness of the LORD and His salvific plan for us. But to this day, I struggle with the “Good

Today begins the Triduum, the holiest days of the year for Christians. Today is Holy Thursday, the day we recall Jesus’ gathering with His disciples for the last time, a special shared meal during which He gave His own body and blood for the life of His beloved in the Eucharist, and the night he spent teaching them and in prayer before his arrest. While Good Friday is held by many as the most holy because of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, for me Holy Thursday is the most info

My husband and I had an appointment in Madison at the most exquisite building. We went in, located the office on the directory, took the elevator up, and managed to find the right office suite. Our meeting went well. We were feeling accomplished, until we went to leave. At the door of the office suite, my husband reached for the door handle and pulled. It created a bit of a bang. He tried again, as I watched. Then I realized our error. The door read “PULL” but from inside, it

I am a simple person, so it makes sense that I am fond of Lenox pieces because of their simplicity. If you visit, you will find pieces of the ivory bone china throughout my home. But what makes most of these pieces so special to me is that they were gifts from others who had noticed my Lenox and when they’d seen a piece, they thought of me and got it for me.     I know I have done the same for others like buying the Coca-Cola memorabilia for my brother, Randy, and his collect

Stella loved her family. She missed her husband, but she could see him still in her children and grandchildren. She planted and tended to a huge garden every year and sold the produce to raise a little extra money, but mostly she did it for love of her husband. When she was working out in her garden, the memories of him were closer she told me. Grief she said was the price one pays for love, and meaning is what one does with that love.   She used the extra money to help other

Yesterday, we celebrated the life of a beloved member of the community. We can’t always control the path in life, but we can control the way we walk it. Yesterday, I was blessed to witness up close the loving choices made by family, friends, and community as they came together for the sole purpose of loving well by walking with the grieving family.   I watched as individuals came to help with the preparations, brought food to share, stood and visited with the family and frien

Yesterday afternoon as I was driving home, I turned a corner and activity in a nearby yard caught my eye. A young girl was jumping up and down in her front yard, clapping with joy. And then I spotted the man getting out of the truck in front of the house. He, too, was smiling quite broadly, as he closed his truck door and quickly walked to the sidewalk where the young girl ran to meet him. It made me smile. Joy is so contagious. I’d noticed the same phenomenon earlier that da

“Where were you?” I remember asking that question that night when I got home after midnight. I’d had a blow out of a tire on the interstate on the way home from speaking at a parish. When I’d tried to call home, there was no answer. I got help from my daughter, her husband, and AAA, but I still was so worried about why my husband hadn’t answered the phone. Come to find out, he was asleep and never heard it. The situation makes me think of times as a teen that I was late. That

Yesterday afternoon I decided on chicken kiev for supper. I figured out when I’d put it in the oven and when to start the sides. I had my phone timer on for all the parts. And we sat down to eat at 5:30. We chatted about our day as we ate. Then my husband asked what I was planning for that evening. And I reminded him that I had faith formation class but then it hit me, it was a special night and instead of 7:15, the usual time, I was supposed to be there at 6. And he said, “W

One of the things I love about spring is the morning ritual. It doesn’t happen in the winter because the songbirds are wintering somewhere warmer than Wisconsin if they have any sense. But then in March they begin to return. And every morning, beginning 30 minutes before sunrise, they sing. It isn’t just any song; it is a song of true hope. It comes in the dark just before dawn and it comes from every direction. The birds sing their songs of praise because their hope prevails

I watched as she started to set the table. She put all the silverware on one side of the plate. I stepped in to help her. I said, “Let me show you an easy way to remember the right way to set a table. My daughter taught me.” She looked at me puzzled. So, I continued. “There are two sides to the plate, left and right. Now the word left has four letters. So does the word fork. The fork goes on the left. And the word right has five letters. Knife and spoon each have five letters

As I started my new week yesterday, I did what I always do, I looked back at my past week and tried to glean the lessons I’d been too rushed to reap at the time. Between the weather swings, my broken water heater, and the nasty respiratory virus I’d picked up, my week had not gone as I had predicted or hoped. It was like watching a black and white episode of “Keystone Cops.”  But thankfully, I recognized in time the one immutable presence that was with me through it all…”Jesu

Monday was the blizzard, and I spent hours throughout the day trying to clear my porch of snow so I could sit outside as usual. Tuesday, I woke up with a horrible case of what we used to call “the crud.” It’s that upper respiratory virus that makes one cough so deeply it rattles one’s socks. That day my water heater also went out, so a warm soothing shower was out of the question. Wednesday the water heater repair man came and couldn’t fix the hot water heater and my cough wo

This week, we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day and I must admit that my mind frequently strayed to the Irish I have loved who are no longer with me this side of the sod: my father, my oldest sister, my two younger brothers, my precious grandson. And I found myself saying out loud to them because I do believe they live just beyond my sight, that I missed them. However, I used the French phrase that says it so much better: Tu me manques (you are missing from me).   You see, each of

I haven’t been feeling well. It could have been my own fault. I prayed that others would be more generous and share and that I’d be more open to the gifts of others. It was my fault that I wasn’t more specific or at least included exceptions like germs. So, yesterday, as I struggled to get going, I went to the porch to look for signs of spring. I decided to walk around the porch’s inner perimeter and look for spring shoots, those spikes of green that tell me something below i

One of my favorite memories from family gatherings over the years with the multiple generations included the afternoon my newly adult grandchildren gathered together to correct my younger grandchildren who were jumping on the sofa. The adults stopped the youngsters and then I heard “the rule” – “use things according to the purpose for which they were created.”   The young adults took time to patiently stop the youngsters before one of them or the nearby furniture and accessor

Sorry about the lateness of my post this morning. I’m under the weather, so to speak, with some type of upper respiratory thing. I managed to get my scripture reading and reflection done first thing but then struggled with getting back for this post. As I was explaining it to my husband, the cough is persistently irritating, and it is worse when I try to speak. And he got a little smile when I told him that. Yep, there’s a silver lining to my malady. There will be more silenc

The Irish claim this day, the Feast of St. Patrick, March 17 th . They wear the green and they turn everything they can green like the Chicago River and McDonald’s shakes. This past weekend, our parish Knights hosted a St. Patrick’s Day Dinner with corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and soda bread. It was a huge hit. As I walked about, I saw everyone being “Irish” with their scarves, and jackets, and jewelry, their “belonging” was obvious. And I had to chuckle because a

I’ve noticed the last couple of days the level of angst increasing among my Midwestern neighbors. A blizzard was predicted to blanket our area with ice, snow and winds. The grocery store on Saturday looked like a beehive in high blossom time. And if you were searching for bread and hot dogs, you were out of luck. Everywhere individuals were discussing what was to come. And while I prayed silently that all would be safe, I must admit I was cheering the LORD on because I just l

Today in the upper Midwest we are expecting another weather event with the potential for rain, sleet, ice, snow, and high winds. And of course, I raised this with the LORD while I was on the porch with Him this morning. I might have even included a “really?” in my conversation. I acknowledged that He is capable of producing any and all of those phenomena, but did He have to roll them all out in a day? And I might have even mentioned that it was March, only a week away from sp