I walked to the kitchen and switched on my coffee maker.  When I turned around and looked out the sliding door to the porch, there it was! Snow. Not a lot of snow, but enough to cover the ground and make the outdoors visible even though the sun hadn’t risen yet. And I must admit that the little girl in me came out. I love snow.   I grew up in the south (Texas for five years and then Georgia for ten years). Snow was something we never had except for that one day. I will always

Date: Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome   Scripture Text:   1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17 Brothers and sisters: You are God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that th

Today I get to do laundry! And as I sort through the clothes, treat the stains, start the loads, transfer them to the dryer, hang and fold the different dry pieces, I use the time to practice gratitude.   It’s not just because it’s November – the month of thanksgiving. I do it all the time. As I work, I find cause for thanksgiving, cause for gratitude. I give thanks that I have a home with a modern washer and that I’m not looking for a stream with a rock on this cold and clou

Date: Saturday of the 31 st  Week in Ordinary Time Scripture Text:   Luke 16:9-15 Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, w

I bought bananas four days ago. All they had were the overly rip and too soft bananas or the green bananas. I picked the latter, thinking they’d turn soon. And four days later, I have a choice to make. Am I a really bad predictor or a terribly impatient person?   Patience has never been my strong suit. In fact, “wait” is among my least favorite words. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a product of the fast food generation or because instant pudding was among my favorite innova

Date: Friday of the 31 st  Week in Ordinary Time Scripture Text:   Romans 15:14-21 I myself am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. But I have written to you rather boldly in some respects to remind you, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in performing the priestly service of the Gospel of God, so that the offering

Last night, I took five dozen snickerdoodles to faith formation class to share with the students and their parents. As I lifted the cookie carrier out of my tote bag to set on the table in front of me, there was a horrible glitch, I fumbled the container. The student’s father closest to me tried to recover the fumble, as did I, but we both failed. The sound of the cookie carrier hitting the floor was almost drowned out by the sound of horror from the other spectators. Half th

Date: Thursday of the 31 st  Week in Ordinary Time Scripture Text:   Luke 15:1-10 The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." So, Jesus addressed this parable to them. "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find

Today is Wednesday. I plan to bake cookies for the faith formation class tonight. Not every cookie will be the same. Not every student will get the same thing from class. I’m the one baking and I’m the one teaching, but I know that the results may vary.   It sounds trite to say, but life is like that. The results often vary. A wad of cookie dough has just a drop of more butter than the previous one and comes out moister than its neighbor on the cookie sheet. A student has jus

Date: Wednesday of the 31 st  Week in Ordinary Time Scripture Text:   Romans 13:8-10 Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments,  You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbo

If you know me personally, you probably won’t be surprised by the fact that as a child, I got in trouble more than most and my mistake column was darn near plum full. I spent more than a little bit of my growing up time “thinking” about my errors and what I’d do differently. That happened a lot when we were in Iowa visiting my grandparents. I’m not sure why, but most days I made what seemed to be more mistakes than most. And when that happened, I’d get sent to the store for m

Date: Tuesday of the 31 st  Week in Ordinary Time/Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo Scripture Text:   Romans 12:5-16ab Brothers and sisters: We, though many, are one Body in Christ and individually parts of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity;

My husband was telling me about his Halloween experience this year as our home’s candy distributor at the front door. The costumes were great! Everyone was very polite. And the most popular question of the evening was “Does a witch live here?”   Next to our front door, in the corner, is my broom. I have a thing about sweeping the front porch and keeping the area by the front door clean and welcoming. Anyway, the children would spot the broom, and their mind would see more tha

Date: Monday of the 31 st  Week in Ordinary Time Scripture Text:   Luke 14:12-14 On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed

Yesterday I learned about Frank Murphy’s life. I had known him as a Heisman Trophy winner and a player for Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears, but I didn’t know the whole story. I didn’t know what he had overcome nor the source of his resiliency and hope.   Yesterday, in an interview, Frank told about his incarceration as a youth. He also shared that a janitor he didn’t know, a woman janitor, came up to him and told him that God sent her to tell him to seek his purpose an

Date: Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls) Scripture Text:   John 6:37-40 Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Fat

My husband’s favorite day of the year, I swear, is Halloween. I never have to remind him. He takes it upon himself to buy the candy in advance to be sure he has his stash in time. And an hour before Trick or Treat begins, he has his bowl of candy, the porch light on, and his smile is right there. Last night was no exception. The Halloween Guy was on duty at our house.   He'd stand inside the door and watch through the window until children walked up our front walk and stepped

Date: Solemnity of All Saints Scripture Text:   Matthew 5:1-12a When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are

I’d been worried about her. Last time we visited, I could tell that the stress and rush of her days were taking a toll. I said a little prayer at the time that she’d discover that less can mean more. And since then, I’ve kept that prayer for her. We talked yesterday. Her voice was laced with a joy almost palpable. Her energy level was obviously higher. And she told me that over the past month, home recovering from a surgery, she realized she wanted less. She even posted a new

Date: Friday of the 30 th  Week in Ordinary Time Scripture Text:   Luke 14:1-6 On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, "Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?" But they kept silent; so, he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. Then he said t