Over at Aleteia Today

Discussing the wisdom of Saint Catherine of Siena.

Have a piece at Aleteia

Hey everyone, I have a piece over at Aleteia on Adoration.  I hope you enjoy it. 

August is my adoration month, where I try to go every day. I don't always make it, but I try.   For those unfamiliar with the practice, this piece might help introduce you to the way to enter into this form of prayer.   I'm hoping it makes it hard to find a seat at the local 24-7 chapel. 

How to Spend an Hour in Adoration.

Today, I'm at Aleteia

The goal for this year was to hit six pieces a month.  Last month fell short, and this month started slow.   However, today, I have a piece over at Aleteia.

I called it, "One Thousand Second Days" but that seems obscure if you don't already know what the piece is about so it's titled, "Seven Spiritual Lessons to Learn With Your Sneakers On.

For those interested, I've been working out with since July 4th, with twelve days where I didn't meet or exceed my step goal.   So of the thirty-five days since I started this thing, I made a solid effort on twenty-three of the days, with my longest streak of strong effort being 13 days long. Now on day 7 of my next string (hopefully) of two weeks of effort. 

P.S. If you share the piece, you can enter in a pilgrimage.  It also helps me so...thanks!

Over at Aleteia Today

One of my writing goals for 2018 was to break into new markets, and shore up my work at older ones.  Here's a piece I wrote for Aleteia on 10 Easy Ways to Create Summer Memories.  Going out today to play with them. 

Small Success Thursday!

We interrupt this bout of summer to post a blog contribution.  Yes, I'm linking to Small Success Thursday at Catholicmom.com.

Two Pieces for You...

Hey everyone, I've got a piece over at the National Catholic Register on the Assumption.  It's funny, the pieces I sweat over, sometimes don't catch on, and the ones I don't feel quite right, sometimes turn out to be the ones people like.  I struggled with the piece on the Assumption. 

Speaking of struggles, after a long dry spell, I have a piece over at Aleteia on 5 tips if you're botching Lent.  I'll be over here drying to redone my ashes and mental sack cloth.   Thank goodness God doesn't get tired of hearing me say, "I wasn't ready.  Do-over.  I'm beginning again."  I know I do. 

A friend of mine who is not Christian asked me about Lent. She thought the fasting component fascinating.  "Do you feel yourself getting stronger?"  Nope.  Just the opposite.  What I have learned thus far this Lent, there's much to do. I need to will to do it, and I am very predisposed to be weak.

She laughed.   So did I.   Thank goodness for the mercy of Lent.

Over at Aleteia Today

Today, I'm writing about Down Syndrome, and how we need to be careful about falling into the trap of focusing on what people can do, as versus how much we can love.

What to do

Leah Libresco Sargeant writes a beautiful article discussing what we as Christians should do in light of Charlottesville.  She presents a lovely way of examing how to 1) create genuine peace and 2) be an authentic witness and 3) offer correction to those in grave error.  You go and you interact with these people, you learn their names, their fears, their loneliness, and you ask questions, you seek to get at what it is they think, and to present a living counter argument without argument.  Please, go read it.  It's so worth it.

There is a great rage in this country and a gleeful glowering joy at pointing out sinners, and saying to the crowd, "These ones, it's okay to stone.  Pick up your rocks."   But the reality is, to those who show mercy, mercy shall be theirs.  Mercy is the gift we give, the grace we allow to flow through us, not when it is deserved, but precisely because it isn't.   Jesus is still reaching out, even from the cross before His death, to enter into relationship with us, to bring us to the right place, to heal our broken hearts.  We are to do the same, whether it's racism or anything else.   That's a tall order, a hard order,  an order only possible to fill through grace, by grace, and so as to receive grace.

So don't blast with holy wrath or excommunicate a friend for failing to see the evil you see, ask them what they see.  Ask them why.  Ask them their fears, their concerns. Go out to lunch and find all the spaces in between, all the points where their gifts are, so as to see their true faces, which are not only the sins we know.  

Yes, these views must be challenged, must be countered, but the only way to stop hate, is not to stomp people into the ground, but to show a better way.  It may seem obvious to you, but that's the nature of sin.  It blinds us to others. It blinds us to good. It clouds the heart, and so we see through a glass darkly.  As Leah sagely notes, when you don't think anyone can see anything but the sin, it is hard to embrace anything else.

Be the option out, be the refuge, be the source of light that helps people cast off these views and the world will be brighter for it.  

Over at Aleteia Today

Hope you're having a happy 4th of July. 

Date nights are like little Sundays, retreats for your marriage. Schedule a date with your spouse this week, and the next. You won't be sorry.

Small Success Thursday and....Aleteia!

Hey folks, as you know, I still write Small Success Thursday, but it's only posted on Facebook.  Here's the link if you belong to Facebook...Small Success Thursday!  ...Give Five, Take Five, High Five! This week, as we began to slow down, I began to take stock of things we've not been able to manage because there's always been so much going on, and made a list like I said last week I would. Slowly, things began to come together. we made appointments. We scheduled visits to deal with maintenance. However life isn't about simply getting things done, but doing things with the time we're given. I felt the tug, the nag to return to giving five minutes to each child at night. The result? Three cleaner rooms, one big hug of a thanks Mom, and one hey Mom, I need a big hug, and a reminder of why I used to climb the stairs every night, and why it needs to happen always, even if I'm tired.   But you may need to scroll down to get to it.  Just look for the picture:

Additionally, Aleteia ran a piece of mine today.  

Seven Things You Can Do to Prepare for Pentecost.  I admit, I'm proud of this piece.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Trisomy 21 Day

It's World Down Syndrome Day, so it's fitting that Paul is the inspiration for the piece which ran today over at Aleteia.  How I Learned Being a Saint is as Easy as Bedtime.  Enjoy.  And if you're curious, we're still battling him on getting to bed.

Over at Aleteia Today!

Getting ready for Lent? Want Ideas? This isn't a piece giving you 40 ways in 40 days, but trying to get at the reality of how we should approach Lent, no matter what form of Lenten service and sacrifice we adopt.

Wow! This Just in....

I didn't know this piece got published until I began my book keeping for January. Over at Aleteia, there's a piece about learning to "Be not afraid," when it comes to letting my son Paul grow up. I love the title, That Time when the Holy Spirit Hit Me Right Upside the Head.   Live Action News also asked for a reprint of the piece, the Happiest Most Pro-Life Story.  

Also, today Mark Shea and I had a blast talking on Connecting the Dots about the philosophical/moral error of Either/Or when it comes to addressing human need.   We also talk about snow, G.K. Chesterton, mention the interview of Bishop Robert Barron on the Rubin Report and the Superbowl.  Like I said, it was a blast.  

Quartet

I don't watch talent shows but when I do, it's because I've ignored everything until the winner emerges, and it's fun to see what they do and not have to sit through anything else.  You're busy. I'm busy, so instead of giving you four blog posts with four links, you get all of them in one place, here.  Enjoy.  

1) Hello Everyone! It's Sherry here with another Small Success Thursday! Small Success Thursday is about making gratitude a reflexive way of thinking about the world and your life. If you will, it is the domestic version of the Canticle of the Sun, where we praise God for the gifts of the early morning feedings, the late night homework, the dishes, the laundry, the minutia that seemingly clutters our lives and yet reveals by that very clutter, how blessed to the point of overflowing, our lives are. Like most things in life, it appears simplistic, to seek to be grateful for all things, it seems beautiful when you hear it, maybe even a little too sweet, until you have to practice it. (There's more).

2)

Over at Aleteia with a story that took place in 1993,  I must say, I'm honored by the title: The Happiest, Most Inspiring Pro-Life Story You'll Read Today.

3) I woke to this surprise over at the National Catholic Register...Your Family Will Be a Sanctuary of Love: A Letter to New Parents.

4) Finally, if that wasn't enough, The Diocese of Kansas City, Saint Joseph's Parish, reprinted a piece I wrote back in 2013: 50 Things to Do if You Can't Go to the March for Life!  It's been republished on Catholicmom.com as a result too.

Guess I'd better get to work on those petitions for the mass I need to finish, no one is going to believe I didn't have time.

12 Ways to be More Mindful This Advent

So we have 28 days to prepare for Christmas.

I’ve written at other times on the spiritual gift of silence and the blessed waiting we’re supposed to cultivate during this season of Advent. However, it is so easy — when we consider all we have to do in the coming weeks — to become consumed by the to-do list.

So I created this reminder to help me be mindful, to be more like a candle burning than a blinking LED light.

(Ironically it takes the shape of a to-do list, but it’s more of a “how to be” list).

Read the rest over at Aleteia...

I know...I know...I'm behind my own times...

Okay...I feel like I'm repeating last week's post.   On Monday, I talked with Mark Shea on Connecting the Dots. On Tuesday, I found out a piece ran on Aleteia regarding family lore in November.

Add in Small Success Thursday and my poor blog had no love this week.  Will I do better next week?  I'll try.

I promise, I'll try.

Catching Up

I'm playing clean up to myself.  On Monday, Mark Shea and I discussed Fr. Pavone's decision to place an aborted child's naked body on what looked like an altar, to prove the evil of abortion.  You can listen to our discussion here, but I understand as a follow up, the Bishop of Amarillo has begun an investigation to address the matter.  Pray for his discernment, and for Fr. Pavone, and for all injured by this decision and the subsequent two videos.

On Thursday, I wrote aSmall Success post as usual, but the day ran so long, I didn't get to link up to it until today, but it's good counsel for if you find yourself discourged by anything.  "Keep Calm and Kindness On..."  It's the best cure for whatever is dark in your life.  I know, I've never regretted when I've followed it, only when I haven't.

Lastly, I woke this morning to a lovely surprise.  I have a piece in Aleteia.  It's a reflection on what happened when I took my kiddos to a quieter earlier mass.  I hope you enjoy it.

Have a lovely weekend, I will write more I hope tomorrow.  

Over at Aleteia today...and at Connecting the Dots!

It's a double feature Monday for you folks!

I have a piece over at Aleteia today with a piece on how Kindness won't kill you but it will save the world.

And Connecting the Dots! with Mark Shea at 5 pm EST.

The things I do for you people.  

Saturday Surprise

It was so nice to wake up and find a piece I wrote a while a go, was published today over at Aleteia.  This week's been pretty busy, squeezing my writing time but don't worry, I've got the weekend to work with, and we threw a party for 12 eleven year old girls yesterday, so there's lots of stuff in my head which will demand to get out.

This week's published piece is The Dark Night of the Soul Might Not Be for Me.

Over at Aleteia

School is making it hard for me to keep up with the blog, so I'm pacing myself.  I write in the evening, submit in the morning, and hope to link post the next day whenever I find, something got published.   It's always a pleasant surprise, it never gets old, that happy feeling seeing something in print.  

Here's the link:
My Son is So Much More than Down Syndrome.