On a plane recently, I overheard a conversation between a young boy — about three or four years old — and his father. Before the flight began, the boy repeatedly asked to play with his Legos; his father responded, “Not on the plane.” Eventually, the boy fell asleep. After napping through almost the entire two-hour…
Earlier this month, several of the daily Mass readings came from the Book of the Prophet Hosea. As with many of the prophets, God asked Hosea to be a prophet in actions as well as in words. To show Israel just how far they had gone in abandoning the Lord, and yet how far their…
“Whoever serves Me must follow Me, and where I am, there also will My servant be” (John 12:26). Recently, one of the Sisters and I ran a weeklong Vacation Bible School in the Upper Peninsula. While there, we were privileged to visit the tomb of Venerable Frederic Baraga, the first bishop of the Diocese of…
My mother carefully taught my brothers and me about genuflecting upon entering a Catholic church — why we genuflect and that this gesture of reverence should be made facing the One to whom it is made. As I observed other parishioners genuflecting toward the middle of the church or the altar, however, it became clear…
When, as a college student, I was discerning my vocation, my spiritual director asked me how I visualized each Person of the Blessed Trinity. While I could relatively easily explain my “image” of and relationship with the Father and the Son, I realized at that moment that I did not really know the Holy Spirit:…
During Lent, one of my students gave up complaining “on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.” Despite my comments that he should give this up every day, he persisted in this Lenten penance, perhaps being honest with himself about his struggles in this area. Lent is over, but that should not mean an end to sacrifices until next…
