When I was a child, my mom was fortunate to own a green book called What Can I Do Now, Mother? It was filled with creative projects to keep a child busy and out of her hair. Without it, the four of us kids would have spent many days bored and whining. Nowadays do you […]
Isn’t it amazing how during ordeals, people still find or create something to laugh about? Look at the number of jokes, cartoons, and puns on Facebook nowadays! I was going to write a post on laughter because in these times we need it. Then I remembered I had already written one. So here it is, […]
Once at a Christmas party while we were dining, my three-year-old grandnephew stood at the table crying hard. My brother-in-law said to him, “Go get Grandpa a cookie.” Instantly the little boy stopped bawling and went off in search of a cookie. My brother-in-law commented to me, “Your sister taught me how to distract him […]
Today I finished writing a book about God’s love for us and our love for God and sent it off to a publisher. In the process I learned a few things. Because we are in the month of June, which is dedicated to the Sacred Heart, let’s focus on the love of Jesus for us. […]
In honor of Pentecost, the celebration of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the Church, here is the introduction to my newest book: The Holy Spirit: Font of Love, Life, and Power. Introduction At first I was tempted to title this book “The Holy Spirit: Our Superhero.” Since the 1930s, people have been intrigued with superheroes […]
Many people have never heard of St. Julie Billiart. She happens to be the foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame and the spiritual mother of us Coesfeld Notre Dames. I remember in grade school praying for her canonization, which occurred fifty years ago. In honor of that anniversary, we Chardon SNDs had planned a […]
A recent post on Facebook read something like this: This month is called May because it may rain, it may snow, it may be 70º, or it may be 20º. No matter what the weather, something that doesn’t change is Mary’s love for us, her God-given children. And the month of May is dedicated to […]
This morning I read an article about Bishop Gregory Mansour, the Maronite bishop of Brooklyn. I once helped him with writing a religious series for Maronite children. I knew him to be a kind, humble man. The article revealed his love for people. As the bishop walked down the street, he saw a man who […]
When I visited the Holy Land, our first stop was “Emmaus,” where we were told no one knows where Emmaus really is. This was confirmed when a friend emailed me that his friend on a pilgrimage had a similar experience. His Franciscan guide asked, “Is there anything else you want to see?” The friend said, […]
The Easter Season lasts fifty days, so the following chapter from my book Voices: God Speaking in Creation is still appropriate. Each chapter is a reflection on a physical object mentioned in Scripture. This chapter draws lessons from a stone: They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they […]
The Sisters of Notre Dame of Chardon, Ohio, belong to an international congregation of more than two thousand apostolic women religious. We are one in mind and one in heart for the transformation of the world in Christ. 