Finding God in the School Year Rush: A Back-to-School Family Examen
This past summer, my family found ourselves in that familiar late-May whirlwind. My husband and I are both educators, and that whirlwind included final grades,…
Not Meant to Carry it Alone: Lent and the Gift of Shared Suffering
The problem with personal grief is that you can’t prepare for it. About 10 years ago, both of my parents passed away — my dad…
How My Children Helped Me Learn to Venerate Mary: Celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception
When I was in the third grade, I remember my Baptist mother telling me I could no longer go to a friend’s house to play…
Holy Friends: 4 Saints to Turn to This All Saints’ Day
As a convert to Catholicism, I’ve found that the veneration of the saints is a part of the faith that has taken me a little…
Four Tips for Keeping Your Semester Holy
I’m a college English professor with two children, ages 6 and 8. As a new school semester begins for our family, new routines automatically emerge.…
A New Perspective on Our Faith: A Look at First Reconciliation Through My Daughter’s Eyes
My daughter is in second grade, which means it is the year of her First Communion. When she began her religious education classes at our…
3 Ways to Maintain Joy Throughout the Easter Season
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I began to suffer a deep depression, unlike anything I had known previously. I’m a professor, and during…
How Memorizing Prayers Together Brought My Family Closer to God
Last fall, signs outside our parish and notices within our weekly bulletin reminded my family that the month of October in our Catholic faith is…
Renewing the Spirit: A Catholic Guide to Overcoming Career Burnout
As the holiday season draws nearer, so do my responsibilities as a mother and college professor. Meeting work deadlines, traveling for business, attending committee meetings,…
Sowing Seeds of Faith: 4 Ways My Family Spends Ordinary Time
Ordinary Time is likely the most difficult season my family experiences in the liturgical year. It often feels like a waiting period for the next…
