“When will I ever USE this?!” said every student ever! (This article was previously published in March 2023 on Substack, which I have chosen not to keep up. So, I’m republishing here.) We’ve all heard our children say this as we struggle to help them with their school work. If you’re in the position to be homeschooling, now you have to figure out how to counter their complaint, even while possibly bemoaning why you even have to teach those parallelograms, participles and Latin paradigms! After all – It is true. Only in very specific scenarios will one ever actually use the knowledge of parallelograms in daily life. Yet, when we evaluate a lesson…
-
-
Before the Water Boils, Jump Out of the Pot!
(Meaning: Please consider your compliance with Covid mandates and protocols, before it’s too late) I’m sure you are familiar with the old fable about how to boil a frog. You don’t simply drop a frog into an already boiling pot of water, as it will surely jump out. If you want to boil a frog, you place it in comfortable, room temperature water. Then, you slowly raise the heat until the water boils and cooks the frog. The frog doesn’t perceive the changing water temperature until it is much too late. I’ve been thinking about this fable for some time amidst all this pandemic hysteria – the propaganda, the division,…
-
Christ is Still on the Cross
This past week, I came face to face with the reality that most people do not love God as He deserves. I realize that seems a harsh thing to say, but stay with me as I explain. And let me state upfront that I have, at times in my life, fallen into the category of “most people,” which is why I feel this is important to say. Let me give you the context for my saying this. My family recently received an invitation to a social event at 3pm on Good Friday. 3pm on Good Friday is the hour of Christ’s death, a death that He endured in order to…
-
Do You Actually Know Jesus or Just About Him?
If you are a parent, you’ve probably come across the popular children’s book series, “Who Was…?” They are middle grade biographies of hundreds of historical figures including: Who was Abraham Lincoln? Who Was Julius Caesar? Who Was Mother Theresa? There is even one called, Who Was Jesus? We have not read that one in our house. However, the description on the series’ website says: “It [the book] presents young readers with a biography that covers what is known historically about Jesus and places in his life in the context of his world when Jerusalem was part of the Roman Empire.” In my senior year of college, I took a theology…
-
2021 Is The Perfect Opportunity to Turn to Christ
Are you seeing the posts all over social media about what a year this has been? Luckily this post is not about the year 2020. It’s about looking ahead to 2021. This change in the calendar is a perfect opportunity to turn to Christ and center our life on Him! We have just spent the last month of the year preparing for the Incarnation, for the coming of Our Lord into humanity. The time of Advent is spent in anticipation and waiting, full of imagery of hopeful expectation of the Christ, Our Savior. God – immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, Goodness and Love itself – was preparing to enter our humanity as…
-
Book Review: Motherhood Redeemed by Kimberly Cook
Before reading Motherhood Redeemed, How Radical Feminism Betrayed Maternal Love, written by Kimberly Cook, I had only an vague idea of what radical feminism espouses, though I know it contradicts the Catholic understanding of womanhood. I realized that radical feminism and motherhood often clash, yet I knew very little of the origin of this standoff. So I was curious to learn how “feminism betrayed maternal love”, as the book’s subtitle suggests. Author Kimberly Cook holds an MA in Systemic Theology and hosts a popular Catholic podcast, The Dignity of Women. Through her written work and her podcast, Cook seeks to challenge modern feminism. She equips Catholics to understand true femininity…
-
Is God’s Fire a Punishment or a Representation of Love?
“I have come to set the world on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.” Luke 12:49 Did you know that the word fire is mentioned approximately 475 times in the Bible? Certainly, the two most known references are that of Moses and the burning bush and the tongues of fire at Pentecost. One of the most impressive stories of fire in the Old Testament is found in the book of Daniel. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer puts three Israelites into a fiery furnace as punishment for not worshiping idols. The three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, are preserved from harm by the presence of an angel of God,…
-
Be of One Heart and Mind United With Christ
One morning recently I awoke with the following verse in my head: “the community of believers was of one heart and one mind” (Acts 4:32). Why I am waking up with Bible verses in my head is beyond me! But, when I read the daily readings, I was presented with this verse from St. Paul to the Philippians 2:2: “complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.” I was sensing a theme – unity in heart and mind among the followers of Christ. As we are all well aware, our country is not exactly united in heart and mind…
-
Am I Not Here Who Am Your Mother?
I have been having difficulty sleeping the last few weeks, as I mentioned last post, lying awake for hours in the middle of the night. During this sleeplessness I’ve begun reciting the rosary. Something about the repetition and meditative nature eventually lures me back to sleep. In his book, The World’s First Love, Venerable Bishop Sheen explains that with every Hail Mary we are essentially “saying to God, the Trinity, to the Incarnate Savior, to the Blessed Mother: I love you, I love you, I love you.” And he gives a beautiful description of the power of the rosary to calm the soul: “The very rhythm and sweet monotony induce…
-
Even Today Jesus Desires to Be Made Flesh
(This post contains an affiliate link, which means I earn a small commission if you shop through the links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.) Since childhood I have always had vivid dreams and the ability to remember many of them in detail. But this ebbs and flows. I may go a while without remembering a single dream and then suddenly I have them every night. Since this quarantine began I’ve been experiencing frequent night waking and having very odd dreams again. One night last week I must have awakened 4 or 5 times and each time I had a Latin phrase repeating in my head. How’s…
