There is a Longing

(Photo Credit: Columbus Catholic Women's Conference, Facebook) This past February, along with over 3000 other women, we attended the Columbus Catholic Women's Conference. The talks by Fr. John Riccardo, Carrie Daunt, Sr. Mercedes Torres, Sarah Swafford, & Mary Guilfoyle were uplifting & inspiring. In addition, there were various vendors sharing their ministries & religious materials, an Adoration chapel for private prayer, & relics of St. Padre Pio available for veneration. Fr. John Riccardo also led an hour of Adoration. We prayed & adored Our Lord as Father walked around the conference seating area with the Blessed Sacrament. In his talk later that afternoon, he spoke of how powerful it was for him to process with Our Lord around the room. He said that each time he turned the monstrance toward someone or a section of those in attendance, it was not of his own choosing, but Our Lord leading him.  The procession touched me in a way I'd never experienced ...

Numbers 21:4-9 was the first reading from the daily Mass yesterday (4/8/2025). The passage details what happened to the Israelites who grumbled against Moses & the Lord, questioning why they were led to the desert, only to die. God punished them by sending saraph serpents which bit & killed many of them. They went to Moses, imploring him to intercede & ask God to take the serpents away. God, in turn, had Moses make a serpent & attach it to a bronze pole. Anyone bitten was to look upon it & they would live. The translation used for the Mass reading does not say the people would be “healed” , only that they would “live” . Curious about how the passage had been translated in other Bibles, I went to the Bible Gateway website . I looked up at least 25 Bible translations, most of which used the word “live”. Two used “recovered” , & three said “healed” (Douay Rheims 1899, The Voice, & Wycliffe). That got me thinking…why would God want the Israelites to live, but ...

Today, I would like to reflect on the 2nd reading for this 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. It comes from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 12:4-11: Brothers and sisters: There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;  there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another, the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another, mighty deeds; to another, prophecy; to another, discernment of spirits; to another, varieties of tongues; to another, interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes. St. Paul talks about the gifts we receive. Go...

  I saw the above quote on a friend's Facebook page recently & right away, I felt the message was directed straight to me!  How many times have I been overwhelmed with the trials & struggles in my life? And during those times, how many have I gone directly to God for guidance instead of attempting to solve the issue in my own ?  Many people think that having faith & trust in God means they'll never face adversity & problems. Everything in life will go exactly as planned & they'll always be happy. The thing is, the plans are theirs not God's. An ytime we deviate from what God has planned for us, things will go haywire. Oh, they might seem great for a while, but eventually, we realize that what we thought was fulfilling a need deep within us was just a fleeting thing. There is still an emptiness inside that we find (hopefully sooner rather than later) can only be filled by God. We sometimes have a tendency to trust God only until our immediate need or ...

Two Sundays ago, I used the above image with the Gospel Reflection for that weekend for Mark 4:35-41. It was an image which I had never seen before, but was drawn to immediately. Since then, I’ve learned it was a painting by Rembrandt titled, “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee” . Dated 1633, it was the only seascape he’d painted in his lifetime. Unfortunately, the painting, along with twelve other pieces of art, was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. To this date, they have not been recovered. When I first saw the painting, I saw the darkness of the storm & the fearfulness of the disciples while Jesus slept. Basically, I saw the description of the event from the Gospel. I tend to look at the broader picture when I first see a beautiful piece of art, appreciating it for its overall design. As such, I didn’t notice all the striking details. It wasn’t until I took a closer look, zooming in on the men in the boat, that I saw the following: Four d...

  (If you missed part one, you can read it HERE. ) Once the Monday after Easter arrived, I vowed to be more aware of my time spent on Facebook & gaming on my phone. I even set timers so the apps would shut off when I reached the day’s limit. At first I did well. I was intentionally careful about mindless scrolling through Facebook, especially checking out comment sections to “watch the drama” unfolding. Boy, are there some doozies out there!  As the days went by, though, I would find myself in the middle of reading something on Facebook or a level in a game & it would time out. A notice would pop up, asking if I wanted to add minutes to my timer. Sure, let's add 10 more minutes. The next day, when the timer question popped up, I'd forgotten that I had extended the time, so, I’d add a few more minutes when it timed out.  Have you ever watched a snowball rolling down a hill, fattening itself with the snow it picks up? Yep, that was me, only packing on extra minutes ...

Oh, how easy it is to slip back into nonproductive, mindless habits! I gave up the following for Lent this year: Facebook (peeking in only a couple times on Sundays)  watching movies/shows that were not faith-based (except for Studio Ghibli movies for special family time evenings) listening to any music except for religious or classical  playing games on my phone  Because I had more time, especially in my evenings, I fully immersed myself in a series our Bible Study group was working through, Dr. Edward Sri’s program, No Greater Love: a Biblical Walk Through Christ’s Passion from Ascension Press . We gathered weekly to watch a video, which was filmed in the Holy Land & led by Dr. Sri as he presented Christ’s journey from the Garden of Gethsemane to Mt. Calvary. Afterwards, we shared any insights we gained from what we’d watched & from our personal reading of the text. I was learning so much through this study that my whole Lenten journey was taken to another leve...

This is a post of mine from  10 years ago on my other blog. My dad (a deacon) referred to it in his homily this past weekend for the Feast of Corpus Christi. I felt it would be worth sharing here as well. ************ For most of my life, when I would go to the altar for Communion, I would feel slightly disappointed to receive a piece of Christ from the larger Host the priest had broken. Why did I have to get one of the jagged-edged pieces instead of a perfect, round one? Recently it hit me...by receiving a broken piece, I am truly receiving Christ in a most intimate way. When He died on the cross, His body was NOT in perfect condition. His flesh had been torn. Blood poured from His jagged wounds. He was weak...just as I am weak without Him. By receiving His broken body in the Eucharist, I can more fully realize the sacrifice He made for my sins. Does this mean that I cannot appreciate this sacrifice if I receive a perfect, round Host? Absolutely not! In this perfect Host, I can sh...

There were some vicious winds that swept through Ohio this past Saturday. They caused power outages for over 350,000 residents & businesses across the state. Gutters, siding, & shingles were ripped from many homes. Trampolines not anchored were blown into neighboring yards & fields. Trash cans were toppled over, spreading garbage all over yards & streets. Tree limbs, & in many cases, whole trees were downed. On a walk around our neighborhood Sunday afternoon, we had to step carefully around twigs & branches strewn across the sidewalks. I kept apologizing to my son because I kept kicking branches into his leg by accident.  Two days later, on my way to work, I passed a yard where two tall, mature trees had fallen, completely uprooted. Both were near the road & had fallen across the yard, thankfully not near the house itself. The root system on both trees had to have been at least four feet in diameter.  The strength of trees has always amazed me. As t...