Posts Tagged ‘sacrifice’
It’s Fine. Everything’s Fine. (Except I Lit the Fire.)
Have you seen the meme of the dog sipping coffee amongst the flames? The one where he says “It’s fine. Everything’s fine”? Most days I am that dog, sitting calmly through the chaos. And yet, I also lit the fire. My anger frightens me. It lies dormant beneath a peaceful exterior, surprising everybody, including me,…
Read MoreThe Pull of the Holidays
When I think about the upcoming holidays, my mind’s eye sees all the magazine-cover images: tables set for six or eight or twelve. They’re laid out with the good china, the crystal, the candlesticks, and table décor. They’re heaped with glistening turkeys, vegetables you’ve never heard of, and pies so beautiful they could be décor,…
Read MoreLentiest of Lents
Loving God, this trudge toward Easter has been long and the sustenance meager. I find myself coming to you with empty hands and aching arms, from the effort of carrying a cross I did not choose. You know all too well that choosing a sacrifice this year was a luxury. In the midst of it…
Read MoreThere Is Another Way
All these things are in the way, I sigh. Shuffle and shove to make space again. I am tired of working like this, I mutter. I want to sweep everything aside—the papers and the clutter and the laundry and the bills and the books and the toys and the shoes—and stare at a vacant desk. A spotless…
Read MoreHow to Choose Life Today (Wait, You Already Did)
…I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life… Deuteronomy 30:19 You already did it today. When you rolled over and kissed your husband good morning. Or when you threw on that old bathrobe and trooped down the hall to feed the baby. Or when you scrambled eggs for…
Read MoreThe Footwashing
We are growing everyday in what it means to do the footwashing. A friend shared these words from Abbot John Klassen at Saint John’s Abbey, from a homily he gave on Holy Thursday a few years ago. Today these words came back to me as I thought about what we celebrate at the start of…
Read MoreThis is my body. Given up for you.
The bodiliness of parenting young children. The meaning of the words from the Eucharistic prayer—“This is my body, given up for you”—have taken on a profoundly different meaning after the experiences of bearing, birthing, and nursing a child. I remember being overwhelmed with emotion (and postpartum hormones, no doubt) at the first few Masses I went…
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