John and I squeezed in a date last night and went to see Slumdog Millionaire . Wow. We both agreed that it was very deserving of the Oscar for Best Movie. I do have to disagree with the snippet published in our local newspaper, which read, “You’re going to love this crowd-pleaser about a man acc...

Father Martin responded to yesterday’s blog post. Did you see his comment? (It’s number 18.) Thank you, Father! As always, it’s good to get the other person’s perspective—Seek First to Understand and all—before making a harsh judgment. I’ll tell you, though. I still have a hard time wr...

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.� (Matthew 5:20) In January I mentioned that Joe has been going to therapy to correct a tongue thrust problem. One of the perks is that, provided he was faithful in do...

Granted, the pregnancy hormones may be working overtime, but Cate’s lesson on Holy Orders this morning left me in tears. It was so beautiful. “Holy Orders is the sacrament by which men become priests. A priest is a man not like other men. He belongs to God alone. The Sacrament of Holy Orders is ...

So the Mass I referred to in the post below was a Latin High Mass. We do not normally attend the Tridentine Rite, but a friend phoned last night and proposed it. “It would be something lovely to do for Lent,� she suggested. I agreed. She told me that she had invited another mutual friend and her...

Part II Read Part I here. By the time the loaves of bread had risen to the tops of the pans and had baked in the oven to a crusty brown, the afternoon was almost gone. “They’re beautiful,� Mother said, as Ginnie cautiously took the pans from the oven. “They’re done.� Ginnie gave a vast s...

Today is my husband’s 38th birthday. Happy Birthday, Honey! St. Peter Damian, pray for him! I chose carrot cake for his celebratory dessert, (with his approval), and then asked him to run to the store for the ingredients. He said sure and grabbed his coat, because that’s the kind of good guy he ...

It’s almost Lent. Do you know where your favorite spiritual books are? The following is from one of my very favorite tomes, The Three Ages of the Interior Life. For some reason, when I picked it up this morning, it fell open to the section on “retarded souls.� Or maybe—just maybe—I looked ...

This little baby... ...grew up to be this little girl: When I brought her home from the hospital, my mother took one look and said, “Now that’s a little ‘Margie Face.’� (Margie—hard g—meaning me.) Well, she would know. It’s true that many people think Cate and I look alike, and certa...

The Story of My Conversion Part I (In the Beginning) ; Part II (The Age of Reason) ; Part III (Ages 11-14); Part IV ( “Hitting Bottom� Prologue ); Part IV (“Hitting Bottom�) Part V (Free at Last) ) Part VI: On Seeking Balance and Seeing Benjamin Button (Twice) Warning: The following post con...