For some reason, family prayer can be difficult. Carving out time in a day and gathering everyone into the same room seems particularly hard. It was hard when my wife Ashley and I had only three kids. It seems perfectly impossible now with sixteen. But even in the...
Years ago, I said something to my 11-year-old son which he found to be unsympathetic. His response? “I don’t think that is what a real parent would say to her child.” I have no idea how he came up with his frequent one-liners, but perhaps all 11-year-olds have this...
How you support your priest depends on how well you know your priest. There are, of course, things priests universally or generally appreciate—like prayers or a mug that says “Don’t make me put you in one of my homilies”—but as lay people, we have a responsibility to...
Occasionally, when I am feeling particularly adventurous, I load up the minivan and bring my five kids (eight and under) to the nearby Benedictine monastery for one of their hours of sung prayer. It is a little monastery, and when we go, we outnumber the nuns...
After a career change, I had the privilege of beginning my teaching career this past year at St. John Paul II High School in Avondale, AZ which is run by the Sisters of St. Cecilia, better known as the “Nashville Dominicans.” I was blown away by the fidelity of the...
Miscarriage, a word that I never thought would happen to me. It wasn’t really on my radar and I didn’t give it any thought when I found out I was pregnant with our first baby. Yet, it was this very word that defined my first five pregnancies. It is the word that...
Our baby is graduating from college this year. Gulp. I’m not sure how we got here so quickly, but like it or not, it’s happening. Actually, I love it. Watching our kids become who they were meant to be has been the greatest honor. They don’t have it all figured out,...
I had fifty eyes glaring back at me with exhaustion and boredom. It was my first foray into a Catholic middle school classroom as a guest teacher for religion. I was twenty-one years old, relatively “hip” by preadolescent standards, and one week on the job as a new...
When you hear the word retreat you probably think: solitude, monastery, deep prayer, and peace. These are all images of a retreat that you may have attended or have envisioned yourself participating in some day. It hardly lines up with the word,...
Here are 3 ways in particular that I rely on the Holy Spirit to parent: The Holy Spirit sanctifies me and fills me with God’s love when I am empty, He comes through on his scriptural promises, and He gives practical gifts which bear fruit. Let’s dive into these one at...
Recently, the lyrics to the song “One Spirit, One Church” by Kevin Keil and Maryanne Quinlivan, OSU, began running through my mind: We are a pilgrim people, we are the Church of God. A family of believers, disciples of the Lord. United in one spirit, ignited by the...
As the snow and icy wind begin to die down and melt into the sunny warmth of spring, I can’t help but get excited about the gardening season! Not only do I love the sprouts of green interrupting the once white and brown landscape, but I also love the sacredness of...
Your Lord and Savior is Now the Size of a Grape! | Month 2 The Life growing within our Blessed Mother’s womb has been busy this month. Baby Jesus’ organs are developing quickly. He already has a brain and a beating heart! The Most Holy Face of Jesus continues to...
The longing for genuine connection and community has never been more pronounced. Building and nurturing community is an essential endeavor in response to Christ’s call to discipleship. The quality of a community is reflected in the quality of...
It had to be wrong to love something this much. I had worked on my fantasy novel since I was a teenager, poured so much love, time, and pencil dust into it, that it became its own person. As Athena once sprang from the mind of Zeus, so this novel had gestated in my...
The beauty of the beast. “Sixteen is the terrible twos times eight plus a driver’s license.”—One mother in speaking for many. “Just enjoy them now; those teen years are coming.”—a forewarning from veteran parents to the beginners. Poll one hundred...
Imagine this: You stand outside your teen’s bedroom door. You knock a few times and there’s no answer. A few moments pass by and you knock again. All is quiet. You make an executive decision to enter the room. As the door opens, you find your teenager sitting down...
I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day and he asked me where my fourteen-year-old son was at with his discernment of the priesthood. He wanted to know what I was doing to encourage him to be open to this vocation. My initial response was….to cringe. ...
As a sociologist who has taught college classes on the family, and as one who has written extensively on the subject, it is my considered judgment that strong families are not built on luck or happenstance: it takes work. Moreover, the right prescriptions must be...
God is calling your child to be a saint. But how? Which vocation will He lead them to? Teaching your children to listen to God’s call in their lives and uncover how He wants them to love and to serve Him in this world is a great gift. There are a few simple things we...
You’re sitting down for your family Thanksgiving meal. All of your brothers and sisters and some aunts and uncles and cousins have gathered together at mom and dad’s house for this annual feast. You’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. But,...
The act of thinking is in a bit of a predicament these days. American culture has never cared less about what has been known for millennia as "objective truth." Despite the apathy, an objective truth still guides and directs reality, whether I or anyone else cares...
I saw struggles with sin unravel before my eyes, I found clarity in my vocation and decided to marry the man I now call my husband. I watched anxieties and worries, wounds, and difficulties dissipate as Our Lady brought me peace and interior quiet I had not known...
Putting my children to bed is my favorite time of the day! I have a 2 year old and 4 year old and life can be so busy and nonstop. Sometimes the end of the day is the only time I have one-on-one quiet time with each child. As a Catholic mom and previous Early...
Sitting around the dinner table, my young son asked me a seemingly simple question, “How can I know that God exists?” He wasn’t asking about prayer or the Bible, but about logic. Why does our belief in God make sense? This was one of those rare parenting instances...