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This past weekend our family went on a retreat with the  BSCD . It was our annual regional gathering. We had it at St. Leo Abbey  in St. Leo, Florida. It is always good to get together, reconnect with other like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ and encounter the Lord together. It was a powerful time and the Holy Spirit definitely showed up and blessed us! The Lord started speaking to me right off the bat when we arrived. We were letting our children run around on the beautiful monastery grounds before we went up to our room. My five year old daughter was enjoying herself at first but then she kept encountering bugs which were scary to her. continue reading >

I discovered  joy in the most unlikely place,  in the midst of suffering. Years ago, living in poverty, united with a husband struggling with depression and surrounded by the clamour and demands of nine children, I was stretched to my limits of endurance. Lack of sleep was part of the reason that most of my inner walls of defense crumbled and hidden, inner demons tormented my dreams. I felt my emotional pain physically, as though a dagger had pierced my heart. Angels'  Wings It was easy to picture myself as a victim. It was easy to let go of my innate optimism and sink into moments of self-pity. I did not want mere happiness. I knew that there is a world of difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is dependant on circumstances but I knew that it is possible to dwell in joy, even in the most dire of circumstances. To me happiness is a fickle, surface emotion that is fleeting at best, impossible to even touch when I am surrounded by difficulties. Yet it was pre

Just like C.S. Lewis, I was  Surprised by Joy . Of course there are certain serious Catholic bloggers who have a problem with my spirituality. Often traditional, Pre-Vatican ll prophets of doom, who religiously fast and recite prescribed set prayers for hours each day, take exception to my childlike spirit of joy. Yet this path was not of my choosing. I craved a life which would embrace an intense regime of self-sacrifice as a consecrated, contemplative religious.  When God called me to marriage and to be a mother, I really did feel like I was accepting second best. Then, twenty years ago, a consecrated, contemplative who served in a  listening house,  said to me, ” You really have been given the best of both worlds. You are married with children yet you are living the contemplative life.” Her response still brings tears to my eyes. To live a childlike spirituality of joy is not easy for a modern day adult.  Of course St. Therese understood this humble, little way

One word we hear at this time of year is "joy."  It sings to us from carols, calls to us from cards, marches across banners in the mall.  I've heard it said that JOY is found by putting your focus and priorities in the proper order: J   esus   O  thers  Y  ourself   Is this "priority of focus" how St. Paul could write, in the face of persecutions, "I am filled with consolation, and despite my many afflictions my joy knows no bounds." (2 Corinthians 7:4)..? Is this "priority of focus" what enabled some of the Church's greatest saints to endure adversities with joy?  I pray that we may we all burst forth with "the joy of right priorities" at this holy time of year.   “Rejoice in the Lord always!  I say it again: rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)    from The Cloistered Heart

Tis the Season to Eat, Drink, and… a. ) be unhealthy—and stressed? b. ) be bloated—and fatigued? c. ) be joyful—AND nourished! Hmmm. Yes, it’s that time of year again… “the most wonderful time of the year”, of course! But as we begin to unpack our Christmas decorations, do you feel as though it's time once again to leave all your wellness goals, and good intentions for health, back upon the shelf?   Have you been lead to believe that being joyful and well nourished, at the very same time, just isn’t an option during the holidays??  But it is!  It is!  It’s a very real option… a pro-active choice that we have---that can actually make us feel better when we awake on January 1st – in body, mind, & spirit .  Oh, what a great new start that could be!  OUR OPTION "C" !! But it’s really less about our actual Thanksgiving and Christmas-day meals; and rather more about our approach to the whole 35-day season [last year it was 41 days] that will reall

The Christmas season—which ought to be one of peace and good cheer—is often everything other than tranquility and happiness. For many people (women especially), family events, shopping, and fractured relationships bring stress and steal the joy of Christmas. For a Christian, this really doesn’t have to be the case. It really shouldn’t be the case—and a few tips to take into the Christmas season will help replace angst and strain with harmony and pleasure. 1. Remember that Christmas is about the celebration of the birth of Christ; see others through His eyes. If you are in the process of forgiving someone, don’t feel you’ve failed if this Christmas you aren’t jumping up and down with joy to see that person. Forgiveness is a process. Take it one step at a time—and be okay with that. 2. The physiological aspect of stress can be countered by breathing. That’s right—breathe this Christmas season! Breathe deep. Studies show that when we are stressed we don’t breathe deepl

The Best Part of Waking Up is… JOY in Your Cup! I’ve been letting the following words [provided by a priest, as well as the Pope!] steep well within my heart today, and hope you’ll find them well worth tasting, too:  Joys are hidden in sorrows! I know this from my own times of depression.  I know it from living with people with mental handicaps.  I know it from looking into the eyes of patients, and from being with the poorest of the poor.  We keep forgetting this truth and become overwhelmed by our own darkness.  We easily lose sight of our joys and speak of our sorrows as the only reality there is.   We need to remind each other that the cup of sorrow is also the cup of joy, that precisely what causes us sadness can become the fertile ground for gladness.  Indeed, we need to be angels for each other, to give each other strength and consolation.  Because only when we fully realize that the cup of life is not only a cup of sorrow — but also a cup of joy

Tonight found me in an unlikely-for-me place: a glow-in-the dark indoor miniature golf course in a strip shopping mall off a state highway. I proposed the location for a Saturday night date with my husband and he agreed. While we waited our turn at mini-golf, we played skee-ball and a few rounds of Hoop Fever. We had a great time. Our teen sons would be grateful they had not come along since while we played - me cheating and my husband diligently marking his own score with a glow-in-the-dark pencil - I was singing and dancing to the 1970s music that blared through out the facility. Why did we end up here tonight? Keep Reading

Peace between warring nations comes with a hard-fought truce. Peace between the oppressor and those afraid to resist comes at the price of slavery. Peace pursued constantly through pleasure and consumption is a fantasy that leads to obsession with whatever it takes to live stress-free:   comfort foods, constant distraction of entertainment, addictions. We strive to live so that we don’t hurt anywhere. Our relationships work to our advantage. We have everything we want on our happiness checklist. For now. Are we depending on ideal circumstances for a transient peace? Peace on our terms? We ask God for peace. We ask him to take away our pain and struggles so that we can have peace. Yet in the middle of a health crisis, a faith crisis or a relationships crisis, where is God? We find him there with us. Like the soldier in battle or the cowering slave, we stay poised to discover the peace that defies our understanding—and our control. No one can take that peace away from us. Peac

A gorgeous jacket caught my eye as I was flipping through an issue of a fashion magazine, trying to find the“perfect” haircut—you know, just cute enough to say I am still “fashionable”yet not too cute as to say “I’m 55 years-old trying to look 30.” The jacket was what I would call “car length.” It was covered in an animal print. I loved it! At that point, having lost my focus on trying to find a picture of a perfect haircut to take to my stylist, I intently surveyed the different animal print products—from handbags to pants to shoes—each seeming a bit wild and yet quite appealing. Of course at my age I couldn’t fathom donning a full-on animal print ensemble—or maybe I was never at the correct age to wear such an outfit—but there was still something attractive about an animal print accessory, and most especially that coat! It just seemed “fun.” Sometimes, as Christian women, we forget that we are called to have fun. In our day-to-day living in which we embrace o

Jesus tells us in John 15: 9-11 “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.” Wow! Who could ask to be loved more than that? The Father loves Jesus more than we can ever imagine or put into words. Jesus tells us that he loves us that much. That love is unfathomable. It’s a gift that we can never earn. Then he tells us his desire for us. “Remain in my love.” Is there anything we wouldn’t do to keep that love flowing into our heart? Our response can only be, “Yes, Lord, we want to live in your love always. Tell us how.” “ If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love .”   This is the Lord’s clear direction on how to keep our love relationship with him alive and vibrant. Do what he wants. Trust him. Do what we know will bring us everlasting happiness. Believe his word. Live in him. Not only do we have the commandments, the guidebook, but also we have the Guidance Couns

    Today I got to help my friend K., who teaches at the same high school I do, celebrate her daughter's first birthday! It has been a long time since I have been to a child's birthday party, given that our own sons are 13 and 16 years old. So I didn't mind driving an hour each way to help her large extended family and circle of friends celebrate Joy's first year on the planet. Keep Reading...

A gorgeous jacket caught my eye as I was flipping through an issue of a fashion magazine, trying to find the “perfect” haircut—you know, just cute enough to say I am still “fashionable” yet not too cute as to say “I’m 54 years-old trying to look 30.” The jacket was what I would call “car length.” It was covered in an animal print. I loved it! At that point, having lost my focus on trying to find a picture of a perfect haircut to take to my stylist, I intently surveyed the different animal print products—from handbags to pants to shoes—each seeming a bit wild and yet quite appealing. Of course at my age I couldn’t fathom donning a full-on animal print ensemble—or maybe I was never at the correct age to wear such an outfit—but there was still something attractive about an animal print accessory, and most especially that coat! It just seemed “fun.” Sometimes, as Christian women, we forget that we are called to have fun. In our day-to-day living in which we embrace our

It's already a year since my grandmother passed away...  I remember how she used to tell me that her favorite devotion was to Our Lady of Sorrows.   She felt that her life had been filled with sufferings and that only her own death can spare her from it.   Our Lady of Sorrows I wish I can tell her now that her sufferings are nothing compared to the love that Jesus can give - if only she will open her heart to accept it.  Read more:  In The Midst of Sorrow: To Grandma on her 1st Death Anniversary   by Samantha Catabas Manuel on  Coffee Moments with Sam  

My girlfriend K., like me, was raised Catholic and like me, did not receive a full grounding in the faith.  She asked me yesterday how best to show her gratitude to God for answered prayers. "Prayer works!" she told me yesterday. "It really really works!" I'd like to ask you, dear readers, what your suggestions might be. Read more here...

Michael Coren’s column in last week’s Catholic Register reminded me that I can be a cranky, cantankerous Catholic. He actually wrote about holier-than-thou Catholics, but they do tend to be cranky and cantankerous, don’t they? I have found myself – and maybe you have too – chatting with other Catholics about the state of the Church and how it needs to improve, whether by enforcing reverence at Mass, imposing a dress code (skirts for women, ties for men), policing the Bishops, or outlawing guitar music. You know how it goes: it begins with giggling about Fr. Distracted’s tendency to wander off topic during the homily, and the next thing I know, I’ve condemned every person in the pews for not being as pious as me. It may be there are serious errors in my parish, and to be sure the Church must be vigilant against false teaching and laxity. To judge words or actions is not wrong. However, we cannot compromise fundamentals of the faith, and charity demands that when we spot error we

Women are very good multitaskers. We’re planning supper while juggling laundry and making notes for Friday’s big presentation. Being able to do more than one thing at a time makes us capable of handling the many demands of a modern woman’s daily life. Have we become too good at doing too much? Are we ticking off our to do lists, or are we really living each day? Are we fully alive, or are we merely getting by? Days can become years without us noticing. Have you ever asked, ”Where has the time gone?” or commented to your friends how quickly your children are growing up? “Before you know it, they’ll be gone,” you say. And indeed, you could find yourself looking back, regretting not pay8ing more attention to the toddler or teenager; not taking a paycut to pursue the job of your dreams; not learning Latin American Ballroom before sciatica and bunions made it too painful to contemplate. Paying attention is not my strong suit. Efficiency is the name of my game: no dawdling, just get t

It's been quite a week. Nothing is wrong. It's just been a week filled with work and more work, then parenting and housekeeping and hardly anytime to sleep or to think. And so by the time today rolled in, I was bone tired. My high school juniors, who take a yearlong course in British Literature, have moved on from the Anglo-Saxon Era into the Middle Ages. We're reading Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. So, given the week and the subject matter, don't you think it makes sense during the last class on the last day of a long week to dance? Read more here...

I wasn't familiar with the movement called Rachel's Challenge until recently, when the public high school where I work sponsored a speaker from the nonprofit organization. The father of Rachel Scott, the first victim of the Columbine High School shootings on April 20, 1999, started the group to promote his late daughter's two-page Code of Ethics, which she wrote a month before her murder. The code challenges people to be kind. Priest friends and psychologists have told me that the death of one's child is a loss that is impossible to "get over." It is hard to consider how Rachel Scott's father feels, knowing his 17-year-old daughter was gunned down for no reason except she was sitting outside eating lunch in the sunshine with friends. Read more here...

I’ve been thinking about dreams. Not the ‘lay your head and close your eyes’ kind; rather the ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ kind. It’s good to keep in touch with the little person you were who wasn’t afraid to dream big, brave dreams. The heart of who you are now grew from the seeds that dreamer planted long ago. A friend recently asked me what my dreams were, and I was appalled to not have an answer. I couldn’t think of a single thing I wanted to do. What had become of wanting or hoping for things, no matter how wild and implausible? There used to be many things I wanted to have a go at: archaeology, hot air ballooning, doo-wop girl, acting, Spanish, travel to Russia, developing elegant penmanship.... It was a long and varied list of things possible, and unlikely; long desired, and impromptu. Then what happened? Life took on a day-follows-day quality and my focus became survival. I chose the path of simplicity and abandonment – both qualities of which are true, good, and b