Secular Songs That Can Bring Us Closer to God
I listen to a lot of music—from great Catholic artists like Matt Maher and Audrey Assad to classic rock to punk rock to alternative to country to everything in between. Generally, when I wish to feel...
View ArticleKeep Your Eyes on These Fantastic Four
There are many amazing saints, and many amazing blessed and venerables and servants of God—so many that lots are often overlooked. Here are my picks for some faithful departed you might start hearing...
View ArticleLessons from a Lent Past
Being in the thick of Lent, I’ve been reflecting on Lents past and how differently I approach Lent now. Lent the year I was sixteen immediately came to mind—it was the first one I approached with any...
View ArticleThe World Doesn’t Need Christian Movies
I remember when I first fell in love with movies. It was 1989, I was four years old and saw The Little Mermaid. While watching those beautiful ocean scenes wash over the big screen in that now-closed...
View ArticleGive Fairy Tales a Chance
Fairy tales (especially princesses and Santa Claus) get a lot of crap. From comments such as, “princesses teach girls that the only way to attain happiness is to find a man” or “telling your kids a fat...
View ArticleBook Review: The Curious Little Catholic Series
When I first heard of the new Curious Little Catholic series I jumped for joy. As the mother of a two year old and a 14 month old, I am always looking for ways to enrich their faith lives and...
View ArticleToo Anxious to Function
I’m a pretty anxious person – I have the prescription to prove it. I tend to look at the details of a situation and easily become overwhelmed. Compound the anxiety with my need for some “me time” to...
View ArticleSt. Zoe and the Altar of Worldly Comfort
When choosing my Confirmation saint, I had only one requirement – that the saint be someone no one else was likely to choose. I wanted to be different and have an intercessor all to myself. This led me...
View ArticleTo Be a Fool
“Then David came dancing before the Lord with abandon, girt with a linen ephod” (2 Samuel 6:14). To be a fool for the Lord. On the surface, this can simply mean to not be afraid to be silly before the...
View ArticleCatholic Radio for the New Evangelization
Real Life Radio is a new Catholic media, focusing on relational evangelization. Based in the US, it delivers a range of programs through mobile streaming apps and its online site. Its focus is to reach...
View ArticleThe Call to Holiness in Our Time
Recently, I was watching the movie There Be Dragons about St. Josemaria Escriva and the Spanish Civil War, and I began thinking about the call to holiness and modern sainthood. St. Josemaria is perhaps...
View ArticleTake Care of the Body, Take Care of the Soul
Last month I joined a Beachbody challenge group with some women from college. I have some weight to lose and have some other fitness goals—not to mention that regular exercise and healthy eating are...
View ArticleThe Best Lie You Could Ever Tell
My first Confirmation class (quite some years ago now) ended with an enticing cliffhanger: “Next week, I’ll teach you how to lie,” our teacher told us. The next week, we all waited eagerly around the...
View ArticleHarder, Better, Faster, Stronger
New year, new you!—a motto that makes me want to vomit. What’s so great about a new me if I couldn’t even love the old me? And thinking that I’d have to create a new me every year just makes my anxiety...
View ArticleLearning About Self-Donation at the Gym
I was reflecting on my first month of the new year and my resolution/theme of “stronger.” I’ve been going to the gym a lot this month and can see so much physical change in my body, along with...
View ArticleMary, Mercy, and Me
I used to be jealous of Mary. Not because she has the fullness of grace and I don’t. Not because she has the immense privilege of knowing Jesus in His human form, living while He lived. Not because she...
View ArticleThe Inescapable Lover
The other day, after I got out of the shower, I wrapped myself up in my bathrobe, as I often do, and I felt God. I felt God in my bathrobe. In my bathrobe. For whatever reason, that day, God decided to...
View ArticleSoul-Changing Sacraments
Recently, I was able to attend the ordination of my brother-in-law to the priesthood, and there, before my eyes, his soul was eternally changed, indelibly marked. I’ve witnessed this phenomenon...
View Article19 Amazing Quotes from the Last Month of St. Therese of Lisieux’s Life
Since St. Therese of Lisieux is a favorite of mine (and is a Doctor of the Church for a reason!), I thought it would be fun to go through some of her quotes from the last month of her life (September...
View ArticleMust-Read Book: The Four Keys to Everlasting Love
If you are engaged or married, married for a short time or married for a long time, fallen away from the faith or have your doctorate in theology, whatever your state in married life, The Four Keys to...
View ArticleAffordable Catholic Higher Education: Dominican Institute
Have you ever wanted to further your Catholic education but realized that even online higher education from a good Catholic institution is pricey? Or maybe you’re not necessarily interested in earning...
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