Embracing Where God Put You

 

I was browsing the magazine section of my local library the other day and came across the July 28, 2025, issue of Time Magazine. The cover article was The Making of the Pope by Belinda Luscombe. It was a very informative and enjoyable article about the life of Pope Leo XIV.

One section in particular struck me. Father Paul Galetto is the pastor of St. Paul Church in Philadelphia and has known Pope Leo since his 20s, when the two Augustinians studied in Rome. Luscombe writes:

When Galetto saw his fellow Augustinian step onto the balcony, he paused for a moment to reflect on the mysterious ways of the universe. “We started at the same place 40 years ago. Here I am stapling papers together at a parish because we’re having a prayer service,” he says, “and he’s going to be talking to Putin about the war in Ukraine. God had a plan for him, and God had a plan for me.”

Fr. Galetto’s remarks reminded me of St. Therese’s famous quote, "The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness."

We can’t all be pope, or (more appropriate for my own longings) a best-selling author, but we can all strive to do our best wherever God has put us.

 

#OpenBook for September 2025

 

Welcome to #OpenBook. I'm joining up with Carolyn Astfalk who hosts an #OpenBook Linkup on CatholicMom.com. Here's what I've been reading this past month. The dates indicate when I finished the books. Thanks for stopping by!

8-6-25 American Patroness - Edited by Katherine Dugan and Karen Park. I had wanted to read this book because I met Katherine Dugan once and really liked her! She's a professor at a local college and met with me because she was doing research on women who used NFP. This is a scholarly book about various Marian shrines and different immigrant groups and ethnicities that have been involved with them. It is a very expensive book. I don't know why the publishers don't want people to buy it! But if you are interested in this topic, it is worth reading. 

 

 8-10-25 Raising Lumie - Joan Bauer - I had taken this book out of the library to read with my daughter, but she wasn't interested, so I read it myself. It is a sweet story of an orphaned twelve-year-old girl, now living with her much older half-sister, who finds healing and purpose in raising a future guide dog. 

 

8-13-25 Still Waters - Patricia Johns - This is the second book in "The Amish of Shepherd's Hill" series, but it works well as a stand-alone. Beth comes to stay with her grandmother and help her prepare to move out of her home. Beth's father died a few months ago, but she never knew much about his childhood, and wants to find out more. Why has everyone always been so secretive? It doesn't help that her grandmother has dementia and sometimes gets lost in the past or that Beth has been questioning whether or not to get baptized Amish or explore the Englisch world. Her relationship with an old friend, Danny, is also changing, but he wants a life she might not be ready to commit to. (Read for a book review publication)

 

8-13-25 Mount Vernon Love Story: A Novel of George and Martha Washington - Mary Higgins Clark - I saw this one mentioned on a historical fiction Facebook group. It was published in 1969 under the title Aspire to the Heavens, the first book written by Mary Higgins Clark, and was republished in 2002 under the current title. It is a well-written, well-researched look at the lives of George and Martha Washington that was both informative and entertaining. 

8-15-25 Joline - Jim Sano - This mystery is part of the Father Tom series by Jim Sano. Fr. Tom is on vacation in Maine, where he works to solve the mystery of a young woman who was found murdered and dumped in the harbor waters. It was a compelling story that explored generational trauma in an insightful and empathetic way. 

 

8-18-25 The Rosary - Colleen Pressprich - This is a small illustrated book perfect for helping children learn the mysteries and reflect on the Rosary. Adults can appreciate it as well and it would be great for using for a family Rosary. 

 8-20-25 At Morning's Light - Lauraine Snelling with Kiersti Giron - This is the second book in a series about Norwegian immigrants in 1890 Iowa. Maya was planning to come to America with her husband to live with her cousin, but after he dies in a fishing trip, she makes the journey with her brother. Full of grief and angry at her husband, she is surprised to find she is also pregnant, which brings some hope to her dark days. Her new neighbor, Eben, may also reawaken romantic feelings in her heart. I enjoyed this story of God bringing hope and new beginnings even in the midst of grief and pain. (Read for a book review publication)

8-21-25 Spark: How Genius Ignites, From Child Prodigies to Late Bloomers - Claudia Kalb - This was a series of short biographies about such notable geniuses as Picasso, Shirley Temple, Bill Gates, Isaac Newton, Julia Child, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Grandma Moses. The author's main point is that genius can come at any age. It was interesting to learn about the different individual's lives and their accomplishments. 

 

8-24-25 Before Dorothy - Hazel Gaynor - This book tells the story of Auntie Em of Wizard of Oz fame and her life before and after her niece, Dorothy, came to live with her and her husband. It is also a powerful portrait of life during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s in Kansas. Highly recommended if you enjoy historical fiction.

8-29-25 The Fault Between Us - Stephanie Landsem - This was one of the best books I've read in a while. It focuses on the three Reilly sisters, who were abandoned by their mother when they were young in 1942. In 1959, the oldest lives in Yellowstone, and when her sisters come to visit her, all their lives will be impacted by the Hebgen Lake earthquake. Based on true events, this story was riveting. (Read for a book review publication).

8-31-25 This Dog Will Change Your Life - Elias Weiss Friedman (The Dogist) - Friedman has made a career of taking photos of dogs and posting them on social media. Before I read this book, I had never heard of him, but I picked it up because it is a feel-good book about dogs that emphasizes all the ways dogs impact our lives. It is honest about the challenges they can bring, but mostly talks about the good. Friedman shares stories of different dogs he has met and their human owners, as well as different dog breeds, and special skills dogs can learn. If you are a dog lover, you will probably enjoy this book! 
 
 

 The Patron Saint Quilt Coloring Book - I had fun this summer putting together this coloring book with quilt block designs created to represent 22 holy women. Both children and adults will enjoy coloring these unique quilt designs in honor of the Blessed Mother, St. Anne, St. Barbara, St. Bernadette, St. Brigid, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Clare, St. Elizabeth, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Faustina, St. Gianna, St. Kateri, St. Margaret Mary, St. Maria Goretti, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Monica, St. Rita, St. Rose, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Zélie.

 

Since the spring of 2019, I have been making my way through the Great Books Curriculum of Thomas Aquinas College (I'm currently working on the readings for junior year). 

Still in progress - I'm in Volume 4! Someday I will finish this. - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon -  Gibbon was an English essayist, historian, and politician who wrote this epic six-volume work between 1776 and 1789. It's incredibly long, and I have little interest in the Roman Empire. It is going to take me a while to get through this one.

 

My fourteen-year-old daughter and I read the following book this month:

 

8-25-25 The Shepherd Who Didn't Run: Blessed Stanley Rother - Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda - This was my daughter's summer reading book for 9th grade. I knew very little about this man, who was raised in Oklahoma, ordained as a priest, who then became a missionary in Guatemala, where he was martyred on July 28, 1981. The book not only portrays Blessed Stanley's life, but also discusses the native people of Guatemala and their customs. I found it interesting; my daughter did not. 

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The 54-Day Rosary Novena

 

The 54-Day Rosary Novena has long been one of my favorite novenas. I was introduced to my mother and first prayed it in college. I have prayed it many times since then. For those who aren’t familiar with it, you pray the Rosary along with a few accompanying prayers for a special intention for 27 days of petition and 27 days of thanksgiving. I’ve always used the classic little blue book, first published in 1926, to guide me in this prayer. The one in the photograph is my third or fourth copy. As you can see, it has been well-loved.

Our Sunday Visitor has recently published a new version of The 54-Day Rosary Novena, compiled by CatholicMom.com editor Barb Szyszkiewicz. She shares the history of this novena, which dates back to 1884, when the Blessed Mother appeared to Fortuna Agrelli, who encouraged her to pray the 54-day Rosary novena for her physical healing. When she was miraculously cured, devotion to the novena spread.

Szyszkiewicz also emphasizes that the miracle we are praying for might not happen in the way that we hope, despite our many prayers. “Jesus let us know that God will give us what is good for us—but that might not always be what we expect or at the time we expect it.” I can vouch for this. There have been times I have received amazing answers to my intentions that I have prayed the Rosary novena for. Other times, God has been painfully silent. Still, I keep praying.

This book provides prayers to say before each mystery of the Rosary for both the novenas of petition and thanksgiving. Some are the same as my old version of the book; others have been updated. I appreciate that this version has the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, which my older version does not. It also features lovely illustrations of classic artwork to go with the mysteries. For those new to praying the Rosary or who might need a refresher, there is a How to Pray the Rosary section in the back, along with all the needed prayers.

The 54-Day Rosary Novena is a beautiful book that I am sure I will get much use out of. If you have a special intention to pray for, I highly recommend this novena. 

 

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Creativity in the Age of AI

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be everywhere these days. Like the advent of the internet before it, it is revolutionizing how we live, learn, and work. Unlike previous tools, however, it has the capability to create. Yes, anything it makes is based on what it has “learned” from other texts or images, but it can combine them in new ways and bring forth an innovative text or image.

Every day on Facebook, I get ads telling me how I can make easy money using AI to write books. Instead of using freelance writers, many companies are now using AI to create the texts that they need. AI is also being used to create videos, graphic designs, music, images for projects, and to code computer programs. As a creative person, it can be disheartening.

What is the point of creating if a machine can do it just as well (or at least good enough for people’s consumption) and more quickly? What does it mean if no one values my creative work enough to pay for it? These are questions with no easy answers, and I know I am not the only one wrestling with them.

However, creativity is written into our human DNA. We are made in the image and likeness of God, who is the ultimate Creator.  Whether we think of ourselves as creative or not, we create every day. Every act we do and every word we say is an act of creation, either working to build up the kingdom of God or tear it down. God invites each of us to cooperate with and continue the process of creation that He began. We are called to use the gifts He has given us for good.

In his Letter to Artists, St. John Paul II wrote, “Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece.” No AI tool can take that God-given gift and responsibility away from us. How we use our creative gifts may look different, but the need to create is still there.

 

A while back, I wrote The Work of Our Hands: The Universal Gift of Creativity, a thirty-one-day devotional on the importance of creativity to human life and the many shapes creative gifts can take. In it, I wrote, “There are over seven billion people in this world. It is easy to feel insignificant in the face of that knowledge. Yet, each one of us has a part to play in God’s magnificent symphony of life. We each have a note that only we can hit. Our creativity and contribution are needed to make the world complete. The right use of our creativity is one of our gifts back to God.” Even in the age of AI, that still holds true.

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