More Website Updates

My blog is now listed with Catholic Blogs.

Also, I have included two new links on the Spiritual Woman homepage. One is for a new mailing list - please visit and sign up. New articles of interest will be sent to you - usually about two a month. There is also a link to get the scripture readings for the day as well as a reflection.

Thank you for your continued support!

Updates (Personal and Website)

My father is doing much better - he was actually released from the hospital last night and is now home recuperating. Thank you for all your prayers!

On the website tonight, I put up a new book review on Where Did I Come From? Where am I Going? How do I Get There? by Charles E. Rice and Theresa Farnan

And the Days Go By . . .

My Father had his prostate surgery yesterday. Thank God everything went well. He is at a hospital 1 1/2 hours from where I live, which doesn't exactly make visiting an easy proposition, but my mom (who can't travel that distance due to health reasons) offered to watch my children today so that I could go visit with my sister and aunt. I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to go. He is really doing very well. He has managed to retain his sense of humor and the nurse had him up and walking a bit while we were there, so the healing process is starting.

It was still difficult, however, to see him in pain and looking rather feeble. My father is 6' 2" tall, strong, silent, and proud. Like it or not, in the hospital you tend to leave a whole bunch of your dignity at the door. It's hard to acknowledge that he is getting old, but he is. Three of my classmates have lost a parent in the past year, and I know that day is coming for me as well. I don't know when that day will be of course, but I get the sense that whether my mom and dad's passing comes this year or twenty years from now, it will be equally painful. I don't know that there is ever a time you are really ready to let your parents go, even though my faith tells me that they would go to a better place. It's just one of those bridges I'm going to have to cross when the Good Lord decides that it is time.

Prayer of Thomas Merton

Someone posted this on the Catholic Writers Online Group that I belong to and I thought that it was great!

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot
know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the
fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am
actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact
please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope
that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I
do this You will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about
it. Therefore will I trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in
the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will
never leave me to face my perils alone. (Thomas Merton)

It's Snowing!

Saturday it was 70 degrees outside! It is currently about 30 degrees and it is snowing! We have gone from being in short sleeves to needing hats and coats and boots. David was supposed to start T-ball practice this evening. Somehow, I don't think that will be happening.

You know what they say about New England - If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change!

Are there toys in heaven?

David has been very interested in death lately and what happens to you after you die. Death is part of life and I have never tried to shield him or his brother from the subject. I think the first conversation we had about it was when David was only 2 and his great-grandmother passed away. For a very long time I have told him about heaven and how it is a wonderful place. Very recently I introduced the idea of hell and the devil and how you don't want to do bad things because you don't want to end up there. He is beginning to reach that age of reason - where a person knows what is right and wrong and can make the correct decision or feel bad when he doesn't. He knows about the Commandments and that when we do something wrong when can tell God we are sorry and He will forgive us.

As much as David knows that heaven is a wonderful place, he never-the-less had some hesitancy about going there: "I don't want to go to heaven because my teddy bear and my Weeble tree house won't be there!" I assured them that there are toys in heaven. Now, of course, I don't know if that is the case or not. I do imagine for the children who have passed on, God would allow their heaven to include their favorite teddy bear. Hopefully, by the time David makes that journey to the other side, he will be much older and will not be concerned with his toys as much.

It is an interesting question, though, in thinking about heaven. What will we do there? Will we have jobs or hobbies or our favorite books to read? It is hard to imagine a life with none of the objects we hold dear. If God in His infinite creativity created this world, I imagine heaven holds even greater wonders. With God's grace, I hope that someday I find out!

The Growth Process

"I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." - John 12:24


This excerpt from today's Gospel reminds us that for every growth there is a dying of sorts. Real growth comes at a cost. Little children are desperate to be bigger, but even they soon realize that growing up means becoming "too big" to do some things. Older children may want to take that next step to high school or college, but doing so means leaving some friends and familiarity behind. The same holds true for leaving home. Career changes may also involve a similar sense of loss. Getting married requires a change in lifestyle, and a decision to refuse any romantic opportunities that may come your way. Becoming a mother is a transformation. The woman that you once were dies in order that a new version of you may be created.

Any true growth comes at a cost, but the price is usually worth it. We come out on the other side a better, more developed person, wiser for the experience. Like the grain of wheat, we can bear much fruit and take the next step on our journey.