Living Liturgically

________ At the beginning of the year, I was officially diagnosed with endometriosis, something I have suspected I had but never fought for a diagnosis. Any doctor I would mention it to would say, let's wait to verify, we don't want to cut you open to find nothing in there. Why suffer the recovery to not find anything? You probably just need to drink more water (which to be fair is TOTALLY true). Unfortunately, the only way as of now to diagnose a woman with endometriosis is

________ Last weekend I escaped to the "wild" mountains of Pigeon Forge. The planning and prepping for 20 people who were all coming in from states away was finally complete, and all that was left was to put names to new faces or catch up with friends I haven't seen in years. The pieces came together, everyone had a hard time saying goodbye come Sunday, and no one went away hungry. A successful weekend in the bag! I was sitting on a couch the second evening, next to an old co

________ As difficult as 2020 was overall, there was still some good that came out of it, specifically a novena that changed my attitude towards prayer. A typical novena lasts for nine days, but this one lasted for nine MONTHS! You were to begin day one on the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25) and end right before Christmas day, reflecting on the nine months Mary carried Christ in her womb. Although it took many years for some of my petitions to be answered—still waiting on

________ " " St. Joseph How could someone with so few recorded words—none to be exact—speak volumes to the heart of the Church? Through his action and love. This doesn't mean that St. Joseph was a "yes dear" kind of husband that we see so often, or that he was a side character not worthy of a spotlight. He had a HUGE role in protecting the Holy Family from all of the outside forces and enemies who would rather see the Christ Child snuffed

________ My parish priest reached out to me back in January and asked if I would consider being a young lady's sponsor for OCIA (formerly RCIA). Without hesitation I quickly said yes and was thrilled to finally experience what the formation process was like at our parish. Like so many OCIA programs world-wide, our OCIA group has seen significant growth over the years in individuals wanting to either become Catholic or receive the remaining Sacraments of Initiation (ie Euchari

________ I always used to think it was silly to have a New Year resolution. I didn't want to make a promise to myself that I would quickly break in two weeks. I always thought, this will be the year I learn x or try to do more of y, but would soon find myself falling right back into old habits and waiting to try again next year. Sounds like a 365-day Lenten failure to me. I haven't replaced my outdoor patio area yet. I hit snooze one too many times and eventually turned off m

________ This Advent I decided to actively do something to prepare my heart for Christmas, so I joined my parish book study. We're reading "Christmas at the Nativity" which is a compilation of Pope Francis's reflections on various aspects of the nativity, and was published exactly 800 years after the first nativity setup was introduced by St. Francis. Over the years it has become a staple centerpiece for Christian families, including the donkey and oxen, shepherds and wise me

________ If you don't know, I'm a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan. I love the constant themes of hope and light, the relatable characters, the overwhelming Catholic undertones, even the world of Middle Earth itself! That's why it shames me to think it's taken me this long to talk about what I got to do a couple months back. This summer my cousin and I took a roadtrip to Chicago where we FINALLY experienced Lord of the Rings the Musical! We have been dreaming of this moment our ent

________ Each morning my grandma would routinely pray her rosary with her cup of coffee, and when she passed in 2018 my mom picked up this habit and took it one step further. She wrote down a list of names she wanted to pray for to help her quickly make it a habit to recite a daily rosary. Of course our immediate family made the cut, as well as her siblings and my dad's, friends and family members who had fallen away from the Church, neighbors, individuals from our parish, in

________ In 2022 I was blessed to be part of a year-long project called Awaken the Saint, where we shared a 3-minute reflection on a saint of the day in both podcast and video. Before I began the project I thought to myself, how are we ever going to be able to provide an entire year of content, let alone enough content for 6 months? What I surprisingly—and rather quickly—came to realize was that there weren't enough days in 10 YEARS to talk about each saint of the Church! A s

I attended the 10th National Eucharistic Revival Congress July 15-21 and I have SO MANY THINGS TO REFLECT ON!!! I won't flood you the reader with them all at once, but I will be releasing reflections over the next couple of months. Please enjoy, and let me know if you were also there and what your thoughts were! ________ I really wasn’t ready for just how many people would attend the Eucharistic Congress. I knew The goal was to fill Lucas Oil Stadium as much as possible—it ca

I attended the 10th National Eucharistic Revival Congress July 15-21 and I have SO MANY THINGS TO REFLECT ON!!! I won't flood you the reader with them all at once, but I will be releasing reflections over the next couple of months. Please enjoy, and let me know if you were also there and what your thoughts were! ________ I had so many uncertainties about going to Indianapolis for the Revival Congress. I’ve attended Catholic conferences before, and even enjoyed my fair share o

________ I was born and raised Catholic. My mom was heavily involved in our quaint West Virginia church, which meant my dad, siblings, and I were also heavily involved. I was an altar server for many years, went through Religious Ed until receiving Confirmation, and I even had a part time job as the parish music liturgist and cleaning staff. Surprisingly enough I didn’t find my personal relationship with Christ in my Catholic faith, but rather I found Him through the Methodi

________ I worked as my parish secretary for a number of years and somehow didn't get fired. I was good at greeting individuals who came in, and could strike up a small conversation with anyone who was waiting to speak to Father. I answered questions to the best of my ability and made sure that the front desk was always kept presentable. All this to say I still wasn't really "secretary" material. I was also in charge of creating our weekly bulletin, which is where my degree i

Photo by Veranda Studio, 2018 ________ On June 16, 2018 Joseph and I vowed to love and care for each other until death do us part. We met in college at our Newman Center, and got married in the church where we were heavily involved during our undergrad years. This Sunday marks our sixth year of marriage and I want to take this moment to reflect on what I've learned living out our vocation. We haven't mastered the art of a "perfect marriage", but we know that beyond a doubt—de

________ Life doesn't slow down for anyone. I worked in ministry at a parish, and whether or not we were ready for the weekend we still had Mass that needed celebrated, parishioners who needed informed and greeted, and volunteers who needed to be organized and (oftentimes) corralled. It never slows down. Life doesn't even slow down at home. I would catch myself staring at yet another overflowing sink of dishes, thinking one of these days they'll be self-cleaning and I'll neve

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae; Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentesin hac lacrimarum valle. Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria. This song has proven to be a huge part of my prayer life, and by no means is that a complaint! Before my husband and I

________ The Easter Triduum is commonly referred to as the "Super Bowl of Masses" at our parish. Everything is dusted off, all of the smells and bells come to life. It also helps that it's both our pastor and deacon's absolute favorite liturgy to celebrate throughout the year. And rightly so! People are getting baptized and confirmed in the Church, the liturgy lasts for three days in full,and songs are being sung that haven't seen the light of day in months. Lots of incredibl

________ I'm finally starting to take advantage of my Lent, and it only took me 28 years and the last few weeks of Lent to fully embrace the season. Better late than never, I always say! With age they say comes wisdom. I'm still waiting for the wisdom to come, but I'm starting to pick up some tips and tricks on how to do Lent well, and this year I'm committing myself to doing Lent WELL. 1. Don't stop at just giving something up When I was younger I was always told that I need