vocation

  • Lost, Kept, Found

    I woke up this morning really missing my pre-COVID life, specifically teaching early childhood music in person in classrooms with real human kiddos.  I’m working hard at making remote classes work in some of my usual settings, but as of now there are three schools plus a children’s museum for which my connection has been totally…

  • Encounter

    Encounter

    My devotional sent me to the book of 1Kings this morning, to the story about Elijah the prophet who, running for his life, fell exhausted and prayed for death.  The story leads to one of the most recognizable passages in scripture, about how Elijah retreated to a cave, and experienced first a great and powerful wind…

  • More

    More

    Hey there, Catholic friend, I see you. You were brought up with CCD and necco wafer communion and mass.  You gave up candy for Lent, ate fish sticks on Fridays, and know the meaning of a Holy Day of Obligation (get thyself to church).  Your grandmother or some other sweet church lady used to pray the rosary…

  • Yolk

    Yolk

    I’ve had a few doors closed on me lately.  If I’m honest, it’s more than a few, and it’s caused me to look out for new ones: new doors, new windows, new possibilities.  I’m training my eyes up and out to see if I can recover the plan, if there is such a thing, and I’ve had…

  • Salt

    Salt

    Last week I was on my way to an outdoor mass when the skies began to look threatening.  Sure enough, as I pulled up, people were headed inside due to impending rain, and I found myself in overflow, socially distant seating downstairs in a church basement.  Happy that the parish took such care to keep…

  • Way

    Way

    Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. ~Isaiah 43:18-19 I’d be surprised if there’s a soul reading these words who doesn’t feel we’re…

  • Illumination

    Illumination

    Remember that scene at the end of Castaway where Tom Hanks pulls over at a four-way intersection, gets out and flips open his map? And then, a woman in a red pick-up truck pulls up and says, “You look lost,” and then proceeds to educate him about precisely where each road will lead.  The roads,…

  • Hope

    Hope

    On December 31, 2019, I had a lot of hopes.  At our sweet friends’ New Year’s Eve party, I shakily wrote my resolution on a thin piece of cardboard: ‘attend my first writer’s conference’ and then I paused and added something like, ‘pursue publishing’.  In the weeks that followed, I applied for and received a…

  • Discern

    Discern

    In the past several weeks, it has become clear that American Catholics have both a new opportunity and responsibility to do something with which they may not have a lot of practice: spiritual discernment.  In the time since the obligation and practice of mass attendance was suspended in March, individual Catholics have relied on their…

  • Hospice

    Hospice

    “In all honesty, I have to say she was sent to me by the Holy Spirit.” My friend, Bob, was talking to me about the incredible care he’s receiving in hospice, and specifically the care he’s receiving from his CNA, Paulette.  Paulette came here from Jamaica 33 years ago, raised five children, and worked hard…