Julie

  • All Saints – Raised Catholic episode 30

    All Saints – Raised Catholic episode 30

    The following is a transcript from the Raised Catholic podcast. To listen to the podcast, click here. Today is episode 30: All Saints Well, hi there, friends.  In today’s episode, we are talking all about saints, and if you were born and raised Catholic, you probably have a long history of stories surrounding the saints: the…

  • Veil

    Veil

    My friend Deacon Jerry came to mass today and that doesn’t seem all that weird except for the fact that he died a couple of weeks ago. During the Eucharistic prayers, several of my friends who art in Heaven gather around the altar and I acknowledge them there and pray for their families and their…

  • Melt

    “We’re not going to do the snowman song today, are we?” a four-year old boy asked me as I was setting up for music class at the local children’s museum. I wasn’t clear on what he said or meant in the moment, but then his Mom apologetically reminded me about a class about four weeks…

  • Window

    Window

    There is a large interior window in a dance studio where I teach early childhood music. On one side of the window is the seating area for waiting families and on the other, my teaching space. As I was prepping for class this morning on my side of the glass, my students came in with…

  • Provision

    Provision

    I pray, like, a lot. Maybe it’s my Catholic upbringing or my anxious nature, but basically I am literally living out that impossible sounding admonition from scripture to “pray continually.” (1Thessalonians 5:17) When I wake up, I get on my knees just for a second or two to give the day to God. I do…

  • Retreat

    I was on retreat this weekend with a group of women and I had somewhat of a leadership role. I gave a talk, and helped facilitate conversations, but mostly I was in the retreat experience along with everyone else. It might have been easy for the women to believe that the ‘leaders’ among the group…

  • Work

    I have been sick for about a month with an upper respiratory illness that has affected how I hear, sing, and breathe, and it’s been hard to do those things in my work as a preschool music teacher, but mostly, I’ve managed. Yesterday, I had to call in sick for the first time in forever,…

  • Be Still

    I sat down with my cheese, crackers, nectarine and recorded episode of Real Housewives of NYC yesterday to enjoy a little quiet time after a busy morning when I heard my dog barking outside. She is a fiercely protective, twenty-two pound beagle mix, and she vigorously defends me from everyone who walks down my street.…

  • Unlikely Holy Ground

    I know what I will see in the moments before I die. I may not be in that place physically, or maybe I will, but I am absolutely certain about the image that will come before me at that time. Strange as it may seem, I know I will see one particular metal exit door…

  • First Spring Run

    Everyone’s running outside today.  After a brutal winter, it’s going to hit 50 degrees, and on a Saturday to boot, so the reluctant treadmill runners are making their way out among the diehard ice and snow crowd.  It’s a beautiful day, a bright blue sky and light wispy clouds, not too windy, and perfect for…