Columns
Who’s Missing from Our Tables?
The two women who taught me the most about hospitality know how to make more space at the table. My mother and my mother-in-law have a gift for making a […]
Columns
The Theology of Lullabies
When I was a child, I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world because I got four lullabies sung to me every night – one each from my […]
Perspective
What a Beautiful Family
Whenever I take my kids anywhere in public, I get comments. “All boys?! Didn’t you ever try for a girl?” “Five?! You must be crazy!” “Are they all yours?” We […]
Perspective
Family Is Where We Learn to Serve the Least Among Us
(OSV News) – Ask any parent who launched their child only to have them return home – or encouraged them through rehab only to watch them relapse. Ask any adult […]
Perspective
The Power of a ‘Nudge’ to Pray
During my husband’s years in business school, he learned about the power of the “nudge”: how to form a new habit by connecting it to a habit you already have. […]
Perspective
In Lent, Let’s Learn What It Means to be Companions
Ask any teenager anxious about where they’ll sit in the cafeteria for lunch. Ask any widow or widower learning to cook for one. Ask a grandparent planning a holiday feast, […]
Perspective
Share Faith with Kids Simply
What’s the most important influence on a child’s faith, according to numerous studies? It is not attending Mass with their family; not watching their parents’ habits of prayer. It’s not […]
Perspective
Praying To God of the Sick When You’re Sick-of-Being-Sick
Here is a story that every family I know can tell: all of us have been sick … for a long, long time. In the past few months, our household […]
Perspective
Jesus Was a Teenager Too
If I asked you to imagine Jesus’ childhood, you’d likely picture Him as a baby in the manger. But have you ever considered that Christ was once a teenager too? […]
Perspective
When Reentry is Rocky
I recently returned from a beautiful pilgrimage to France, but unexpectedly brought home a stomach bug to my beloved family. Talk about a bumpy reentry to ordinary life: from Lourdes […]
Perspective
Wisdom of Night Prayer
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled.” Thus begins the Canticle of Simeon, the prayer drawn from the words of the prophet who held […]
Perspective
Where is God on your calendar?
Where does God show up on your calendar? I pose this as a real question, not a rhetorical one. If someone found your planner on the bus or a stranger […]