a community of women who want to grow together in prayer and community
For years I prayed for healing for my son. God had already granted him one miracle, by bringing him back to life after being pulseless for sixty-one minutes, but my son still had quirks: speech issues, difficulty in school, anxiety,…
The afternoon sun collaborated with the stained glass windows, throwing color across the wooden pew that I slipped into. I knelt and stared at the tabernacle. After a long silence, I said aloud the thought that was racing through my…
“The followers of John the Baptist took away his corpse, buried him, and went and told Jesus” (Matthew 14:12). “John has died. He was beheaded by Herod.” Are these the words they spoke? Did they choke down sobs as they…
She sat across the desk from me, checking me in for an appointment. I’d never seen her before, and I studied her as she entered the data. She was thin, surely underweight, and her permed hair was greying. Her hands…
The priest guided our meditation as we knelt in adoration. “Close your eyes and imagine that you are opening the door to your heart. Step in, into the throne room. Who or what is seated upon the throne of your…
The first time I walked into the brick ranch on Smith Street I knew it was the one. My kids busted through the door behind me and boldly ran down the hall, laughing and claiming bedrooms. I followed them, dashing…
My family has lived in my hometown for generations. The road we took to Mass each Sunday was named after my great-grandparents who farmed the land around it. The church where I worshipped for the first twenty-five years of my…
It was one of the last days of spring. The Mission District’s streets were warm from the bright sun but breezy. Inside the shaded coolness of the writing center, groups of ESL students worked with volunteers in hushed voices. It…
During a drought in 1936, as the United States slowly crawled out of the Great Depression, my great grandfather’s berry crop failed. His father pointed out that their small town was filled with old Germans who liked to drink, and…
The doctors told the hospital chaplain that our son would not live for long. With tenderness, Monsignor offered to confirm our baby boy who laid sedated and intubated in the NICU crib. In offering to confirm our baby, Monsignor was…
I sat on the hard, dark-stained pew and lowered the kneeler until it softly thudded on the carpeted floor. A soft spotlight shone on the Tabernacle, and sunlight brightened stained glass windows, the only lights in the still, dark chapel….
