This makes me think... being thankful all my days...

Thank you, Lord


My Father, you have carried me through
     wanderings
     and loved me through my rebelliousness.


I praise you.


You have given me untold riches:
     friends to love,
     beauty to enjoy,
     quiet spaces.


I praise you for life on this planet,
     for trust between people,
     and the unimaginable gift of the gospel.


Keep me thankful all my days,
that, against all the odds,
I may never lose sight 
of hope and delight.

---Angela Ashwin, A Little Book of Healing Prayers.

Among Women Podcast # 112: Star of the New Evangelization

Among Women 122 takes the view that the new evangelization is everybody's business. Pat shares that our guide for excellence in sharing our love and joy of the faith is Mary, the first and most faithful disciple of all.

In 2012 the Church will be invited to a Year of Faith and the world's bishops will be traveling to Rome for the Synod on the new evangelization.

Join myself and writer Robyn Lee for an honest discussion on how to be a witness, and how your encounter with Christ really is the glue that holds life together. Together we explore a few themes of the Lineamenta that leads up to the Synod, and find simple practical ways that talk about the faith out loud and in person.

Also, remember that SQPN's giving campaign is in full swing. Tax-deductible donations to the non-profit new media apostolate are most welcomed.

The Contagious Bonds of Faith and Friendship

My weekly column at Patheos today looks to the saints and apostles for inspiration on glories of friendship... and how friendships can evangelize and build up the church.

Here's a sample:

Faith is caught not taught. That pithy adage describes my own conversion to Christ as a teen. I was raised in a Christian home, but I did not as yet own my faith. Though I knew about Christ, I did not know him. 

The witness of a few close friends won me over. At first, it was more of what they did and less about what they said. 

My heart yearned for what they had… authentic love for one another born of respect, not competition or social status. They walked together with an easy regard for the uniqueness of the other; characterized by a building up, not tearing down. Their joy radiated from boon companionships. A community ethic rooted in teamwork brought compassionate service to others. 

There was a warm fire about them. And I needed to know its source. 

Jesus said, “I have called you friends.” (John 15: 15.) 

Friends… The God of the Universe wants to be friends with us. God took on a permanent partnership with his creatures, not only by taking on flesh in the Incarnation, but by longing to share our company so that one day we might share his. 

God, the mighty friend -- refuge and rock, consoler and confidant, healer and lover -- caught my attention. And I have never been the same. Once “caught” I couldn’t wait to be “taught” about the faith of the friends of God. 

There's more.  Subscribe to the column here. 

This makes me think... about devoted friends.

Particularly when I am worn out by the upsets of the world, I cast myself without reservation on the love of those who are especially close to me. 


I know that I can safely entrust my thoughts and considerations to those who are aflame with Christian love and have become faithful friends to me. For I am entrusting them not to another human, but to God in Whom they dwell and by Whom they are who they are.

---St. Augustine, Letter, 73, 3, as found in "Friendship is Godlike"in Augustine, Day by Day.

Remembering a friend's holy influence

Today in the feast of St. Clare of Assisi. I had the great blessing of praying before St. Clare's remains in Assisi alongside my husband and daughter, back in 2004. Clare remains a good spiritual friend in heaven. But my thoughts today turn also to another spiritual friend. Today is also the 5th anniversary of her death. May she rest in peace, and may I ask you to lift a prayer on her behalf?

Judi was a wife, mother, grandmother, and a writer. She was also a lover of Jesus. She stepped boldly into my life when she heard I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. And when the crisis was over, she hung around. Our lives were in different orbits most often, and our get togethers rare treats. But when we did get together, she and I talked and prayed and laughed and lunched and read each other's works-in-progress.

If I have written anything worth reading in the last 15 years or so, it is because Judi's words and example coaxed me out of the cocoon where the writing had retreated when I gave up my career in radio to be at home with my children. I was always a writer, but for many years I simply diverted that creativity into other things. Judi reminded me of that love and nudged me to produce something more than journal entries. I will always be grateful.

The end was hard, and every August as I have celebrated another year cancer-free, I remember her too.

My former pastor would always talk about God's little saints... the people whose names may never make it onto the canonization roles in heaven... but who have done our souls great good by their prayers and loving service. I'm sure you can name a few in your own life. Judi was one in mine.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace, Amen.


St. Clare, pray for us!

Lessons from the Sauce Pot

My good friend, Maria Johnson, has a fun post about 33 random things about her life. I always appreciate those kinds of posts from the writer's I read, I love to get to know them a little better. So I thought I'd share this piece that came from some of my earliest scribbles on a blog... it's not quite 33 things, but there's some randomness in there... and a little history... 

It was a cold, damp day here in New England... a good day for something warm from the kitchen...

I am adding the final touches to the tomato sauce on the stove that I have just made from scratch…  The smells from the pot make me think of my sister, who gave me her favorite sauce recipe when I was a younger newlywed.  As I carefully pour the red wine into the measuring spoons, struck by the wine’s bouquet, the memory of my French grandmother comes into view. She always had red wine on the table.  

My saucepot musings continue as the Lord is bringing other memories to mind, and I find this cooking session is now a prayerful reverie.

My favorite meatloaf recipe comes from Mom, my favorite bread recipe from a friend I have now lost touch with – and yet I think of both of these women whenever I prepare those recipes. 

And as I reflect, a more profound thought takes over. So many other ingredients that are “in me” really came from the simmering influences of interesting people, the rolling boil of intense circumstances, the fresh produce of education and work, and the salt added by my tears. My genetic make-up, my likes and dislikes, my quirks of personality, and the things that matter to me most yield this-- I am a spicy, saucy combination of what’s been handed on to me, a unique recipe.

I am the only woman of my generation to get blue eyes from my maternal grandmother. 

My love of flowers and bird-watching comes from my mother, and my appreciation for craftsmanship and brick and stone masonry from my father.

My sisters taught me to lighten up and that even though I am the oldest, I don’t know everything.  They are still showing me the way.

I grew up on Long Island and will forever be a beach lover, a bagel eater, and a cheesecake fanatic in search of a great diner.

I give in to the seduction of dark chocolate because my father always gave heart-shaped  Valentines -- filled with Russell Stover chocolates.

I learned to love music by spinning records on my parents’ phonograph. I am captivated by guitar music thanks to Chet Atkins, John Denver, André Segovia, and Eric Clapton, not necessarily in that order.

I love the outdoors, especially mountains, because I was a Girl Scout. I can still tie impressive knots on a campout.

I write because of three memorable teachers I had in junior high and high school. 

I learned about real lasting friendship and Christian fellowship in high school. I began to understand how the aroma of Christ attracts people like me. Thirty years later, I still enjoy friendships from those years, and the fragrance is still sweet.

I am a true road warrior. My mother probably doesn’t think I got this from her, but I did. I was a young child when my mother learned to drive. She’d cart us all around Long Island to beaches, museums, and the City. But “the road” really grabbed me during my 17^th summer when my folks let me take a “supervised” road trip 400 miles away with a station wagon full of friends, sleeping bags, and one adult chaperone.

During my college years I sought a God who already knew me by name, and promised me a future and a hope that was yet unseen. I learned to work hard for no pay at college internships and to remember those days when I later earned a good salary.

In marriage, I understood what laying my life down finally meant. 

My love of photography comes from my boyfriend, now husband of 20+ years, Bob.  We need a separate bookcase just to house all the photo albums.  My travel bug comes from Bob too. Over the last two decades we’ve ventured to see the places we had only dreamed about.  In the process, I’ve learned that I’m better with maps and planning details, and he is a much better packer and budgeter.

Most important, Bob taught me about sharing my dreams, and not being afraid of success or failure.

I learned about mothering as a vocation from the women of my prayer groups over the years. My friends of Italian ethnic origin taught me to serve rich food alongside welcoming bear-hugs. Those same women provided me with a few more recipes that are now my own. Their friendships provided nourishment to a hungry soul.

Being a breast cancer survivor has taught me that today is a gift, and to always say “I love you” to your family and best pals. And that it is worth it to make a sauce from scratch. You learn to savor so much in the process.

My Catholic faith comes from the Church and my parents and others who don’t even know they had a holy influence on me. My parents had me baptized, taught me my prayers, sent me to Catholic schools, encouraged me to go on retreats.  My high school youth group helped make Jesus “real” to me, before I truly understood about the “real” presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and other deep theological truths. 

In my worst times, sufferings taught me to hope and to understand why Jesus suffered and poured out his blood for us. And in my best times, I know why Jesus poured the wine at the Last Supper, and why we will be enjoying a finer vintage someday at a heavenly banquet. (I bet an amazing sauce will also be on the menu!)

So today I stir the sauce and I pray: thankful for all the ingredients –like graces-- that have been stirred into my life. I realize that Christ is calling me to be like this hearty sauce: A warm inviting aroma, nourishment to those I’m called to feed, and poured out for those I serve.

This makes me think... about friends

A poet once described friends as "the sunshine of life".  I myself have found that the day is certainly brighter when I'm sharing it with my friends. Enjoying fellowship is one of the life's sweetest blessings and joys. What would we do without people and the many shadings of companionship and camaraderie? We need friends in our lives, friends with whom we not only discuss "deep" issues and confide our secrets, fears and sorrows, but with whom we can laugh, play, and even cry. The best times in life are made a thousand times better when shared with dear friend.


Camaraderie is definitely a part of friendship, and camaraderie itself can often produce friendships, too. When we reach out to others, they reach out to us. It's a two-way street, a street practically lined with balloons and streamers in celebration of the unique bonds of friendship.

---Luci Swindoll, You Bring the Confetti, God Brings the Joy

image credit

Ladies: we need girlfriends! Check this out.

Sometimes you actually do find something useful on television that relates to the spiritual health and well-being of a woman's life... and friendships with other women are an important aspect of life.

Check out this link and video on how to nurture friendships among women.