I love the stars. When I look up on a clear night the sky is beautifully illuminated with millions of twinkles. When I look at the night sky I always try to find some of the more familiar constellations like the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Orion’s Belt, or Shrek & Donkey. Read more »
I love praise and worship music. I like the “jump around and go crazy kind” and the “quiet yourself and reflect” kind and all types in between. I just love it! St. Augustine said that “singing is praying twice” and I’m down with that, but is it? I think about some of the prayers we pray at Mass and wonder if they are even praying once. Have you ever felt like everybody is just rushing through the words because it’s what you do rather than savoring those sacred syllables and letting them flow from our lips into our hearts? If we can sometimes get distracted from our prayer in Mass, how much easier is it to get distracted, at the various youth events we all attend, from praying our singing? For real, think about it . . Read more »
Have you ever found yourself or someone else on their cell phone when they shouldn’t be? I’m not just talking about those annoying blue toothers on their cells in the grocery store, I’m including texting, games, pictures, etc. I myself sometimes struggle with the distraction a cell phone brings. On retreats, I have, on occasion, been known to play a game on my cell phone when I should be paying attention to what someone (mostly Paul) is saying.
Paul admitted that while on vacation with his family he sent an sms update to his twitter feed, ironically the tweet read “will not be twittering til Monday, sometimes you need some time off”. When his wife who was sitting next to him in the car noticed him texting, she took away his cell phone and he’s glad she did. Read more »
Growing up in a world of women, I have rarely doubted my worth or abilities. My parents divorced when I was 8 and we moved to where my great-grandma, grandma and 2 of my aunts lived. We’re a matriarchal family, for years everything revolved around my Granny Mary (my mom’s grandma) and after she passed away it was all about her two daughters, Jeanie and Mary Lou. My mom also has 5 sisters. The men in their lives weren’t always constant, either because of death or divorce or even personality (extremely introverted and shy), and so the women were the ones running things. As a girl, growing up surrounded by all of these wonderful women was awesome. They taught me about strength, perseverance, determination, joy, family and of course love. They all poured in to me all tha Read more »
Men are idiots. Clearly that’s what many advertisers and companies must think. If not, why would they think that simply using a sexy, scantily clad woman, could sell a man a burger. Of course the barrage of “sex sells” is nothing new, it’s been going on, in one way or another, since advertising began. It’s the latest ad by Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr that’s got me all in a huff. (here's a link to the ad, viewer discretion is advised) To be honest, it’s not even the blatant objectifying of a beautiful, intelligent woman, Padma Lakshmi (the host of one of my fave shows, Top Chef), that is most annoying. What bothers me the most is that for some reason, corporate America has this idea that men are a bunch o Read more »
Isn't it easy to get sucked in to a story about someone else? What about when you find yourself the teller of the story? Ugh, I wish it weren't true, but I've been there. I recently led a small group with some girl's at my parish and we talked about gossip, how easy it is to hear and tell and how much it can hurt people. I found a checklist that we all agreed would be helpful and since I know this is something that can be a struggle for people, I thought I'd pass it on. In this season of Lent (and beyond), wouldn't it be great to stop the chatter? Read more »
I love the stars. When I look up on a clear night the sky is beautifully illuminated with millions of twinkles. When I look at the night sky I always try to find some of the more familiar constellations like the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Orion’s Belt, or Shrek & Donkey.