Saint Catherine of Siena

saint catherine of siena

SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA Originally published by Blessed Is She Unaware of what I was going through, a friend sent me a picture of a kintsugi bowl with the message, “When I see you, I see gold.” Kintsugi is the Japanese art of bowl-mending. Artisans reassemble broken ceramic bowls and costly gold is set into the […]

Saint Paul’s Missing Pieces

SAINT PAUL’S MISSING PIECES Originally published by Blessed Is She   We visited our new neighbors recently. Among other things that adorned their living room, a large card table filled with tiny puzzle pieces occupying a dainty corner as children beamed with ecstatic eagerness. Apparently assembling complicated jigsaw puzzles was winter tradition.  As candid conversations waltzed […]

Peter + Paul: Saintly Polar Opposites

PETER + PAUL: SAINTLY POLAR OPPOSITES Originally published by Blessed Is She   A few years ago, a colleague at work asked, “Why does the Catholic Church spend so much money on expensive cathedrals when half of the world suffers in poverty?” I wasn’t surprised. As an atheist turned Catholic, I have been there and wonder […]

The Heart Of Modesty

THE HEART OF MODESTY Originally published by Blessed Is She   My initial reaction to Matthew West’s latest single “Modest is Hottest” was amusement. Although I love his music, I didn’t quite understand why the lyrics needed to carry a legalistic grip to convey the message on modesty. Besides, the word “hot” is burdened with sexual […]

The Transfiguration Of The Lord

ON THE FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD Originally published by Blessed Is She   I will never forget that ecstatic feeling, as we sat on top of “First”, the minor summit above Grindelwald, Switzerland. We were a troupe of 10, making our way to the 50th Charismatic Jubilee celebrations in Rome and had stopped […]

The Thing That Happened In Between

̌THE THING THAT HAPPENED IN BETWEEN Originally published by Blessed Is She   “I was one way … and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between … was Him.”   These are my favorite lines from Season 1 of The Chosen TV series that portray with artistic imagination and dialogue, the back-story […]

Friendship On The Feast Of The Visitation

FRIENDSHIP ON THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION Originally published by Blessed Is She   We were on our usual weekend double date when Angie told us she was pregnant, her first. I was pregnant too, four months, my second. Our husbands beamed as we chatted about symptoms and cravings, hopes and dreams as preparations made their […]

Being A Catholic Witness In The Workplace

BEING A CATHOLIC WITNESS IN THE WORKPLACE Originally published by Blessed Is She   It was an ordinary day at work. Svend was frantically shuffling through the papers, his eyes fixated but his body language giving way to the tension that filled the air. In my new role as HR Business Partner, I quickly learned that […]

Seen And Loved

SEEN AND LOVED Originally published by Blessed Is She   In 2005, as secret-sharing apps like Secret and Whisper were making headlines, Frank Warren’s project PostSecret, a digital chronicle, was raking greater heights. New York Times even called it “the PostSecret phenomenon.” What started off as a blog asking strangers to write their “secrets” on a postcard […]

For Such A Time As This

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS Reading the book of Esther is like watching a thriller. The plot is inundated with twists and turns, euphoria and enigma, setbacks and stunning returns. Every scene is satiated with strategically orchestrated drama and keeps you fixated as mystery and marvel unravels with artistic imagination. There are heroes and […]

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