• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Bishop Robert Barron
          • George Weigel
          • Question Corner
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Suzanna Molino Singleton
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Paul McMullen
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Father T. Austin Murphy Jr.
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • Advertising
  • CR Radio
  • Printing
  • Subscribe

Easy as pie—or prayer

Rita Buettner June 8, 2020
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

My mind spins these days with the issues that compete for my attention. I read and think and discuss and pray and ask myself what more I can do.

Much seems unsolvable, and yet I know we each have a part to play. But it’s often hard to see what might be within my abilities in my own little corner of the world.

When I feel helpless, I try to pick one thing and do it well. Sometimes that’s trying to find the words to process things. Sometimes it’s reaching out to check in with a friend. Sometimes it means making a decent dinner.

The other night I set everything aside to make a pie.

Just as I started peeling my Granny Smith apples, my brother sent an invitation to pray a video-call rosary together. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything that social—video calls have long since lost their luster—but you can’t do much else while slicing apples. I might as well join them in a Rosary.

Soon enough, we were praying, four households in two states, three generations, wriggly toddlers and focused tweens, united in purpose.

I sat and sliced apples, letting the rhythm of the words rush over and around me, losing myself in the blend of voices, sitting with each mystery for a bit, and presenting Mary with our intentions.

It’s easy to forget that there’s something we can almost always do. Even at our most helpless, we can pray. Prayer might not seem like action, but it can be so, so powerful. There’s something beautiful and uplifting and hopeful about turning everything over to God—or to our Blessed Mother or one of the saints to ask them to carry it to Jesus on our behalf.

By the end of the Rosary, we were still in the midst of a pandemic, and I wasn’t sure there was any greater justice in the world. But I felt a sense of peace and purpose. I felt just a bit restored. I had done one small thing in the great cosmic chaos we are living through. God asks more of me than one Rosary I say while baking a pie, I know. But that Rosary was time better spent than sitting and stewing and worrying.

We finished praying, said goodbye, and I looked at the pile of sliced apples in front of me. They were all sliced and ready to bake. I added sugar and cinnamon. I stirred together the dough, rolled it out on the counter, and pieced together my pie.

As I crimped the crust around the edges and poked holes in the top, I marveled at how the pie seemed to have come together almost magically during our rosary.

My hands had done that work, flying through the peeling and coring and slicing as we moved our way through the Our Fathers and Hail Marys and Glory Bes. And the house was filling with the delectable scent of pie.

Maybe you can’t solve all the problems on your mind today. Maybe you can solve one. Or maybe you just need to take a break from the big questions of the world and focus on one small thing that you can do. I hope that one thing you do will help you feel stronger, less alone, and more at peace.

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

View all posts from this author

Recent Commentary

History’s greatest inaugural speeches

What’s for dinner? Your guess is as good as mine

Do you want to be a saint? Seven daily habits for the new year

A last taste of Christmas and a little rhyming fun (7 Quick Takes)

Building a Nation of Peace and Justice

Recent Local News

Ash Wednesday, other Lenten Masses will see changes in Archdiocese of Baltimore

Artisans, St. Philip Neri parishioners step up for $1.5 million church renovation

New children’s book breathes humanity into the stories of the saints

MCC watching bills as Maryland legislative session opens Jan. 13

‘Pastoral Migratoria’ will bring social justice and community service training to four parishes

Catholic Review Radio

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • ‘We are better than this,’ deacon says before Johnson’s execution
  • Facebook removes video commentary by Mexican cardinal
  • ‘We need the Lord to cast out demon of division in our nation,’ Washington cardinal says
  • Ash Wednesday, other Lenten Masses will see changes in Archdiocese of Baltimore
  • Movie Review: ‘Pinocchio’
  • History’s greatest inaugural speeches
  • Artisans, St. Philip Neri parishioners step up for $1.5 million church renovation
  • Rome university reverses decision to honor priest’s pro-life work
  • Popes Francis, Benedict receive their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine
  • What’s for dinner? Your guess is as good as mine

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2021 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED