The true gift of Christmas is always the same—love come down from heaven to earth, love that changes everything, the Son of God made man, come to show us how to live and how to love.

I love making cookies, especially at Christmastime. But I can’t always find the time to bake. Sometimes in the morning as I look ahead at the day, I think maybe, just maybe, I’ll have time to make cookies today. So, I pull some butter out of the fridge and leave it to soften on the […]

I must have been about 5 or 6 that Christmas Eve. My grandmother was spending the night so she could wake up with all of us on Christmas morning. To make sure that Grandma had a bed, my oldest sister Maureen and I slept on the third floor of our Rodgers Forge townhouse. We were […]

As a woman and mother, I sometimes feel like I should feel close to Mary during Advent. And I do. But I often find myself looking more to St. Joseph. In so many ways, his story is similar to our stories. He’s thrust into a situation he couldn’t have anticipated. He considers backing out and […]

Sometimes we choose our journeys, and sometimes they choose us. Sometimes you know the destination but you’re not quite sure how you’ll get there. Sometimes you blink and suddenly discover you’re almost at your destination. Sometimes journeys are smooth, and sometimes they’re painful. But they all lead somewhere—and often to exactly where we ought to […]

As we walk toward Christmas, may we try to view this season as one of opportunity rather than obligation, being open to the journey and to the ways we can give and receive.

Christmas is coming, and ads are everywhere. My social media feed is full of gift suggestions that make me wonder who they think I’m buying gifts for this year.

I like to think that God is waiting, trusting, walking with us, even when we feel we aren’t doing anything significant for the world.

As we look ahead to Advent, it almost feels as if nature is paving the way to that time, calling us to let the fading vibrancy of autumn go, and be open to the journey ahead. Change can be wonderful, but it can also be hard.

The other day I was in a meeting at work. We were introducing ourselves to a group of people visiting from outside our organization. When it was time for one of my coworkers to introduce himself, he mentioned he had just started working there recently. The person leading the meeting laughed. He dismissed my new […]