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The Caves of Cappadocia

The Caves of Cappadocia

Standing at the base of an old, graying, wooden ladder I didn’t know what I would find in that mountain-cave turned church. As I ascended those ten or 12 steps my heart pounded, my breath grew short and my eyes were filled with awe. What I found in that stone-cooled room in the middle of […]

Fitting In Fitness

Fitting In Fitness

Feb 28 11 • 0 comments

It’s Monday, the day I normally wake up and recommit to leading a fit and healthy lifestyle. Today, my kids are off school, so I lingered in bed a bit longer than usual, lapping up the luxury of having teens who like to sleep in. Part of my mental wandering as I hit the snooze […]

Yes, Virginia, You Do Need SEO

Yes, Virginia, You Do Need SEO

Feb 28 11 • 0 comments

If you have a website, you need search engine optimization (SEO). But what does that mean? It sounds so complicated and technical. If you’re like me, you get a solicitation every other day from firms that want to sign you up for their “secret formula” that only they have developed to put your company at […]

Political Home for Catholics Hard to Find

Political Home for Catholics Hard to Find

Feb 27 11 • 2 comments

Writing recently about Rick Santorum’s quest to become the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, George Will remarked that Santorum’s chances depend on social conservatives who currently feel ignored and would be naturally sympathetic to someone like the former GOP senator from Pennsylvania. I venture no opinion on Santorum’s prospects. But about the present condition of […]

Infants Sharing in the Lord's Table

Infants Sharing in the Lord’s Table

Feb 27 11 • 4 comments

Visitors from other Christian groups to an Orthodox Divine Liturgy will often find some similarities to their own religious services along with some major differences. For example, visitors from other liturgical Churches will recognize the Epistle and Gospel readings, the Alleluia, and the Anaphora or Canon before the distribution of the Eucharist. One major difference, […]

Sandwich Woman's Sippy Cup

Sandwich Woman’s Sippy Cup

Feb 27 11 • 2 comments

“When are you going to write about us?” asked the gentleman. I looked up from signing the visa receipt, smiled and said, “Oh I’m mulling it over; believe me.”  That was 4 months ago. Now every time I walk in the liquor store and see the friendly men sitting behind the counter I feel guilty […]

Just Like Mary

Just Like Mary

Feb 27 11 • 2 comments

She was just a wisp of a thing. She probably was around 20, but she looked like she was 13 years old. She had a beautiful newborn baby girl snuggled on her shoulder as she stood patiently at the back of the crowd. She reminded me of what I’d imagined our Blessed Mother to look […]

Can you intuit this?

Can you intuit this?

Apple.  McIntosh.  Golden Delicious.  Johnny Red.  My earliest memories of apples come from visits to Stone’s Apple Orchard in Hampton, Illinois. They were open year round, it seems, and whether in February or June, entering the apple barn where the lights were down low and there was a crispness in the air and the smell […]

God and Mammon?

God and Mammon?

In the ancient world, most peoples believed in a universe that had many gods.  But even without the help of biblical revelation, Greek philosophers figured something out.  There could only be one Supreme Being, only one almighty and omnipotent Ruler of all, only one God. In the twelfth chapter of Luke, Jesus asks a question.  […]

Exterminate the “Nag Bug”!  The Gentle Virtue of Self-Control

Exterminate the “Nag Bug”! The Gentle Virtue of Self-Control

Feb 27 11 • 1 comment

The other day I opened the front door and found my two kids engrossed in play, drawing chalk pictures on the front stoop.  Oblivious to my presence, their conversation became louder and more strident, until at last Sarah stood up and faced her brother, fists on hips. “How many times do I have to TELL […]

Finding Jesus on a Campground

Finding Jesus on a Campground

Feb 26 11 • 0 comments

I am kneeling in a place of absolute peace. Soft music plays in the background, telling everyone of God’s unfailing love. The pungent smell of incense hangs in the air. The lighting in the room is dim, except for a solitary spotlight. This spotlight illuminates the monstrance, which contains Jesus Christ in the form of […]

Reflecting on Our Heavenly Reward

Reflecting on Our Heavenly Reward

Feb 25 11 • 0 comments

But as it is written: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,” this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)   Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in […]

Hilarion Visits USA: Russia and Her Mission, Part Three

Hilarion Visits USA: Russia and Her Mission, Part Three

Feb 25 11 • 1 comment

Just as all this was about to happen in Rome (see part one, part two), the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, was engaged in an unprecedented week-long trip to the USA in early February Unprecedented because it involved meeting not only with other Russian Orthodox living in America, […]

A Ray of Hope

A Ray of Hope

Feb 25 11 • 0 comments

There was good news in the Minneapolis paper, the StarTribune on Wednesday, February 16, 2011. The headline read Americans are working to pare their debt and rebuild their savings. The sub-headline was “Credit card debt is down 15 percent from mid 2008, the savings rate has tripled.” Embedded in the article by Neil Irwin of […]

Gaddafi's Fin de Régime

Gaddafi’s Fin de Régime

Feb 25 11 • 1 comment

The violent demise of the Middle East’s longest-ruling leader – who came to office in September 1969, just a few months after Richard Nixon – stands well outside the mainstream of the region’s politics, but then Moammer Gaddafi always did. Gaddafi (for the record, the correct spelling of his name is Mu’ammar al-Qadhdhfi) began his […]

Book Review: <em>A Guide to Christian Meditation</em>

Book Review: A Guide to Christian Meditation

Feb 25 11 • 0 comments

Prayer is important, so critical to the believer’s daily regimen that there are books out there to guide him/her through the process if need be. Meditation is one of the most misinterpreted and under utilized form of prayer. Probably due to the busyness of daily life, it would bring such peace in the same amount […]

Rebuilding the Church in Haiti

Rebuilding the Church in Haiti

Feb 25 11 • 0 comments

A Haitian bishop has spoken about his plans to rebuild both his earthquake-shattered cathedral and the broken lives of the people in his diocese. Speaking during a visit to the international headquarters of Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Launay Saturné of Jacmel described his calling to bring the love of […]

<em>Burst</em> by Kevin Wells -- A Beautifully Written Catholic Memoir

Burst by Kevin Wells — A Beautifully Written Catholic Memoir

Feb 24 11 • 0 comments

Burst: A Story of God’s Grace When Life Falls Apart  is the Catholic memoir to read when you want a well-written, inspirational story that won’t take weeks to complete.  It’s a small book with a big message and one-of-a-kind stories I met Kevin Wells through our editor.  We both went through the same publishing house, Servant […]

Revolutionary Chickens

Revolutionary Chickens

When I look out my kitchen window, I see seven girls dressed in plain black and white with just a touch of red on their bonnets. They chatter all day long and love to sunbathe. They pick at each other, they eat non-stop and don’t gain weight.  These girls are industrious if querulous farmhands. They […]

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My Story of Becoming a Mom, Part Three: Having It All

Feb 24 11 • 0 comments

I feel that for the most part it is a myth that women can have it all — at least at the same time. I have been the primary breadwinner in my household since my marriage 5+ years ago, working as an RN Case Manager at a health insurance company. My earning potential is more […]

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Rooms in My Father’s House

Feb 24 11 • 2 comments

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. ~ John 14:2a When I was a young parent (well not so young but let’s say a new parent) I scoured books searching for parenting tips and techniques. I can remember once reading something to the effect that “by now you should recognize your baby’s cry” and […]

Benedict Receives Medvedev: Russia and Her Mission, Part Two

Benedict Receives Medvedev: Russia and Her Mission, Part Two

Pope Benedict XVI and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met for 35 minutes on Thursday, February 17, in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. This meeting was rather long — sometimes such meetings with national leaders only last 20 or 25 minutes. You can watch the public parts of the visit on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7z6kK3XfdU  The two […]

Just the Facts. Not!

Just the Facts. Not!

Feb 24 11 • 1 comment

It was a slow Saturday afternoon in the newsroom of the Washington Daily News. This was the fall of 1956, and the News, a Scripps Howard tabloid, published six days a week but not Sunday. When the last Saturday edition was off our hands, the rest of the day could be mighty quiet. A sub-editor […]

Mainstreaming Radical Islam

Mainstreaming Radical Islam

Feb 24 11 • 1 comment

The term “useful idiot” is believed to have been coined by Vladimir Lenin. It originally described liberal Communist sympathizers in Western nations who, as the Soviet leader explained, would “sell us (Soviet Russia) the rope with which we will hang them (the West).”   Today’s useful idiots are a swath from that same politically correct cloth. […]