I don’t think there has ever been a more public display of human suffering than the Passion of our Lord. His suffering was not limited to one particular place, witnessed by a few. His suffering was through the streets of Jerusalem with thousands witnessing the entire grueling ordeal. In the midst of that suffering, Simon […]
“If God really loves me, where is he now when I need him the most?” That was the thought that ran through my mind often during those first weeks and months when my divorce hit. Sure, I read over and over in the Gospels how God will never abandon me. How even the hairs on […]
When I was a kid, my parents would allow me to ride my bike two miles to a nearby river where I liked to fish. One day, I decided to take a shortcut that a friend had told me about. The further I went down my new path, the more anxious I became. The river […]
I am talking to you–yes, you. You know who you are. You are scared and anxious. Your heart is heavy. It is a struggle to get through each day carrying around your worries and fears. Or, maybe you have convinced yourself that everything is fine, yet there is a nagging sense that it’s really not. […]
One morning I walked into Mass very distracted and anxious. I had many things on my mind: projects due at work, challenges with the kids, financial pressures, dealing with the ex, etc. On top of that, I wasn’t feeling well. It was hard to focus on the Mass. Frankly, I was just going through the motions. […]
What do getting divorced, remarried, and divorced again in less than nine months, leaving your kids to become a groupie for a rock band, and moving to South America all have in common? They are all real choices made by people during their first year of divorce. Why would people make such obviously poor decisions? […]
In general, we don’t like change. Change equals risk, and people tend to be risk averse. It comes from our basic survival instincts. When we lived in caves, change could mean not finding any food, or worse still, stumbling upon some wild animal and becoming their food. (Yikes!) We seem to equate change with being […]
Going through my divorce turned my world upside-down. I suddenly started to question everything in my life. What was true? Who could be trusted? It was like my life was thrust into darkness and I was stumbling around trying to gain my bearings. I would talk to anyone who I thought could help me: friends, family, […]
Recently, I was speaking to a group on the virtue of chastity. A highly charged topic, for sure. One woman raised her hand and offered that what she was most afraid of was being alone the rest of her life. She felt she was in a Catch-22 of sorts. She was afraid that if she committed to […]
“I can’t take it anymore!” were the words that tumbled out of my mouth as I sat defeated in front of a very young-looking priest. I had really been suffering from the new reality of my divorce. Well, what I heard next shocked me. He said, “Your suffering is actually helping you heal from your […]