I am still fascinated and humbled at the way people know what to do in the face of loss.
Grief
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
A deadly crash on the Feast of the Assumption
The car flipped over 10 times. Maybe 15. I woke up to steel smashing against cement, over and over, over and over. Glass shattered and flew in my face and hair.
Posted inFaith, News Analysis
Navigating grief in the age of social media
At a time when trust in traditional authorities like the church and its clergy is strikingly low, young adults and others are employing new ways to support each other when bad news or tragedy arrives.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
What my mother’s sudden death taught me about fear
As a priest, ignoring my own emotions and how they may interact with the joys and pains of another is not an option.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Where is God when a mother dies in childbirth?
We do not anticipate young mothers dying at a moment devoted to birth, and yet we know it happens. We know about death, and yet we are caught unawares by it.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
I grew up in a violent home. The suffering Christ reminds me I am loved.
Like many people raised in an abusive environment, I also married a man who treated me with the disrespect and violence that I had been accustomed to.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
My time with Jean Vanier and his mom, the grandmother of L’Arche
Pauline Vanier sold everything she owned and moved into a small house in Trosly-Breuil. She became “Mamie,” the grandmother of L’Arche.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Father James Martin: Where was God when Notre Dame was in flames?
Our Lady knows exactly what it is like to stand by and see someone you love suffer and die. But Our Lady also knew that, somehow, God was with her in that time of grief. But we could well ask: Where was God yesterday in Paris?
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
My dad showed me love through deeds. Now that he has Alzheimer’s, it’s my turn.
I love this man who expressed his love with deeds and whose last deed will likely be his slipping away from me.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
For those thinking about suicide, prayers help—but are not enough.
When the suicide monster invades the psyche, more than kindness is required. More than toughing it out.