Life at Le. Rheims

Truth & Charity: Why You Should Go See Paddington

Photo from Official Paddington Website

Have you been to the movies lately? Yeah. Neither had I, until this past Saturday. For a matinee it was still a small fortune with eight of us. If it hadn’t been for the generosity of a sweet sister of mine, we wouldn’t have gone. Movie going just isn’t something we do often so when we do go, I have high expectations, and most of the time (you know, all two…

Truth & Charity: FYI Your Holiness – I’m Not a Rabbit

I try to refrain from commenting (publicly, at least) on Pope Francis’ off the cuff remarks. You know the ones. They are usually outrageous on the surface and are the source in some way or other for many salacious headlines. These are the comments that set my Facebook and Twitter  feed on fire.  There is very little point in responding to any of the remarks made my friends or acquaintances who…

Truth & Charity: Why I Bring My Kids to Funerals

On Monday morning, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary,  my family and I were at Mass.  This is not unusual, as it was holy day of obligation.  What is unusual, to some at least, is that we were not only at Mass but at a funeral Mass for a man I barely knew, and who my children knew even less.  Why then were we there?  Because he was a member of our parish and…

Truth & Charity: Why Remembering Miscarriages Matters

Every life matters.  As a Catholic and a staunch pro-lifer, I believe this firmly. I always have. It’s why I worked for several years at a non-profit devoted to “saving the babies” and was part of the pro-life group in college. Each child is a gift from God, even if the circumstances of his conception are less than favorable. Every baby deserves to live, to be born, to love and be loved, to be…

Truth & Charity: 5 Reasons for Getting to Know Your Parish Family

Our parish is supposed to be our home, right? And yet, how many of us attend Mass every week, or even daily, and have no idea what the names are of those in the pews around us?  How many of us have no personal relationship with our fellow parishioners, let alone the pastor and assistants? If the parish is our home, then our fellow parishioners are our siblings. And the priests? They’re our…

Truth & Charity: Want to Be More Attentive at Mass? Sit With Kids

When I look back on my days before kids (and I have to force myself to remember sometimes that there were, in fact, days before kids in my life), I find myself romanticizing them (the days, not the kids).  My clothes were cleaner, or at least less covered in mystery stains, my bedroom was neater (sort of), and my time spent with Jesus in any way was so much richer and more focused.

Yeah. About…

Truth & Charity: 5 Ways to Foster Your Daughter’s Vocation to the Convent

Recently, I wrote up a little piece about fostering vocations to the priesthood and religious life. In it, I shared a few tips for creating a family environment where a vocation could flourish should one exist.  What can  I say? I have three sons and, as most of us Catholic moms do, I sometimes dream about one of my boys becoming Il Papa. Since I have three girls as well, I figure it’s only fair…

Truth & Charity: Penciling in God – Making Time to Pray in a Busy World

6:30 AM — Wake up. Mildly curse alarm clock. Stumble around in darkened room trying not to wake children who have once again found their way in to your bed. Get dressed. Work out (some days; stop laughing). 7:00 AM — Wake up children. Harass them until they are out of bed and headed towards the kitchen. Walk through living room multiple times to ensure that the stragglers are not collapsed on…

Truth & Charity: 5 Ways to Foster Your Son’s Vocation to the Priesthood

Vocations.  We all have one.  It’s a special gift that God gives to each one of us and they are at the same time universal and as individual as we are.  Mine is to marriage and motherhood.  While this is a common vocation, my specific vocation is unlike anyone else’s simply because it’s mine, and because I am unlike anyone else.  God gives us, in giving us each a vocation, a path to follow to…

Truth & Charity: 5 Steps for When Your Prayer Life Is in Survival Mode

We’ve all been there, right? Life throws us a few curve balls and sends our life careening down unknown paths and we find ourselves nowhere near where we thought we’d be.  It could be just about anything that does it; a lost job, for instance or a new baby.  Good things and bad alike can take our focus off of God and leave us in a place where all we can manage each week is to meet our Sunday…

Truth & Charity: Book Review – Voyage to Alpha Centauri

Believe it or not, before reading Voyage to Alpha Centauri, I had never actually read another thing by Michael D. O’Brien.  I know, I know. Where had I been hiding to not have been exposed to the veritable rock star of modern Catholic fiction over the past [almost] 20 years?  I mean, when I first heard of him, sometime within the past year, I had a similar feeling to when my brother first…

Truth & Charity: Finding God in the Dish Soap, Part 2

A while back I posted about the importance of recognizing one’s state in life and attempting to sanctify the mundane moments and tasks.  (You can read that here if you are so inclined.)  Recently, I had an a-ha moment regarding my own spirituality while I was, oddly enough, staring at a sink full of dirty dishes.

It was the end of a particularly long day that had started well before daybreak with…

Truth & Charity: Appreciating Life – Musings on Conception and Miscarriage

There has been a great deal of talk on Truth and Charity lately about babies.  I attribute this to the long, very cold winter that most of us here in the US have experienced.  Think about it: long, cold nights, lots of snow making it hard to get out of the house…just do the math and remember that there is always a bump in births nine months after a major power outage and the same is true for…

Truth & Charity: I Can’t Write with Sick Kids

I’ll keep this post brief, out of necessity.  I really only have one thing to say this week: I can’t write with sick kids.

As I sit here at my computer desk, I am barely paying attention to the words I’m typing because my mind is so consumed with the chorus of coughing that is emanating from two separate bed rooms in my apartment.  Right now, the battle for who can cough loudest is being waged…

Truth & Charity: Choosing Hope

My husband and I found out recently that we are expecting again, and while we could not be happier, our happiness is tinged with fear.  The reason is, I think , understandable.  After five normal, even easy, pregnancies, and five healthy babies, we suffered the loss of our daughter at 20 weeks gestation.  We knew nothing of what was happening inside me until we saw that sad news on an ultrasound…

Truth & Charity: Catholic Family Vacation Bucket List

When I was younger, I traveled a bit.  I went to Paris with Opus Dei in 1997 for World Youth Day and then to Rome, first in 2000 for World Youth Day again and then in 2001 as part of a course I was taking for my Minor in Catholic Studies.  Finally, I went to Ireland, again for a class.  My travels weren’t the result of random wanderlust.  All of my excursions were centered around my faith and my…

Truth & Charity: When All You Can Say Is Jesus

Last week, Susanna Spencer wrote about being a cradle Catholic and how it truly effects every aspect of one’s life.  Her piece, “When Catholicism Is in Your Bones,” spoke to me, in part because I am one of those cradle Catholics who knows that you can spot a Catholic church just by looking for the Bingo sign.  I’m culturally catholic, to be sure, but it’s more than that.  I’m religiouslyCatholic.…