WakingEve🍎

I set out on a journey back home. I don’t know how I wandered so far from it but I did. I never thought I would. I had always stayed close to it for fear of the wolves. And yet somehow I found myself being devoured. Despite the efforts my soul had taken for protection, it seemed the enemy found his way within the gates and I was abducted away from the inside. Numbed by the culture of scandal.…

The cursor blinked on the screen of Kim’s laptop, a steady rhythmic pulse in the quiet of her home office. At forty-six, Kim had spent her years pouring her heart into her children’s education, choosing the path of a homeschooling mother. Her days were filled with lesson plans and history projects instead of literature, and backyard drills with her kids instead of fast-break layups. But today,…

Sometimes the best use of your charismatic gift is not tell everyone but do the next right thing, quietly, faithfully, in order.Jesus goes to the desert after healing the leper and tells him to share only with one person, the priest, because only then he would have open door to go back to the society (when priest examines him and agrees he is clean again – healing wasn’t enough, reintegration…

We long for epiphanies and search for the extra-ordinary which would convince us about God’s favor, His closeness, and ourselves being chosen to witness the special moment, supernatural, extravagant. That would validate our desire to have an experience that would top previous ones. We want to find the result of our long journeys to be out of this world. After recognizing in a peculiar way the…

The St. Benedict medal is a Christian sacramental medal containing symbols and text related to the life of St. Benedict of Nursia. The medal is one of the oldest and most honored medals and due to the belief in its power against evil is also known as the “devil-chasing medal”. The medal is used by Roman Catholics to ward off spiritual and physical dangers, especially those related to evil,…

בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ אֶת הַנֵּרֹת וגו’: (במדבר ח:ב) The tribal princes did not include Aaron when they brought their offerings for the inauguration of the Altar. God reassured Aaron by noting that he had inaugurated the Candelabrum, which was just as important – if not more so – than inaugurating the Altar. [G-d instructed Moses to tell Aaron,] “When you kindle the lamps.” Numbers 8:2G‑d instructed…

I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on cousins and the powerful part they play in sharing our stories. Mary hastened to her cousin not only for encouragement in her story but also to help be a part of Elizabeth’s. Cousins can have quite a powerful influence in our lives. Leviticus 25 tells us they even have power to redeem us, like we see in the Book of Tobit and Jeremiah 32. Some even co-labor…

2 AM and she calls me ’cause I’m still awake… Sitting here on this New Year’s morning, my body growns under heavy eye lids to embrace the sweet surrender to sleep but her voice calls out to me from the deep. This is Her day, afterall. A most blessed and holy day. I’m not entirely certain of the message she wishes me to convey, though it beckons forth like a song, illuminating darkened halls.…

This wine recipe from St. Hildegard’s Physica is one of her favorites and is a staple for her Spring Cleanse. Wormwood is the signature member of the Artemisia family. Saint Hildegard recommends this herb, infused in wine, frequently. The old German name for wormwood infused wine is the origin of the herbed wine we now know as vermouth. This popular addition to a martini was once a very popular…

Saint Hildegard says about wormwood oil: “If then any person suffers in the chest and around the chest (pain), so that he starts coughing from it, put the ointment there on the chest. If it hurts him in the side, rub him there and it heals him inside and out.” She also recommends frequently the use of Wormwood Wine as a part of her Spring Cleanse from October to May. See our ‘Healing Hildegard’…

This spiced wine recipe from St. Hildegard’s Physica includes violets, galingale, and licorice, and is meant to decrease black bile and therefore melancholy. As it’s written, the wine is quite spicy from the galingale with just a hint of licorice but the rewards of its joy are worth it! “Anyone oppressed by melancholy with a discontented mind, which then harms his lungs, should cook violets in…

These spices smell heavenly. And no wonder, a saint left us the recipe! In her book, Physica, St. Hildegard recommended the use of nutmeg for its healing powers and offered the following recipe. “Nutmeg has great heat and good moderation in its powers. If a person eats nutmeg, it will open up their heart, make their judgment free from obstruction, and give them a good disposition. Take some…