Couple Prayer: The Ultimate Instant Messaging

Which of the following simple, free, daily activities will: 1) make God smile on you and send you powerful help, 2) connect you even more deeply and build spiritual intimacy with your spouse, and 3) dramatically reduce your odds of divorce?

A) Sit in the same room while you each interact with your respective smartphones.
B) Text each other sweet notes throughout the day.
C) Pick up the towels off the floor.
D) Pray together as a couple.

What did you pick? Let’s look at each possibility:
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A Spirituality for Singles

One of my favorite saints was a single laywoman known for her gorgeous hair. She was independent, passionate and completely transformed by Christ. She lived a rich life full of adventure, prayer and evangelization. Mary Magdalen never married or became a nun, but she lived a joyful life that was “single-hearted” for Christ.

More Catholics are single now than ever before, following national trends of adults marrying later, or not at all. In fact, for the first time in history, more singles than married folk head households in America.
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The Power of Couple Prayer

“Praying together is the most powerful predictor of marital happiness that researchers have yet discovered,” wrote the late sociologist Father Andrew Greeley.

One survey found that couples who prayed or read the Bible daily, in addition to weekly church attendance, divorced at a rate of less than 1 per 1,105 marriages. And while 60 percent of couples who pray together “sometimes” checked the box in a survey marked “our marriage is happy,” that number bumped up to 78 percent for those couples who pray together “a lot.” (All research is cited atcoupleprayer.com.) Couple prayer is a powerful means of drawing close to your spouse and blessing your marriage. But how do you do it? Continue reading “The Power of Couple Prayer”

Paris Day 2: Towers of Notre Dame

Ready to see Paris!
Ready to see Paris!

We awoke on a beautiful Saturday morning after our first nights’ sleep in Paris rested and ready to explore. Our first adventure was to climb the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral. When we awoke that morning (at a jet-lagged 4 am!), I had no idea that in a few hours, we’d be climbing the stairs of the famous scientist and future Saint, Servant of God Jerome Lejeune.

What can I say: Paris is magical like that.

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Fr. Jacques Hamel

I would like offer gratitude and love for all our priests, especially our parish priests, and I honor with deep sorrow the martyrdom of Fr. Jacques Hamel yesterday, on the feast of St. Joachim and Anne, in St. Étienne-du-Rouvray, in Normandy, France. This priest was described as grandfatherly, and he died on the feast of Jesus’ own grandfather and grandmother.

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Speaking at the Faith of Fire Catholic Family Conference at St. Mary in Anacortes this weekend!

I gave two talks this weekend for the awesome Faith on Fire Catholic family conference; for the kids and youth I gave a vocation talk we called “Your Amazing Future: Preparing Yourself for Your Own Happily Ever After.” For the women, I gave a talk called “Women of Mercy: The Dignity and Vocation of Women and the Year of Mercy.”

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Why and How We Took Our Family to France

I’ve had the goal of traveling to France with my family to France for six years, since completing my doctorate. My dissertation featured St. Therese of Lisieux, and I wanted to take the trip as a way to celebrate its completion, to visit St. Therese’s sites, and to share my love of the country with my family.

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Nathan and our girls in front of the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux.

So much about France sparks joy for me: its rich spiritual and cultural heritage, its lovely language, and its tasty food. Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary have appeared there, numerous saints have walked its soil, and the Catholic faithful have raised lacy cathedrals, sung sublime music, and lavished works of love and mercy in that country, creating an Catholic culture that has proved enduring. Continue reading “Why and How We Took Our Family to France”

Heading Off to France! Day 1: Vancouver to Paris

We were packed and ready to go to Paris before midnight on the eve of our departure! This was a huge win for Nathan and I, as historically, we’ve been up well into the wee hours packing our family up for a trip. It’s quite possible that in the evenings leading up to departure I may have experienced massive anxiety symptoms, which I may have soothed by searching for and then giggling over Pride and Prejudice memes on the interwebs.
Fortunately, Nathan has a secret ninja skill: he is MasterPacker. Also, he just buckles right down to work and doesn’t scorn me if I fritter my time away by laughing myself to tears over P&P memes when I should be, for example, sealing our liquid toiletries in plastic baggies. Continue reading “Heading Off to France! Day 1: Vancouver to Paris”

Cluny, and Beata’s Birthday

Yesterday we visited the remains of the Abbey of Cluny, and Beata turned 5!

Cluny was the head of a network of a hundred monasteries in its heyday. We’ve visited several medieval sites by now, including Mont St. Michel, which had been an Abby also, and is once again! Yay for the Communauté de Jérusalem taking up residence and praying there recently! Also, we’ve seen several cathedrals and castles, as well as the Musée du Moyen Âge in Paris, which is housed in a former medieval abby (confusingly also named Cluny, not sure why) built on the ruins of Roman baths. (That is us with my grad school mentor’s wife and daughters, whom we bumped into in the gift shop at the Musée du Moyen Âge, followed by Notre Dame de Paris and Mont St. Michel)

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Our Frugal Dream Trip to France! The Adventure Begins…

This summer we traveled to France with our four daughters, ages 2,  4 turning 5, 10, and 12. I am carrying the prayer intentions many of you have entrusted to me in an envelope in my purse, which I bring to the shrines and sanctuaries we visit. I kneel or stand, pull it out and set it before the altar, statue, or relics, or simply hold it up, offering up prayer for all of you.

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