by Jen Owens In this week’s readings, I hear a call to love. At the outset, Jeremiah tells us of a theophany he experienced, one that wraps him in a love that is bigger than words can express. God said to him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were [...]
Filed under: Jen Owens, Sunday reading reflections | Tagged: baptism, catechism, king, love, priest, prophet | Leave a Comment »
Check out our latest installment of “In All Things” over at patheos.
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By Kate Dugan Next month marks three years since Jen and I moved From the Pews in the Back from an idea we bounced around in any spare moment we had together to a public project. We put out the call for submissions by young women about being Catholic at the end of next month. [...]
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by Angela Batie I’ve been undertaking Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises this year. This endeavor, which Karen Armstrong recently called a “crash course in mysticism” has been one of great expectation for me. I’ve been told that I would be transformed, would be seduced by prayer, and would emerge a different person than I set out. As [...]
Filed under: Angela Batie Carlin, Spiritual Identity | Tagged: ignatius of loyola, Spiritual Exercises | 1 Comment »
by Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello For more than a year-and-a-half I have been able to spend only limited time with my son and husband as jobs and the economy keep us in different time zones. Sustaining family life has been a challenge. But for three blissful weeks around Christmas we were all together. Like all family gatherings [...]
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Check out From the Pews in the Back contributor Eileen Markey’s most recent piece for Busted Halo, “Living in Limbo.”
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by Rebecca Lynne Fullan I ride the subway so often that I’ve started to have a very strong psychological response to it. I stand, often in a place that is cold, dark, and damp with a sort of generic, don’t-forget-you’re-underground dampness, and I peer and hope into a tunnel, deep and long to the point [...]
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Check out this reflection on the Haiti earthquake at Busted Halo.
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Check out this review of From the Pews in the Back in the Winter edition of St. John’s Abbey’s The Abbey Banner.
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By Kate Henley Averett Today is the second Sunday in Ordinary Time, but if you’ve been paying attention to the news this week, you know that it is no ordinary time. Nothing about this week has felt ordinary. When I open my laptop and pull up the New York Times or the Huffington Post, I [...]
Filed under: Kate Henley Averett, Sunday reading reflections | Tagged: calling, earthquake relief for Haiti, gifts, Ordinary Time | 2 Comments »
By Jessica Coblentz My parents continue to reside and worship in the Seattle suburb where I grew up, so the holidays are a time when I return home to the Catholic parish of my youth. I often find myself feeling sentimental as I recognize the things about our community that have not changed. The sanctuary [...]
Filed under: Growing Up Catholic, Jessica Coblentz | Tagged: Eucharist, parish life | 3 Comments »
Rebecca Fullan’s article is live over at patheos.com. Check it out & join the conversation on faith and the body on that site.
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By Eileen Markey This week’s readings present a dicotomy between anger and mercy. Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 is interpreted in Catholic tradition as foreshadowing John, who came before and “prepared the way” for Christ. In Luke’s Lk 3:15-16, 21-22 Gospel we read the scene of Jesus’ baptism, where John says he is not the messiah, only [...]
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By Kate Dugan It’s snowing today in Chicago. The weather forecasters were warning about the morning commute and the National Weather Service people told us to make sure we had flashlights ready. On my morning run, there were several do-good shovelers out there shoveling, even as the snow continued. For as long as I can [...]
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by Jen Owens Reflecting on today’s readings, I identify most closely with the magi. During this Christmas season and throughout this past year, I found myself spending quite a bit of time reflecting on gifts–the gifts that God has shared with others and with me, the gifts that I try to share with God and [...]
Filed under: Feast of the Epiphany, Jen Owens | Tagged: calling, Feast of the Epiphany, gift, magi | 3 Comments »
