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Are You Longing for Answered Prayer? Candlelit Tears is Dedicated to You.
Candlelit Tears came from a very difficult period in life when God felt far off and prayers seemed to be going nowhere. It’s an awful thing to live through. Yet, we’re all called to suffer while we groan for God every now and then. It is what it is. I went through a long period…
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Why do We Say Grace Before We Eat? How Killing a Kitten Helped Me to Figure That Out.
I grew up under the wing of a grandmother with an indomitable spirit and a deep, rich understanding of the Catholic faith. She was also an inventive cook, which meant that we never really knew what to expect until the food ended up on our plates. Sometimes it was delicious, sometimes it was awful. Despite…
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Why I Love Being in Music Ministry: Unity with Minimal Drama
One of the greatest things about music in ministry is that it has such a tremendous capacity to unite people. Music unites those who come to hear it, but it also unites those who perform it too. People from all walks of life and skill-levels come together to learn how to function as a cohesive,…
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How Longing for God Led to Advent
Advent started out as a melody that I recorded during the summer, but I didn’t re-visit it until the following fall. Sometimes I just shelve things and forget about them as life hums along. When I listened to it again, the first thing I thought about was how nice it would sound with a cello…
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The Church Is Worth Fighting for, and the Fight Needs You.
This is a hard time to be alive in the Church today. We’ve spent a lot of time, money and resources over the years trying to figure out why people are so disaffected or disengaged with the faith. Yet, like our healthcare philosophy in this country, we keep focusing on symptoms instead of identifying and…
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Find the Spirit of God in the Stillness
I’ve never been very familiar with the Holy Spirit. I’ve been an “active” Christian for most of my life, yet that mysterious part of the Trinity is the one that I know the least about. Isn’t that something? I’m legitimately disappointed to read these words and realize that they come from me. Imagine being in…
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How God Used My Dentist to Save My Soul
I was hurt by the Church years ago. I had no idea how to handle or work through it at the time, so I reciprocated in kind and left. I left the faith behind and spent the next few years living a spectacularly-sinful life that could give the original prodigal son a run for his…
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How My Love for Priests Led Me to Discern the Diaconate
Why does a half-baked musician trained in the sciences and peacebuilding want to become a deacon? I don’t know exactly, but it seems like a good fit for where my heart is at. I always had an affinity for priests, religious and lost souls. I’m blessed with a special, familial love for them that I…