This past week we celebrated Corpus Christi – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. How many of us took time to celebrate, to recognize, and to pray in thanksgiving for the gift of the Eucharist? How many of us savored this solemnity, accompanying our loved ones living with dementia in
So much more than the Imagination of Hope Read More »
I grew up in an arts family. My family tree is filled with artists and designers spanning many different mediums. Our home was filled with art, that much like the cheese in our house, was always real, made by local artists, family members, and quality reproductions. Music too filled my home with a piano always
To Call ONESELF an Artist Read More »
Growing up in Northeast Wisconsin, the Friday Fish Fry was never reserved only for Lent, but a year-round occurrence. Everyone had their favorite place, their local supper club, and, their favorite freshwater fish or shrimp. Some of us gathered weekly, going out for fish as if we were stopping at one’s favorite pizza joint or
In Defense of the Friday Fish Fry Read More »
To enter into joy and beauty is not to negate the sorrow. To magnify a celebration is not to ignore the sadness. We do not cover up, but enter into the Both/And. The desert too has flowers.
Pancakes, Lent, and Our Need to be Seen Read More »
This past season, I lost two very close family members in short order. One was a shock, the other expected. Regardless of the circumstances that revolve around one’s death, the grief felt by those left here on earth remains strong, overwhelming, and heavy. When that grief intertwines with the holidays, we can find ourselves unaware
Inviting Grief and Joy Intertwine Read More »
The season has changed. Summer has ended and Autumn has begun. So many times throughout our lives we encounter these moments. The end and the beginning, the last time and the first time. We are not always aware of the last time something occurred in our lives the same way we are when something begins.
Forward with Joy: Navigating Endings and Beginnings Read More »
We sit in this space between celebrating the 3rd World Day for Grandparents and Elders and the start of World Youth Day in Portugal. These two events in the Church, show us the beauty of life and the importance of honoring the life of our youth AND our elders. Over the past decade or so,
Letter to the Church – The Beauty of Elderhood Read More »
Earlier this month I had a conversation with an individual who was struggling. They work as a care partner in senior living, and the stress of the industry before the pandemic, compounded by the new stresses of care since have caused this individual to reach a breaking point. “I feel I am miles past burnout
Mind, Body, and Spirit of the Care Partner Read More »
As we continue this month’s special focus on our grandparents (spiritual, adopted, biological) I am reminded of my own. Last Friday, the 14th, marked 18 years since my grandmother’s diagnosis with Vascular Dementia. 18 years of knowing this dementia journey from a personal perspective. That same year, 8 days later, I lost my grandfather. For
Where Dignity and Care Intertwine Read More »
If you found this post and clicked in, you already know the importance of continuing your faith while living with dementia. You know that faith, and our religious traditions, are the foundation of our lives. Our relationship with Christ is the most important relationship we can enter into. So, why does it feel like we
Creative Engagement and the Church Read More »
It is June and my mind has wandered to GIVEN. Yes, it is the month of the Sacred Heart, my birthday month, and the start of summer, but GIVEN is on my mind and I am filled with gratitude when I think of the gift that GIVEN is to young Catholic women and the greater
Looking around the Adoration Chapel, wounds of 2020 linger on the kneelers like ghosts. The scars of a time when we were denied access to the Sacraments, a time when all that we are as Catholics were attacked in the name of safety. We found ourselves without a community, without the Eucharist, and without the
Our Divine Mercy Invitation Read More »
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, The day I stopped my ministry as an altar server I was lost. I felt my role and place in the church was over and nothing could replace it. Dramatic, maybe, but these were and are the feelings that still run through my mind from time to time. I
A Letter for Holy Week Read More »
Lent – 2023 We enter Lent this year with what seems like a train moving at warp speed. We are in a state of whiplash, confusion, and sadness. Yet, Jesus invites us into this season with one hand held out to reach ours, walking on the foundation of His sacrificial love and the joy only
I lie in bed, looking at each minute go by 1:00 AM, 1:01 AM, 1:02 AM. My mind starts to kick into gear. After all this time. After all these struggles and tears, losses and pain was this how I finally was going to give up on God? I had outlasted friends, family, and peers.
A Lenten Invitation from Christ Read More »
Welcome to Advent! Each year I facilitate an Advent retreat for individuals living with dementia and their care partners. It has grown from a simple small email each week to a full 4-week event with reflections, videos, and community. As I was working on this year’s theme I started to wonder about the conversations that
Received with the Little Drummer Boy Read More »
Sitting in a Catholic Artist workshop in New York, I am having flashbacks to a medal and a small statue packed away somewhere back at my parent’s house in Wisconsin. Objects that were given to me years ago but were simply beautiful Catholic objects and nothing more. I was being drawn in, wondering their exact
Entrusted to Our Lady Read More »
“The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm.” – St. Therese of Lisieux It is easy to see the beauty of a certain stage of life and only the darkness of another. Yet, as we are
The Splendor of All Life Read More »
(Originally posted on dementialettersproject.com in September 2019) As care partners, individuals with dementia, and people of faith, we pray. We pray for miracles of Biblical proportion, and the size of a mustard seed. We pray Novenas, clutch our rosary beads as we say the Chaplet or Mysteries of the Rosary. We pray, and we hope,
An Unanswered Prayer Read More »
(Originally posted on dementialettersproject.com in January 2020) There is something about a burnt tea kettle that connects all of us. We seem to have those stories, don’t we? Of a time when we forgot to put water in the kettle and turned on the burner or the time when we put it in the oven
Are We Like a Burnt Tea Kettle? Read More »