the mud

 No these are not the words from my kids to me, they are from me to you: Moms out there who are doing it. Love you Moms, who show up Love you Moms, who do the toughest work behind the scenes. Love you Moms, who put a smile on when all you want to do is cry, or at least nap. Love you Moms, who offer a welcome to the newcomer, and a banana to the kids. Love you Moms, who show vulnerability and bravery. Love you Moms, who cut through the small talk and get to the good stuff. Love you Moms, who share the hard parts. Love you Moms, who share the recipes and the gardening tips. Love you Moms, who listen too. Love you Moms, who know what it is to pray, all day and all night some times.  Love you Moms, who are carrying the loaded bags of goodies for our boys, my boy too. Love you Moms, who are carrying heavy burdens. Love you Moms, who lightening each other's loads. You are amazing. You are beautiful. You are powerful. You are holding it all together and yet starting to breathe. You aren&#

I missed writing yesterday, Good Friday. I was preoccupied with getting my house cleaned, a Good Friday tradition in my home growing up. My mother called it a "Big Sweep" and the idea was that you had to clean everything, even under your bed. I don't recall that there was much of anything under my bed, but I guess we had to vacuum there too.  Anyway, as I was cleaning I thoughtfully looked at the Blessed Mother statue on my dresser. I have had it since my grandmother gave it to me either for my first communion or confirmation, I'm not sure which. Either way, it was about 45 years ago! She is a staple there and some days go by when I don't pay much attention to her. She has traveled with me through life and has also collected the wear and tear of accumulated dust, stains, and brokenness.                  Because I wasn't always so careful, her halo is broken. Not just once, but three times. She has markings of coffee spilled on her and stains from dust and who

 No, I do not have servants. I still clean my own house and my husband still does our lawn. We did have a company come to remove a tree, but we don't have servants. The idea of servants is a humbling one to me. I cannot imagine asking someone to do things for me that I could capably do myself. But there is the reverse concept too - Can I imagine myself serving others in a servant position? I don't know. There is something uncomfortable about it.  In the social culture today there is a concept of the Servant Leader. It can be dated back to ancient times, but the basic principle is that a person serves the organization and its people and that the organization serves the person as well. Robert Greenleaf wrote a book on it in the 70s. One question for a servant leader to ask is, "Do we, and those we serve, grow as people?" I have worked for two women in my life who embody this principle. They are such magnanimous leaders that in their presence, you feel lifted. They were

 We are planning a party later this spring that is going to be an open house. We will invite everyone on our list and hope that they can all attend. We will welcome those we haven't seen in a while and those who we see every week. We will welcome those who get on our nerves and those we are close to. We will welcome everyone. The littles, and the bigs, and the old and the young. The neighbors, the family, the old friends, and the new. I started to get the yard ready this morning because we are supposed to have great weather for a few days.  In our search for our mission, our vocation to help others, can we be as welcoming? I never felt so welcomed as when I visited my grandmother when she was still with us. She would stop whatever she was doing and just get a big smile on her face, clasp her hands together, and just bestow so much love on me. From the time I was little I cannot remember a single time she was upset or disappointed in me. If I told her something unpleasant, she would

 Dear Friends, We have made it through Lent, whatever your lenten sacrifices were, planned and unplanned, expected and unexpected. This is Holy Week. We are preparing ever more urgently for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In the Catholic church, we have Holy Thursday - a beautiful evening of prayer around Jesus' last meal - a Seder meal that we share with our Jewish cousins. It is a time to reflect on Christ's last days and conversations he had with friends, always acting to fulfill his purpose here on earth. We have a purpose too. This week I invite you to turn your focus outward. We have thought and rethought about who we are, what we need, what we want, and now we turn to others. What gifts do we have that we can share with others? Our world is so hungry, so in need of our love, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and our mission. How can we feed them?  St. Ignatius called us to be people 'for and with others'. What does that mean to you? Who are you for? Who are