January 8, 2022

More Joy in Heaven…

This week my old friend, Fr Dave, flipped his car on an icy Michigan road. He was killed instantly. Today Craig and I drove up for the funeral, and I was reminded that at almost exactly the same time last year, we were saying goodbye to Fr Ubald. Both were holy priests in their fifties. In both cases, you could nearly hear heaven resound with “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.” The cathedral was packed, with many more watching livestream. Dozens of his brother priests lined the front pews, surrounding his dear mother and sister and family as […]
September 9, 2021

The Day I Argued with God: A healing #PrayerStory

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about why God heals certain people, and not others. My uncle Don passed away yesterday, and I also found out that a friend from my Bethany days — a lovely, prayerful lady who has been battling brain cancer for several years now — has had her cancer return. When I go for my uncle’s funeral next week, I hope I get a chance to hug her one more time. (Please pray for Joyce.) It was at Bethany that God began to teach me about the reality of healing, and God’s purpose for it. Jesus healed many people over […]
July 1, 2021

The Stations of Our Lives: A Visit to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help (Champion)

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin was a kind of “home away from home” for Father Ubald, who frequently visited this Marian site of visitation — the only approved apparition site in the U.S. — to conduct his healing prayer services and to recharge his spiritual batteries. And so when I had an opportunity to go and see this beautiful place, which was to be the site of Fr. Ubald’s memorial Mass, Craig and I leaped at the chance. And we are so glad we did! From the white marble Stations to the underground oratory, which contains relics from […]
May 14, 2021

A Writer’s Rosary: The Sorrowful Mysteries

Jen Norton captures the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary in a powerful way in Surrender All.   If you do  not already own a copy of this full-color devotional journal, please do yourself a favor and get one! Jen was kind enough to give me permission to use her artwork to illustrate the reflections here — if you would like to see more of her artwork, or purchase prints, be sure to check out her website at Jen Norton Art Studio. Last week I introduced you to Fr. Ubald and his “Rosary of My Life.”   I asked you to think of the five “mysteries” that […]
March 14, 2021

What’s a #PrayerStory?

I love hearing people’s prayer stories — how they put their faith on the line with Jesus (or, in some cases, with his mother, who is also a powerful pray-er. Kind of like my mother). And somehow, their prayers were answered, often above and beyond what they originally asked. Now, God is not some great Bubblegum Ball Machine in the Sky. You can’t force his hand with selfish demands, like a petulant teenager. “Okay, God, either you give me ____ or I won’t speak to you again” won’t wash with the Almighty. Or his mother. But God is a patient Father — a patient adoptive […]
January 8, 2021

Remembering Fr. Ubald (RIP 1/7/2021)

The first thing you’d notice was not his collar, but his smile. Despite the great sorrows he had experienced — or perhaps because of them — Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga was full of joy. I think that this joy was actually a source and sign of his healing gift, for both things emanated from the same place: an unshakable trust in the God who never failed him. Not when he lost first his father, then his brother and mother and dozens of members of his own family, in the genocide against the Tutsi people. Not when his own parishioners cast him out of the parish he […]