#PrayerStory - Life on the Road Less Traveled

August 7, 2021

Transfigured Silence

This weekend I’m enjoying a little down time on retreat at the St Joseph and Mary Retreat House near Mundelein Seminary. As it happens, it’s right near the National Shrine of St Max Kolbe, so I know where I’ll be heading on my way home! Tonight’s readings included the Gospel about the Transfiguration, how the glory of the Lord burst on the senses of all present, so they could see with new eyes the divine reality present right in front of them. There in that darkened chapel, after the final benediction, the monstrance glowed with a captivating shine. Suddenly a song from my youth group […]

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 […]