by Claire Dwyer | Jun 26, 2019 | Everyday Holiness, Saints, spirituality
The young Spanish priest had felt in his prayer an unidentified urging for several years, a vague call, a sense of something more. On October 2, 1928, while pondering some notes in his journal, Fr. Josemaría Escrivá suddenly saw it: the ‘call within a call’ such as...
by Claire Dwyer | Jun 20, 2019 | Catholic Church, spirituality
“Mommy, why are two churches burning?” His little face looked up at mine, hair tousled, eyes troubled. He was thinking of the photos he had seen of the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He was thinking also of our neighborhood church of St. Joseph, which had...
by Claire Dwyer | Jun 1, 2019 | Discernment, spirituality
It was almost exactly one year ago when I cried out in prayer to God: “I can’t do this anymore!” I remember I was sitting on the edge of the couch, clutching the cushions. Life felt so overwhelming and I had reached a physical and emotional, and I...
by Claire Dwyer | Mar 30, 2019 | Eucharist, prayer, Saints, spirituality
Some time ago at Sunday Mass, I looked up to see a woman texting on her phone in line for Holy Communion. My heart stopped. It was the most blatant, shocking show of distraction I’d ever seen. To be so close to Jesus, to be approaching this intimate moment of...
by Claire Dwyer | Mar 17, 2019 | Mary, parenthood, prayer, spirituality
My son Daniel was just a small baby when we flew out to visit family in Wisconsin. Strapped in his car seat on the plane, completely unaware of where I was taking him, he was obligingly content throughout the flight. Then, as we began our descent, there was sudden...
