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...
by Claire Dwyer | Mar 16, 2019 | Everyday Holiness, parenthood, Saints
Know Thyself, and thy faults, and thus live. – St. Augustine My mother had me pegged at a very young age. I remember walking into her bedroom as she put down the book Transformed Temperaments by Tim LaHaye and smiled at twelve-year-old me. ...
by Claire Dwyer | Oct 24, 2018 | parenthood, prayer
I sat at the kitchen counter, twirling a pen, my calendar open before me. I was determined to find a way to create some more order to my time and my life. In the early days of finally having all six of my children in school, I had already noticed that rather than...
by Claire Dwyer | Aug 13, 2018 | Catholic Church, parenthood, The Sacred Everyday
We pulled up to my childhood home in the middle of the night, the Wisconsin green shrouded in darkness. I immediately sensed all the summers of my childhood in the dim stillness as the screen door squeaked shut behind us. Whispering, I led five of my...
by Claire Dwyer | Jan 25, 2018 | Everyday Holiness, parenthood, scripture, The Sacred Everyday
Liturgically, we’re taking a brief breath in ordinary time. We’ve lived the long wait of Advent, and Christmas has been celebrated and it’s trappings stored away – nativity sets snuggled in attic alcoves and ornaments stacked in garage bins. I’m still polishing...
by Claire Dwyer | Oct 27, 2017 | Everyday Holiness, parenthood
The slick website invited me to take a productivity assessment. This should be interesting, I thought, scanning the piles of papers, laundry and dishes stacked around me. Let’s see how productive I am. Ten minutes later, I had my answer. Turns out I’m “not quite a...