Mary Marrocco

A person who’s been through such shattering experiences might well feel broken into unconnected bits and pieces. Not having a narrative that brings the bits together is itself an anguish. We need to know our story, even in an incomplete way; learning and telling that story helps brings beauty and meaning to our lives.

One morning before dawn, Sam wakes to sounds of his next-door neighbour screaming and swearing. He hears banging sounds, as of things being thrown around. He knows an older man, young woman and a child live there. Does he mind his own business? Does he excoriate them for waking him up? Does he investigate or go back to sleep?

At a church event for seniors, activities and games were organized for guests, with lunch, snacks and prayer time. To the surprise of all, one woman’s voice echoed throughout the afternoon, complaining she didn’t get anything she wanted, didn’t feel well treated, and was bitterly disappointed.

As we come to trust God, suffering doesn’t go away but is changed. There’s no place it can go where joy cannot reach, but there’s a place joy can go where suffering cannot reach. That’s called love.

We all face the challenge of finding our place. But the most serious task anyone will ever have is to find one’s place in the Church.

The glorious love within the three-in-one God is the love that greets Mary Magdalene and the women before dawn, that greets Peter who betrayed Jesus and John who loved Him, and that offers His wounds to the finger of Thomas.

Ann’s father was dying. Her pastor’s compassion unlocked something inside her, and she found herself talking to him about the pain of her marriage. Now a decade old, it had always been unhappy.

Recovering from illness, Stan was not well enough to return to work, but sufficiently well to take interest in life—and feel guilty through doing less than usual.

Should a spouse expect to know what the other spouse says in confession? Some, whether from anxiety, past hurts or other reasons, feel aggrieved at not being told.

My mother liked to recall walking to Midnight Mass under the moon on the cold, clear December night when, for the first time in history, people were “up” there. That Christmas Eve, three humans circled the moon 10 times, broadcasting back home a reading from the book of Genesis.