In recent months, I’ve been retreating periodically from Facebook as it grows steadily more toxic. But I have never before seen the level of toxicity that I have seen this week. I got on this morning, after a two-day (mostly) social media rest, and I shared the video linked below without comment. But then I…
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Mad Lib Theology
Today, I visit my blog to talk about this girl: Wednesday nights, Julianna goes to “church school” (because it’s easier for little kids to say than “religious ed”) while we’re having choir practice. Usually, in the chaos of grabbing boys from the nursery, cleaning up octavos and books, and getting an overtired family of six…
Read MoreThe Multiplication of Rage
You know how muscles get stronger, right? It’s by being broken down. Stressing muscles causes micro-tears that allow for growth. This seems a very appropriate analogy for life right now. I am going through a time of great spiritual…let’s call it development. “Reorientation” and “upheaval” both sound good, but they aren’t really accurate. Basically, I…
Read MoreOn the Need For Retreat
I am sitting in the dark this morning. Despite my hopes, I woke up a little before five, but instead of the usual mad scramble to figure out how to make use of the time, I laid in bed and allowed myself to drift in my sleepiness, listening to the sounds of the retreat center,…
Read MoreHumanity at its best
At yesterday’s flute recital, I skipped a line in the first movement of the hardest piece we were playing and nearly freaked out both myself and my flute duo partner. Um, never mind the “nearly.” Luckily, it was the kind of piece that no one but the composer and ourselves could distinguish any trouble, and…
Read MoreIf You’re Not Outraged…
We’ve been angry a lot this calendar year. Last calendar year, too, truth be told. The world seems made for making us angry right now. But it came to a head in the last week, and in one of those convergences that can only be a sign of the Holy Spirit at work, for three…
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A White Christian Wrestles With Race
In my Catholic elementary school, there were three minorities, all Hispanic. I lived in the country, and my neighbors were white. All of them. My teachers emphasized repeatedly and strongly that skin color was irrelevant in the eyes of God. I remember singing “What Color is God’s Skin?” (this version) in music class. But as I’ve…
Read MoreStaying Home vs. Working Mom
Last week, we watched the movie Suffragette. I hope many of you have watched it, so I don’t have to explain that it was…sad. Sad beyond expression. But one thing that really struck me in that movie was the fact that Maud worked full time—more than full time—outside the home. She sent her kid off…
Read MoreFirst Communion Day
The Conundrum of Wanting To Be a Christian Nation
Right after 9/11, a man I know shared a vision he had. His vision was of the people of the Middle East hearing American planes coming, except instead of dropping bombs, they dropped food and water and medical supplies. (He wrote it much more poetically than that, but that was the gist of it.) At…
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Kathleen M. Basi 