Jonathan Ryan's Blog, page 2

Dark Devotional: The Virgin Mary’s Guide to Biblical Motherhood

When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety” (Luke 2:48).   ’Twas the Sunday after Christmas and all through conservative Catholicland the great post-Christmas drama for fundamentalist Catholics is […]

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Two Out of Three

    The Scriptures sacred to Christians say “These three abide: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.” [1 Cor. 13:13]   What happens for persons in whom faith no longer abides? Can they still practice hope and love?   A few weeks ago, friends who find they have lost their […]

Dark Devotional: Mary, Motherhood, and Mixed Feelings

  Dark Devotional: Mary, Motherhood, and Mixed Feelings   Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. The final Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Mary’s assent, the Sunday of motherhood. It is also the Sunday of Mary, did you know? and Breath of Heaven. […]

The Third Sunday of Advent: Love is Coming

Well, this week has gotten away from me. It was a seemingly endless stream of cumulative small stressors leaving me feeling bone tired. That was before I had to drive two hours each way in a dense fog during a driving rainstorm to attend the memorial service for a young man who struggled so painfully […]

Dark Devotional: Holding the Door for Jesus

  Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior (Zeph. 3:16–17).   “It’s the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the closing of the Year of Saint Joseph,” my roommate told me when she invited me to attend Mass with her. In the Diocese of […]

Things Keeping Us Going: Santa Barf Edition

Thanksgiving was bittersweet. Traditionally, it is the holiday we celebrate with my Personal Chef’s clan in midcoast Maine. The oldest sister and her husband fly in from out west. The oldest niece comes up from Virginia. We drive up from Massachusetts. Three, and now and again four, generations of the family spend the holiday together. […]

Second Sunday in Advent: Let Me Love You Right Now

What are you waiting for? Kristen challenged me with this question on the first day of Advent. I was at once giddy to have a focus for the season, and heartbroken because the answer isn’t so simple. I’ve shared before that I’m at a low point faith-wise. When we left the Catholic church during Holy […]

First Sunday of Advent: What Are You Waiting For?

Another advent season has begun, the second one in this Covid-19 pandemic. It snuck up on me this year. In fact, the realization that today is the first Sunday of advent woke me up out of a sound sleep in the wee hours of this morning—not with a feeling of panic that I completely forgot […]

Dark Devotional: Can We Love the Alien?

  This Sunday is the last Sunday in the liturgical year, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This solemnity was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in his encyclical, Quas Primas, at a time when secularism was on the rise. His hope was for a threefold blessing from the […]

Things Keeping Us Going: Visiting, I Mean Baking Edition

Just because I married a chef, doesn’t mean I cannot cook, you know. That wasn’t always the case. I came into this marriage as a TERRIBLE cook. My mama is a good cook. She can really throw down. She couldn’t stand how messy I was in her kitchen, though, so she gave up trying to […]