Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 14

Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, ...

Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

Three months ago when I looked at the calendar and saw that I would be writing a Daily Tripod on St. Patricks Day, I started thinking about what story I would share today: The tale of how my rapscallion Irish great-grandfather tricked his beloved into thinking they were married? The story of how Manny, the-best-dog-who-ever-lived, in the minute I was not in the...

Setting Things Right

Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me atYour Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

We were okay at first, sharing some outside interests and friendships. What we did at work didn’t intersect much.

Then I moved into a new role, a role for which he had little respect and that he didn’t think our employer needed. More than two years have passed with him ignoring me, seeking to go around me, or yelling at me, which is not part of our work culture...

Praying Without Words

Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me atYour Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with crying out to God for relief when the cross you carry seems too heavy.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with offering sincere thanks for the overwhelming blessings in your life.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with praising Him and adoring Him for the glimmers of His glory that we understand and the greatness beyond our...

On the Nightstand: Tuesday’s Journal

It was the day after Ash Wednesday when I stopped by my business mailbox. I had about a million things on my to-do list for the coming three days, and I knew I wouldn’t get through them even with having Friday off. But along with the usual magazines and solicitations was this lovely book, written by my friends Penny Bailey and Laura Roland, the founders of the Encounter Grace ministry to women.

At first I felt awful; I’d meant to order a copy of the book, fifty-two words, one per week, and...

Friends in Faith: Sister Mary Margaret Ann Schlather

SisterMaryMargaret Ann Schlather, SND, is my very favorite lector at my parish, and occasionally it’s my honor to lector with her. Her voice carries well, she makes great eye contact, and the way she proclaims makes me feel like the writer is speaking directly to me.

Sister’s also a great listener, especially to God. She’s the dean of catechetical programs at Catholic Distance Universityand is currently juggling the complex process of acquiring three accreditations for the university–all in...

The Race

Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me atYour Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

Do you want to be first?

Okay, so maybe not first. But probably not last. Last can leave us with the piece of cake with the least frosting on it, the book with a flaw on the cover, the prayer card for a saint we don’t know anything about… you know, the leftovers physically or spiritually.

And yet, last is exactly where God wants us.

I have this sign on the wall...

George, Betty, and Me

People ask me if I’ve always been a writer, and I usually answer that while I remember writing a story called “Amy’s Valentine” in fourth grade, not really much after that for decades. But in sorting through school stuff recently, I found a story that predates Amy by a year, “The Fourth of July.”

“Very interesting story,” Mrs. Ellwein or our student teacher wrote at the top. (Mrs. Ellwein’s comments on my final report card were less nuanced; I’d missed something like 50 days of school and she...

We’re All Right, Mom

Her name was Gloria Mary Monica Smith Rigney, and she died thirty years ago today. She grew up in small towns all across Wisconsin; spent probably the two happiest years of her life in Washington, D.C., near the end of World War II (the era in which this photo was taken); and ended up in South Dakota because that’s where her parents had moved. She loved to read everything from classic novels to trashy confessional magazines. She loved her mom and her four kids more than she ever loved her...

Temptation

Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me atYour Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

God is not in that doughnut, regardless of how good it looks and how wonderful it tastes.

God is not in those words that rush to your lips when your toddler delights in using anything but the toilet.

God is not in the way you clutch your wallet close because someone who looks a bit different is passing you on the sidewalk.

God is not in that clothing or gardening...

About Faith, Tradition… and Pot Roasts

Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me atYour Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

Back in the dark ages, I took a college course titled “Individual and the Family.” It must have been required for one of my majors, because I surely wouldn’t have taken it otherwise.

The only thing I remember from that class is the story of the pot roast. A woman, newlywed, made a pot roast. Her husband asked why she cut it in half and put it into pans to roast....