Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 36

Whoever Receives One Child

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

I went to a baptism the other day (not the one pictured here), and was struck anew by the Lord’s amazing grace.

My friends and four other couples were there, babies in godparents’ arms, gathered around the baptismal font. Everyone was dressed up for Jesus, positively beaming. I think the babies felt it too; there wasn’t a single cry during the c...

Be Present

An occasional series based on stuff that hangs in my room… or my heart.

I was in Baltimore’s Hampden neighborhood, a once working class area gone arty that still retains its grit (and the charm that “Charm City” sometimes sadly lacks). A cousin’s daughter was nearing the end of her Johns Hopkins days, and my sister and I went up after work to go to dinner with her one last time. Bookstores, clothing stores, yarn shops… we wandered in and out of a lot of interesting places, but I wasn’t buying...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Beatrice of Nazareth

The Basics: Born about 1200 in Belgium; died August 29, 1268, in Belgium; feast day, July 29; woman religious, mystic, writer.

The Story: She’s a writer–and beatified woman religious–you may have never heard of if you live outside Belgium. And that’s a pity, because Beatrice’s Seven Ways of Divine Love is a wonderful read.

By WouterHav [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)], from Wikimedia Commons

Born into a wealthy family, the youngest of six children, Beatrice’s mot...

The Course

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

“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” (John 17:1-2, NRSVCE)

They call it the high priestly prayer, the words Jesus says to the Father before His Passion begins. The agony in the garden past, the instru...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Ida of Leuven

The Basics: Born about 1219 in Belgium; died about 1290 in Belgium; beatified in 1719 by Clement XI; feast day, April 13; woman religious, mystic.

The Story: You might say Ida always marched to her own drummer, who was the Lord. Born into a wealthy family, she loved to spend her time as a child praying the Hail Mary…. sometimes as often as a thousand times a day.

She accepted her family’s opposition to becoming a woman religious and despite protestations and persecutions from her father in pa...

Of Being There

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

The doors flew open. The prisoners’ chains were pulled loose. And earthquake or no earthquake, the jailer knew who would be blamed for the escapes: him. Better to die a quick, private death than torture and public humiliation, he decided, drawing his sword. There was no other way out.

But there was. And it was those who had been physically impri...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Marianna Fontanella (Maria degli Angeli)

The Basics: Born January 7, 1661, in Italy; died December 16, 1717, in Italy; beatified July 14, 1865, by Pius IX; feast day, December 16; woman religious.

The Story: Like so many people–canonized and otherwise–Marianna’s behaviors could seem contradictory at times. One of eleven children born to a noble family of Turin, when she was six or so, she and a younger brother plotted to run off into the desert like the saints they had heard about. However, they were both asleep at the agreed-upon t...

Some Time with God and Community

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

And when (Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch), they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. And they stayed there with the disciples for some time. (Acts 14:27-28, NRSVCE)

Seleucia. Salamis. Paphos. Perga. Antioch. Iconium. Lystra. Derbe. Attalia. Then ba...

On the Nightstand: This Sacred Moment

This book had me at the second line on the back cover: “Any and every situation holds the grace for the transformation called holiness.” Ah, but recognizing that in the moment can be so hard. I’m looking forward to a few more positive transformation moments, courtesy of the author, Albert Haase, a Franciscan priest and former missionary to China. The idea of becoming closer to holy right where we are is most appealing, don’t you think?

What’s on your nightstand?

Godtalk

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

The Pew Research Center recently released a study about Americans’ view of God, with results that might surprise you. Among Christians, Catholics trailed the pack in belief in God “as described in the Bible” at just 69 percent (mainline Protestants followed at 72 percent), and somehow, I don’t think that figure had much to do with a richer belie...