Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 55
February 22, 2017
Wednesday’s Woman: St. Anne Line
The Basics: Born 1567 in England; died February 27, 1601, in England; canonized December 15, 1929, by Pius XI; feast day, October 25. Martyr; wife.
The Story: You might say Anne spent her life sacrificing for her faith. She and her brother were disowned by their Calvinist father when the two of them converted to Catholicism. Anne went on to marry a convert as well. It was illegal to practice Catholicism in England at that time, to the point that her husband was arrested for simply attending...
February 21, 2017
Discussing Who Was the Greatest
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.
It was a joke, I guess. Or maybe a misguided attempt to be helpful. Or maybe I was overly sensitive. Most likely, it was a
Published before 1923 and public domain in the U.S. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
combination of all three.
An acquaintance who is quite sure her vocation as a wife and mother i...
February 15, 2017
Wednesday’s Woman: St. Adela of Normandy
The Basics: Born about 1062 in France; died 1137 in France; canonized pre-congregation; feast day, February 24. Ruler; woman religious.
The Story: Adela was exposed to power and its workings from birth: her father was William the 
Conqueror. When she was about eighteen, she married Stephen of Blois. It appears the marriage worked for them both; the couple had close to a dozen children, and Stephen entrusted Adela with the authority to rule his properties while he was away at the Crusades on s...
February 14, 2017
The Danger of a Little Bad Leaven
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 Pharisees and Herod and his followers didn’t have a lot in common. The Pharisees were all about the ritual and the law of 
religion; those who followed Herod, on the other hand were devoted to a decadent, corrupt lifestyle. They agreed, however, on the danger this Jesus and his teachings about God presented to them. They challenged Jesus and...
February 10, 2017
Enjoy the Little Things
An occasional series based on stuff that hangs in my room… or my heart.
You can enjoy the little things… or long for the big things. You can love what you have… or wish for what you don’t. The choice is 
yours.
This is a hard one for me to write about, because I honestly cannot remember a time when I had my heart set on attaining something large. Oh, a career goal or two, sure. The love of a good man, and I’m blessed to say I’ve experienced that. But a particular car or piece of clothing or fu...
February 8, 2017
Wednesday’s Woman: Josephine Bakhita
The Basics: Born about 1869 in Sudan; died February 8, 1947, in Italy; canonized October 1, 2000, by John Paul II; feast day, February 8. Woman religious.
The Story: It is a story that begins with love and returns to love after more than a decade of suffering and injustice. It is the story of a little girl who had a happy family life until she was ten or so, when slave traders kidnapped her. She was so frightened she never remembered her name. After keeping her in darkness for weeks, the tra...
February 7, 2017
Of Ritual and Worship
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.
(Jesus said to the Pharisees and scribes:) “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition. … You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!” (Mark 7:8,9 NRSVCE)
Pity the Pharisees and the scribes.
Yes, pity them. They were doing what they had been taught, what their mentors had done be...
February 1, 2017
Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Maria Vicenta of Saint Dorothy Chavez Orozco
The Basics: Born February 6, 1867, in Mexico; died July 30, 1949, in Mexico; beatified November 27, 1997, by John Paul II; feast day, July 30. Woman religious; nurse.
The Story: The woman who would become known as Madre Vicentita had a lifelong love affair with Jesus… and nursing. When she was twenty-three, she started helping at a six-bed infirmary her parish priest had established at the rectory. Two years later, she was hospitalized there herself during a bout with pleurisy. She decided to...
On the Nightstand: February 2017
quite so much, and to say no more often. I’m hoping to pick up more tips and skills from this book by Shauna Niequist on embracing what’s important and gently stepping away from what is less so.
Friends in Faith: Betsy Dill
Every time I see something in my inbox from Betsy Dill, I smile. I know it’s going to be filled with positivity, excitement, and faith.
Betsy is the co-director of Capital Christian Writers, and we’ve known each other for close to two decades. It all started back when I was editor of Writer’s Digest magazine, living in Cincinnati, and CCW asked me to come out and give a one-day workshop. It was one of my 
first workshops as WD editor, and I hadn’t been a practicing Christian for decades. But B...
