Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 58

On the Nightstand: December 2016

Those who know me best will tell you I am good–very good, in fact–at identifying myshortcomings: bluntness. Impatience. A tendency to put myself and my needs last in favor of people pleasing. In fact, dwelling on my shortcomings becomes a shortcoming in and of itself.

That’s why I’m looking forward this month to reading Elizabeth Scalia’s Little Sins Mean a Lot: Kicking Our Bad Habits Before They Kick Us. In the book, Scalia details 13 “little sins.” Chapter 3 is titled “Self-Neglect.” I thin...

Friends in Faith: Heidi Hess Saxton

Heidi Hess Saxton and I first crossed virtual paths nearly twenty years ago when I was the editor of Writer’s Digest magazine and she was a freelance writer. She was the kind of freelancer I enjoyed working with-always on time, her articles hitting the mark in content andlength.

Flash forward a few years and this time I was the one pitching an article to her, an article that never quite worked. We met in person for the first time in the summer of 2015, and it as if we’d known each other for...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas

The Basics:Born October 4, 1843, in what is now Israel; died March 27, 1927, in Israel; canonized May 17, 2015, by Pope Francis; feast day, March 25; woman religious.

The Story:Marie-Alphonsine was born into a very large family–nineteen children, eight of whom lived beyond childhood. She felt called to the religious life, and in 1862 took her final vows in the Religious of St. Joseph of the Apparition community. It was nearly twelve years later, on the Feast of the Epiphany, that she first ha...

Of Signals and Signs

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

Signals. Generally, we obey them. The light turns green, we go. The fire alarm goes off, we look for the nearest exit. Our hearts flutter strangely during the night, we go to the doctor. The bell chimes at a concert, we return to our seats. Signals protect us from harm. They let us know something is changing.

Consider the ways in which the Lord i...

Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Giovannina Franchi

The Basics:Born June 24, 1807, in Italy; died February 23, 1872, in Italy; beatified September 20, 2014; feast day, February 23; woman religious, nurse.

The Story:Some would say Giovannina came to the Lord’s plan late. One of seven children born into a financially comfortable family, she started helping the homebound while in school. Then, in her early thirties, Giovannina became engaged, only to have her fiance died. Her parents and an uncle followed in the next ten years.

The uncle’s death...

Of Stomping and Sin

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

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.(Revelation 14:19, NRSVCE)

Wine making was not for the weak at the time the Book of Revelation was being written. The grapes would be placed in some sort of basin and stomped—and stomped and stomped. Th...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Anna Schaffer

The Basics:Born February 18, 1882, in Germany; died October 5, 1925, in Germany; canonized October 21, 2012, by Benedict XVI; feast day, October 5; laywoman.

The Story:Anna’s life was far from easy, but she had a plan: she would become a missionary. To earn her dowry and to help her family, she went to work at age thirteen. A few years later, she left a job after she saw a man holding a rosary who said she would suffer a great deal before she was twenty. The vision proved to be correct: Just...

Letting Jesus In

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

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. (Luke 19:5-6, NRSVCE)

Just as He did with Zacchaeus, Jesus wants to stay at your house. Today. Immediately. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Sounds awesome. Sounds like maybe t...

Returning Catholics FAQs: Political Disputes

Please note: As of November 15, 2016, I’ll be taking a hiatus from answering questions here from returning Catholics. If you have a question, please search the site, or email me.

How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics , a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.

Now that the election is over, some of my friends are distraught and in despair over the results and t...

In Praise of Predictability

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

Predictability.

We might say we like uncertainty, thrive on the fact that our lives are never the same one day to the next. But uncertainty drains us. It causes us to always think ahead, always wonder about what is coming and how we’ll deal with it. We sacrifice the present because we are focused on what might happen in the future. In the same wa...