Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 98
November 1, 2014
Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Maria Restituta
The Basics:Born May 1, 1894, in what is now the Czech Republic; died March 30, 1943, in Austria; beatified June 21, 1998, by John Paul II; feast day, October 29. Woman religious, surgical nurse.
The Story:It certainly wasn’t safe to say no to the Nazis in Austria in the 1940s. But that didn’t concern this Franciscan sister, born Helen Kafka. She refused an order to take down the crucifixes she had placed in hospital rooms and openly criticized Hitler. In the five months between the time she wa...
On the Nightstand: November 2014
A friend in Chicago gave me this book, which the jacket copy describes as a “creative combination of ancient wisdom and 
contemporary psychology.”
I was even more intrigued by this comment from the author, Robert J. Wicks, in an online interview: “When we are prayerful, we move away from judging and more to experiencing. We start to recognize that people don’t get up in the morning thinking about us; we become less ego-centered. We have an increased desire to be transparent and be persons with...
Defending the Communion of Saints
While I was out and about speaking on the women saints and blesseds this week, a woman asked a question. In essence, she wanted to know why anyone should care about a bunch of people who lived a long time ago, especially a bunch of people no one had ever heard of.
I found the question a little amusing, not only because seven of the ten women I’d spoken about lived in the twentieth century (including two during my own lifetime) but because saints are such a rich part of the Catholic faith. Sain...
October 31, 2014
Of Suffering and the Law
Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod , owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Oh, those silly learned people of Jesus’s time.
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 14, a man is suffering, possibly due to swelling in his legs and feet that could be a sign of congestive heart failure. But it’s the Sabbath, and you know what that means: as far as the scholars and
Pharisees are concerned, he’ll just have to wait. Healing just isn’t done on the Sabb...
October 27, 2014
Returning Catholics FAQs: Why a Crucifix?
On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. 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.
Why do Catholic churches and even some homes display crosses with Christ’s body on them? It’s kind of gross. My Protestant friends’ churches have a simple cross.
The crucifix is an...
Returning Catholics: Why a Crucifix?
On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. 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.
Why do Catholic churches and even some homes display crosses with Christ’s body on them? It’s kind of gross. My Protestant friends’ churches have a simple cross.
The crucifix is an...
October 24, 2014
Compromise? Not Necessarily. Love? Absolutely.
Contention. It surrounds us. Whether it’s the upcoming elections or who should be quarterbacking our favorite football team or how the ebola situation is being handled, everyone’s got an opinion. Then, of course, there’s the recent Church extraordinary synod on the family. In all these instances, it sometimes seems the louder and more stridently we express our position, the more knowledgeable we feel. And so the volume gets turned higher and 
higher.
It takes confidence, you see, to listen inst...
October 22, 2014
Wednesday’s Woman: St. Laura of St. Catherine of Siena
The Basics:Born May 26, 1874, in Colombia; died October 21, 1949, in Colombia; canonized May 12, 2013, by Pope Francis; feast day, October 21. Woman religious, teacher.
The Story:It was not an easy early life. Laura Montoya y Upegui’s father died in a civil war when she was just two, leaving the family of three children all but destitute. Laura spent much of her childhood with a grandmother who was difficult to love. Laura’s 
mother decided when the girl was sixteen that she should become a tea...
October 20, 2014
Returning Catholics FAQs: About Confession
On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. 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.
Confession, penance, reconciliation—what am I supposed to call it, anyway? And why do I have to talk to a priest about my sins; what’s wrong with just going to God?
It’s the sacram...
October 17, 2014
“More Than Many Sparrows”
Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod , owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
They are gifts, those precious moments when you know you are doing exactly what the Lord desires. Maybe it comes when you’re snuggling with your toddlers before bedtime, or when you get compliments for a particularly soul-stirring homily, or when the face of the woman at the food pantry lights up because you remember her name.
We are sure of His love, confident of f...
