Falling and Rising

I recently joined three friends at a nearby restaurant that takes pride in its 18th-century roots. The youngest of us was in a back brace, the result of an accident that occurred during her first-ever sledding adventure. (She's a recent transplant to northern Virginia.) She said she couldn't stop thinking about how different the past few weeks would have been if she could redo those 10 minutes. I said something that probably wasn't very helpful: "Don't be Lot's wife! Look forward, not backward!"

Halfway through our meal, ambulances pulled up outside the restaurant. One of the women who had been dining next to us, likely in her eighties, had missed the first step out of the establishment and was being taken to the hospital.

The four of us were extremely careful when we left, of course. If we hadn't been warned, I think I would have missed that step too.

I was relieved when I got to the "safety" of my apartment--until about six hours later when I managed to run into my bedroom door frame and ricochet into the hall closet door, knocking myself out and putting a dent in the door with my head. Moving was painful for the first three days, but I'm on the mend, so please don't worry about me.

But I've been thinking about my less-than-sensitive quip about Lot's wife. It's true, of course; I can't redo those five minutes either. I have changed my behavior, turning on the light when I get up in the night. I'm thinking about how to incorporate this lesson into Lent this year: almsgiving, of course. But my prayer practice and fasting will include accepting the changes that age brings, and being more intentional in my movements and words and less impulsive. And I hope I remember that while preventing falls when we can is good, the way we rise is even more important.

On the Nightstand: Braving the Thin Places

I first heard the phrase "thin place" more than twenty years ago, watching the sun rise over a Wisconsin lake with a new acquaintance. She told me it was a place where it was easy to meet God. Not practicing any faith at that point, the concept really spoke to me.

But recently I ran across this book by Julianne Stanz. Her definition is a bit different: "Your thin place might be an important threshold, a soul friendship, a fresh chapter in your own life story, a painful secret or fear or a time of hardship. ... These moments open us to places of rawness and beauty."

It seemed like the perfect thing for quarter-Irish me to delve into in March... as Lent begins!

What's on your nightstand?

Often, we think of the twelve apostles as we meet them in the Gospels: fractious men, jockeying for position and seeming a bit clueless about Jesus regardless of how many times He tells them who He is, why He's here, and what's ahead for them. The true conversions come after the Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

But why did Jesus choose them as his most trusted disciples? How can their journeys from everyday people to the men they became inform our lives?

I'm excited about working with my friends at Twenty-Third Publications/Bayard on a new book that explores just that. The working title is A New Look at the Apostles, and the manuscript is due this August 1. That likely means the book will be available in 2026. I'll keep you posted. Prayers appreciated!

March is pretty much lion all the way through for me. A happy lion, but a lot of activity!

I'm not sure where I'll go for Mass and ashes this Wednesday, but where doesn't really matter. There's always the profundity that from ashes we came and to ashes we will return and how Jesus's Passion won for us the hope of eternal life.

March 19-21, I'll be in my beloved Shenandoah Valley for the annual Faithbooking Retreat. (I'll be researching and writing about the apostles.) Bonus! on my way home, I get to have breakfast and then lunch with a couple awesome women.

March 22, I'll be one of the Arlington Diocese Council of Catholic Women presenters at Lenten Morning of Reflection at St. John the Beloved in nearby McLean, Va.

March 29, I'll be in St. Louis participating in the first-ever Living Faith Retreat. I'm really looking forward to holy time with readers and other LF writers.

And, I'll be working with a friend on the final touches before the April 5 Future with Hope Women's Conference here in Arlington.

Add in a Capitals hockey game and seeing the first part of "The Chosen: The Last Supper" in a nearby theater and the usual time with friends and women's Bible study and well, it seems like a lot to me, anyway. I hope to remember to focus on rising, not falling, through it all.

Blessings! --Melanie