I'm sure you've had those moments--when God so fundamentally touched your life that you were sure things would never be the same again.

Except...

Except life goes on, and you feel changed but the people around weren't--and don't seem to notice or welcome the change in you. And, all too often, you revert to the earlier behavior: judging too much, worrying too much, not being kind and loving.

I found myself thinking about that a lot as I finished writing my next book, working title Unforgettable: Eight Unnamed Women Jesus Encountered in the Gospels, and What We Can Learn From Them. Did the woman caught in adultery go and sin no more? Did the woman at the well marry her current live-in and repair relationships with the other women after her testimony changed the hearts and souls of many? Did the woman with hemorrhages (depicted above by French painter James Tissot) become an evangelist?

We don't know; I suppose some of the women were changed forever by the encounter, and for others, it became a pleasant memory. Jesus provided the grace; it was up to them what they did with it.

And so it is with us.

The book will be out in January 2024, and I'll provide details when it's available. In the meantime, my prayer this month is that you'll revisit some of your grace moments--and resolve anew to show gratitude for them.

On the Nightstand: Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life by Abbot Christopher Jamison

OK, so it's still on my nightstand, but I finished it about a week ago. I think it will stay on the nightstand a good long while.

I bought this at a monastery bookstore in mid-June, never having heard of the 2005 BBC TV series The Monastery or, for that matter, of Worth Abbey. This slim book spoke to my soul, offering simple ways to create sanctuary, something most of us crave whether we know it or not. Busyness can and does happen anywhere. In this book, Jamison offers ways we can create sanctuary--a safe place--without leaving the world. The steps can be challenging, inside or outside a monastery. But the inner peace found when we make the seemingly hard decisions is worth the sacrifice.

On July 16, 1858, a young Frenchwoman, Bernadette Soubirous, had her eighteenth encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes. More than than 150 years later, Lourdes is visited by 3 million people each year, hoping for cures and praying for grace.

I'm excited about my next writing project, a 32-page booklet about praying with Bernadette. My friends at Bayard's Creative Communications for the Parish unit plans to publish it next year during Lent. I'll keep you posted.

Here's hoping your Independence Day is full of joy--and your dependence on the Lord increases.

Blessings, Melanie