FaithTraveler and Award-winning Author
He sleeps on a park bench, shrouded in a blanket. Even his head and hands are covered. As the bright New Mexico morning sun begins beating down on the bench, located outside St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus Catholic Church in Albuquerque, passersby might wonder, “Is he ever going to get up?”
The answer is no. He’s waiting for you to come to him.
Looking for a powerhouse of prayer? Come to the Motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Beginning on August 1, 1878, at least two adorers have kept vigil before the Blessed Sacrament in the Adoration Chapel. Holy moly! That’s more than 139 years—or 50,767 days—of nonstop prayer!
Adoration Chapel (Courtesy Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration)
Nothing can stop this prayer chain, not even an inferno. On December 2, 1923, when a fire broke out and devoured the west wing of the convent, the good nuns kept on
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If there’s a heaven on earth, it must be in northern New Mexico. Not a day passes here that a new saint isn’t made. Oh, these saints aren’t being canonized; they’ve already earned their halos. Rather, they’re being painted, carved, and polished to perfection. But then, spiritual beauty is in the eye of the santeros–the “saintmakers.”
And when the saints go marching in, the public comes out–at Traditional Spanish Market Continue reading “For Goodness Saints!”
Heavens to Betsy, getting to Paradise is easier than most people think. Paradise on earth, that is.
Paradise certainly wasn’t lost in Florida. For starters, Florida has a plain Paradise, the old-fashioned kind that doesn’t promise anything more than heaven on earth. If that’s not paradisaical enough, there’s Paradise Bay, Paradise Beach, Paradise Island, Paradise Palms, or Paradise Point, to name a few.
Another Paradise Point beckons up the coast in North Carolina. Meanwhile, there’s Paradise Falls, Pennsylvania, and Paradise Hill, Oklahoma. Every day is a heavenly day in Paradise Manor, Louisiana.
In Michigan, Paradise really does freeze over in the winter, but so does her sister to the Continue reading “Paradise Found”
What does a penny buy these days? Penny gumball machines disappeared years ago. A penny for my thoughts? As the saying goes, “You get what you pay for!” Pennies—the nonsensical change we get when something costs 99 cents and not a dollar. So, what good is a penny? It has the power to answer prayer!
Snails are fascinating. They travel through life with a house on their back. They don’t accumulate, and they don’t try to impress fellow snails with “my house is bigger than your house.”
One day I saw a snail and began thinking about a snail’s life. What would it be like to carry my house on my back? What would I use for a house? That’s easy! I already Continue reading “The House on Your Back”
Are you happy with your body? Do you think some areas need improvement? Do you ever wish you had a “little less here” and a “little more there?”
Stop and think about the design of your body. The specifications. The engineering. The maintenance functions. Then imagine what you could look like if you had rolled off an assembly line.
What if someone read the design specs wrong and put your ears on your neck? The Continue reading “What If?”
