by Claire Dwyer | Jan 30, 2022 | Mary, The Sacred Everyday
We were lingering over the lasagna, enjoying a casual dinner after the women’s conference this weekend. Our beloved Bishop Olmsted, sitting to my right, was listening attentively to one of the volunteers describe her devotion to the Carmelite saints. She shared...
by Claire Dwyer | Nov 23, 2021 | Spiritual Direction
“It’s happening again,” I say, shaking my head as if to clear it. It’s been a good meeting with my spiritual director so far—lots of clarity, signs of hope, determination to continue to seek and love God’s will in my life. But then I notice a shift in my mind, as...
by Claire Dwyer | Jul 12, 2021 | Catholic Church, Mercy, Saints
You couldn’t say it was an ordinary Sunday that day—after all, the Nazi occupation had ravaged a shell-shocked Holland and nothing was the same. Nothing would ever be the same. But the Mass would have been the anchor for Dutch Catholics, an eternal constant in a...
by Claire Dwyer | Jul 9, 2021 | prayer, scripture, Spiritual Direction
There’s a certain timelessness we can feel while in conversation about eternal things: God, our soul, and the revelation of the work the Lord is doing to draw us ever closer to Him. As if everything else is suspended for a few moments and we hang up high from a...
by Claire Dwyer | Mar 20, 2021 | Discernment, Spiritual Direction
After several years of regular spiritual direction, I’ve come more and more to realize the beauty of this relationship with someone which consistently serves to strengthen and deepen my own relationship with God. I’ve grown so much from the grace of accountability, of...
by Claire Dwyer | Jan 2, 2021 | Everyday Holiness, Present Moment
For the longest time, it looked like absolutely nothing was happening. When St. Joseph’s Catholic Church tragically burned down over a year ago, the land was cleared and left to wait. Every so often, I’d drive by, the empty space on the parish grounds signaling a...
by Claire Dwyer | Nov 27, 2020 | Discernment, Present Moment, silence
Problems in the Parlor She was a young nun who loved the Lord and spoke of Him passionately and often, edifying others who saw in her the beginnings of the saint she would become. But St. Teresa of Avila admits early in her biography that she had a major fault: she...
by Claire Dwyer | Oct 24, 2020 | Present Moment, scripture
The desert sun burned her face, the hot sand tore at her tired feet. She staggered toward Egypt, hurt and angry, and, let’s face it, not altogether innocent. And she had probably never felt more alone. In that moment of quiet desperation, God found her. Her name was...
by Claire Dwyer | Sep 29, 2020 | Mary, Saints
On this feast of the Archangels, I wanted to share a short but incredibly moving and powerful poem from a Carmelite nun, St. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, also known by her baptismal name, Jessica Powers. May St. Michael defend and protect innocent and defenseless life...
by Claire Dwyer | Sep 2, 2020 | parenthood, pro-life, Saints
The lines of division in our country and in the world are marked and clear and widening by the hour. “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse, therefore choose life, that you and your...
