by Claire Dwyer | Jun 28, 2020 | Eucharist, silence, spirituality
When I was a little girl, my family would say the rosary every night before an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I’d look at that luminous Heart, aglow, and the long fingers of Our Lord solemnly pulling back the folds of his robe to reveal its fire and its wounds....
by Claire Dwyer | May 29, 2020 | Discernment, Mercy, pro-life, Saints
We were passed small folded cards at the start of a diocesan pro-life meeting a few years ago, and we opened them and began to pray The Litany of Trust for the first time. Immediately I knew this prayer was inspired. Incredibly simple, but powerful. I turned the...
by Claire Dwyer | Apr 18, 2020 | Everyday Holiness, parenthood, silence
This is the closest thing I’ll ever get to living the cloistered life, I thought, as I tossed out the school calendar and basketball season schedules. I put backpacks and lunchboxes in storage. I erased my oldest’s commencement exercises off the square in April. I...
by Claire Dwyer | Mar 26, 2020 | Liturgical year, spirituality
Imagine the Lord carving a cross just for you–gently, lovingly, bent over his workbench, holding you in his mind, in existence, in love. Knowing exactly what you need for holiness, exactly how much you can carry, the curve of your brokenness, the shape of your sin,...
by Claire Dwyer | Mar 22, 2020 | Everyday Holiness, Present Moment, Saints, spirituality, The Sacred Everyday
We have never needed the message in this video (below) more. Our nation-and the world-are slowly grinding to a standstill in the wake of a virus we were barely aware of a few weeks ago. How quickly things change…it wasn’t part of my ‘plan’...
by Claire Dwyer | Jan 24, 2020 | Mercy, parenthood, prayer, Saints
The canonized women who are mothers add to our altars a special kind of incense – a two-fold fragrance of motherhood, both natural and spiritual. The very definition of their sainthood reveals that the life of the soul was sacrosanct to them and that while they...
by Claire Dwyer | Jan 15, 2020 | Catholic Church, prayer, spirituality, Uncategorized
There has been a lot buzz in the Church over the last few years about thresholds of conversion, how to lead others over the steps toward intentional discipleship and that ‘drop your nets’ moment of saying “Yes, Lord. I’m in. I believe in you, I want to...
by Claire Dwyer | Jan 10, 2020 | Catholic Church, Eucharist, Uncategorized
When I was invited to attend the FOCUS conference, SLS20: “Made for Mission” in Phoenix Dec 30-Jan 3, I jumped at the chance. The prior year’s event, SEEK2019, had been attended by some friends who declared it life-changing. And to have it in my...
by Claire Dwyer | Dec 29, 2019 | prayer, spirituality
On the day my parents brought me home from the hospital, my Dad took a picture of me on their doorstep as if I had been left there for them to find. That oblivious little bundle in the yellow crocheted blanket is me. (My mother wants me to make sure that all of you...
by Claire Dwyer | Nov 16, 2019 | Catholic Church, Mercy, prayer
What a tremendously glorious thing is the Economy of God! There is nothing He hasn’t created, planned, ordained or allowed that isn’t meant for our salvation, sanctification, and union with Him. Like Joseph overseeing the storehouses in Egypt,...
