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Feast Day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha (in Canada)

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(c)2025

This is the feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. She died on this day in 1680 at twenty-four years of age. Since that time, miracles have known to have occurred through her intercession. In two more days, is the anniversary of my own conversion.

The photo above is at her tomb where her earthly remains rest at the St. Francis Xavier Mission Church in Kahnawake, Quebec. This is at the National Canadian Shrine of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

I’m looking forward to the celebration of her feast day in the US in July, and my visit to this shrine and her tomb in June, partly for intensive research, but also hopefully to attend mass while we’re there.

St. Kateri, pray for us.

Pride Quotes

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Quotations from Harvey Milk, James Baldwin, Leslie Jordan, Audre Lorde, Marsha P. Johnson, Elliot Page. Art by KBW. (c)2023

A sample of quotations from a diverse group of LGBTQIA and Allies.

  • “Gender is who you are, and sexuality is who you want.” — C.N. Lester, “Trans Like Me: A Journey for All of Us”
  • “Cut the ending. Revise the script. The man of her dreams is a girl.” — Julie Anne Peters, “Keeping You a Secret”
  • “When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.” — Barack Obama
  • “Love is never wrong.” — Melissa Etheridge
  • “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” — E.E. Cummings
  • “Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.” — Brené Brown, “The Gifts of Imperfection”
  • “Where there is love, there is life.” — Mahatma Gandhi
  • “We declare that human rights are for all of us, all the time: whoever we are and wherever we are from; no matter our class, our opinions, our sexual orientation.” — Ban Ki-moon
  • “To realize a world of equality and dignity for all, we will have to change laws and policies; we will also have to change hearts and minds.” — Rick Parnell
  • “Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?”— Ernest J. Gaines
  •  “What I liked about the rainbow is that it fits all of us. It’s all the colors. It represents all the genders. It represents all the races. It’s the rainbow of humanity.” — Gilbert Baker

More quotes can be found here.

Black History in Film

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I thought this was the perfect way to close out 2023’s Black History Month (although I have a few more posts that will appear throughout March – black history month is every month).

Slate article by Aisha Harris and Dan Kois: The New Black Film Canon

Their list begins in 1920 and goes through to 2022. They also include a list of the voters who helped create this list of the seventy-five greatest movies by Black directors. They also share where these great films can be viewed on streaming channels.

I wish I’d seen this during winter break!

International Book Giving Day

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International Book Giving Day Website

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Books are a uniquely portable magic.

Stephen King

Books I Would Give to Everyone:

  • The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede
  • The Magic Tunnel by Caroline D. Emerson

Reading is a form of prayer, a guided meditation that briefly makes us believe we’re someone else.

George Saunders

Others Recommendations:

  • WRITING: Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style from the Copy Chief of Random House by Benjamin Dreyer
  • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
  • POLITICS: Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen
  • MEMOIR: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
  • Life’s That Way by Jim Beaver
  • SPIRITUAL: A Year with Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations from His Journals by Thomas Merton
  • A Walk with the Saints by James Martin, SJ
  • POETRY: Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Poetry and Color by Mary O’Neill, John Wallner, illustrator
  • FICTION: Here be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.

Mary McLeod Bethune

I love the solitude of reading. I love the deep dive into someone else’s story, the delicious ache of a last page.

Naomi Shihab Nye

Download and color your bookmark today!

International Book Giving Day Bookmark. Permission to use. One per person. (c)2023Download

Inspire. May.

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I know we’re a little late with our inspiration, but May has been both inspiriing and challenging. When I decided to share my inspiration received from St. Hildegard of Bingen, I needed some quotes. Then I went to a workshop about her. Then I thought I’d add a picture, and here we are.

Friday Food will continue to be delayed but I expect it to be published within the next seven days, despite the end of May creeping upon us.

“To sense each creature singing the hymn of existence is to live joyfully in God’s love and hope.”

Pope Francis, Laudato Si

“Humanity: take a good look at yourself. Inside, you have heaven and earth and all of creation. You are a world. Everything is hidden within.”

St. Hildegard of Bingen

Last week I had the privilege of attending the first of three explorations of Catholic mystics, Hildegard of Bingen; the other two are St. Catherine D’Ricci and St. Julian of Norwich. I have long been intrigued by St. Hildegard, both because of her strong personality at a time when that was frowned upon in women as well as her body of work in a plethora of fields.

“We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.”

St. Hildegard

Her words from the 16th century are equally true today for us as they were then; perhaps moreso. Her words of advice remain a strong reminder that we remain brave and strong, and in control.

“Even in a world that’s being shipwrecked, remain brave and strong.”

St. Hildegard
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Lenten Labyrinth – Week 4

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Publishing these in the middle of the next week gives me time to reflect on the week that’s passed, reevaluate my journey and see what changes need to be made in my spiritual life. It’s a when, not an if. There are usually a few. I think I’ve put writing in the center of the labyrinth since even my spirituality involves an excess of writing, but I feel that there must be more that I’m looking for when I get to the center. I may take a walk later this week (or more probably next) at one of our local labyrinths.

I’m also a little stuck on the exercises in Felicia Day’s book Embrace Your Weird. She suggests filming yourself. (Not going to happen.) But I still need to step back and watch myself with new eyes and then answer her questions. This guide is for fostering creativity, but I find that the parts of my life are so interconnected that I can’t help but reflect on my faith and spirit. I’ll pick it back up this afternoon when I get home from my errands. I think I’ll do my daily readings then as well.

I still haven’t been able to answer what it is I’m being called to, although I feel the tugging.

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