My Secret is Mine
“Secretum meum mihi,” (“my secret is mine.”) was St. Edith's Stein's cryptic response when her best friend asked why she converted. We serve up interviews, historical sketches, Bible studies, book reviews and essays for Catholic women. MY SECRET IS MINE is for women with an audacious hope: that the Messiah makes all things new.
Historical Sketch: Hospital Scenes, 1996 and 2005
HOSPITAL SCENES 1996 AND 2005 by Kristen West McGuire Both Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa were hospitalized several times in their final years. Their distinctive spirituality in embracing their frailties inspired millions. Calcutta, India “Mother had the grace in the latter years, to have the Blessed Sacrament in her hospital room, and she always wanted it with her…[In August] She had another heart failure right before our eyes. A tube was put down into her lungs to assist her breathing...
Book Review: Dear James by Jon Hassler
DEAR JAMES by Jon Hassler Reviewed by Kristen West McGuire (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1993, 2007), 384 pp., $13.95 Ah, the Church Lady! Every parish has one, and many times more than one. Miss Agatha McGee spent her entire adult life as a teacher and then principal of St. Isidore Catholic School in the northern hamlet of Staggerford, Minnesota. When the parish council voted to close the school and Miss McGee involuntarily retires at the age of seventy, Fr. Francis Finn fears she will take on...
Prayer Intentions: For Elderly Women
PRAY FOR ELDERLY WOMEN by Kristen West McGuire (Photo Source: Saul Ibarra on Cathopic) Women live longer than men. In recent years, health advances in the United States has increased the longevity of women to an average age of 81. That’s a long time after a typical retirement! The elderly women today often remember hard times in vivid detail; their formative years were certainly different than ours. At the same time, we have many of them to thank for paving the road toward the freedoms that...
Bible Study: "I Thirst" from John 19:28-30
BIBLE STUDY: "I THIRST" by Kristen West McGuire John 19:28-30 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished;” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Context: Crucifixion was introduced to the Holy Land by Greeks and Romans, though it originated likely in...
Mary Breda's favorite quotation!
Wisdom from the Little Flower "Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, the only one goal of our labors." -- St. Therese of Lisieux Read more articles on our website! NEW IN JULY! Fresh content based on the encyclical, Mulieris Dignitatem, On the Dignity and Vocation of Women. Premium subscribers receive all eight emails per month, plus bonus content like quirky pilgrimmages, new interviews based on our podcasts, and access to our monthly discussion groups. Premium subscribers also...
Meet Mary Breda: From Novice to Mother of Many
MEET MARY BREDA by Kristen West McGuire (Mary Breda spent six years in the novitiate of the Missionaries of Charity. She married Massimo Breda in 1991. In 1997, her daughter Monica died from an inoperable brain tumor at the age of three. The Bredas homeschool their children and live in San Diego. This interview took place in 2008.) Kristen: Were you raised Catholic? Mary: Yes, I’m from a cradle Catholic family, and one of nine children! Kristen: Wow! What number are you? Mary: I was the fifth...
Our Saints - John Paul the Great and Teresa of Calcutta
HOPE AND INTERIOR JOY by Kristen West McGuire They are our saints, the ones we expected to be canonized. Though they never directly worked together, each recognized in the other a simpatico soul. Early on, Mother Teresa made a solemn, Albanian vow (besos) never to refuse Jesus anything. Pope John Paul II’s motto as a bishop and then as pope was a dedication to the Blessed Virgin: “totus tuus,” everything for you. The entire world was their parish. They originally met in Rome, after he was...
Book Review: The Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
The Four Quartets, Explained by Thomas Howard Reviewed by Kristen West McGuire T.S. Eliot reminds us of what we do not know. And perhaps much we had forgotten. Even, things we did know, if only because they were written on our hearts. For this review, however, I’ll start with what I do not know. Because I am guessing you are with me, dear reader. My American education is recent enough that I missed a lot. And even though I’ve been to London, my geography of England is, well, sketchy at best....
Adrienne, on a Bridge, Over the Rhine River
A TALE OF COURAGE by Kristen West McGuire She just stood on the bridge, looking at the water. The Rhine River is not sparkling and clear, but vast, dark and hurried. It swells along, merely ignoring the bridges of Basel, too important to be bothered. For a long time, she merely considered the complaints that brought her to the precipice. Adrienne von Speyr had faced death before, without fear, stoically. Her father died in 1918, and she had contracted tuberculosis that stole three years from...
Pray for Women in Academia
PRAY FOR WOMEN IN ACADEMIA by Kristen West McGuire When I told my graduate school advisor of my first pregnancy many decades ago, I expected her to share my joy. I was shocked when she did not. Studies reveal that women academics have vastly lower reproductive rates than the general population. Oh. Perhaps that explains it? While there is some truth to the observation that colleges and universities are dominated by secular liberals who may be somewhat disdainful of full-time motherhood, it is...
“Secretum meum mihi,” (“my secret is mine.”) was St. Edith's Stein's cryptic response when her best friend asked why she converted. We serve up interviews, historical sketches, Bible studies, book reviews and essays for Catholic women. MY SECRET IS MINE is for women with an audacious hope: that the Messiah makes all things new.