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.
Meet Laura Ercolino: Fall in Love with the Bridegroom
Fall In Love with the Bridegroom! by Genevieve Kineke Laura Ercolino, Founder of Hope's Garden. Laura Ercolino is an artist, writer, and Christian Expressive Arts Coach in Ohio. She is the mother of nine children and homeschooled them for many decades. After surviving domestic abuse, she divorced her husband and experienced a miraculous healing for depression, PTSD, and chronic pelvic floor pain. Her experiences led to her founding Hope's Garden, a healing ministry for women who have suffered...
Bridezilla or Beloved?
TITLE by Kristen West McGuire Perhaps you have met a “Bridezilla?” The term refers to a bride who lets wedding logistics become a frenzy of self-absorbed excess. Bridezilla isn’t preparing for a covenant; she wants the party to be about her. Family members, friends, and even the groom don’t know how to stop her. They feel betrayed. Worst of all, it makes a mockery of the meaning of a wedding. Bridezilla is disfigured by her sins. Dear sisters in faith, do we not know the pain of the...
Read: Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud von le Fort
SONG AT THE SCAFFOLD by Gertrud von le Fort by Margaret McGuire The Song at the Scaffoldby Gertrud von le Fort, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011, 104 pp.) Run. Hide. Fight. The decision no one wants to discuss, let alone make. And yet the long history of Christianity shows countless saints and martyrs who grappled with that very decision on both a physical and a spiritual level. They were faced with the horrible question: when those in authority move to active violence against people of...
Learn: St. Catherine's Sister Dies
LEARN: St. Catherine's Sister Dies by Jenny duBay “Caterina. I need you here. Let go of your sister’s hand.” I’m unable to move. I don’t want to obey. Let go? How can I? How can I desert Bonaventura...I stroke her forehead, begging for time. Maybe if I wait, just one second or a few, the baby will come out. “Bonaventura?” My voice is barely more than a whisper, but she must have heard because she turns her head slowly. Her lips are white, cheeks wheat-colored, forehead soggy with thick, murky...
Pray for More Vocations to Religious Life
PRAY FOR MORE VOCATIONS TO THE RELIGIOUS LIFE by Kristen West McGuire Amanda Schrauth is consecrated virgin living in Montana. This photo is from her consecration by Bishop Michael Warfel in 2018. Vocations of all kinds have seen a drastic decrease in the Catholic Church. In addition to the number of seminarians decreasing over time, vocations to religious life AND sacramental marriages AND infant baptisms are in a freefall. This is particularly confusing because the number of registered...
Bible Study: The Virgin will give birth to a son
THE VIRGIN WILL GIVE BIRTH TO A SON by Kristen West McGuire Matthew 1:18-25 18 Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. 19 Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of...
Meet Amanda Schrauth, Consecrated Virgin
MEET AMANDA SCHRAUTH by Genevieve Kineke Amanda Schrauth is the only consecrated virgin in Montana and serves as the editor ofThe Lamp,the newsletter for the U.S. Association of Consecrated Virgins. She lives out her vocation of prayer for the Church just south of the Canadian border in the Diocese of Helena. She holds a B.A. in Theology from Marian University (WI) and a Masters in Catechetics and Evangelization from Franciscan University of Steubenville. (Here is a link to support her...
Virgin AND Mother. No apologies needed.
VIRGIN AND MOTHER. NO APOLOGIES NEEDED. by Kristen West McGuire If we let Hollywood tell the tale, virginity is really odd. Scores of television shows and movies heap contempt on virgins. Comedians stack laughlines on the premise that virginity is a situation in need of a remedy. Negative stereotypes are everywhere. Social media and TMI videos only normalize the crass and banal attacks on persons who refuse to treat their sexuality like a recreational sport. Virgins were often killed in the...
Learn: Margaret Mary's Mother
Margaret Mary's Mother by Kristen West McGuire Happy Thanksgiving! Today, we ask the Sacred Heart of Jesus to bless this nation and all families as they gather together and serve one another. You might enjoy this prayer by St. Margaret Mary: Lord Jesus,let my heart never rest until it finds You,who are its center, its love, and its happiness.By the wound in Your heartpardon the sins that I have committedwhether out of malice or out of evil desires.Place my weak heart in your own divine...
Book Review: Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy
FIVE FOR SORROW, TEN FOR JOY - a novel by Rumer Godden Reviewed by Margaret McGuire Life is, inescapably, made of joys and sorrows. But what happens when a life appears to be all sorrow? Rumer Godden hints at the answer in the title of her book, Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy, a reference to the mysteries of the Rosary. Five mysteries for sorrow, and, combining the Joyful and Glorious mysteries, ten for joy. The title does, and does not, prepare us to meet our protagonist Lise Fanshawe, who was...
“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.