Caravaggio’s art is incomplete without our gaze, the painted narrative waits for our eyes to unravel it. He needs us, the viewers, for the mystery in his paintings to be revealed. As his hues and figures set the stage for a narrative already in motion, Caravaggio allows the viewer to interrupt a story in progress, beholding the precise moment that the narrative curves from ordinary to astonishing."
Read MoreMy ten-year-old plays the trumpet. I’m not just saying this because I’m his mother or because we have the same soul-searching eyes and fiery tempers, but this kid can play. I mean, he swings. He blows, bounces, and blips like he was born in the wrong decade.
Read MoreAbsolutely honored to write about my hero and favorite writer, Brian Doyle for U.S. Catholic Magazine! In Doyle I found a kindred spirit. Like me, he found God in the ordinary...well everywhere really. His words breathed life into my faith.
Will we look back at this time with nostalgia? Will we be reminded of the time we learned to be our true selves, the ones you created us to be? Will we remember this was the beginning of something beautiful or sacred?
Read More“I love the sheer audacity of these gardens. In the midst of a global pandemic and civil unrest, there are people who endeavor to thrive.”
Read MoreMy latest column for Northwest Catholic . St Paul wrote that nothing can separate us from the love of God. These words for a Roman community facing oppression connected with me as 15 year old goth wannabe and speak to me now in our new found isolation and turmoil.
Read MoreToday I sit with artist Andrew Wyeth’s “Wind From the Sea”…I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to quiet my heart and mind. I invite God to speak to me through the picture.”
Read MoreYour childhood sounds magical.
It was not. My childhood was filled with fear and want. Love dissipated like morning fog in the afternoon sun.
Looking at shadow boxes with my son, I know his childhood is magical. I created the world he was placed in.
Read MoreWe are waiting. Waiting for what? We don’t really know.
We used to wait in line, on hold, in traffic. We waited with anticipation for dinner with friends, our cousin’s wedding or that big vacation. Now, waiting for a routine cleaning at the dentist office sounds like a luxury.
Read MoreI know how easy it is for me to fall back on fear. It’s my default. Wired in me. If I look away from Christ for a second, I am lost, and all I can hear are voices telling me lies. I must remind myself of what is true and not to give in to fear.
Read MoreI can now add reviewer to my resume.
Check out my book review on Spiritual Conversations with Children: Listening to God Together by Lacy Finn Borgo for U.S. Catholic Magazine
Read MoreThese quarantine notes, called Inside/Outside were inspired by the Japanese poetic form Haibun.
Stripped down to its essentials, Haibun uses detached language, no personal pronouns and concentrates in sensory details.
I had so much fun writing this piece and then making this video for my parish, St James Cathedral in Seattle. I hope you enjoy it just as much. And let me know, where did you find joy?
Read MoreI was asked to make a video reflection on John Singleton Copley’s painting The Ascension for Loyola Press’s Waiting for the Spirit retreat.
Read MoreWrote about Joan of Arc with Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel’s exquisite panels as illustrations to her life story.
Read MoreIt is not only royalty who are allowed to use the royal “we” when addressing the masses, commoners are allowed too, especially if you are literary royalty such as Virginia Woolf. Woolf uses the royal “we” in her point of view right from the start in her essay, “ I am Christina Rossetti.”
Read MoreThe first time Mary became part of my faith, I was a sleep-deprived new mother. I hadn’t grown up Catholic and converted just a year before my son joined our family. As I nursed him in a darkened room, in the middle of the night, I realized that Mary had fed Jesus just like this. I found this comforting as I looked down at my son, his long eyelashes wet with tears from calling to me in the dark, and prayed that he too would know her Son.
Read MoreI was completely honored to be asked by U.S. Catholic magazine to write the companion essay for their reader survey on being Catholic in the US.
Read how the Eucharist connects us, not only to Christ, but to each other, locally, globally and through the span of history.
Read MoreAs a kid growing up in Southern California, I’d pull out the little, red portable record player from under my bed and play one of my favorite records, Music Machine. This Christian record for kids had catchy songs about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. I can still remember all the words to songs about kindness, patience, and joy, but the song on self-control really struck a chord with me.
Read MoreIn the coloring books and flannelgraphs of my childhood, the disciples of Pentecost stood erect with red teardrops upon their heads. They looked like rows of lit matches. My religion teacher wore her hair in a low bun that covered her ears and told us that on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit arrived like a violent wind. The rest of the class was wondering if she actually had ears under that black hair, but I was wondering how those flames stayed lit. Wouldn’t they blow out?
Read MoreThrives on moments where storytelling, art and faith collide.
Goldberg is much more practical than many of the texts that I have read. She gives you much to hold onto.
If you know me, you know I love encounters with strangers. Here is one that left me encouraged.
First time writing for Catholic World Report. I have wanted to tell this story for a long time. Read my essay on the theology of the body as it pertains to our last moments here on earth.
I had the honor of chatting with Melissa Wilkinson on the Anchored with Purpose podcast! We talked about my journey to Catholicism, the difference between happiness and joy and encouraging each other.
I must pinch myself that I am part of this collection from Ignatius Press ! It comes out next month but is available for preorder now.
How easily we forget that we are, at every moment, shaped with care by a Creator. Artists, however—who know intimately the blood, sweat, and tears of the creative process—can help us sense how marvelous it is to be created: the patience, the detail, the joy. In this essential collection, thirty-one Christian artists from various disciplines, from music to poetry to film to sculpture, offer personal essays on the strange experience of following God’s lead by making beautiful things.