COMMENTARY What if the best thing for us to do during Advent is not more, but less? When faced with the coming of Christ — in the most visceral way any human could experience another’s arrival, as a mother welcoming new life — Mary did not say “Let me do it!” or “Let me […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: My life is changed, not ended
FAITH AT HOME I found the lump at the end of Lent. My husband was out of town, and I was swamped with work and caring for our five kids. Never one to do a regular self-check (more likely to resolve to “do it next month”), I can’t remember exactly how or when I […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Praying at home, to the God of home
FAITH AT HOME Remember when we said we’d never take the Eucharist for granted again? When we had to watch Mass online or from cars in the church parking lot? When every part of parish life — from faith formation classes to Bible studies to doughnuts on Sundays — changed overnight? Three years ago, the […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: In Lent, to be companions
FAITH AT HOME Ask any teenager anxious about where they’ll sit in the cafeteria for lunch. Ask any widow or widower learning to cook for one. Ask a grandparent planning a holiday feast, a parent volunteering to host the team banquet, or anyone taking a head count for how many friends are staying for […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: When you’re sick of being sick
FAITH AT HOME Here is a story that every family I know can tell: all of us have been sick. For a long, long time. In the past few months our household has endured countless rounds of colds and coughs, flu and fevers. With four kids in school and one toddler at home it’s not […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Jesus was a teenager, too
FAITH AT HOME If I asked you to imagine Jesus’ childhood, you’d likely picture him as a baby in the manger. But have you ever considered that Christ was once a teenager, too? In this season that sings of “the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes,” we can forget that the incarnation means Jesus […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: The wisdom of night prayer
FAITH AT HOME “Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled.” Thus begins the Canticle of Simeon, the prayer drawn from the words of the prophet who held the baby Jesus in the Temple at the presentation (Lk 2:29-32), a prayer often known by its Latin name “Nunc Dimittis” (“now […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Trust the manna
FAITH AT HOME We’re flying by the seat of our pants. School is back in swing. Work is back to busy-as-usual. Meanwhile, gas and groceries cost more than ever, and the future feels uncertain depending on the hour or the headlines. It’s hard to know where to place our hope or trust these days. Lately […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Where is God on your calendar?
FAITH AT HOME Where does God show up on your calendar? I pose this as a real question, not a rhetorical one. If someone found your planner on the bus or a stranger glanced at your calendar on the wall or a hacker gained access to your phone’s events, would they see any sign you […]
Laura Kelly Fanucci: Catching God at the ballfield
FAITH AT HOME As a mother of five boys, I have spent countless nights at baseball fields, but never have I glimpsed God in the dugout until tonight. Can I confess that I was bored by my own son’s game — bored only because his team was winning and he’d finished pitching, so my attention […]