Welcome to In.spired Living!

Several years ago, a friend and I started a super fun tradition of celebrating a Día de los Muertos Party to decidedly reclaim Halloween, AKA, All Hallow's Eve, for the beautiful Catholic tradition that it is. I know the Day of the Dead is not on Halloween, but after watching my kids go crazy for witch movies and seeing their little brains turn with curious excitement over magical cards and Ouija Boards and all sorts of occult references and practices (which so overtly make their way into secular, mainstream kids TV) I decided that enough was enough! In my home at least, something had to be done to bring faith and beauty back into this time of year, to strategically divert their attention from the message the world is clamoring at them. I wanted to focus on faith and tradition, but I didn't want to take the fun and mystery out of the month of October. *CLICK TO READ MORE*

This Sunday the Universal Church celebrates the Memorial of the Virgin Mary under her title, Our Lady of Sorrows. It seems at first an odd thing to "celebrate," her sorrow that is, for why should anyone's suffering be cause to celebrate? But what Our Lady, and thus the Church through her, is showing us is that there can be no celebration in the eternal realm without some measure of sorrow. Love and suffering cannot be separated. In fact, it has been said in different ways by countless saints, that love is cheap without the willingness to suffer for our beloved. Should it not then follow, that the two who loved best in all the world, Mary and her Son, also suffered the greatest? There is no way to heaven but through the Cross, and Our Lady knew that sorrow all too well. Click to read more. 

Real Presence Father Gregory Pine, O.P. "There are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally." Chesterton was right. Of the various ordeals we face in life, the experience of isolation, of being alone, is one of the most acute. Never is this more true than when we are suffering. It's a terrible thing, when you are in anguish, to look for help and find yourself all alone. Its another thing entirely if, in the midst of your pain, someone who loves you steps to your side. A friend makes a rough patch smooth, a bitter time sweeter. To have someone who is truly present to us in our sorrow makes all the difference.

I thought it quite befitting that Lent began with Ash Wednesday colliding with Valentine's Day this year. Is that not actually the true purpose of Lent? To grow in real intimacy with Jesus? To fall madly and deeply in love with The One who loves our souls most perfectly? A dear friend and I were praying together on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and one of our intentions during that rosary was to "Fall more deeply in love with Jesus this Lent." Those words struck a place deep within my heart that I have been thinking about ever since. This year, I want to do Lent differently. We all can- if we come to see Lent from the perspective of growing in true intimacy with Jesus. 

When I was a little girl, up until my father passed away from brain cancer a few years ago, I would always rest my head on his chest and hear his heartbeat. There was a special divot there where my head fit perfectly, seemingly all my life, as if it had been formed just for me, or molded by my own head over the years.

Certain spiritual books have had such an impact on the traditions of the Christian faith that they are rightfully known as classics. They have shaped the landscape and shed immense light on the workings of God in our world or how we can and should interact with Him and with each other with the end goal of heaven in mind. This achievement in penmanship is not by their own human nature, but by the unmistakable imprint of the Divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit working through them to produce these beautiful treasures. Read on to learn about our new collection of spiritual classics! 

Once Advent comes to a close and the gifts from St. Nick have all been opened and put-away, most people think the Christmas season is over, but for Christians, especially more traditional Catholics and Orthodox Christians, the Christmas season, also known as Christmastide, has actually only just begun!  This is a great opportunity to keep the splendor and joy of the season alive and there are no shortage of feast days and celebrations to envelope the kids into! Here are a few ideas with which we celebrate in my home!  

If your family grew up with the same traditions as mine, you didn't know anything about St. Nicholas Day as a day independant of Christmas. It wasn't until my oldest started attending the local Catholic school that I started to learn about specific feast days associated with Saints, and of course, St. Nicholas being a fan favorite! Here are some great ideas for how to have a simple, but traditional and cute, St. Nicholas Day Feast with your family! 

“ The mystery and the beauty overwhelmed me and I couldn’t drink in enough of it. I decided it was time to start trying to do a better job of truly living liturgically. I started showcasing the vast beauty more proudly throughout my home, for my family and visiting friends to absorb, both subtly and in not so subtle ways. Don’t let my words fool you- there has been plenty of grumbling about it, and I'm sure there will be more, but in the end, it has been so worth it! My family has all grown in faith because of it.” Click to read on...