Just saying this out loud so that I have some accountability: 2020 is the year I finally become a published author, God willing.

I have been hemming and hawing with different publishers for years, and now is the time. Please pray for me, friends! I am pregnant with a book, and I hope you will be blessed by it.

Eight years ago today, little Cecilia and I debuted “The Miracle of Life Rosary for Children” at the CMN Conference. What a joy that was! Her little voice singing and praying—as well as the other adorable kids—to Joe Hand’s wonderful arrangements and production made for a very special recording.

And now I’m thrilled to announce that we recently partnered with www.formed.org to stream the CD for free to anyone with a membership through their church parish. In just two months, it’s already been listened to for 20,000+ minutes! We’re totally humbled by that and so thrilled with the good work being done by the Augustine Institute and www.formed.org.  Please share the good news with any of your mom friends and Facebook groups! :)  

Hey, midwest ladies! Grab your girlfriends and come join Teresa Tomeo, Kelly Wahlquist, and me for the first MN Lake Country WINE Catholic Women’s Conference on Saturday, October 5, 2019.

The day will include praise and worship music, shopping, prayer, confession, adoration, lots of laughter, a fabulous lunch, CHOCOLATE, and an opportunity to join Bishop Kettler for 5:00 PM Mass. You will leave equipped to persevere in prayer, endure in affliction, and (as Pope Francis compels us) be beacons of hope to all those around you.

Ladies, this is a fabulous road trip—🍂 the fall colors🍂 will be exquisite! Join us!  You can register today at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-wine-catholic-womens-conference-alexandria-mn-registration-62851987988?mc_eid=7d5170b369&mc_cid=df8beedb4c

What a joy it was to sing today for the private mass offered by Monsignor Christopher Nalty and Fr. Roger Landry’s class from the NAC, who celebrate 20 years of priesthood this year! Tomorrow I’ll be singing with Phyllis Trei the big celebration with the parish at St. Stephen’s on Napoleon Ave. at 10:30 am. May God bless them! #newmen #prayforpriests

I love asking the Holy Spirit to give me a word to guide my new year, which usually ends up being some kind of virtue that needs cultivating in my life: discipline, docility (teachability), etc.

This New Year’s Eve morning, before I even had a chance to pray, I awoke with the Latin word “sapientia” repeating in my mind. I realized that this was my “word” from God, though I couldn’t remember what it meant exactly and had to look it up.

(Drumroll…)

It means “wisdom,” (I can always use more of that!) and it is considered the first and greatest of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit received at baptism. According to St. Bernard, it both illumines the mind and instills an attraction to the divine.

So how do I grow in wisdom if it is a gift? I can think of only one way: By spending more time with the gift-giver. 💗

I encourage you to pray for a word to guide you in the new year. Please feel free to share it below!

P.S. As I looked for an image for this post, I came across this one from McEwan Hall at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland—where I went to school! God is so fun.

Collection: University of Edinburgh; Persons: N/A; Event: N/A; Place: McEwan Hall; Edinburgh; Scotland; UK; Category: University Buildings; Description: Details from the ceiling spaceof the McEwan Hall during the 2016 refurbishment of the building.

Once Mother Teresa was staying with a community of her sisters who worked among the Aborigines in Australia. She visited an elderly man who lived in total isolation, ignored by everyone. His home was a filthy wreck. She told him, “Please let me clean your house, wash your clothes and make your bed.” He answered, “I’m OK like this. Let it be.” She said, “You will be still better if you allow me to do it.” He finally agreed. While she was cleaning, she discovered a beautiful lamp, covered with dust; it looked like it hadn’t been used in years. “Don’t you light that lamp?” she said, “Don’t you ever use it?” He answered, “No. No one comes to see me. I have no need to light it. Who would I do it for?” Mother Teresa asked, “Would you light it every night if the sisters came?” He replied, “Of course.” From that day on, the sisters committed themselves to visiting him every evening. Mother Theresa left Australia. Two years passed. She had completely forgotten about that encounter. Then she received a message from him: “Tell my friend that the light she lit in my life still continues to shine.” (From https://www.spiritualdirection.com/2010/02/01/does-christ-suffer-with-me-when-i-suffer)

So I asked my birthday girl (14 years old today!) what she wanted to do to celebrate. It was a tough call since it fell on Good Friday this year. “Let’s go to Canal Street and pray with the homeless people,” she replied.

This didn’t come out of the blue, mind you. Our family had been walking down Canal Street in downtown New Orleans months earlier—on Christmas Eve, in fact—on our way to brunch at the Palace Café and then to see White Christmas at the Saenger. I was admiring the beautiful decorations and the cloudless blue sky on our walk, oblivious to the people around me.

Stopping at a street corner, she asked, “Mom, why didn’t you help that woman sitting on the ground? She didn’t have a sign or anything, but she looked like she needed some help. Can we go back?”

In my rush to get to our destination and my husband back to the pit in time for downbeat, I told her we would return when we had more time, my heart sinking in my chest. Now three months later, she said she was ready to go back for her birthday.

I was both super proud of her and anxious about what lay ahead of us. What would we say? How would we know who to pick? Would anyone try to hurt her?

As I prayed for guidance, we packed up gallon-size Ziplock bags with snacks, old Magnificat booklets, juice boxes, miraculous medals on chains, rosaries, “Remember you are loved” wristbands, etc., and we headed out on our adventure with four special friends: Mary Bielski, a youth evangelist from Indiana living in New Orleans; Paola Doria, Mary’s friend and a former FOCUS missionary; Leila Benoit, the principal of Archbishop Chapelle High School; and Fr. Chris DeLerno, pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Metairie, LA—a truly gifted group of humans.

Our first encounter was with Charles. He was an African American man with a gentle spirit and the most beautiful blue eyes—truly mesmerizing. Charles was sitting on “his corner” in front of the Ritz-Carlton enjoying some peanuts when Mary struck up a conversation in her casual, endearing way. Charles was in his late 50’s and out of work. He had been a porter and worked in engineering at the Ritz and at the Roosevelt, but he had “retired” and now missed the job.

He really wanted a job at the Roosevelt again, he said, so we prayed for that very thing. Mostly we just listened to him as we sat down next to him on the edge of the building and kept him company. After giving him a gallon-size goodie bag, we blessed him (“God bless you, Charles!” said my beaming daughter) and headed off to find someone else.

Before the next block Mary started musing, “What if we found him a job today? Couldn’t we just go see about that?” And off we went to the Roosevelt. Half an hour later, she had charmed most of the people at the concierge counter, engaged the Human Resources department, and gone back to find Charles.

Mary tracked him down a couple of blocks away and brought him back to the hotel, offering him a chair in the lobby as we set up an email account and filled out his application. He didn’t really know his address and didn’t have a phone number, but we did our best. The most beautiful moment came when Fr. Chris gave him a final blessing. When he placed his hand on Charles’ shoulder, he hung his head as tears began to fall. A heavy velvet silence fell over all of us in that moment of fraternal communion. It was beautiful.

Charles walked with us for a while down Canal street and then went his own way. At that point Leila asked if I had fed the parking meter (details…), so Fr. Chris, Leila and I went back to the car. It was great to hear his story and how God had called him into the priesthood—especially after his experience as a Nuclear Missile Launch Officer in the Air Force (what?!). We found my car with a big ugly neon orange parking ticket, but at least it was still there.

Then we met Almedra. She was sitting on the edge of Canal Street looking so very tired. We sat down on the sidewalk with her and asked if there was anything we might pray for with her.

“A healthy mind and an end to my bad habits,” she replied. So we prayed, and then I asked if I could put a miraculous medal around her neck with an image of the Virgin Mary on the front.

“Mary is everybody’s mother,” I explained, “and we all need a good mother looking out for us, don’t we?” She nodded as I spoke her to her about God’s personal love for her. “That’s a beautiful thing to say to someone,” she said, “that God loves them.”

I asked Almedra where she would be spending the night, and she said she would grab a few minutes here and there on the street, using her books for a pillow—but she doesn’t like sleeping in that homeless shelter. She’s been living this way for about a year, and she showed it.

Frustrated that I couldn’t do more for her I said, “I wish I had a bed to give you.” Almedra looked up at me with her tired eyes and said, “Well, you saying that is as good as you giving me a bed to sleep in—that you care about me having a bed or not.”

That statement was the highlight of the day for me, and it taught me a valuable lesson: We don’t need to solve everyone’s problems. We just need to love them and let them know that we care.

At this point we all took a break for a delicious birthday lunch in the French Quarter (seafood, of course), and then we headed back to the car.

There were others we encountered on the way—the schizoaffective guy wearing a cowboy hat, fishnets and fake breasts; the toothless drunk guy who sang to us and made bizarre bird call noises between scripture quotes; and the elderly woman with shingles who just wanted someone to call her a taxi to take her to Wal-Mart.

This last woman was named Mary, and Cecilia and I prayed a prayer of command for her healing right there on Canal Street. As we waited with her for an Uber driver to arrive (“You sure this is a taxi?”), her face lit up. “I feel so much better!” she said.

We got Mary comfortable in the back seat, paid the driver, and headed back to our car. All of us took a collective big breath and let out a sigh from a day well spent. Looking in the rear view mirror for my birthday girl, she smiled and said, “Best. Birthday. Ever.”

If she has her way, this will become an annual event. And if you are moved by this simple story, I hope you find the “Almedra” in your city who is just waiting for someone to care that she doesn’t have a bed.

I’m so excited to finally share this with you! Only 39 spots available for this Lenten pilgrimage to the Holy Land. My friend Barbara Heil will be our tour leader–she’s amazing–and I’ll be leading the singing. Our priest is Fr. Bosco from Rwanda, and he will be traveling with us and offering daily Mass. The cost will be $4300 or less (all-inclusive), and the itinerary is being finalized.  Visit http://fromhisheart.com/kclevelandpilgrimage/ for more information and to reserve your spot!  We expect to sell out very quickly.