Mary van Balen

PHOTO: Mary van Balen
This morning I stopped at the grocery store on my way to work and bought boxes of animal crackers to share on Saint Francis' feast day.

The morning was lovely. Clouds filled the sky, and though they looked as if they might bring rain later, in the morning they shone with sunlight. I stepped out of my car and smiled at the store employee who was collecting shopping carts from the parking lot. Read More 

PHOTO: PAUL JASMER, OSB, Scillia bifolia
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart, take courage;
wait for the Lord!
Ps 27, 7-9,; 13-14


This Psalm expresses what was in my heart as I drove down the highway towards my former home yesterday. I was heading down to pick out wall paint for my brother to use as we prepare the house for sale. I was overwhelmed with all the loose ends in my life: no job, no sure plans for the fall, a dissolution that takes time to work through, and my father had taken a turn for the worse, needing more hands to help day and night.

"Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me!" Those words could have been my own as I had what I sometimes call a "Tevia moment" with God, calling out through my tears: "I am worn out. I have had it. Answer me! I have chosen to work for the poor, for your church, for my family. Now I need something to open up for me!"  Read More