Restoration
Column: My Dear Family
This column contains articles published posthumously from the writings of Catherine Doherty.
Making the Desert Bloom — by Catherine Doherty. Wild flowers, garden flowers—look at each one separately. If you do, you will lose yourself in its infinite perfection. Behold its colors, its form, the shape of its petals.... (July 01, 2008)
A Pathway to Hope — by Catherine Doherty. You hear all the beautiful readings in the liturgies during the Easter Season that say that Christ is risen, the bonds of sin have been broken, and the world has been renewed. And in our nitty-gritty way,... (April 02, 2008)
Holy Saturday — by Catherine Doherty. The stone was heavy. It took strong Roman soldiers to roll it across the entrance. The cave was cold. There wasn’t a chink that let in any light. The walls were hard. There was so little air,... (March 22, 2008)
The Good News About Guilt — by Catherine Doherty. We are riddled with guilt. One of the things people are worried about is God’s justice. People shake and say, "Oh, I am a louse. I am a sinner." Of course you are a sinner. But never... (February 04, 2008)
Letter to a Friend — by Catherine Doherty. Your long letter is still on my desk. I have read it and re-read it many times. It is that kind of letter. It demands all the attention and prayer I can give it. Yet it is... (January 09, 2008)
The Red Pump — by Catherine Doherty. In the last month of this year during which we celebrated the 60th anniversary of MH Combermere, we share with you a homey story from our early days. Truly all life speaks of the Lord. People, things,... (December 07, 2007)
The Moment Between Lives — by Catherine Doherty. As I was meditating on death, it seemed to me that we do not talk or think enough about this topic. We should, you know, because death is one of the most beautiful moments between lives. Since... (November 02, 2007)
The Earth is Angry — by Catherine Doherty. The stocky peasant with the square beard that tumbled down to the middle of his chest stood easily before my father. I heard his usually calm voice acquire a vehement accent: "No, sir," he said, "it doesn’t... (October 03, 2007)
Marriage: A Vocation to Holiness — by Catherine Doherty. Marriage is a vocation, a call from God, to two people to become one, to found a home, and to beget, bear, and raise children. In this glorious and hard vocation, husbands and wives are called to... (September 03, 2007)
Hospitality of the Heart — by Catherine Doherty. What the world needs most today is the hospitality of the heart. This hospitality is very profound, for hospitality of the heart means accepting each person as he or she is, allowing him to make himself at... (August 27, 2007)
Standing Room Only? — by Catherine Doherty. From the day of the first Pentecost, Mary the Mother of God was loved and venerated in the Church. Although she appears from the Gospels to have spoken very little, St. Luke brought her to the forefront... (May 31, 2007)
The Whisper of Trees — by Catherine Doherty. The earth has been called "God’s Book of Love for Man." She reveals his secrets to those who take time to search for them. Did not the Lord himself use examples from the earth for his parables... (April 16, 2007)
Plunging into the Sea of Mercy — Since God could create everything out of nothing, he can also, through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 298). With God, every moment is the moment... (March 02, 2007)
Encountering God — by Catherine Doherty. It seems strange to say, but what can help modern man find the answers to his own mystery, and the mystery of him in whose image he is created, is silence and solitude—in a word, the desert.... (February 02, 2007)
The Chitchat Apostolate — by Catherine Doherty. One of my techniques in loving others is what I call the "chitchat apostolate," a homey, person-to-person approach. It is a way of loving and of discovering the real needs of people, whether material or spiritual or... (January 19, 2007)
A Pathway to Joy — by Catherine Doherty. There’s more to celebration than you might think. What is celebration? Celebration doesn’t mean a big party with balloons, drinking, carousing, and in general creating a lot of noise to assure oneself that one is celebrating. It... (December 18, 2006)
Pauper? So What? — by Catherine Doherty. What does it matter if you are inadequate in your own estimation? What does it matter that you think you are not contributing too much to the Church?... (November 03, 2006)
The World is at War — by Catherine Doherty. Mary, teach us to pray! For see, you who are our mother and the Mother of God, somewhere along the dark road of the past decades, while we walked between war and uneasy peace, we have forgotten... (October 23, 2006)
A Dream Dreamt in God — by Catherine Doherty. We have a farm at Madonna House called "St. Benedict’s Acres." This farm was born out of a dream—a dream dreamt in the Lord. In the steaming streets of Harlem, in the cold, windy streets of the... (September 06, 2006)
When God Calls — by Catherine Doherty. God’s call doesn’t only come once when he calls us to our vocation. No, it comes over and over. Does anyone describe it with more fire than Catherine Doherty? There is a moment when God calls you.... (July 28, 2006)
Praying with Fire and Tears — by Catherine Doherty. I often meditate on holy cards. Yesterday I came across one that spoke of prayer as fire and tears. Yes, prayer comes from the heart, the heart that is on fire, and full of tears. If I... (May 04, 2006)
Can You Weigh Desire? — by Catherine Doherty. Preparation for Lent begins with desire. Can you weigh desire? Can you measure it with a yardstick? Can you unwrap it and know the chemical content? No, my friends, you can’t. Desire is like a flame; it... (March 08, 2006)
Walking on the Water — by Catherine Doherty. I am the light of the world, said Christ (Jn 8:12). Because he has come, we are no longer living in the shadow of death. We can live in light. But light is only light in contrast... (January 16, 2006)
The Cry of a Prophet — by Catherine Doherty. Chapter forty of the book of the prophet Isaiah contains some of the most beautiful passages in scripture. And these prophecies are eternal. They were not just meant for the time of Jerusalem. They are meant for... (December 02, 2005)
How Death Became Life — by Catherine Doherty. Death was born on a flaming day—at least that’s the way she remembered it. For when she came forth, full-grown into the world, it was alight with all the colors of fire. The light seemed to come... (November 04, 2005)
Beads on a String — by Catherine Doherty. I went outside for a bit today to enjoy the mild air and the autumn leaves. Sitting in my Russian shrine, I was thinking—of all things—about the rosary, the neglected, rejected rosary.... (October 07, 2005)
A Sign From the East — by Catherine Doherty (1968). There are moments in human lives that are truly inexpressible—moments when one gropes for words that all shrink into nothingness before the happenings or thoughts that occur in this once-in-a-lifetime business. Some ten years ago (in... (September 19, 2005)
Listening to God — by Catherine Doherty. We tend to pray with great intensity for the things we want, but do we ever think of praying for what God wants? Usually when our desire for something “cools off,” so does our prayer. It is... (July 18, 2005)
The Hearbeats of God — by Catherine Doherty. How in heaven’s name will we be able to face a lifetime broken into small particles of days that will bring us doubts, temptations, and fears? How in heaven’s name will we stand up to that grind... (May 06, 2005)
Evangelization is Simple — by Catherine Doherty. This was written 30 years ago, and the delightful examples Catherine used from her childhood and from Harlem in the 1940’s are even older. But as always, her message is timeless. “Evangelization” is a word that I... (April 27, 2005)
The Feast of Feasts — by Catherine Doherty. Catherine often told us about her childhood in Russia, not because she loved to reminisce (which, perhaps, she did), but to give us glimpses, concrete pictures, and a vision of a culture in which life and faith... (March 26, 2005)
The Bright Sadness — by Catherine Doherty. In the Russia of my childhood we felt deeply that the way to the cross—to Golgotha—is always filled with a “bright sadness,” for Christ is etched on the cross against a fantastic light, an explosion, a transfiguration:... (February 01, 2005)
Where Love Is God Is — by Catherine Doherty. “God’s peace be upon you.” “And may it abide in you, too.” How familiar to me, and how beloved, is the memory of this greeting and its response, heard so many times in my childhood and youth!... (January 01, 2005)
