On June 24th, 2022 Roe V Wade was officially overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States. “Monica, pull over here. I want to buy something,” Norma McCorvey (“Roe” of Roe v. Wade) said to me as I was driving her back to Dallas after she had given an...
March 25 and Our Re-Creation
My favorite day in Lent is March 25. No, it’s not my favorite since I can eat dessert because it is a solemnity (though that’s a bonus)! Rather, it is the day that “the body entered theology…through the main door” (TOB 23:4). What does Pope John Paul mean? And how...
From “Luv” to “Love”
“I love you.” Those are powerful words—or they ought to be, if “luv” becomes love. What is “luv?” We all recognize “luv” as that attraction and infatuation for someone else and the intense feelings that come it. Now, I don’t mean to criticize “luv.” Not at all. In...
St. John Paul II’s The Hope of Everyday
One of my dearest friends knows that I try to grow in self-understanding by continuing to see my faults, weaknesses, and sins…and “walk away” from them toward the path of virtue and holiness. That’s why she sent me a gift called “Self-Authoring,” a guided reflection...
The Posture of Receptivity
As we begin the new Liturgical Year (which always points us to eternity), a central concept in the Theology of the Body comes to mind: Gift. “All of creation is to be received as a gift.” Notice the word received. Not just some things but everything is to be received...
Halloween, Holiness, and Happiness
As Halloween approaches, I think about candy and haunted houses, Trick or Treat and the color orange, spooky decorations, and the World Series. But perhaps I need to be reminded that Halloween originated as a celebration of All Hallow’s Eve, the day before we...
Unless a Grain of Wheat Shall Fall
From The Body and Reverence. Illustrated by Gary Undercuffler When I was a teenager, I worked 70 hours a week during the summer at Continental Grain Company in Ft. Worth so that I was able to pay my way through Nolan Catholic High School. At Continental Grain, I...
The Power of the Imagination: Happy and Whole
Just in time for Christmas, TOBET is releasing another storybook entitled Happy and Whole. Author Amy Dedman shares delight in God’s design of the human body with much humor, for pre-school through kindergarten children. When I read Happy and Whole to my special...
TOB: A Sacramental View of Reality
Cover of our NEW Level 7, Book 1: Our Bodies Made Male & Female (Second Edition) “Mom and Papa, do you think I should really publish this book? I may go to jail for it.” “Do what’s right, Monica. We will visit you in jail,” they said with wry but truthful...
Grand Finale for Lesson Books!
Cover of our Level 8, Book 2: Catholicism for EveryBODY Five years… and finally finished! The very last book of The Body Matters program has arrived from the printer! I must admit, I have reread my own book five times since getting it two days ago! And it...