- By Melannie Svoboda SND
A number of years ago I was struggling with someone, a co-worker who was about 15 years older than I was. I didn’t know him very well, but we rubbed shoulders at work from time to time. About once a month, for example, we were required to attend the same
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
April is national poetry month. As is my custom, I’m posting poems in honor of poetry’s marvelous beauty and power. Today I’m featuring three poems about Jesus by two friends of mine and myself. I suggest you read these poems slowly and aloud. The Cana Jesus by Pierre Eau Claire
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
Easter is the season of hope… Easter reminds us that our hope is rooted in the persistent and unconditional love of God for us–not in our goodness. Our hope is rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus–not in ourselves. Our hope is rooted in the wisdom and power of
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
One thing I like about praying: anything goes. I didn’t always believe this. As a little girl, I thought praying was mostly something you did in church on Sundays, or something you did before eating supper, or you did kneeling beside your bed every night. I didn’t realize that anything
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
Some of us will experience a total eclipse of the sun on Monday, April 8, 2024. The Cleveland, Ohio area is in its direct path. We will be privileged to witness this astronomical phenomenon from 1:59.20 PM to 4:28.57 PM (EST) (How’s that for pinpoint accuracy!) Even if our typical
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
Last week this blog focused on beauty–especially the beauty of various art forms as seen in the works of local artist, Pat Firem. This week we are focusing on a topic that may be uncomfortable for many of us: the ugliness and power of evil. But as we draw nearer
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
In my book, The Grace of Beauty, I write “Beauty can affect us in many ways. It can stop us in its tracks, lighten our heart, calm our anxiety, ease our pain, move us to tears… Beauty even has the power to draw us to the ultimate source of all
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
A friend recently gave me a marvelous new book to read during my recovery from hip surgery. It’s called Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe by the award-winning ecologist Carl Safina. The book tells the story of how Safina and his wife Patricia, on their Long Island
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
This past month I visited a special place I call Hip-Replacement-Surgery-Land—or Hippy-Land, for short. During my sojourn there, I learned (or re-learned) many things. Here are a few of them. The power of prayer. So many people said they were praying for me—family, friends, readers, even strangers—that I felt encompassed
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
I was watching a TV show about game wardens in New England. One day they got a call from an anxious family reporting a loved one missing. She was an “elderly” lady (about my age at the time, I noted!), an avid hiker, someone very familiar with the mountain trail
