- By Melannie Svoboda SND
As we know, there’s a very important meeting taking place in Rome right now. It is the Synod on Synodality. I wrote something about it on my October 2 post. The Synod runs from October 4-29. But it began on October 1 with a three day retreat outside of Rome.
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
There’s a famous black and white photo from the Third Reich taken in Hamburg, Germany in 1936. It shows a crowd of shipyard workers, a hundred or more, with their right hands raised, saluting their allegiance to Adolf Hitler. But if you look more closely, you see one man who
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
Recently Eric (my grandnephew) and Mary Ann were married. Mary Ann’s father Ron is a deacon at the nearby church and he presided at the service. Deacon Ron wanted to walk his daughter down the aisle in a suit—not his clerical clothes. This meant he had to change after doing
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
Brandon Chrostowski, founder of Edwins Restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio, knows all about second chances. At 18, he was arrested for dealing drugs and was facing five to ten years in prison. Instead, the judge gave him probation. Because of this second chance, Brandon turned his life around. He went back
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
Years ago, a good friend recommended that I read a book on Australia called In a Sunburned Country. It was written by Bill Bryson whose most famous travel book is Into the Woods, the best seller on the Appalachian Trail. Bryson was born in Iowa but lived for 20 years
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
Sometimes I come across a single paragraph that stops me in my tracks. A paragraph that forces me to go back and read it again—and maybe even again. Today I’d like to share one such paragraph with you that I found in the book, The Luminous Web, by Barbara Brown
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
To celebrate Labor Day, I am devoting today’s post to humor. I do this occasionally, because I firmly believe we must never lose our sense of humor. We can let go of many other things—our youth, our good looks, our dreams of winning the lottery, and even our perfect health—and
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
Occasionally I like to showcase the writing of others on my blog, sometimes by name, sometimes anonymously. Here is a short piece by a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. She was the primary caregiver for her mother in her final years. When she shared with me this excerpt from
- By Melannie Svoboda SND
I like to sing. I always have. As little girls, my sister and I used to sing duets in harmony. Our favorites were “Harbor Lights” and “You Belong to Me.” I sang in the children’s choir at our parish, in our high school glee club, and now in the choir