Flannery O’Connor, the American Catholic southern gothic writer, once said, “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”
That line has always resonated with me, but …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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2/10/21
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With 2020 in our rearview mirror, most of us are hoping for a new year that looks nothing like the old year. As we struggled through past 10 months of pandemic, with one hit after another leaving us …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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12/30/20
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Advent in our modern world has long been behind the cultural eight ball. It’s a season of waiting in a world of instant gratification, a season of quiet anticipation in a world of noisy …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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12/2/20
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When I was leaving my gynecologist’s office recently, I exited the building with a younger couple leaving the same practice. I guessed that they likely were there for a pregnancy checkup and …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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11/4/20
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When I arrived at Pyramid Life Center in the Adirondack Mountains last month to lead a retreat, I was excited but nervous. As is always the case when I lead a group, I want to be sure I give …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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10/7/20
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An upstate New York church recently asked me if I would do a Zoom talk for their parish book club, which had just finished reading “Walking Together,” my 2010 book on spiritual friendship. They …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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9/9/20
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Chiara, 15, walked into our family room after a socially distanced bike ride with a friend and wisely observed that just a couple of months ago wearing a mask seemed like such a burden, an unusual …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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8/12/20
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A little more than five years ago, I stood on land owned by distant DeTurris relatives in Massa Lubrense, Italy, the birthplace of my paternal grandfather, and looked out at the Isle of Capri in the …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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7/15/20
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For the past two months, I’ve been receiving emails and private messages from folks who read “Rejoice and Be Glad,” my book of daily reflections for Easter to Pentecost. Although …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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6/3/20
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For my entire life, whenever someone asked me to name my favorite season, I would say, without any hesitation, “fall!” There was something about the colors of the trees, the crispness of …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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5/6/20
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The past month has been a dance of gratitude and fear. Gratitude that, so far, my family is healthy and together under one roof — all five of us around the dinner table each night, favorite …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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4/22/20
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The older I get, the more I like to tackle things I probably have no business tackling. In the course of the past 10 years, I’ve done everything from tennis lessons (I was never much of an …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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3/25/20
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Everyone has his or her own story. Our history, family, faith, environment—all of it combines to create a background story that runs through …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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2/26/20
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I traveled to Seattle a few weeks ago to give a parish retreat at St. Monica’s Church on Mercer Island. Long before I boarded the plane for my first visit to the Pacific …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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12/31/19
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I first got to know Sister Johanne McCarthy, C.S.J., about 18 months ago when she wrote to complain that our Albany diocesan newspaper wasn’t giving religious sisters the same treatment …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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12/4/19
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I returned home from work one day recently to see a For Sale sign on the lawn of our elderly neighbors, a retired Army doctor and nurse. They’ve been living on our street since the houses were …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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11/6/19
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The feasts and celebrations that surround us at this time in the liturgical year can do a soul some much-needed good. It’s hard to feel like a solitary seeker when we are …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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10/9/19
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September always feels like the start of a new year to me, much more so than Jan. 1 ever does. It must be the perennial student in me. I can’t even resist the piles of discounted school supplies …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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9/11/19
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When I was working as a reporter for Catholic New York back in the 1980s, I had one of those quote-of-the-day calendars on the desk in my cubicle overlooking Manhattan. All these years later, after …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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8/14/19
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I went back to yoga class last month after a long break. Day by day, as I returned to my mat in a room surrounded by people— mostly strangers—of all ages, shapes and sizes, I felt the comfort and …
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By MARY DeTURRIS POUST
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7/17/19
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