Ann Frailey's Blog (70)

I used to be a “neat freak” – maybe not on the level of antiseptic obsession – but I’ve always I liked order over chaos.  As time and kids have molded me – I have learned to accept a certain level of untidiness. But garbage still bothers me. Garbage is that stuff that is completely unusable – even by the slugs and ants of the world.  When nature’s cleaners can’t handle the mess we’ve made – we’re in trouble.

We live in the countryside so we have a few alternatives that city…

I recently read an excerpt from a famous person’s blog which stated that she had never been comfortable with her body and had resorted to plastic surgery to make herself more attractive.  I don’t name the celebrity simply because the story is all to familiar.  I know of countless individuals who aren’t famous and feel the need to “change” something to make themselves more attractive. Is that a problem?  The cosmetic industry might not think so. Nor any industry built around our insecurities…

What stirs the imagination often directs the soul.  When you look at the fiction available to young people today – to all people really – it doesn’t take a great leap of logic to wonder if there is a correlation between what grief people read and what grief people inflict.

I often read historical biographies, and I find them fascinating because there does seem to be a strong connection between the way a person grows up and the way they use power as an adult. Not everyone grows up to…

Epiphany used to conjure up images of the three Wise-Men who came from the east to honor the infant Christ as Lord and King. Later, as men and traditions waxed and waned, it came to simply mean a highlight – a sudden and profound understanding. The divine intervention aspect was shrouded by a modern dedication to purely human experiences.

For me, there are no purely…

As a child growing up I had a tendency to get things mixed up.  For a while, I actually thought that “The pursuit of happiness” was one of the Ten Commandments.  It was a revelation to realize that I was not commanded to pursue happiness.  In fact, as I got older and began to read and re-read scripture, I discovered a rather contrary expectation – that God wants us to offer ourselves to Him freely, as He offers Himself freely to us.

I can’t think of a better model for this approach to…

This year has been a bit of a roller coaster trying to discover how to mother my eight children while we all learn to accept my husband’s and their father’s death.  It has been a time of trial and error, a time of experimentation, a time of wonderful successes and a few wobbly failures.  But through it all, we have learned to care for each other more deeply and with greater sensitivity.

I have learned that I cannot do everything I want to do.  In fact, I can’t go to the store, teach…

I met Mr. Pearce at an OSMM Retreat and I enjoyed his talk on Tolkien and Catholicism so much that I decided to buy his book – Race with the Devil.  Now I am more impressed with the author than ever. Race with the Devil is an outstandingly honest account of his years as a racist through his conversion years into his current…

The book, My Battle against Hitler: Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich by Dietrich Von Hildebrand, translated and edited by John Henry Crosby with John F. Crosby is one of the most interesting and inspirational works I have ever read.  The book was designed with a reader like me in mind – someone who loves history but needs explanations about…

A great new book out! Here’s my review:

The Grace of Yes by Lisa Hendey is an extraordinary book for one great reason – it is invaluably honest.  There are many “how to” and “self-help” books dishing out advice about everything from eating well to becoming holy, but this book offers well thought out, honest reflections on very basic human…

For those who have been following the progress of Georgios I, I am happy to announce that it is finally published as a paperback on Amazon.  The e-book will be available soon.  We are also working on Georgios II and it should be available in the spring of 2015.  There is an excerpt of Georgios II in the back of Georgios I so you get a taste of what is coming.  Enjoy and happy reading!

Georgios…

My husband was a big Tolkien fan and it was really he who insisted that I should write a book connecting the Christian aspects of The Lord of the Rings to people’s every day lives. I’m glad I followed my husband’s advice at the time he gave it, because he is no longer here it offer it. ThoughThe Road Goes Ever On – A Christian Journey Through the Lord of…

Say What?  It is a lucky thing that everyone speaks at least one language in common in our household – or we’d be in serious trouble.  Case in point, my six year old daughter was looking at a notepad the other day with “Hello Kitty” written on the top.  I said, in that teacher voice I sometimes use, “Hey, do you know what this says?”  My little one looked at me smugly and said, “Yep, that’s Heloikio Kitty.”  Short pause as I digested this bit of information.  “Say again.”…

1) Workmen have been replacing the roof on my house this week and I have found it an extraordinary encounter for two reasons.  First, it offers me a sense of security I have not known the last few winters as I watched shingles pile themselves up in the yard.  But more importantly, I discovered once again the gentle kindness in virtual strangers.  One very windy day, the workmen realized it would be an act of near suicide to attempt to work up high, so they were going to quit early. I agreed…

Addictions are those habits and behaviors which are not good for us, in part, because they crowd out something much better. Sadly, when addicted we accept a lie for the truth.

Sex makes people feel good.  But it is not just the act itself that obsesses our society, it is the whole fantasy of passionate love depicted through movies and television that sets our hearts…

Voyeurism is my term for living life through passive distractions. It is one of the greatest dangers I see facing our young people today.  Instead of actually living their lives, some people experience the thrills and excitement of real life adventure through completely artificial means such as computer games, movies, television, music, and other techno toys. These comments…

This is the third post on the topic:Isms, Addictions & Culture…

Commercialism, like capitalism, puts profit and acquisition as the highest good.  Profit can be defined in terms of wealth, ownership, and power to influence your environment. The obsession here is to define oneself through the acquisition of stuff.  There are people who will never be Wall…

In a continuation of my post on Monday, Isms, Addictions and Culture, I am reflecting on the dangers facing our culture today.  Last time I considered the concept of Humanism. Today I am considering the dangers of Secularism…

Secularism tries to separate government operations from religious influences.  While this makes a great deal of sense to some degree, there are aspects of…

I started to write this blog and realized that it was waaaay too long.  There is a lot to cover so I have broken it up into parts.  I post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so if you are interested, you can follow along and see where this particular adventure takes you…

I once heard someone justify a particularly blatant case of infidelity with the words: “Well, I believe God wants me to be happy.”  I remember thinking, “At any cost?” I suppose the response would have run something…

1) Lots of literary endeavors this week.  First of all, I am continuing my Monday, Wednesday, Friday blogs with new pieces on The Isms and Addictions that Effect our Lives and I have joined CatholicMom.com and Catholic365.com. Stop in and visit some time.  They are wonderful sites chalk full of interesting posts about family, faith, world events, and reflections on life and culture.…

Food is big business in our society. But there are some things I have to keep reminding myself about food… 1) Something had to die so that I would live. With all the disconnect between people and their food – there are kids growing up today who actually believe that food comes from a store as if it materialized there. Food does not come from a store any more than a baby comes…