The Blog

When Simone crosses the threshold into the Idaho house—this novel is full of doors both metaphorical and physical that arrange and filter how she encounters her memories, her choices, her wishes, her beliefs—she finds more than painful memories waiting. The presence there shifts between beauty and terror, invitation and threat. Is it her own mind fracturing under pressure, or is it something real, something outside herself? Is the presence formed from guilt, sadness, love, or evil? The novel’s answers are winding and complicated, reminding us that the spiritual realm is and not always as it seems, that our choices have consequences outside the bounds of ourselves, and that we are never as alone (or as autonomous) as we may think or feel.

This advent, I spent each day reading Susan De Bartoli’s Welcoming the Christ Child with Padre Pio. Although this book was released in 2022, it was a tremendous daily read to prepare for Christmas.

Author Emily Cavins draws us into Kateri’s life with depth, respect, and insight, revealing a woman who found beauty in great suffering and God’s grace in the creation she so dearly loved and revered. 

Advent has always been a season of anticipation, but this year it feels a little more personal. The Church’s liturgy invites us into the darkness that precedes the dawn, and for many of us, darkness is exactly where our deepest questions come alive.

This year, I’m praying with two new journals from Ave Maria Press: Heather Khym’s Encountering Emmanuel and Fr. John Nepil’s Illuminate. Both offer Scripture, thoughtful reflections, guided prayer, and space to wrestle, ponder, and actually let God speak—yet each one guides you along its own distinct path.