Category: Essay
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The Grounding Force
Check out my Substack for this new essay! https://open.substack.com/pub/michardillo/p/the-grounding-force?r=etmuf&utm_medium=ios
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Book Review: Overdue by Stephanie Perkins
When perusing available titles in NetGalley, the beginning of the description of this one really jumped out at me: Ingrid Dahl, a cheerful twenty-nine-year-old librarian in the cozy mountain town of Ridgetop, North Carolina… The description finishes with “Overdue is a beautiful, slow-burn romance full of lust and longing about new beginnings and finding your way.”…
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Fr. Basil Westendick, former pastor of St. Patrick’s in my hometown
https://dannwoellertthefoodetymologist.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/franciscan-food-in-cincinnati/
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Friends, Family, Food, But No Funeral!
My husband and I just recently returned home from a nine-day trip to our home state, Louisiana, where we had the time of our lives. This trip was planned around my nephew’s engagement party, bookended by family time and some really great food. When my husband and I married, we were both living in Maryland,…
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Walking with Francis: Rest in Peace, Holy Father
Easter Monday April 21, 2025 The world woke today to the news that the Holy Father passed away this morning in the Vatican. Having just written religious reflections for the seven days of Holy Week, I was going to return to my book reviews and more secular personal essays today, but given the news, “shocking…
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Behold, Your Mother
April 18, 2025 Day 6 of Holy Week Reflections, Good Friday Good Friday, March 29, 2024 On Good Friday in previous years our parish had had the Seven Last Words, but the practice had lapsed for some years. Last year, our pastor Fr. Lee brought it back with a twist. He asked seven parishioners to…
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The First Millennial Saint: Carlos Acutis
Thursday, April 17, 2025 Day 5 of Holy Week Reflections, First Day of the Triduum, Holy Thursday In February of 2022, I was teaching middle school religion, coming back after my first retirement, at my parish school, St. Jude Regional Catholic School. Our faculty retreat that year was held at the Shrine of St. Anthony…
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Feast Day of St. Bernadette of Lourdes
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 Day 4 of Holy Week Reflections On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, February 11, 2025, I shared with my parish family at the Shrine of St. Jude a reflection I wrote after visiting Lourdes in July of 2024. Today is the feast day of St. Bernadette, who was the…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 