Why I am Blogging Again

The handful of friends who read this blog have asked me, over the course of the past year, why I stopped writing. I couldn't answer the question; I simply didn't know. It all just petered out and I found I had nothing to say, or nothing to say publicly.

There are many fine Catholic blogs available, written by men and women who know more, are more saintly, more adept, more patient...more everything than I am.

But they are not me. And the moment of insight that led me to restart my humble entries for Sent To Be occurred when I recalled one day my daughter's first day of kindergarten.

She was standing near the door to her classroom, one among many new students entering for the first time the big world of reading and math and learning to share, learning to sit quietly, and to do homework . (Yes,  homework...a ridiculous notion for kindergarten but that's another blog entry.)

A small boy stood outside the door weeping, unwilling to enter his new classroom. His mother bent down quietly encouraging him to cross the threshold.

My daughter went over to him, peeped under the hood that was pulled over his face, and said "I can see you! Come on in. It's OK. Don't be afraid."

And with those words, he went in while his mother prayed a prayer of thankfulness for this little girl who had held out her hand at the right moment.

It was a small thing for my daughter to do, really, but so important for that child and his mother. The boy's mother mentions that incident to me frequently, and reminds me how much they love my daughter.

If my reflections about faith and Catholicism can encourage even one shy person to step across the threshold of faith and enter more fully into the church, I will be pleased. It will be the result of the Holy Spirit more fundamentally; I will have been the scribe. But I can't think of any better reason to write, as limited as I am.

My entries are for you, dear friends, and for Jesus. And I offer them humbly.