Burnout is real. And it doesn’t just happen at the end of a semester or during senior year. “But didn’t you just start the semester?” Yes, and you might think that students and teachers return reinvigorated......

The start of each semester brings its own challenges but also its own joys. One of the things I love most about teaching in a university setting is that each semester, we’re given the opportunity to engage and motivate an entirely different set of students.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! The Christmas tree is up, nativity sets are out and our outdoor lights depict a candlelit walkway with oversized presents and trees. 

Good things come to those who wait. Each Advent, I’m reminded of this cliché. Each year, we count down the days until Christmas, until the birth of our savior. Each year we take on the role of Mary, waiting in anticipation for the birth of her son, waiting in prayerful acceptance of God’s will.

Only recently have I begun seeing the reds and yellows of the trees, the temperatures begin to fall, and the season for hot chocolate commence. It’s in stark contrast to St. Louis – where snow fell only a few weeks ago. Here, back home in the south, fall comes in quickly and softly, surprising us with its arrival and swiftly evacuating, retreating in the face of winter.

There are many things I was told during my pregnancy that were meant to prepare me for motherhood. I had heard about the sleepless nights, the resulting sleep deprivation and the seemingly insatiable feedings. I was told to sleep while my twin boys were sleeping, to neglect household chores, to recruit help when and where I could get it.

Have you had difficulty exercising patience? Try pregnancy. In these last few days, I’ve headed into weekly doctor’s appointments (and sometimes multiple times in a week), grown larger than I ever thought possible, and felt my weight shift and equilibrium falter.

During the Mass celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi, I sat in the pew, gulping my water, while seemingly squirming around in my seat. I’m sure the people behind me were awfully confused and perhaps even a bit perturbed.

I’m not a sports fan. I’ve never enjoyed going to sporting events, and the only time I’ll willingly sit down to watch something sports-related on television is during the Olympics. (I know, I know – this will have to change when my twin boys arrive.)

In all of the birthing classes that I’ve taken, the importance of a “birth plan” was stressed. Continually. Over and over, I heard about the necessity of making sure I advocate for what I want my birth “experience” to be like.

Each May, we celebrate our devotion to Mary. As the mother of God and the queen of heaven, along with a host of other titles, it seems that now, more than ever, we need the help of Mary’s grace and humility in a time of much-needed perseverance.

The classes are finished, but it’s only the beginning for teachers. Papers need to be graded and final grades submitted. And the e-mails. So many e-mails from students. It’s one of two things: gratitude for the semester, or the need to discuss grades and possibilities for rewrites.

As seniors walk across the stage, proudly brandishing their diplomas, and parents look on beaming from their seats, many will hear from commencement speakers about change. At the end of each major educational phase, in uplifting motivational speeches, we hear of changes that occur as we move into a new juncture in our lives.

“Great buildings, like great mountains, are the work of centuries,” writes Victor Hugo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Throughout the novel, Hugo’s descriptions of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris are painstakingly detailed. The narrator characterizes the cathedral as a living, breathing entity.

He is risen! Resounding throughout the Church on Easter morning, the proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection echoes across the Easter season. But what does it mean?

The rain was pouring down, and I was struggling to find my keys in my purse. Looking up, I noticed an elderly woman who had just come in from the rain. She was smiling – at 9 a.m. in the morning, outside of the lab to get bloodwork.

My husband has always been pro-life, but he’s never been extremely comfortable talking about it. That is, not until the reality of our pregnancy hit him.

Saying goodbye is one of the most difficult things to do. And yet, it’s an occurrence that happens regularly not only in our daily lives but also in the natural world surrounding us.

I found myself sitting on a bench in the middle of campus. A break in the midst of the 10-minute walk between my office and classroom. The heaviness of my belly, even this early on, has already begun to slow me down.

Have you ever noticed that some of your non-Catholic, or non-Christian, friends seem to participate in Lent? Like the celebration of Christmas or Easter, it seems like Lent is another religious tradition that gets taken up and celebrated in our ever-increasing secular society.