Author: hollytrina

We (almost) always go to Mass. But on the days we don’t, I don’t worry about my mortal soul. Here is the reality of our situation. Sometimes we’re busy. Sometimes we’re tired. Sometimes dragging that rebellious teen to Mass creates more harm than good. None of those times do I feel as if missing Mass… Continue reading shoulds of mass

Just yesterday, the governor of Idaho, a state filled with people who I love dearly, enacted a strict abortion law modeled after Texas’s and I’m getting nervous. Not because these laws are about abortion, but because the people in power are claiming that this is their right; that this is what the people in their… Continue reading on idaho

Why be Catholic? I usually have an answer at the ready, whether it be memorized, or repeated, or straight from my soul. But sometimes I ask myself that question and none of the answers feel like quite enough, so I take a moment to dig deeper. Why? Why be Christian? Okay, now a few more… Continue reading why be catholic

There are days when I look at the tenuous thread connecting me to Catholicism and wonder when it will fray, allowing me to drift away. There are days when my sturdy, ropey connection to Catholicism makes me feel supported, strengthening my resolve to speak up on issues that break with God’s love. The loves that… Continue reading barely holding on

Matthew 6:21 tells us, "for where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." I protect time like Frodo protects the Ring, so I should be able to look at where the bulk of my time is spent to see what is most important to me. Yet when I look at my life, much of… Continue reading treasure, time, and heart

This week something miraculous happened. A simple website popped up allowing us to request four Covid tests to be shipped to our home. If you have ever been intimately involved in anything the government produces, this rapid simplicity was nothing short of a miracle. And yet, people are fussing. I get it. If you’re not… Continue reading four tests

Growing up, we had one Catholic church in town. We had no choice of community, no priest to follow, no beautiful parish building to choose. St. Anne’s was ours. Named after the mother of Mary, our church was the welcoming grandmother to the whole entire town, no matter who we were or where we came… Continue reading one year later

This season has left me feeling parched and dry with a heart cracked wide open. The details of these past two years are gone, much of life trudging on as it is and as it was. I want to remember. I know there was love and life and beauty and joy, but the sameness and… Continue reading resolving towards hope

I often feel like a canary in a coal mine, chirping away as the world tilts, warning of change but also staying right where I am because, really, we canaries know something is wrong, but we rarely know exactly what it is. This past week, the canary in my soul has been chirping nonstop, but… Continue reading weary world rejoices

I cannot stand to read another article about how a child sacrificed his life during a school shooting.He did not choose to make that sacrifice.He did not surrender his life as an offering.He wanted to live. Calling this loss of life a sacrifice does not make it okay.It is not admirable. It is tragic. I… Continue reading sacrifice