Huffington Post

Hyperemesis Gravidarum: A Report From the Trenches

"Vindication. That’s the word that comes to mind with the full-scale press that has descended upon the news that Prince William and his wife, Katherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, are expecting their first child and that she is in the hospital for treatment of hyperemesis gravidarum...(article continues)"

Lenten Journey

"The season of Lent marks a moment in which one can choose to look at life anew; to journey on to greater purpose, deeper love. Returning from morning Mass today, Ash Wednesday, the marking of a Lenten journey, I was reminded of a moment three years ago that forever re-shaped the construct of Lent for me. Three years ago, on that Ash Wednesday I was preparing for my son’s deployment to Afghanistan as a Weapons Platoon Commander, Infantry Officer in the Marine Corps. Those were days when I kept prayer close and God even closer. Holding a heart so heavy with this impending deployment, fear and anxiety a constant presence, I sat through that Mass feeling a connection with the very thought of Mary, mother of Jesus. Entering this spiritual season of Lent, the journey of Mary, in her walk with her suffering son, Jesus, became an anguish that I felt I understood in a way I could never bear to imagine before. The prophet Simeon told Mary, when Jesus was just a baby, cautioning her about the greater message this life represented and the pain that was ahead, that “into your heart, too, a sword shall pass”. The thought of what that journey was, to imagine a mother accompanying her son to his agonizing death is pain beyond measure...(article continues)"