My youngest daughter will be 15 next month and in many ways, we are attached at the hip.  I'm not complaining, believe me, and every day I thank God that a teen-aged girl  still sees something in her mother that makes her want to hang out with me.  A consequence of this is that she is sometimes at my side while I'm blogging.  She was concerned yesterday that I would be too harsh on someone who commented and had an opposing view based on her own personal tragedy.

Let me be explicitly clear that anyone is welcome to comment here, so long as the dialog is respectful and appropriate.  Something directed you here and perhaps to other Catholic sites.  The last thing I would want to do is have anyone believe they are being judged.  Quite the contrary.  I have a pretty big log in my own eye that I need to have extricated before I lean over to pull out your speck.

Whenever I attend a retreat at Carmel, Mother Prioress will always send a welcome through a spokesperson about how no one comes to Carmel by accident.  If you're there, it's because God called you there.  Well, this humble little blog ain't Carmel, and I don't mean to pat myself on the back by saying this, but it's entirely possible that you found your way here because God wanted us to talk.  Sometimes, He plants a seed and it takes years for Him to see any yield for it, but He is a patient gardener, and He will wait.

I could write a post every day on some sinful behavior I engaged in before my conversion.  I don't because I either don't think it would be helpful or because I know it would qualify as WTMI and offer no spiritual benefit to myself or anyone else by rehashing it here.  I say this because I know that some of the folks who stumble onto Catholic blogs are wandering in the desert right now.  They might feel intimidated to share anything with Catholics who are on a different path on their journey.    Let me assure you that many of us have "been there, done that" and this is a safe place for you discuss any moral or theological issue that may be weighing on you.

Let me also say that if you've done something you know is in direct contradiction to church teaching and you haven't been to confession, please get there, even if you don't think you need to go.  Sometimes, I'll encounter a person who knows they should go to confession, but also knows they're going to repeat the sin.  Many of us are repeat offenders of some sin or another.  You should still go, not only to hear what counsel the priest offers but to receive graces which will help you overcome your weakness.  Think of it as chemo for the soul.  The cancer is never defeated in one treatment.  It takes repeated, subsequent therapies before the malignancy is overpowered.  Confession is a lot like that for some of us who struggle more than others.

At the risk of sounding like an Episcopal Church sign..... whoever you are, and however you found yourself here, The Little Way welcomes you.