Mary Boscaino

Friend in Need

Friend in Need You know, there are timeswhen I think I can’t find You.Instead of sending me helpin the form of a knight in shining armor,You give me the neighborwho was just minding their own...

The Communion of Community

The Communion of Community We work, live and play side by side,yet we don’t see each other.We live in the same houses,the same towns, but we pass by as strangers.Lift us out of the funk of ourselvesinto the ability to share, to dine,to build a life of love and laughter.

Peace-Filled Families: Part One

Peace-Filled Families: Part One I had a friend once who said I was a round person. Thanks, I thought. Then, she explained that there are "round" people and "tentacle" people. Round people let things roll off, and tentacle people lash out or are always ready to respond in like form to a hurt or injustice. She described herself as a tentacle person. Yes, I could see that, but she was also the one who would stand up for other people right away, and took things...

Now What?

Now What? You know, it's funny how unaware you are of your surroundings until you have to look beyond yourself for help. While I sort of pride myself on being aware, of others' needs and community involvement, it was this little thing that happened to me that made me more aware of my own neighborhood.

Watch

Watch What You Say! These days, you can't say anything without some forethought. Remember the old paper dolls? My granddaughter received an updated version of the doll in magnetic form, and plays with it on the fridge in their kitchen. She's had it for over a year and still changes the clothes around while Mommy, Daddy or MiMi are preparing her lunch or the family dinner.

Building Relationships

Building Relationships Through Food It's been quite some time since I watched Chocolat, a film about community, its entrenchment in tradition, and how one woman shook things up. Before I even saw the movie, I heard about it, from a Catholic priest at a conference for adult initiation into the Catholic Church. It was a week of immersion into the ministry of Christian Initiation, and every day was spent with about 150 other people from the...

Peace-Filled Families: Part Two

Peace-Filled Families: Part Two While I mentioned that my daughter and her husband seem to have taken on the positives of one another's personality to present a united parenting team, that's not always the case in families. My own marriage had its ups and downs, and my husband and I were not always on the same page with regard to discipline, allowances, curfews, and the list goes on.

Peace After Loss

Peace After Loss: Part Two "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face...you must do the thing you think you cannot do." -Eleanor Roosevelt That last line hits me and gives me strength every time I think about it. And even though it wasn't a conscious quote on my mind in those months after Denny...

Hanukkah

Hanukkah and Other Memories In my time working at Temple Beth Israel, I enjoyed three years of High Holy Days, Confirmations, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and Hanukkahs. Even though Hanukkah is not a High Holy Day, it's a special time, and it was one of my favorite seasons there. The Temple gift shop was heavily promoted this time of the year.

Peace After Loss: Part One

Peace After Loss: Part One Over three years ago, I lost my husband suddenly when he had a heart attack in our backyard. I was peacefully taking a shower, getting ready to go to town to do a little shopping then to Good Friday mass at our parish. I loved Easter week. The whole idea of new life, resurrection, and coming out of the darkness of winter into the world's awakening to spring. Then part of me died.

Thankfulness

Thankfulness I attended an interfaith women's group meeting on Saturday. The topic was loss – of all types – and how we can move beyond it. As the morning went on, more of the older members of the group discussed the loss they felt about their childhood.

Planting the Seed of Prayer

Planting the Seed of Prayer I don't remember a whole lot of vocal praying going on in my house growing up, but I knew my mother was a prayerful woman. With seven children, born in a sixteen-year span, you'd have to be, wouldn't you? Then I got married, and we lived with my mother-in-law for 21 years.