Eileen Benthal
Eileen is a writer, speaker and wellness coach with a bachelor’s degree in theology from Franciscan University. She and her husband Steve live in Jamesport and have four young adult children. Email Eileen
It’s Christmas — what are you waiting for?
Beneath all the glitter of this commercialized season, I know many people who are waiting for much greater things than a neatly wrapped gift beneath a Christmas tree.
Gratitude flows from the trials we endure
A blind man’s ability to see life with greater purpose caused the grace of gratitude to overflow into my life this Thanksgiving.
How a walk in a cemetery can bring peace and perspective
The quiet, peaceful atmosphere of a cemetery makes it a comfortable place to pray.
Learning to trust that you can breathe underwater
After all, as anyone who has felt like they were drowning in the difficulties of life knows, it’s sometimes hard to breathe when you feel so overwhelmed. The trust that helps me BREATHE also requires that I trust myself and know that am enough, I have enough and God is enough for me.
Gardening: How worry gave way to hope
As the flowers bloomed, died and bloomed again, I grieved losses and experienced a renewed hope. Slowly, we all began to recover.
Coping with the clergy abuse crisis in the church: Don’t run, rebuild
How does a lifelong, faithful Catholic, reconcile herself with a church plagued by the scandal and horrors of clergy sexual abuse and cover-up?
Life, repurposed in the hands of God
God wastes nothing in our lives — all our life experiences fit into His plan to become spiritual treasures when we most need them.
As the fire of your trials burns all around you, stop and hear the voice of God
Know that the Lord is present in the intense suffering of your life. He will see you through the fire. These trials by fire will not consume you and will even cause new growth to emerge and new beauty to flourish in the ashes.
You can do more than scroll through social media: #stopandpray
In this hyper-connected world we are very disconnected from one another. Sometimes we scroll through our "news feeds" like we were perusing a catalog for something that gains our attention. I invite you today to #stopandpray
Learning to appreciate the value of every life, however brief or fragile
Every child, regardless of ability, teaches the intrinsic value and dignity of each human person from conception to natural death.
