Loretta Pehanich

Loretta Pehanich is a Catholic freelance writer and the author of 2022: A Book of Grace-Filled Days, Women in Conversation: Stand Up!, and Fleeting Moments: Praying When You Are Too Busy. A spiritual director since 2012, Loretta is trained in giving the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Her involvement in ministry and parish life includes 20 years in small faith-sharing groups and Christian Life Community. Loretta gives retreats and presentations on prayer and women’s spirituality and is commissioned as an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist. She and her husband Steve have four children and 10 grandchildren.

Listening to the Spirit

This story is inspired by Acts 8:26–40. I am Philip. The Holy Spirit has been giving me the free gift of paying attention, of staying aware, and of listening to...

Prayer Isn’t Complicated

I was taking the grandkids to school while babysitting for my son and his wife, who were on holiday for a week. On Monday I realized how out of...

Fighting Nerves by Dancing with Jesus

I struggled to pray as my mind bounced from one distraction to another. The biggest distraction was preparations for a trip to El Salvador with the Sisters of Providence....

Prayer Is Like a Water Bottle

In my holiday travels I learned about prayer at an airport while refilling my water bottle at one of those automatic dispensers on a wall near the restrooms. Not...

Imagining an Impatient Jesus

This story is inspired by the second reading for the Third Sunday of Advent (Cycle A), James 5:7–10. “Now?” “No, Jesus,” Mary said gently as she mended a shirt. They sat...

The Flagman, Part Two

Editor’s note: Read part one of Loretta’s encounters with the flagman here. From inside my apartment I can hear the flagman’s radio buzz as he talks to his counterpart up...