Ascending Hero Mountain
top of page
indian paintbrush art & design
Beauty is the battlefield where God and the Devil war for the soul of man. - Fyodor Dostoevsky
read
thoughts on art, faith, literature, culture, travel, adoption, and more
Search
When I taught English in China, we were in a filthy, rat-infested village, crawling with giant cockroaches and shrouded in a pervasive...
Lara Neri
- May 2, 2019
- 4 min
Crowning the Warrior Queen
On my journey into the Catholic Church, Mary was a real problem for me for a while. Even after I realized that Catholics do not worship...
235 views1 comment
Lara Neri
- Apr 23, 2019
- 3 min
I'm just a girl
This coming Sunday is Thomas Sunday. I have always liked this Apostle, as I really relate to him, at least as far as struggling with...
121 views1 comment
Lara Neri
- Apr 19, 2019
- 6 min
By death He trampled death
I love Easter so much that it is hard to write about it. I cry thinking about it. It is the most full of true joy, the most expressive of...
143 views2 comments
Lara Neri
- Apr 4, 2019
- 4 min
Onward & Upward
I remember listening in amazement in high school chapel at my Christian school as various guest speakers told of dramatic conversions...
105 views1 comment
Lara Neri
- Mar 21, 2019
- 4 min
saying yes to losing control
When I was younger I did not want the mess, the noise, the chaos, or the financial burden of children. And I was under the impression...
168 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- Feb 21, 2019
- 4 min
Approaching Great Lent: all are responsible for all
Several years ago, after very emotional struggles with infertility and two heartbreaking miscarriages, we began our first adoption. It...
351 views4 comments
Lara Neri
- Feb 14, 2019
- 3 min
St. Valentine: active love is labor and fortitude
In our family, we have four very intense children, two adopted with trauma histories, one with secondary trauma, one with a missing...
35 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- Feb 7, 2019
- 3 min
St. Scholastica & the loving fatherhood of God
I have a hard time relating to the saints who knew they were going to be nuns from the time they were six - those saints who wanted to do...
159 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- Feb 1, 2019
- 2 min
Suffering & Softening
The feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple (2 February) is one of the Twelve Major Feast Days in the Eastern Church, also...
24 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- May 8, 2016
- 1 min
the transformative power of story
Various influences were dropped into my path that lead me into the Catholic Church, one of the most prominent being the work of Fyodor...
3 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- May 6, 2016
- 2 min
the feast of the Ascension
I love this quiet, mid-week feast day celebrating Christ's rising up to Heaven in His resurrected body. He leaves us with the commission...
2 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- May 5, 2016
- 1 min
the feast of St. George
St. George is a popular saint, renowned for slaying a dragon and saving a princess. He is venerated as a vanquisher of evil and knight of...
0 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- May 2, 2016
- 3 min
doing shots for the saints
The first time I met Babushka, my friend Ira’s 76 year old grandmother, she appeared as a tiny speck in a row boat across the water. As...
6 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- Apr 26, 2016
- 2 min
creating a sacred space in the home
When I was living in St. Petersburg, I rented a small, airy room in a sunny, high-ceilinged apartment on the corner of Dostoevsky Street...
6 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- Apr 3, 2016
- 1 min
Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!
Pascha is my favorite time of the year! I love the joy of this season, the hope of rebirth and resurrection! We celebrate this day with...
2 views0 comments
Lara Neri
- Feb 11, 2016
- 2 min
Why come to an Akathist Art Girls' Night Out workshop?
In these times, in our country, many women live isolated lives. Mothers feel societal pressure to do everything themselves - the cooking,...
5 views0 comments
Original Art. Education. Catholic Resources.
bottom of page