Articles by Elizabeth Leon
Unique Holiday Gift Ideas for the Kid that Has It All
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Unless you’re a parent or family member struggling to find the perfect gift for a kid who seems to have it all. Cellphones, tablets, and game consoles make it hard to impress the tech-savvy child. Fortunately, you don’t have to compete with technology to bring holiday cheer to your favorite child. Fun experiences and learning opportunities make great holiday gifts. Below are four unique holiday gift ideas for the kid that has it all.
Five Tips to Help you Crush Your New Year’s Resolutions
Over the years, that of the people that make New Year’s resolutions, only 9 percent of them feel they are successful in keeping them. While I’m sure none of the individuals in the other 91 percent planned to abandon their goals, they likely didn’t do enough work to ensure they increased their chances of success and growth. Make 2023 your year. Below are five tips that can help you crush your New Year’s resolutions.
Entrepreneur Gift Guide: Gift Ideas for Business Owners
It’s hard to believe Christmas is less than four weeks away. The long-awaited holiday will be here before you know it, so it’s time to begin shopping for the special people in your life. If you’re worried about what to get for the entrepreneur who seems to have it all, don’t sweat it. There are some fun and practical gift ideas that will surely please even the pickiest professional. Below is an entrepreneur gift guide with five gift ideas to surprise your favorite business owner this holiday season.
Networking Tips for a Cheerful and Stress-Free Holiday Party
The holidays are truly the most wonderful time of the year. Unless you’re like me. An introvert with social anxiety whose worst nightmare is the idea of attending a holiday party where you’re forced to make conversation with people you barely know. While the pandemic let many of us off the hook for several years, we can’t avoid holiday parties and networking events forever. Fortunately, there are tricks to making the most of the events.
Adquisición y fortalecimiento de competencias profesionales durante el servicio social en Casa Universidad UV
El servicio social es la oportunidad en la que los estudiantes de nivel superior próximos a egresar de un programa educativo pueden poner en práctica los saberes adquiridos durante su trayectoria académica, además que permite ser un espacio de análisis para el fortalecimiento de competencias profesionales.
Motherhood: The Great Surrender
Elizabeth Leon shares her journey through difficult experiences in motherhood that ultimately brought great joy and healing. After 28 years, my motherhood is in transition. Many metaphors exist for this change. It’s not an empty nest; I am a bird launcher. I am a lighthouse instead of an anchor. A cheerleader, not a coach. My retirement from my role as the executive officer of a large, busy family has been gradual and not always welcome. I loved being a full-time mother at home.
Twelve Tips for Sainthood from Servant of God Michelle Duppong
Elizabeth Leon shares practical wisdom from Servant of God Michelle Duppong that can help us in our journey to become saints. I first learned of Michelle Duppong three years ago when the cause for her canonization was opened on November 1, 2022. My daughter Maggie was a FOCUS missionary at the time and was thrilled to share that a former FOCUS missionary, Michelle Duppong, was being considered for sainthood.
Reflexiones sobre el impacto social y económico de la acreditación de Dermatología
Ayuda Buscar en la ayuda Buscar en la ayuda
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum en frijol y papa en Sinaloa: Etiología, epidemiología y alternativas de manejo
Ayuda Buscar en la ayuda Buscar en la ayuda Sclerotinia sclerotiorum en frijol y papa en Sinaloa: Etiología, epidemiología y alternativas de manejo Autores: Rubén Félix Gastélum, Gabriel Herrera Rodríguez, Norma Ávila Alistac, Elizabeth León Localización: Revista mexicana de fitopatología, ISSN-e 2007-8080, ISSN 0185-3309, Vol. 42, Nº.
Heart to Sacred Heart
Elizabeth Leon shares how she grew in devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus — and how you can too. The Sacred Heart of Jesus found me in the depths of grief. My son, John Paul Raphael, died on Friday, January 5, 2018, the day after he was born. It wasn’t until weeks later that I realized he died on a First Friday, a day honoring the Sacred Heart. His due date, February 2, was also a First Friday.
The Cross Is a Promise
Elizabeth Leon discusses the mystery of the Cross: our suffering is not the end of the story. I never wanted my life to contain a litany of losses: divorce, emotional and sexual abuse, adultery, rejection, and the death of my child. And yet, through my suffering, the Lord cracked me open so completely that I could finally let myself be loved and learn to live in the freedom of that love. When I surrendered to the crosses the Lord allowed in my life, I found healing.
Holy Women's History Month: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
Elizabeth Leon reflects on how Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton has inspired her faith journey. During Women's History Month, Catholic Mom writers are celebrating the women who have inspired their faith journeys — whether canonized saints, saints in progress, or beloved women from Scripture. Through personal reflections and heartfelt stories, they share how these holy women have touched their lives, offering wisdom, strength, and a deeper connection to God.
Aplicación de estrategias de fomento de desarrollo en cadenas de valor en Ecuador y sus resultados postpandemia
Ayuda Buscar en la ayuda Buscar en la ayuda Aplicación de estrategias de fomento de desarrollo en cadenas de valor en Ecuador y sus resultados postpandemia Arroyo León, Elizabeth [1] ; Estrella Lozada, Liggia [2] [1] Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) [2] Universidad de Alicante Localización: Revista PUCE, ISSN 1390-7719, Nº.112 119, 2024 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Revista PUCE No. 119), págs.
Surface Pre-Reacted Glass-Ionomer Eluate Suppresses Osteoclastogenesis through Downregulation of the MAPK Signaling Pathway
All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess.
Response of chickpea genotypes (Cicer arietinum L.) to the fungi complex that causes wilt
Cota-Barreras, Carlos I. [1] ; García-Estrada, Raymundo S.
The Wedding Tree
After a difficult divorce, Elizabeth Leon and her children sought a way to find closure and begin a new phase of their lives. In times of mourning, rituals are necessary Rituals are an important part of mourning. Our Catholic faith provides an abundance of ritual after the death of a loved one, but what about the death of a marriage? The structure and rituals of mourning a loved one bring comfort. It is a mercy to have something to DO with your grief.
From the Hand of Our Lady
Elizabeth Leon shares how she received a sign of hope in an unexpected way: from the hand of the Blessed Mother. It was my youngest daughter’s third birthday when I first learned that my husband was committing adultery. Despite the pain and horror that surrounded my family in the coming months, I was determined to fight for my marriage.
Daily Gospel Reflection for July 23, 2023
Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel. Today's Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30 Many years ago, I had a front garden bed full of liriope, a variegated ground plant similar to a spider plant. All was well until our enthusiastic landscapers sprayed grass seed into the beds. Within a few months, my lovely liriope was inundated with grass poking up and through its stems, ruining the beauty of the plant. There was no easy solution.
For My Son on the Brink of Manhood
Elizabeth Leon shares an open letter to her son as he graduates high school. How can it be your high school graduation? Though this letter comes at the end of your childhood, we’ll always be mother and son. When you were baptized, I promised God I’d be a faithful mother and teach you your true identity. I have learned a few lessons that feel important to share as you move forward in your life. Because of my own trauma, it took me a long time to learn my true identity.
Rosary Reflections for Pregnant Mothers: Fourth Joyful Mystery
Join us as we pray the Rosary this month for pregnant mothers. Today, Elizabeth Leon ponders the Fourth Joyful Mystery. The writers of Catholic Mom enthusiastically gathered to share meditations on each Mystery of the Rosary in a special way for pregnant mothers. We invite you to join us throughout the month of May as we pray together each day, and to share these reflections with other moms who will enjoy them. Today we will pray the Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation of the Lord.
Daily Gospel Reflection for April 30, 2023
Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel. Today's Gospel: John 10:1-10 We are all looking for a sheepfold. A sanctuary, a place of rest, a place where we belong and will be protected. How carefully do we consider the places we go for belonging and safety? Jesus frequently used sheep metaphors because they were familiar to the people of His day and age. But where is my sheepfold?
He Calls You by Name
Elizabeth Leon ponders how we, like Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection, must draw close enough to Jesus to hear Him call us by name. Each Easter, we hear from Jesus in the Gospel of John: Oh, Jesus, I answer, how long do you have? I am weeping because I am scared. Because I miss my baby. Because my daughter is rejecting me. Because people are saying mean things about me. Because my marriage and family don’t look at all like I thought they would. Why am I weeping?
The Weeping Women: A Meditation on the Eighth Station
Elizabeth Leon shares a prayerful meditation on one of the Stations of the Cross. I spent the morning navigating the crowds, my heart burning within me. My faith is on fire, convinced that He is the answer to my every question, the yoke for my every burden. The word came to my village that He was here. A spectacle, they said. Come and see, they cried. I push and wrestle my way through the throng and my fear. I move with urgency and stumble, my hand scraping against the rough limestone.
Daily Gospel Reflection for February 19, 2023
Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel. Today's Gospel: Matthew 5:38-48 Like all good teachers, Jesus begins with what is already known to His listeners in this passage: an eye for an eye, love your neighbor but hate your enemy. He moves quickly though from fairness and familiarity to generosity and heroic, unconditional love. He takes His followers from what is possible on their own strength to that which is impossible without His power.
Blessed by the Night Watch
Elizabeth Leon recounts the blessings of a regular middle-of-the-night hour of Adoration. In 2016, our parish opened a perpetual adoration chapel. Despite growing up Catholic, I was in my thirties with several small children before I ever attended a holy hour. I was captivated by the reverence and rituals of Eucharistic Adoration and quickly became a regular attendee of Thursday night Adoration at our church.
Bearing the Length of Grief
Elizabeth Leon offers three approaches to surviving the ongoing weight of grief. We all love the New Year. A fresh start. An invitation to leave behind the struggles of 2022 and hope for greater peace and joy in 2023. But what about the struggles that always stay? The load that can’t be put down or freshened up? The heaviness that no brave resolution can take away? There are many terrible realities that come from the grief of child loss, but one of the hardest for me to accept is the length of it.
Daily Gospel Reflection for January 15, 2023
Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel. Today's Gospel: John 1:29-34 Behold. This is a word that is meant to stop us in our tracks. A word that invites us to give all our attention, all our senses to that which we see. A word that says, “You don’t want to miss this.” Behold, the Lamb of God. John was waiting for this moment. He knew to expect it, had been preaching that a man would come who ranks ahead of him, and here He is. Behold.
Mourning with Our Lady of Sorrows
Facing a devastating diagnosis for her unborn child, Elizabeth Leon received holy consolation during a pilgrimage to Rome. As a cradle Catholic, Mary has been in my life for as long as I can remember, but until I became a mother, she more like an intellectual concept than a person with whom I could have a relationship. Once I faced the complexities of marriage and mothering, however, she became my refuge, and I entrusted my children to her motherly care over and over again.
Remembering to Say Goodbye
As her newly married daughter moves to her first home, some left-behind treasures remind Elizabeth Leon that she had not prepared herself for this moment. I almost forgot to say goodbye. She was gathering the last of her belongings to move to her first home with her new husband. After the wedding, after the honeymoon, after 24 years, 9 months, and 10 days of being my child, she was now his wife. She stood at the bottom of the stairs, front door open, keys in her hand and poised to leave.
24 delicious travel snacks for road trips and long flights »
Let’s face it: Snacking on the go isn’t always easy. You often don’t have access to foods from your at-home pantry while you’re on the road. And even when you want to travel with some of your favorite foods from home, packing travel snacks can be tricky — and the challenges only increase when you’re packing for travel on planes and trains. First, if you’re traveling by plane, you have to pick snacks that are TSA-compliant, which means no liquids or gels over 3.4 ounces.
The Precious Blood Devotion: 5 Ways to Pray
Elizabeth Leon offers five ways to deepen your family's devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus. The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus, a devotion that goes all the way back to the early church. In 96 AD, Pope St. Clement I wrote: The first blood sacrifice goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when God sacrificed an animal to provide garments of skin to cover the shame of their sin.
75+ Father's Day sales 2022 to make the best gifts "
Shopping for dads is notoriously difficult, which is why at Underscored we provide tons of Father’s Day gift ideas every year. Whether your dad is a sports enthusiast, tech whiz, outdoorsy type, star chef or anything else, we’ve got you covered with dozens of thoughtful gifts that show how much you care. Check out our picks for gifts that are personalized, practical and unique — plus, see our editors’ tried-and-true favorites from years past. What’s the only thing better than a thoughtful gift?
Editors favorite beauty & grooming products »
Buying beauty products can be a gamble, and that’s why the Underscored team tests hundreds of them each year. Along the way, we’ve found plenty of products — from viral hair treatments to the best beauty tools to celebrity-approved skin care and makeup — that stand above the rest and have become our all-time favorites. Ahead, discover 50 products that have made an impact in our skin care, makeup, hair care and grooming routines.
Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope
As her relationship with Our Lady grew, Elizabeth Leon realized how many blessings in her life came from Mary's hand and through her voice. I didn’t always know Mary. I was raised Catholic, so I knew about her, but she was remote—or so I thought. In college, a friend recommended a book about Marian apparitions. As a wife and mother, I learned to pray the Rosary with my children. We memorized the Angelus, and I bought a small statue of Mary to place in our home.
The Impossible Is Possible
Elizabeth Leon introduces the Novena for Impossible Requests and shares the unexpected way her heartfelt prayers were answered. Two-thousand twenty-two was an impossible year. It was supposed to be a year of celebration: my book had been published, my ministry launched, and my word of the year was “Rejoice.” Instead, a season of teenage rebellion became months of accusations and slander by my daughter and two adults in her life.
Shakira y Jennifer Lopez llenaron el Super Bowl de sabor latino
8:43 PM ET Elizabeth León | Enviada MIAMI -- "Latino Gang" vibró el Hard Rock Stadium con la presencia de Jennifer Lopez, Shakira y los reggaetoneros J Balvin y Bad Bunny; quienes pusieron el sabor latino y el 'perreo' en el espectáculo de medio tiempo del Super Bowl LIV, disputado entre los San Francisco 49ers y Kansas City Chiefs.
Shakira y Jennifer Lopez orgullosas de representar a latinos en el Super Bowl
¡Qué manera de lanzar el ovoide de Shakira y JLo! (0:32) Las cantantes en rueda de prensa demostraron sus habilidades en el futbol americano al lanzar balones al público. (0:32) 1:57 PM ET Elizabeth León | Enviada El espectáculo del medio tiempo del Super Bowl promete estar lleno de música y baile con la presencia de Shakira y Jennifer Lopez.
The End of an Era
At her youngest child's graduation festivities, Elizabeth Leon recalls the impact of her Catholic-school community in her life. On Tuesday I hopped in the car with my youngest daughter and pulled out of the driveway at 7:40 a.m. for the last time. We drove to school in the glow of an already warm June day. As we were heading out of the house, I had a quick thought. “We should probably take a picture!” I said to Clare.
The Embrace of the Cross
Elizabeth Leon envisions herself at the Crucifixion, dragging her own cross to unite her sufferings with those of Christ. All I have ever wanted was to be a Catholic wife and the mother of a beautiful family. And yet—a husband gone, lost to adultery and divorce. Two children gone, one to a custody change and the other to the grave. A third child at war with me and with Jesus, desperate to be rid of us both. This is my cross. I stumble under its weight, crushed by disappointment, mockery, and grief.
Who Is My Enemy?
Elizabeth Leon contemplates the reality that as long as we are on God's side, we will face opposition. The word “enemy” appears hundreds of times in the Bible. The Old Testament is full of laments about one’s enemies and prayers for them to be confounded or destroyed. The New Testament brings Jesus’ radical approach to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Romans 12:20 suggests we should feed our enemies and give them something to drink. But who is my enemy?
México firma sus mejores Panamericanos fuera de su país
3:05 PM CT Elizabeth León | Enviada El ráquetbol varonil le dio a la delegación azteca su medalla de oro número 24 en Lima 2019 y de esta manera, México firma su mejor actuación en unos Juegos Panamericanos celebrados fuera del país. Rodrigo Montoya venció a su compatriota Álvaro Beltrán en la Final Individual y su presea de oro significó que México superara las medallas conseguidas en la justa panamericana de Mar de la Plata en 1995.
México jugará semifinales en Lima 2019
4:05 PM CT Elizabeth León | Enviada Imago7 México selló su pase a semifinales de los Juegos Panamericanos al derrotar 2-0 a Ecuador, en tercer juego de fase de grupos, con gol de Johan Vásquez al minuto 25 y de Mauro Lainez desde los once pasos. El Tri, conjunto que dirige Jaime Lozano, se presentó en el certamen con un empate 0-0 ante Panamá, pero después registró dos victorias, ante Argentina (2-1) y la de este domingo ante Ecuador.
Breaking my Alabaster Jar
Elizabeth Leon considers the courage and faith of the mysterious woman with the alabaster jar. The Scriptures tease us with clues about the woman with the alabaster jar, but she is far from fully known. Was she the same woman, or several women coming before the Lord? Either way, I love her: her courage, her faith, and her willingness to pour out her heart, her treasure, and her tears on Jesus. She appears in all four Gospels.
A garden that only a human could love
—When we moved to a guest ranch in the High Rockies, I was thrilled to live among the wildlife. Every day was a mountain safari: Great horned owls swooped across the yard. A spotted bobcat perched in a tree. Jack rabbits froze mid-dash to curl up into balls, immediately camouflaged as large, gray stones. Elk thundered past the window at night. A bald eagle coasted in the clouds. It was all just heavenly! The tulips never stood a chance. I began searching for signs of them in April.
Little Ones, Loved and Lost
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Month. Elizabeth Leon shares seven ways parents can emotionally navigate their grief. As Catholic mothers, we make a vow during our wedding sacrament to welcome children. We do our very best to embrace the gift of our fertility and have a sacramental marriage based on God’s plan for our family and an openness to new life. We celebrate and delight in our pregnancies and anticipate with joy the new baby we will welcome with love and longing.
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