Welcome to Talitha Koum

Welcome to Talitha Koum,  my name is Heidi Knofczynski, I have been married to my husband Joel for 24 years and we have eight children, ranging in age from from college grad to toddlers under foot!

Max, the baby of the family!

I have come to find the most unexpected and profound encounters with the Lord have happened in ordinary situations, but before they can be perceived, something in each of us must be awakened.  I hope to reflect in this blog on the humble and grace-filled moments and meditations that have begun to awaken my slumbering heart to reality that is beyond all my hope and expectations, yet, is contained in the little, hidden movements of my life.

  Mark 5:41
Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Talitha Koum; which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise"

  Want the longer explanation?  If you insist:

Why the phrase Talitha Koum?  There are time in my encounters with the Scriptures where the words begin to breach the heavy cynicism that has weighed down my more fanciful hopes and dreams.  Here the words of Jesus are palpable;  they cause a tiny disruption of my soul.  A tremble of something significant approaching;   like the scene in the movie Jurassic Park in which a glass of water begins to tremble, and in the far distance the thundering  footsteps of an approaching Tyrannosaurus can be heard.   Something terrifying, yet exhilarating; like the Hound of Heaven, do I run?  Where can I hide?  Or maybe like a haunting, I think, but I am not sure, that something is there,  I cannot encounter it and remain the same.  In any case, I have a choice to make, and it is a life or death decision.

I contrast these moments with most of my formation as a Christian and later in my life as a Catholic.  Yawn.....  I am sure it is partly my fault, I have strong tendencies to be slothful and cowardly, deadly habits that deaden the virtues.  Combine that with the modern, sentimentalized notion of Jesus ( or worse), that we have used to inoculate ourselves against His fiery love, and suddenly I see that I have been lulled into complacency about things of eternal consequence.  But when I perceive that tremble of soul, if I do not push them aside, I am invited to cultivate the virtue of "Fear of the Lord"  and awaken to hopes that far exceed the fanciful ones of my youth.

So I have perceived the thundering footsteps, and awakened to the powerful reality that in all that I do,  as a woman, as a wife, as a stay-at-home mother for 20+ years, I cannot hide forever from the ultimate reality.  I hope in this blog to explore the encounters with the Divine whether that encounter happens in reading Scripture or through more every day spiritual awakenings!