Timothy Jacques Maynard's Blog

Journal Entry May 8, 2026

Author’s note: In my book Absolution, one of my favorite stories was “They Call her Pooky.” My next short story collection, which I am calling The Weight of Grace, will have prequels and sequels of the first set of stories. You might understand this story better if you read the first story, which is available where all fine books are sold (or at least online in the normal places), but I tried to also make this story stand on its own. Enjoy, and try not to cry, like I...

Journal Entry May 1, 2026

I am in Lourdes, France on pilgrimage with the Order of Malta. At the conclusion of this pilgrimage, I will set off to walk the Camino de Santiago. My plan is that it will consume my entire month of May. Did I say ‘plan?’ As much as I’m trying to plan, if you know me, you know God winks at me. A lot. We’ll see what happens. This reflection, reserved for publication today, was written before I left. It is a mix of remembrances and anticipations.
When most people think ...

Journal Entry April 23, 2026

I am sometimes pressed to explain the reason I pack my bags for Lourdes, France year after year with the Knights and Dames of Malta. Some people assume it is to witness the spectacular—to see the physical healings that made the sanctuary famous. The truth is, the miracles that draw me back again and again are much quieter, yet they can be infinitely more earth-shattering. They are the profound miracles of grace and mercy that flow from a place where the worshi...

Author’s Note: As we build toward the America 250 anniversary, this is the latest installment in my historical fiction anthology. We are focusing on a fact that everyone knows: Rhode Island severed ties with King George a full two months before the rest of the country. Well, every Rhode Islander knows it. Actually… every Rhode Islander should know it. May 4, 1776.

I invite editors of historical society newsletters, church bulletins, and community papers to reprint this story. If you choose t...

Journal Entry April 15: An Asymmetric Shock of Mercy

The Gospel doesn’t start with a list of demands. It starts with an overflow of love. We quote John 3:16 all the time—“For God so loved the world…”—but I don’t think we always let the scandal of it sink in. It’s not just a nice promise for a greeting card. It’s a declaration of war against the way humans usually handle a grudge. It’s a total break from our instinct for retaliation. Love is the absolute power that changes the whole thing. Lov...

Journal Entry: April 8, 2026
As a writer, I find the silent sorrow of Mary’s Saturday almost impossible to describe. We want to allow her the heavy, overwhelming grief of losing her son that we all would have—we expect a mother to collapse under the weight of a brutal execution. As a Christian writer, however, the task is more daunting because I have to account for a woman who is Full of Grace.
What did the Blessed Mother know about her son’s resurrection? Was she like Martha, knowing Jesus would ...

Journal Entry: April 1, 2026
Sometimes the Church focuses on the Last Supper as the pinnacle of Christ’s ministry before His Passion. Perhaps because it is so familiar to us as part of the Mass, we treat the Upper Room as the primary focus of Holy Week. But John the Baptist and John the Evangelist both point to a deeper, more eternal truth: The Lamb of God is not just a symbol, but the Way, the Truth, and the Life made visible. The Lamb is the one who enters our brokenness to lead us back to the ...

Journal Entry: March 27, 2026
The loudest places I’ve ever known were the engine rooms of a Navy Guided Missile Cruiser and the corridors of a maximum-security prison. In the Navy, the noise was a constant, industrial roar—we often needed to wear hearing protection. In prison, the noise is different. It’s the sharp, violent Ka-kang of steel doors slamming, a sound that tells you exactly where you aren’t allowed to go.
Chaplains and volunteers often go into the prisons thinking we are the ones brin...

The Annunciation: The Spirit, the Stillness, the Order

Today is the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the day we celebrate the Angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary. In that quiet room in Nazareth, she was asked a question that would shift the foundations of the world: was she willing to be the mother of the incarnate Son of God? It was a profound, world-altering moment.

In my own life, I’ve found that the most significant moments rarely happen in the roar of a crowd; they happen in the quiet...

Lenten Reflection: The Fold Between the Stories

“With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.”
Every day, the Church prays a Responsorial Psalm as part of the Mass. The Psalms are far more than ancient poetry; they act as sentinels themselves. Written centuries before Christ, they stand watch in the Old Testament, predicting and pointing toward the coming Savior—the Lord who would ultimately be revealed as the Son of God.
Yet, to be completely honest, there are times I catch myself igno...