Feeling Blue? Try This.

Guaranteed to put a smile on your face and tears in your eyes (but good tears).

The Devil and Me

Precisely.

I know I have to be careful with the devil. I don't want to shunt off my personal failings onto him -- my evil is my own. Satan won't be around at the judgment to share the blame. But I don't want to discount his power and influence, either. To ignore him is to let him move unseen, which is exactly where he thrives. I don't want to be cocky with him. I sympathize with the old tradition of not saying his name, for fear of giving him an inroad. But neither do I want to cower before him. I believe I have power over him; the thing is not to suppose that the power is my own.

Swimming with Scapulars by Matthew Lickona

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

World's Fastest, and Possibly Most Interesting, History Lesson

Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history?

See it before your eyes in 90 seconds.

Via TSO.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few ...

... that quote never has seemed more meaningful than now, has it? And, frankly, neither has this commentary on it from In Conversation with God.

Early Christianity grew up in a world which seems very much like our own. It boasted abundant material means but suffered from great spiritual poverty. The early Church had the necessary vigor to protect itself from paganizing influences. It was also vibrant enough to transform a worldly civilization from within. The world today seems no more difficult to evangelize. At first sight it may appear to be closed to Christ. Yet if we are firmly united to the Lord as the first Christians were, we can be sure that the transformation will take place once again. How well are we succeeding in our efforts to transform the people around us, the members of our family, our friends, our colleagues at work?

The world is in need of many things. But there is no doubt that it is in great need of apostles who are holy, cheerful, loyal to the Church and eager to make Christ known. The Lord is calling for us to work in his fields: Pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Prayer is the most effective means of winning new apostles (Josemaria Escriva). Our apostolic zeal has to be manifested, first of all, in a continuous prayer of petition for new apostles. Prayer always comes first.

That cry of the Son of God, lamenting that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few, is always relevant. How it tears at our heartstrings. That cry came from Christ's mouth for you to hear too. How have you responded to it up to now? Do you pray at least daily for that intention of his? (Josemaria Escriva).

In Conversation With God Vol 5

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Cool Weather and Monarch Butterflies

Photo source

What beautiful weather we are having right now. I actually was comfortable in a long sleeved shirt when standing outside chatting with a friend after Adoration. The cool weather is accompanied by those deep blue skies that just seem to come with Autumn.

Even better, as we stood we saw one huge, glorious Monarch butterfly after another floating through the air around us. Driving home, sometimes I would see as many as ten in the skies over the road ahead. It must be that annual migration to Mexico coming through ... it is really wonderful to have all those butterflies drifting in and out of your sight everywhere you go.

Join This Valiant Pro-Life Stand

Ms. magazine is running the names of 5,000 women who are boasting they had abortions. Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, which publishes Ms.says, "We have to get away from what the politicians are saying and get women's lives back in the picture." They are sending the signatures to Congress, the White House and state legislators.

Amy Pawlak thinks that we should focus on the lives of the unborn, who are the real victims of abortion, no matter what Ms. Magazine says.

Help me create a petition that will put the one in Ms. to shame. Email this post to every man and woman you know. Email your names and cities/states to me. I'll compile them and send a petition to Congress - a petition with the names of people who think women (and their unborn children) deserve better than an abortion.

I want to get more than the 5,000 signatures Ms. is boasting it has...

... if you are a woman who considered having an abortion but chose not to, I'd like to hear from you and your story.

Please do go to her blog to read the entire post.. I will be emailing this to many of my friends and encourage y'all to do the same.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. (John 15:13)

Marian Fisher, 13, is said to have stepped forward and asked her killer to "shoot me first," in an apparent effort to buy time for her schoolmates.

Rita Rhoads, a Mennonite midwife who delivered two of the victims, told ABC News she learned of the girl's plea from her family. What's more, her younger sister, Barbie, who survived the shooting, allegedly asked the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, to "shoot me second," Rhoads said.

Source

I read this in the morning paper and my eyes filled with tears. What more Christian love could we ever see than those young girls offering themselves in an attempt to save their classmates?

When I heard of the shooting in the Amish schoolhouse I was horrified just like everyone else. What could be worse than for our modern, scarred society to spill over into a society that is the epitome of innocence? How many times did I hear someone say that those children would have no idea what to do? (What a sorry and revealing fact about our society that our children have been drilled against such a possibility.)

I was not as upset for the Amish in the aftermath of the tragedy as I have been for the families from other school shootings. Mostly, I think, because I felt that if anyone was equipped to come through horror and loss it would be the Amish who center their lives around God. Yes, it would be terrible to endure but they have God and their community. That is a lot more than I ever felt assured was possessed by survivors of other such events.

I read about the heroism of those two girls. I thought about the Amish and what an example of living the Christian faith of true forgiveness they are showing our country. I wondered if anyone would see it that way who needed to change their way of life. Most probably would just note it as a noble thing and then forget it.

He spoke to them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."

Matthew 13:33

I paged through the rest of the newspaper.

Never have I felt more ensconced in a decadent society; never more akin to the Christians in first century Rome.

Here was the review of Martin Scorsese's newest movie, which our family felt sure would have all the gore, violence, and sex that was not included in the original Hong Kong movie he had copied.

There was the special magazine called something inane like "Be Who You Are" with a photo of Rose O'Donnell and her partner, arms around one another, their wedding rings prominently displayed. Inside was one article after another, featuring as many celebrities as possible, that glorified living the gay lifestyle.

Reports abounded of trials for all sorts of horrible crimes, many committed against the most vulnerable in our society. It went on and on.

All this was against a backdrop of those two girls offering up their lives for their friends. Never had it been so glaringly obvious that it is important for Christians to remain the leaven, the yeast, that Christ called for. We are called to be the witnesses through our actions and our words that there is a way of freedom that many have forgotten; that some truths are absolute.

I can say that I never knew what joy was like until I gave up pursuing happiness, or cared to live until I chose to die. For these two discoveries I am beholden to Jesus.

Malcolm Muggeridge

I daresay that all Christians recognize the absolute truth in Muggeridge's words. The mystery is that just as they contain absolute truth, that truth is translated in different ways to different people ... God deals with each of our unique souls in the way that we understand best.

We can't tell from moment to moment in what way we will be called to witness to that truth. If it is simply through living a Christian life as best we can by not snarling at the person who cuts into line ahead of us on a bad day, speaking up to a close friend about a touchy subject that may change forever how they view us, or stepping up to offer ourselves as a sacrifice.

That is the way that we make sure those who need the message aren't allowed to forget the example they are being given by the grieving but forgiving Amish. We repeat it over and over and over ... through our actions, our words, and our lives. Until they are encountering Christ's truth and love everywhere they turn.

It is not easy. Especially since sometimes the people that need to be reminded so desperately of Christ are the ones we see in the mirror. But we are called to be saints. Both for our own sakes and that of the people around us.

Those two girls were superbly equipped to live Christ's truth in every way. I pray that my own children are as well equipped for the trials they encounter in their lives. I pray that I am.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Oranges and Practical Christianity

"...Some of the old ones still refuse to see that my method is better than theirs. The only thing that will convince them is when I get three oranges to their one, and sell them for twice the price because they are full of juice. But we'll show them in the end."

"You puzzle me," said Meredith frankly.

"Why?"

"What have oranges got to do with the human soul?"

"Everything," said the bishop flatly. "You can't cut a man in two and polish up his soul while you throw his body in the trash heap. If the Almighty had designed him that way, he would have made him a biped who carried his soul in a bag round his neck. If reason and revelation mean anything they mean that a man works out his salvation in the body by the use of material things. A neglected tree, a second-rate fruit are defects in the divine scheme of things. Unnecessary misery is an even greater defect because it is an impediment to salvation. When you don't know where your next meal is coming from, how can you think or care about the state of your soul? Hunger has no morals, my friend."

The Devil's Advocate by Morris L. West

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

What is Adoration?

Now that's a good question and one that I didn't think to explain when mentioning that I'd take prayer requests this weekend when I go to Adoration.

Eucharistic adoration is a practice in the Roman Catholic and some Anglican Churches, in which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed to and adored by the faithful. When this exposure and adoration is constant (that is, twenty-four hours a day), it is called perpetual adoration. In a parish, this is usually done by volunteer parishioners; in a monastery or convent, it is done by the resident monks or nuns...

The host is displayed in a monstrance, typically placed on an altar. The Blessed Sacrament may not actually be exposed, but left in a ciborium, which is likewise placed on an altar. This exposition usually occurs in the context of a service of Benediction or similar service of devotions to the Blessed Sacrament. In services of perpetual adoration, parishioners volunteer to attend for a certain period of time, typically an hour, around the clock. Because of the difficulty of maintaining twenty-four hour attendance, many parishes no longer provide perpetual adoration. In many parishes, the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in an enclosed tabernacle so that the faithful may pray in its presence without the need for volunteers to be in constant attendance (as must be the case when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed).

Wikipedia

This is all based around the Catholic belief that the Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ. So when you sit with the Eucharist, you are sitting with Jesus Himself. (Much more information can be found here.)

I remember being intensely curious about this practice about three years ago. I ordered and read No Wonder They Call It the Real Presence: Lives Changed by Christ In Eucharistic Adoration which just fueled my curiosity. (I highly recommend that book, by the way. You can read an excerpted chapter here.)

About three weeks after I finished reading the book I had an opportunity for Adoration and the result was ... nothing. Oh, it was peaceful and nice but that was all.

Upon subsequent occasions I have had much more of a connection, words popping into the back of my mind, answers to questions about a course of action to take, the sort of thing that leave my husband shaking his head. He is not exactly disbelieving but just ... shakes his head. He's used to my crazy ways. I don't need adoration for that. It happens quite frequently in front of the tabernacle during Mass.

You can simply sit peacefully with Jesus the entire time, read a devotional book, write in a journal, that sort of thing. It depends on the person. No matter what, the experience is one of peace. That is pretty much a universal result. And if you mention that to my husband he won't move his head at all ... except to nod in agreement!

All Those Initials

A reader asks:

Could you explain all the initials some of the Catholic groups use. I know SJ is for Jesuits, and OSB is for the order of St Francis but what is OP and are there others??

I, myself, have wondered that same thing from time to time. It is like a secret code.

Gradually I picked up on the fact that SJ does not stand for Social Justice as one might think from many Jesuits' writing but is for Society of Jesus (aka Jesuits).

On Wikipedia I found OSB means Order of Saint Benedict.

However, I was unable to find a source that has a list of all those various initials that orders string behind their names. Granted I did not put tons of time into it but did look around Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia and Google.

Anyone know of a good spot to find those? Or perhaps we should compile a list here and I'll stow it away for future reference?

UPDATE
Ask and you shall receive ... what knowledgable commenters we have here!

• Fish Eaters' Abbreviations of Religious Orders and Priestly Fraternities
• Catholic Door Ministry's Religious/Orders Abbreviations
• Catholic Hierarchy - Religious Orders
  

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Living in the Present Moment

... We can waste our time by doing whatever we want instead of what God wants. For example, we might spend time at our place of work when we are needed at home. Conversely, we might choose to read the newspaper when we should be working. The life of each man and woman exists in the present moment. these are the only moments which we can truly sanctify. The past and the future only exist in our imagination. The memory of our past can inspire us to acts of contrition or thanksgiving, yet even these prayers take place in the reality of the present.

We should not become overwrought by future events because they may not come to pass. In any event, we will have the grace of God when we need it. The secret to building the city of God within us is this: we have to build on a brick by brick basis in the reality of the present moment. (Ch. Lubich, Meditations) This is the only time which God gives us to sanctify. Hodie, nunc. We must live the present moment with love, with full concentration. What a wonderful offering this will be to the Lord! Let us not miss this opportunity.

In Conversation With God Vol 5

This was a big hurdle for me to overcome. I have a vivid imagination and could bring myself to tears quite easily by imaging a future where Tom and the girls were gone, etc. So silly of me but there you go. By keeping the above precepts in mind my life has been much simpler ... and it gets easier with time and practice, y'all.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

I Don't Know About Y'All But We're Ready for Lost

A little something for everyone in that photo, eh? Also, Kate is supposed to be finally choosing between Jack and Sawyer. Word is that she chooses Sawyer since a mystery woman is going to take up all of Jack's time. Let me think, Jack or Sawyer? No contest, even if Sawyer is a frog squasher ... I'd take that bad boy any time over boring Jack.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

The Baby's Father? Uhhh ... Zeus! That's It, Zeus!

Listening to History According to Bob, it turns out that was a common claim in the Greek days for unwed mothers who became pregnant. This seems to me to be a little tough on the child as far as the great expectations that would surely accompany a god's son later in life, but what a clever story for the unwed mother to produce!

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

St. Francis is So Holy ...

... he intercedes for us with God when we've done something to his beloved animals like this ...

and this...

and this ...

For the scoop on St. Francis on his feast day, and tributes from those who are more reverent than I, check out Georgette who has four really good posts about St. Francis.

UPDATE
Also swing by Laura H's to see some more good posts about St. Francis. Especially of note are the avatars Laura made of this much loved saint.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

2 Corinthians Study: Our Union With Jesus' Sufferings

2 Corinthians 1:8-11
I always have meant to study one of the books of the New Testament besides the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles but never have. Luckily I was given 2 Corinthians: Power in Weakness (Six Weeks With the Bible) and that gave me the impetus to dig out my other reference books to start going through 2 Corinthians. How interesting that this is Paul's most personal book and that it focuses so much on suffering.

As always, I'll be sharing those bits and pieces that hit me between the eyes such as the commentary below which is from the above mentioned book. I especially like the point it makes about our feelings. I think sometimes that we think that feeling bad about something is like a lack of faith and trust in God. Paul is our example that such thinking is not right.

It may be easier to see God's kingdom advancing in the world through Paul's suffering than through ours. Constantly making missionary journeys and enduring persecution, Paul labors and suffers in his apostolic efforts to bring the good news about Jesus to people. Very few of us have Paul's focused sense of Christian mission. Our hardships and pains tend to be more ordinary, less "apostolic" than Paul's. Rather than being arrested and beaten for preaching the gospel, we lose a job or a loved one, or suffer rejection by a spouse or child, or develop a debilitating disease. Can these sufferings be a sharing in Jesus' suffering? They can, because Jesus has united us with himself. Because we are united with him by faith and baptism, we are members of his body. Thus he shares the sufferings encounter, and our sufferings become ways of sharing in his sufferings -- and opportunities to experience his encouragement.

Often, when things go wrong, we do not feel close to the Lord. But notice that Paul does not say that in his recent troubles he felt a powerful sense of connection with Jesus. Actually, he says that he felt "utterly, unbearably crushed" (1:8). It does not sound as if he had a sense of close attachment to Jesus then -- or, if he did, it does not seem to have given him serenity. For Paul, as for us, suffering is suffering. Sometimes what is most painful for us is the apparent absence of the kind God who previously showered us with blessings. In some cases -- the sickness of infants, for example -- we may simply be incapable of imagining how God might ever use such suffering for good. But again, Paul does not suggest that we can always grasp how our sufferings are a sharing in Christ's or how they will serve the coming of his kingdom.

It may be worth reflecting that, if our union with Jesus' sufferings is unseen and deeply mysterious, that does not make it different in principle from every other aspect of our relationship with him. In the Christian life, we always proceed on the basis of faith...

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

The Lord Has Done Great Things for Me

Lately there is so much to pull us down. International news tells us of wars, starvation, the powerful victimizing the poor and helpless. National news is as bad, maybe even worse because it is so close to home where we should know better ... or so we think. Innocent schoolchildren gunned down in two different places so recently, murders, again the brutal making victims of the helpless. Our leaders squabble and we deal with our daily problems, thankfully not as tragic as those of many but still the problems that we must face and overcome one way or another.

And yet, what should we expect? Jesus called Satan "the Prince of the world." The Enemy is not going to make this easy for us. Worse yet, as our priest often reminds us, we so often don't even need the Enemy to make the wrong choices, often tragically, often repeatedly in spite of what we know to be true.

I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect "history" to be anything but a long defeat -- though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Thinking all of that over this morning, I also was thinking of things closer to home ... a loved one seeking a job, a good friend struggling with a crucial test she must pass, those I know who have had children die.

In spite of all that, I found myself infused with joy and thanksgiving. Because I also was thinking of the email that reminded me the men's Christ Renews His Parish retreat will be this weekend. Attending that two day retreat over two years ago allowed the Holy Spirit to blow through my soul and life has never been the same. I suddenly got excited thinking of what those men (and the women on the following weekend) will experience. How God will touch them and also the ones giving the retreat. How, in the midst of all that seems so sad and bad, God is always with us, giving us love and hope ... and joy.

I thought of how He has fundamentally changed me from a negative, cynical person to essentially the opposite. Now that was a true miracle. He is still at work within me, helping me to turn more to prayer and away from distractions. Yes, I have struggles and frustrations and I fail repeatedly. But how good God is to never give up, to always be with me. What a difference that makes to facing each day with joy instead of as a chore to be gotten through.

It makes me think of Mary. She lived in a conquered land and undoubtedly there was violence all around. She lived in a tiny village and doubtless had times when juggling the household resources was a severe challenge, not to mention dealing with the local gossip at the well. Not only that, through Simeon's prophecy she was promised sorrow and hardship and suffering for herself and her precious son, Jesus (Luke 2:25-35). Her Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) was said to Elizabeth before Simeon's prophecy, yet I think that she always had the Magnificat in her heart. After all, not only was she close to God in daily life, but she had Jesus living with her in the flesh for 30 years.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

May we all hold God's promises and mercy and love and joy as close to our hearts in these troubled times. For we have not only the examples from times of old, we have not only his comforting words, but we also have his promise for today and all the days yet to come. He is waiting to calm our fears and bring us to joy.

It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness;

He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you;

He is the beauty to which you are so attracted;

it is He who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise;

it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life;

it is He who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.

Pope John Paul II

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

The Most Fun Way to Practice French?

Watch The Simpsons dvds with French selected. That way, on season 8, when Hank Scorpio asks Homer which country he likes better (Italy or France) ... you can see that instead of the original version with Homer choosing Italy and Hank responding, "No one ever chooses France" it is reversed for the French viewers. So in the French version Hank Scorpio blows up Italy instead.

I love it.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Feast of the Guardian Angels

Devotion to the Guardian Angels goes back to the beginnings of Christianity. Pope Clement X proclaimed the feast a universal celebration in the seventeenth century. The Guardian Angels serve as the messengers of God. The Almighty has allocated a Guardian Angel to each one of us for our protection and for the good of our apostolate...

We have to deal with our Guardian Angels in a familiar way, while at the same time recognizing their superior nature and grace. Though less palpable in their presence than human friends are, their efficacy for our benefit is far greater. Their counsel and suggestions come from God, and penetrate more deeply than any human voice. To reiterate, their capacity for hearing and understanding us is much superior even to that of our most faithful human friend, since their attendance at our side is continuous; they can enter more deeply into our intentions, desires and petitions than can any human being, since angels can reach our imagination directly without recourse to the comprehension of words. They are able to incite images, provoke memories, and make impressions in order to give us direction.

In Conversation With God : Feast Days July - December

As devoted as I am to the Archangels, I am especially fond of my Guardian Angel. He is always there when I need him and has a wicked sense of humor. Perhaps wicked is not the right word. He must, therefore, have an angelic sense of humor! This is one of my favorite feast days.

For my personal angel stories, as well as some general information, you can read more here, here, and here.

Prayer to One's Guardian Angel

Dear Angel,
in his goodness God gave you to me to
guide, protect and enlighten me,
and to being me back to the right way when I go astray.
Encourage me when I am disheartened,
and instruct me when I err in my judgment.
Help me to become more Christlike,
and so some day to be accepted into
the company of Angels and Saints in heaven.
Amen.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Pro-LIfe Blogburst: The Living Sign from God

If I had written the greatest book, composed the greatest symphony, painted the most beautiful painting or carved the most exquisite figure, I could not have felt more the exalted creator than I did when they placed my child in my arms. To think that this thing of beauty, sighing gently in my arms, reaching her little mouth for my breast, clutching at me with her tiny beautiful hands, had come from my flesh was my own child! Such a great feeling of happiness and joy filled me that I was hungry for Someone to thank, to love, even to worship, for so great a good that had been bestowed upon me. [Dorothy Day]

Every child is a "sacrament" -- a living sign that the creator of the universe entered the world by way of a human mother, that he called us to be "born from above" in baptism and to enter his kingdom as his little children.

Catholic Passion by David Scott

Dorothy Day had an abortion earlier in her life and it was a great source of sorrow for the rest of her life, to the point where she could barely bring herself to refer to it. Surely that contributed all the more to her realization of the wonder and joy that her daughter brought ... and her link through creation to God Himself.

Sadly this is a reality that all too few mothers realize before they make that fatal decision for so many other reasons to end their child's life through abortion. We must pray for these mothers and fathers and children who are at risk, those who have made the fatally bad decision to kill their children, and those who willingly participate in this murder. They all have been lied to by and mislead by the Father of Lies. May God have mercy on us and bless them.

The Pro-Life Blogburst is thanks to Big Blue Wave as support for LifeChain, an hour-long prayerful protest denouncing abortion in the United States and Canada. Check there for other pro-life posts or to join in the blogburst yourself.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Like a Rock

Peter is the only apostle who received his name directly from Jesus. In Scripture, when God changes a person's name -- as when he changed Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, and Jacob to Israel -- he is revealing that person's pivotal place in his plan of salvation. Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter (Petros in Greek, Cephas in the Aramaic dialect that Jesus spoke). The name means "rock." "You are Peter," Jesus said, "and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."

Catholic Passion by David Scott

I knew this. I did. But I forgot it. This reminder is a powerful one that Jesus' commission to Peter was serious and meant to last forever.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity