Good Friday Notes

Divine Mercy Novena ... Salve Regina reminds us that today is the day to begin your novena. More details at her place.

Chanting the Passion Narrative according to Saint John ... Paraclete Press makes it possible to continue a tradition that began in the eighth century with their hosting of the Gregorian chant by monastic members of the Gloriae Dei Cantores Schola. Our church did this last year and will do it again this year. I can attest that it was truly wonderful. If you don't have such a tradition at your church, this is a good alternative.

Worth a Thousand Words

As Yellow As I Can Be, by ... photos & secrets

I Blame It All on Hypnotoad and The Egg

They really didn't put their hearts into it ... I must have a very stern talk with them before next year's Catholic Blog Awards!

Congratulations to all the winners, who you can see here.

Rose Was in the First Test Audience to See Will Smith's New Movie "Hancock"

A friend got two tickets to an unnamed movie screening so they were pretty sure they'd be lucky to see anything as "good" as a Will Farrell movie. Imagine their delight when they were treated to Hancock, the Will Smith movie coming out this summer. Some of the main action scenes were still unfinished enough that they weren't done, which just added to that "insider" feel. Afterward they filled out a questionnaire ... also fun.

Her review? Very good and with an original take on the superhero theme. But I think we can see that from the trailer. Just seeing it made me ready to watch this movie now!

Welcome Back, Maureen!

For those of us who have sorely missed Maureen's humor, the good news is that she's baaaaaaaack! Her opening story, " Disbelief in Jesus Not a Hindrance to Being a Faithful Christian, Say Catholics" ... go thou and read.

Thanks to Rick Lugari for the heads-up on this exciting news!

A Catholic Revert's Advice

What I found so difficult was to turn everything over to Him. To really turn my will over to His.

After I did that, the rest was relatively downhill. No, it was not a smooth hill with a comfortable slope and a smooth surface. It was more like a broken ridgeline on the Moon or something. Lots of boulders, and ravines that require some uphill climbs. Nevertheless the trend is downhill and as long as I keep turning to God, His grace draws me on like gravity.

The step I first took, which I here recommend to you, was so simple and easy it took me forever to think of it.

So I wanted to trust Him and have faith, but couldn’t take that final step. Finally, I told Him that I was willing for Him to change my heart for me. I was willing to let HIM give me the will and strength to turn back. With that, though the struggle was still long and hard, I had in fact turned the corner. I might still relapse, of course. But now it would take an act of will on my part.

As for the rest, our response to God’s grace includes doing everything we can while trusting the ultimate guidance of our journey to Him.

This post began as a comment over at Darwin Catholic and then turned into a post. Go read. It is chock-full of good advice for those returning or who are here to welcome him back.

In Related News ...
If you are entering the Church this Easter, there is a nifty badge awaiting your blog.

Peeps or Bunnies

Meredith wants to know and she has a handy poll to use.

Battle of the Breviaries

Christian Prayer or Daily Prayer?

Meg has been very kindly giving us tables, photos, and more to help compare the two resources. I really, really ... really ... like the Daily Prayer book.

I'm linking to the last post in the series so that you have links to all four posts.

The youngest child can’t zipper his jacket and tells you, “It crashed!”

Just one of the 25 signs you are a Geek Parent.

I'm not gonna tell you how many of those signs I knew ...

You Won't Believe the Strange Jolt I Got When I Saw This Cover at Amazon

Just go look ... right here ...

... I'll wait.

Why was I jolted?

Because I designed it. (Not the illustration, but the look, type, etc.)

Yep. Me.

More about all that later ... but what a thrill!

While You're Out There Crusin' St. Blog's ...

... voting ends at noon today, so don't forget to ... (yes, you know what I'm going to say don't you?) ...

C'mon, say it with me...

You still got to go kiss the egg ... for this little Jamaican bobsled in the Best Overall Catholic Blog category.

Worth a Thousand Words

Japanese toy design from BibliOdyssey which has many others for you to enjoy.

Happy Pi Day

Just don't make that a meat pie, since it's Lent.

Many interesting and amusing facts about pi may be found at Mental Floss whence came the above photo.

Worth a Thousand Words

Red Velvet Cake by Duane Keiser

It seemed quite appropriate to use this painting today as I have finally posted Cheryl's Red Velvet Cake recipe. Check it out.

Curt Jester Turns to Negative Campaign in Attempt to Swing Votes - Updated

It is with great sadness that we note The Curt Jester is, alas, so very insecure that he is resorting to negative publicity in his campaign to win the humor category. (Also with great hilarity that we read his customary humor ... how does he do it?)

As I have too much dignity (and not nearly enough cleverness) to respond on his charges, I will simply turn to that which has stood us in good stead before.

Hypnotoad!

Now, listen carefully and go vote for Happy Catholic in the 2008 Catholic Blog Awards.

You may then turn off your computer ... you will remember nothing of this later ...

Update:



I see that the blog awards has posted the top ten in each category so far.

Heavens to Betsy ... Happy Catholic is up there for Best Overall Catholic Blog. This calls for drastic measures. C'mon people, concentrate your votes ... go kiss the egg!


Let's go all da way with our little Jamaican bobsled of a blog here ...

A Beautiful Recitation of the Stations of the Cross

Laura H. has given us a real treasure just in time for Holy Week with this recitation.

She has a beautiful voice (she's a singer after all) and this is something that I will be listening to again and again. Do go listen and download it for your own meditation.

Anyone Been Watching New Amsterdam?

John Amsterdam is a homicide detective who really has seen it all. He's 400 years old, thanks to having saved a native girl from a fate worse than death ... or maybe it was from death itself. She rewarded him, if it can be called that, by putting a spell on him so that he would live until he meets his true love. This results in an understandably brooding man who views death as a gift that he would like to earn. His current homicide cases usually remind him of a past part of his life. They are well handled and serve to lift the series above the standard show. Most interesting of all, the show consistently reminds us that immortality is a hollow gift and one of which most of us would tire. This is a message quite at odds with what we often see in modern thinking.

This reminds us most of Moonlight, in which a man, turned vampire against his will, wants nothing more than to be human again. It consistently reminds us that to be human with all the accompanying pain is still better than a false "superiority." New Amsterdam, however, has more depths to plumb and is the better show.

Bye, Bye, Eli ...
By the way, the troublesome gaping loopholes and stubborn insistence on taking what seemed to us to be the wrong side in practically every legal case got to us a while back. No more Eli Stone and we are the happier for it.

Worth a Thousand Words

Golden Street found at Flickr's Cream of the Crop.

Wall-E ... The Trailer

We're suckers for Pixar and have been eagerly awaiting Wall-E. The trailer does nothing to make me any less eager to see it.

Worth a Thousand Words

From Art Knowledge News