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    I woke up with the thought "People need to marry." An odd early-morning thought I know, but here I am writing about it now. My thoughts actually turned to the importance of marriage.  Marriage is important for us as a society, and it is important for children. If you doubt that, just look around you at the state of families today. Naturally, strong, healthy marriages is the ideal, where the spouses are both "in" when it comes to their values and lifting each other up, creating a family forged in love. Unfortunately, not all marriages look like that. Sometimes people marry the wrong person, I get that. Because of this danger, and for many other reasons, we have become a nation of live-ins. It seems that we have given up on marriage. That, quite honestly, is not a good thing. Marriage contributes to the fabric of our culture in ways that may not be obvious to some. In marriage, a man and a woman give of themselves completely to one another. Their covena

  I remember learning something in history about how people of Japanese descent were held in internment camps in the United States during World War II, just because being Japanese made people suspicious of them. It didn't matter if they had any association with criminal activity; what mattered was how they LOOKED. This was made possible because of an Act the former President wants to invoke. Recently he visited Aurora, Colorado and dropped quite a bomb during his event. I received this link (see * below) as to what he said. Apparently, if elected, he is going to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which is a " widely condemned immigration law that gives the president sweeping powers to bypass equal protection and due process while targeting foreign citizens. When it has been invoked, it has led to human rights crises that history looks down upon — but the law has not formally been repealed by Congress." Yes, that's right, the same law that "In 1988, w

First, the good news. Folks in Florida knew that another major hurricane was heading their way. That, and some out-of-the-box thinking, helped them get ready. Now, the bad news. Folks in Florida were still cleaning up after Hurricane Helene, when Hurricane Milton hit. Cleaning up after this double-header disaster won't be easy. But there are a few bright spots, which I'll eventually get around to. Topical Twaddle The Usual Doom, Gloom, and Politics "Up, Up and Away": Weather Modification and the Montgolfier Brothers Tenants of Tampa Bay This May Be the End of Civilization As We Know It Customary Protocols, Private Citizens, and Pinellas County Flamingos and Being Human Making Sense: It's an Option Wednesday Evening: Hurricane Milton Arrives Milton in Context: Numbers and a Little History A Handy Hurricane Wind Scale Just How Bad Was It? Memorable Hurricanes Now What? Something I Can Do More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Tw

Christ and the Rich Young Ruler Heinrich Hoffmann [ Wikipedia ;  attribution ]  Jesus, looking at him, loved him . . .   (Mark 1o:22; Gospel) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 10:17-30  (shorter form: 10:17-27)   (English Standard Version, Anglicised)    As Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”   And Jesus said to him,  “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.   You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’”   And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”   And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him,  “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasu

    I couldn't believe it was true.  I had heard that there was another run on toilet paper due to the short-lived dock workers strike, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but sure enough, when I went to pick up toilet paper that I actually needed, the shelves were nearly empty. It would almost be funny, except when I consider how it reflects the mindset of people today. And speaking of strange mindsets, I am so confused by anyone who supports the former President. Now don't go and get all mad at me, but I am very concerned, especially, about Christians who think they MUST vote for him out of an erroneous sense of morality (as for others who just like him, I have no comment.) If you are Catholic and you have heard a homily that either directly, or indirectly, insinuates that you must vote for a particular candidate, do not be guilted into voting a certain way. The Catholic Church never tells anyone how they should vote, except to say we must vote by a &q

We've known about “black hole jet systems” for some time, but never one as big as Porphyrion: a 23,000,000 light-year giant. I'll be talking about that today, along with how astronomers have been studying it, a plausible explanation for its extraordinary length, and a quick overview of how we've been thinking about this universe. Cosmology: From the Cosmic Ocean to the Cosmic Web Mesopotamian Musings William Herschel, “Our Sidereal System”, and Finding Galaxies Galaxies, Clusters, Superclusters, and the Cosmic Web Porphyrion and Cosmic Scale Backgrounder: Black Holes, Accretion Disks, and Relativistic Jets Radio Galaxies and Porphyrion's Position Black Hole Jets and the Scale of the Cosmic Web Radio Telescopes: LOFAR and — — GMRT — and DESI ?! Fanaroff-Riley Classification That's Odd: Porphyrion's Size, and an Explanation "...The Heavens ... Like a Tent to Dwell In" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A huge black hole

Servant of God Chiara Corbella Petrillo (9 January 1984 - 13 June 2012) [Photo from  official website ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel  Mark 10:2-16 or 10:2-12   (English Standard Version Anglicised: India) And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”   He answered them,  “What did Moses command you?”   They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”   And Jesus said to them,  “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.   But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’   ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,     and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.   What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” And in the house the disciples

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A long time ago, some folks were — apparently — living happily in the Rhône River Valley. Whether or not they were happy there, we've found evidence that they stayed near what we call the Grotte Mandrin for 50,000 years. And that they somehow managed to keep newcomers from disturbing their solitude: and isolation. Idyllic as that may seem, keeping themselves free from what my culture called miscegenation may explain why Neanderthals aren't part of today's world. Not as identifiable individuals, at any rate. Neanderthals: Finding a New Page From Their Story Recognizing the Homo Neanderthalensis Type Specimen: Eventually The Vanished Neanderthals: Still an Enigma Living Happily in the Middle Rhône River Valley Many Questions, Still Finding Answers Point, Counterpoint, Neanderthals, the Campbells, and Me European, Yes; Biased, Yes; "Anglo-Teutonic", No Familiarity, Forensic Reconstructions, and Another Piece of the Puzzle Muscles, Mammals, and Much

The Harvest Auguste-Xavier Leprince [ Web Gallery of Art ] Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts  (James 5:4; Second Reading). Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)   Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48   (English Standard Version Anglicised: India) John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your  name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”   But Jesus said,  “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me.   For the one who is not against us is for us.   For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. “Whoever causes one of these little

Lala  with Jordan who died last November I try to mark Lala's birthday every year. Fewer and fewer persons with Down Syndrome  are being born in European countries.  This is because more and more children with Down Syndrome are being aborted. Below, with some minor changes, is what I posted last year and the year before. +++ I first wrote this post in October 2008 and used it again in 2011 under the title  Lala and Queen Elizabeth II . I have re-posted it a number of times, with variations, because Lala's story is one that should be told over and over again.  This year I am re-posting what I posted the last two years and also five years ago, with a couple of updates on ages. As I post this it is already  Lala's birthday in the Philippines, 27 September, the feast of St Vincent de Paul. No doubt, the occasion will be marked at  Punla, Ang Arko, where Lala lives, the only  L'Arche community  in the Philippines, in Cainta, Rizal, part of the metropolitan sprawl of Manila.

Another election is looming, so I'm reviewing how being a Catholic affects how I vote. I'll mention what the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) calls the "Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching", share some links, and talk about something Pope Francis said. Along with, as usual, whatever else comes to mind. Citizenship and the Common Good Love and Good Ideas Being a Catholic Citizen Political Venom: It's Not New Malevolent Memes of Yesteryear Principles, Priorities — and Prohibition, a Personal View Remembering Prohibition: High Ideals and Speakeasies Pope Francis and Our Choices Doing His Job — and Doing Mine There ARE Bright Sides The End of Civilization as We Know It — As Usual More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Being Catholic and voting. Catholic social teaching: 7 themes. Love and neighbors. The common good. Political cartoons, Prohibition. What Pope Francis said.)

First Steps (after Millet) Vincent van Gogh [ Web Gallery of Art ] Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever  receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.  (Mark 30:37; today's gospel). Readings  (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 9:30-37   (English Standard Version Anglicised: India) Jesus and his disciples went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know,   for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them,  “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”   But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them,  “What were you discussing on the way?”   But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another

  Today is a beautiful day in the Church - Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. I have a wonderful video for those of you who have ever wondered what happened to the actual cross of Christ. It is very short, but very informative. I hope you enjoy it. It can be found at:  https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video/2024-09-14-reflection-638 I have also embedded it in my blog at janetcassidy.com Janet Cassidy Email me at:  jmctm2@gmail.com janetcassidy.com https://www.facebook.com/reflectionsinfaith/ https://www.youtube.com/@janetcassidy

Last Sunday's Gospel reading was about Jesus healing a man who couldn't hear or speak. 1 So that's what Fr. Greg talked about: along with how it ties in how we're living today. A tip of the hat to Fr. Greg, for letting me make a transcript of his homily: Healing the Deaf Mute of Decapolis (1) One-On-One Healing (2) Touching His Ears (3) "Unusual to Us" — Jesus Spits (4) A Second Touch (5) Jesus Looks Up to Heaven (6) He Groans (7) Ephphatha! The Purpose of the Messiah Sidon, the Decapolis, and a World of Gentiles Deafness as a Cultural Preference Babies, Birth Rates, Families: and Statistics The Greatest Blessings on Earth Valuing Children Looking Ahead Planning Ahead, and Praying Video: Gospel Reading and Homily at St. Paul's, Sauk Centre, MN; September 8, 2024 More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A guest post by Fr. Greg Paffel: showing how healing the deaf mute of Decapolis applies to how we should live today. Valuing

  Mocking of Christ Titian [ Web Gallery of Art ] And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again  (Mark 8: 31; Gospel).   Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 8:27-35   (English Standard Version, Anglicised)    Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples,  “Who do people say that I am?”   And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”   And he asked them,  “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”   And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and t