Association Of Catholic Bloggers

    If you can give  less than  five minutes of your time on this beautiful Pentecost, I would like to suggest you listen to this short reflection by Fr. Dave Pivonka, President of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Here is a link to the video, "Why You Need the Holy Spirit":  https://faithandr"eason.com/episodes/why-you-need-the-holy-spirit/  Happy Pentecost! Pray for peace, joy, and an end to war. Janet Cassidy Email me at:  jmctm2@gmail.com janetcassidy.com https://www.facebook.com/reflectionsinfaith/ https://www.youtube.com/@janetcassidy  

Our Lady of Angels’ Marian Garden, Sauk Centre, Minnesota. (2013) My wife and I have six children. Four of them are still living. We lost Joy very early in the pregnancy. By that time we were living in Sauk Centre and had two children. Following our culture's customs, we sealed what was left of Joy and the placenta for testing. But we buried her, briefly and very informally, in hallowed ground. Time passed. Two more children joined the two who had been born before Joy. Our sixth pregnancy gave no indication of trouble. My wife and I, and our four surviving children, were looking forward to seeing the youngest in our family. Contractions, when they started, weren't at the 50th percentile; but my memory tells me they were inside the 'normal' range.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Two of our children died before they could be baptized. I talk about that this week, and why I think hope is a reasonable option.)

  Pentecost Sir Anthony van Dyck [ Web Gallery of Art ] Pentecost Sunday, at the Vigil Mass .   NB: The Vigil Mass has its own prayers and readings. Those for the Mass During the Day on Sunday should not be used – though some priests seem to be unaware of this. It is incorrect to refer to this Vigil Mass as an ‘anticipated Mass’. It is a celebration proper to the evening before Pentecost Sunday and may be celebrated in an extended form. It also fulfils the Sunday obligation.     Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA Gospel John 7:37-39 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)  On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet ...

    We were watching the nightly news and it was so awful I nearly walked away from it. I'm not a "stick your head in the sand" kind of person, but I could barely tolerate it. Then, when reading the beautiful prayer of Jesus in the Gospel of John (Chapter 17), I was reminded that we have Jesus praying to the Father on our behalf. Just imagine that! He asks the Father to protect us from evil. He asks him to let us share his joy, completely. He consecrates us to truth and consecrates himself for us. He prays that we "may all be one." He goes on in this amazing prayer to say that we are the Father's gift to him! Yes, YOU are a gift to God!  I started this blog thinking about how important it is that we "feed" ourselves the Good News, and how what we take in impacts what we think about, how we feel , and what we do. If you find yourself overwhelmed, you might want to turn away--even if for a short time--from whatever is causing you to be full...

  It must have been either the longest--or most boring--sermon in history! In the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 20, beginning with verse 7, we learn of a young man (Eutychus) who fell asleep sitting on a window sill, listening to Paul talk "on and on." "Overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and when he was picked up, he was dead." Paul went down and threw himself on him and we learn that when the boy was taken away he was alive. I hope a homily never has this affect on you! Anyway, following this we learn that Paul was trying to make his way to Jerusalem so he could be there for Pentecost. One of his stops, though, was in Miletus, where he summoned the presbyters of the church. Paul cautioned them and revealed to them that they would never see him again. Before he gave his warning to "keep watch" over themselves and their flock, he gave them an accounting of himself. Clearly he had some street cred. He reminded them that he "s...

 

    I would like to encourage you to check out this link where you can find a novena (a set of prayers for 9 days) to the Holy Spirit, as we head into Pentecost on May 24, 2026. The Novena has already started but you are not too late! Pentecost will officially end this beautiful season of Easter. I have been enjoying this time of focus on joy, which I find both comforting and challenging. I am including in this post an example of this very short, but beautiful novena, along with the accompanying email you get when you sign up. Pray for peace and an end to war. Janet Cassidy Email me at:  jmctm2@gmail.com janetcassidy.com https://www.facebook.com/reflectionsinfaith/ https://www.youtube.com/@janetcassidy     Janet - Peace be with you! Each day of this novena, we will pray for one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are, "perfections that the Holy...

Scenic, no. Good farmland, yes. Red River Valley, near the Goose River, looking south. Our second-oldest daughter and her husband live and run their businesses on the homestead where my mother grew up. Our oldest daughter moved there, some years back. That’s another story for another time. The oldest daughter and I enjoy a two hour (roughly) chat each evening: something that wouldn’t be possible without today’s information technology. Yet more topics. Since our conversations are in text format, we make what amounts to a transcript of what we’ve said. Plus, we can easily share material that we’ve read or written; provided it’s under the service’s character limit. Last Saturday, our oldest daughter shared part of a conversation she had with an AI. With her okay, I’m showing part of it here, and adding some of my thoughts. Our Oldest Daughter, Remembering a Life Transition Oldest Daughter's Input: Neuro Compass: Finding Patterns Respect (Neuro Compass, continued) Me: ...

Ascension Cupola Italian Mosaic Artist [ Web Gallery of Art ] Ascension, Year A The Ascension is celebrated on Ascension Thursday, 14 May, in England & Wales, Scotland. In the USA it is celebrated on Ascension Thursday in the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Omaha, Philadelphia. In all of these places Ascension Thursday is a Holyday of Obligation. The Ascension is observed on Sunday, 21 May, in Aotearoa-New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Philippines, USA (apart from the jurisdictions mentioned above). Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan) Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Matthew 28:16-20 ( English Standard Version, Anglicised) Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to ...

    We were finishing up our rosary when a bird's nest came floating out of the tree near our deck.  We watched as its builder (a robin) came back to the nest and attempted to rebuild it, picking up several small pieces of grass. It looked like a futile project. "A house not built on a solid foundation," my husband said, spontaneously quoting Matthew 7:24. As I thought about the determination of this bird, I started thinking about all of the people who lose their homes during floods and year after year go back to rebuild them. Such perseverance! I thought about how many of us, when faced with what seems like an impossible task, have to take a deep breath and get to it. Sometimes it's the seemingly ordinary things in life that can be so hard. I was talking to a dear priest friend of mine years ago and I asked him how he keeps going in the face of so many struggles and he responded, "What am I going to do? Give up? Let the bad guy win?" Indeed, we...

    We went to a Chinese restaurant and the next day I decided to eat one of the fortune cookies. As I took out the slip of paper with my fortune on it, it said, "Read the moment. It is speaking to you."  Then I looked at the other side. Imagine my surprise when I discovered an advertisement for a show on Prime where people battle for a million dollars! Whaaat? The last thing you expect to see on a fortune is an advertisement for a streaming show. I never take my fortune seriously, but it feels like somebody sold out by selling advertising on it. Of course, everything is a business and maybe times are tough for fortune printers, I don't know. When I was a kid I used to read my horoscopes in the paper. I never took those seriously either, of course, but it was just something fun to read. It's never a good idea to put your faith in something like a horoscope or a fortune, so I never did. I know this will make you gasp, but we played with a Ouija board, too....

Assorted insanity, personified. Gautier lithograph (1857) When mental health, or lack thereof, pops up in stuff I read, I take notice. That happened Sunday afternoon, and I realized that I'd found something to talk about this week. "...A Catholic Approach to Mental Health Care...." Mental Health, Being Catholic, Making Sense Standards in the DSM Ethical Principles and Tableware Saints: Dealing With What They've Got, Doing it Well Taking Mental Health Personally Perceptions: Accurate Ones Like Father, Like Daughter "Normal" — SERIOUSLY?! More Than You Need, or Maybe Want, to Know ...   ....  More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Taking both mental health care and being Catholic seriously. A quick look at standards, the DSM, and principles. Mental health and my family.)