Association Of Catholic Bloggers

There’s something universal about kids: how they try to manipulate their parents. Take, for example, an incident with my younger daughter when she was about three. My husband had taken her with him to the swap meet one Sunday. She happened to see a vendor with a lot of stuffed animals, including a couple of quite desirable pink elephants. Of course she wanted one. Now, normally you’d think she would have asked her Daddy if he would please buy it for her. Nope. That’s not the way kids go about something like this. Instead she informed him, “I don’t have a pink elephant.” What, exactly, did she think her father would do? Drop to his knees, raise his hands to heaven, and cry out in utter agony, “Oh no! She doesn’t have a pink elephant! Whatever can we do?” Well, my husband took the hint and bought her one. When they arrived home, I took one glance at this new acquisition of hers, folded my arms across my chest, and stared my husband in the eye. “Sucker,” I told him. “You sucker.” He mer…

In Thirsting for God, by Mother Teresa (in conjunction with her editor, Angelo D. Scolozzi, M.T.), we catch a glimpse of Mother Teresa’s insights, via 366 daily meditations. These meditations shed light on Mother Teresa’s call to bring souls to Christ; to satisfy Christ’s thirst for souls. She teaches us that by thirsting for God, we satisfy His thirst for each of us. A love given, a love returned, is what it means to thirst for souls; to thirst for God. Everything Mother Teresa teaches us, through her many quoted adages, comes down to loving God as He loves us. Mother Teresa drives home the message that we can show our love for God by loving our neighbor. It is through acts of kindness, forgiveness and mercy, that we express charity. She says it best in her meditation of March 12th: “Be kind and loving with each other, for you cannot love Christ in his distressing disguise if you cannot love Jesus in the hearts of your neighbors” (p.45). When we humble ourselves, we find truth and s…

I couldn’t fault my doctor when I went for a private consultation, but in his own home on his own pet enthusiasm he seemed to have left his  common sense in the surgery. He was fascinated by visionaries and their private revelations and seemed to assume that most religious had them. When a local mother superior sent a nun to him who said she was hearing voices, he sent her back with a clean bill of health. There was nothing wrong with her, he told me, the voices she was hearing were not coming from her head, but from the tabernacle! Whenever I visited him at home he  was engrossed in a massive three-volume tome detailing the private revelations of some obscure seventeenth century German nun. Apparently her revelations filled in all the gaps in the Gospel story with outrageously pious nonsense that made me bite my lip to blood to stop me laughing.  read on....

Christ the Good Shepherd, Murillo [WikiArt]

Readings(New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel John 10:11-18 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)
Jesus said:
‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in …

As parents, all we want is for our children to be happy and healthy. You hope that you raise your child right so that they develop into an amazing adult. An influential component of raising your child comes with spending time with them. Early bonding between you and your child can impact their mental health, including their communication and social skills. Your child’s values and personality traits are going to develop as they grow, and you want to have the knowledge and control to help them be the best version of themselves...Continue Reading...

The novena to Saint Zita begins today.  Repeat the following prayer for 9 days in a row. Her feast day is April 27.

Saint Zita is the patron saint of housekeepers, domestic workers, servants, and waitresses. She is also invoked to help find lost keys.

Saint Zita came from a poor, but deeply pious family. To help support the family, she became a maid of the Fatinelli family, in the nearby Tuscan city of Lucca, serving them loyally for 48 years. Continue reading.

As Christians, we are all called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can do this in several ways. You don’t need to be a Catholic blogger/author/public speaker like myself. You can preach the Gospel, without ever saying a word; by the mere witness of your charitable actions. Most people will never remember eloquent words spoken to them. But, they will remember a kindness done for them.

Deeds speak volumes!
A police officer who runs toward danger, when others run away. The witness of his or her bravery and courage speaks volumes.A man or woman who volunteers at the local soup kitchen to serve the needy. The witness of his or her generosity and love speaks volumes.A child who... Read more...

Recently a group of us Sisters met and talked about compassion. Using quotations about it as a springboard, we reflected on how Jesus told us to be compassionate as our Father is compassionate, how God's amazing compassion was shown in sending Jesus and ways Jesus had compassion, and how compassion is an infinite ocean of love that spills over into all of creation. All who studied Latin are aware that our word "com-passion" comes from two Latin words meaning "to suffer with." We women especially liked the fact that the Hebrew word for compassion (rachum) is comparable to "womb." This implies that being compassionate is life-giving, nourishing, and protective. Compassion means being responsible for the needs of others both near and far. Sister Carol McHenry put a lot of thought into preparing for our conversation. She asked herself, What does it mean to be compassionate. Here is the list she shared with us that I found insightful and inspiring, and yo…

I received free cognitive therapy because I was surrounded by a crew of little people who greeted each morning with wonder and awe. Gratefulness is the key to spiritual joy, no matter how little we think we have in the eyes of modern society. In fact, St. Teresa thanked God for the Things she did NOT own.

The fleeting dream which eludes many of us is happiness. We are running around, miserable in our insular little worlds, only catching glimpses of the world around us through dung coloured glasses. The solution to our dilemma is easy. continue reading

The saint of the day for April 17 is Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, a Third Order Franciscan and pilgrim. He is the patron saint of homeless people.

Born in northern France in 1748, he was the oldest of fifteen children of a prosperous shopkeeper and his wife. He was a quiet, thoughtful child with a friendly nature who was both serious and a bit sad.

At the age of 12, he studied under his uncle, a parish priest, to prepare for the priesthood. His uncle taught him Latin and the Scriptures. Due to poor health and a lack of appropriate academic preparation, he was unsuccessful in his efforts to enter the religious life in the Trappist, Cistercian, and Carthusian orders.Continue reading.

Image: Saint Bernadette Soubirous
April 16 is the feast of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, a mystic and visionary at Lourdes, France. Saint Bernadette is the patron saint of: Lourdes, the poor, the sick, and people ridiculed for their piety.

Born in Lourdes, France, on January 7, 1844, Bernadette was the first child of Francois and Louise Soubirous, a poor peasant family. A severe asthma sufferer, Bernadette was such a poor student that she was unable to make her First Holy Communion until she was 14. She had many trials to contend with as a child — poverty, health problems, which caused her to be behind in school, many responsibilities as the oldest child of six siblings, moving from one poor place to another, and a father who escaped from his financial problems by drowning them in alcohol.  Continue reading.

Do you believe in Jesus’ power? I don’t ask this question flippantly. I really want to know if you place your full faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Do you believe that all things are possible with God (Matt 19:26)? Can you begin to fathom the extent of Jesus’ power?

We live in turbulent, vitriol times. It would be hard to miss the massive corruption, dishonesty and incivility, originating from the halls of government, that permeate throughout our society as well. As human beings, we like to think that we are in charge. We don’t like anyone else trying to usurp the power that we think we possess. When someone tries to usurp our perceived power, times become even more turbulent and vitriol. It’s a vicious cycle. All the while, we lose focus on who really has the power – Jesus Christ!

I believe in Jesus’ Power!
I’ll admit, that I’ve been grappling with this internal tug-of-war. I want to place my full faith and trust in Jesus. But, there are days when I ask, “God, where are you? Where i…