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COVID-19, a coronavirus disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is still spreading. Thousands have died. Nearly 900,000 have been infected. A great many more are affected, directly or indirectly. Some are behaving badly. We cannot cure this disease. We can only endure it, or die trying. That's the bad news. The good news, part of it, is that this isn't the 14th century. We've learned a bit since the Black Death was spreading across Eurasia. Quite a bit, actually. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I’m really struggling with the first reading for today from the Book of Numbers, Chapter 21.   This is the section that is called The Bronze Serpent. The people were complaining “against God and Moses” because they had been brought up from Egypt and it looked like they were just going to die.   They didn’t have food or water, and they were “disgusted” with the “wretched food.” So God punished them.   He sent them serpents to bite them.   Many of them died.   Well, that got their attention.   They went back to Moses, sorry about their complaining, and prayed the Lord would take away the serpents. God in his justice listened to their plea and had Moses make a bronze serpent, mount it on a pole and allowed it to heal anyone who had been bitten, by looking at it. Okay, so we know the God of the Old Testament (who is also the God of the New) brought down punishment on the big time complainers.   But if God is Love in its purest form,...

I pride myself in being a bit of an amateur psychologist.   I always—as my husband likes to put it—“think too much.” I consider it a natural gift. So whenever my husband says, referring to himself, “I don’t know, I’m not a psychologist,” I hear the compliment, “like you.” While you could make an argument that he is not exactly telling me I am a psychologist in that exchange, I probably would analyze your argument and question your thinking. You see, that’s how us psychologist-type people work.   We listen, we interpret, we analyze and then we help you solve the problem. I seriously do not see what the problem is here, except that I do not have one psychology credit to my name.   I suppose this might make actual psychologists crazy (sorry for the diagnosis and using a word they would probably never use, but I can’t help it).   Then again, I don’t know, because I don’t know any psychologists.   For that matter, I don’t really even know what t...

In today’s Gospel the Pharisees test Jesus. They bring to Him a woman accused of adultery. According to Mosaic law, such an offense results in the stoning of the woman. So, the Pharisees, looking to convict Jesus, put forth this quandary before Him. It is wrong to kill (a violation of the 5 th  Commandment), but it is also wrong to commit adultery (a violation of the 6 th  Commandment). Do two wrongs make it right? Rather than answering their implied question, Jesus starts writing in the sand. No biblical scholars ever  ascertained what Jesus wrote, but whatever it was, it caused everyone to depart, leaving Jesus alone with the woman. Jesus asks the woman, “ Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you ?” (John 8:10) Forgiven, Not Condemned The woman responded that no one condemned her. Jesus then responds to the woman, “ Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin anymore .” (John 8:11) It is here that Jesus shows us how to rectify a bad situation ...

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I'm writing this partly as a followup on Thursday's "Self-Isolation in the Family" post. And partly because I got frustrated with what I'd been trying to write today. My son is still sick, and it's a damply dismal Saturday afternoon. Outside temperature is 40 degrees Fahrenheit, 4 Celsius.... ...The family’s self-isolation went up a notch when Bishop Kettler said that churches should close their doors.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

COVID-19, the pandemic coronavirus disease, has come to my house. Maybe. My son has been sick. Yesterday he had a telephone checkup. I don't know what the official term is for a medical interview conducted via telephone. He's been told to self-isolate.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I was cleaning out my office over the winter, rearranging everything, and I must have grabbed an old stack of “typing paper” and placed it in my filing cabinet on top of an unopened pack of “copy paper.” Since the typing paper was on top, and open, I put it in my printer because I had to run some things off.   I was so shocked after I ran my copies. The “typing paper” from 1986 was so thin you could almost see through it.   In fact, it was so thin I thought maybe it was tracing paper or something.   I guess as a side note, I should mention that I am as shocked as you are that I have a pack of 34 year old typing paper.   Do you suppose that is why it is so thin?   Back in ’86 I must have gotten too busy to do much typing.   Our son was two years old, so I probably didn’t have time.   But to think that paper is older than our oldest daughter is kind of weird, if not a little embarrassing. And here’s what I really don’t understand—if...

During these weeks of living affected by Covid19, I have seen a lot of fruit come from homeschooling up until now. I am honestly very thankful we have been faithful with this, because now staying home is nothing new, and in fact it feels like our comfort zone.  Having only two years under our belt has seemed like a major loss to me (especially as I was not homeschooled and I do not share the extreme conviction about the seriousness of it that many of my friends do.....) UNTIL now.  Having two years under our belt now seems like a gift. I can see so many good fruits coming out of living the quarantined lifestyle.  Each day I can honestly say that I look forward to what will come from this time of new change.  I also have to remind myself that Lent isn't just a season of penance. It is that- but it is more than that.  Lent is a time for change (it literally means "Springtime"), and thus, it is also a time of little deaths and small resurrections.  I alwa...

  Blanca nos invita en esta ocasión a aprender a saborear la vida, hasta en las dificultades y problemas, porque vivirlos intensamente nos lleva a aprender y apreciar lo bello y valioso que tenemos, aunque sea cosas pequeñas. Puedes ver todos sus videos en la liga aqui el video... Por: Blanca Ahumada Otero

As a Lay Dominican, one of the essential elements of our religious order is to observe what is happening around us and respond to it. The father of the Order, St. Dominic , was an itinerant preacher.   On one of his tours it is said that he walked over 3,000 miles, barefoot. He seeded communities throughout his travels as he adamantly preached against heresies .   People gathered around him due to his charism which undoubtedly grew out of the scriptures.   He was known to carry the Gospel of Matthew with him.   So familiar with it was he, that he knew it by heart.   He also embraced chastity and religious poverty. In the spirit of St. Dominic, I must say I am extremely impressed with the Church’s overwhelming, creative, outward response to the limitations imposed on us in regards to our inability to worship together and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist together. From the Vatican to our local neighborhood parishes, the Church ...

THE BOOK THE DEVIL TRIED TO STOP MORE INFORMATION HERE

These are the words from Exodus Chapter 32:7-14 we should hope to never hear God say: “they have become depraved.   They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them . . .” and “I see how stiff-necked this people is.” If we do, I sure hope that we have someone like Moses standing up for us: “Why, O Lord, should your wrath blaze up against your own people . . .?” Oh wait, we do have someone—Jesus! Not only can we say that Jesus stood up for us, but he also died for us.   He went through so much physical and mental anguish for us and yet we often act as if it were nothing. Why, O Lord? I’m not sure if the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus seems so distant from us, or if we just don’t believe it ever happened, or if we are too busy to notice, but for whatever the reason, too many of us go throughout our lives completely ignoring him. We skip Mass (under normal circumstances) when it is a grave sin to do so. We do...