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Our number-two daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter arrived shortly after noon. We're celebrating a belated/second Christmas and our granddaughter's birthday. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I only wrote 18 words for my current "Dr Faustus" post yesterday. Partly because the screen went black around mid-afternoon. On the bright side, my computer did reboot. Eventually. My plan for today is to get this journal entry finished, do more writing and maybe pick up prescriptions at the local Walmart. Not necessarily in that order.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

  I think the devil has taken over my phone.   For days now, my prayer list keeps disappearing.   I re-enter it in my reminders and then the next day it is gone.   Before you helpfully suggest I might have different reminder lists for my different emails, it is true I do, and I have checked them.   It is like somebody doesn’t want me praying. But, because I go over my list regularly, I can pretty much re-write it from memory, which is what I have had to do.   Finally, I got smart and just put it in my Notes on my phone and that is where it has stayed, untouched by the evil one. It is kind of strange, but just like some people blame God for everything that goes wrong, some people like to blame the devil for everything.   Now that’s not to say that the devil doesn’t exist or that he isn’t working hard to direct us down the wrong path, but we do have to take personal responsibility for our truly sinful behavior. “The devil made me do it” can ea...

I started "A Catholic Citizen in America" on September 16, 2008; as a Blogger blog. Time passed. By 2016, I was having technical issues with Blogger. Then, in May of 2016, the service's zeal to protect users and viewers from a particular image file format gave me the last straw. That's when I decided to re-launch "A Catholic Citizen in America" as a WordPress blog. Which I did, finally, a few months later.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I found a few resources for my next "Dr. Faustus" post this morning and afternoon, and got some writing done. Then it was time for my hour at the Eucharistic Adoration chapel. That was, I think, an hour well-spent. But I'd been on a roll with the writing, and I don't think that will happen again in the time I've got before supper. I'd been reading about stewardship during my 'chapel' hour, so that's more or less what I'll write about here. But mostly about vocations. My vocation, specifically. And I don't mean a job or career.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

          La incidencia de la pandemia ha provocado una desesperanza generalizada entre las personas. Muchos han perdido a familiares y amigos y otros han visto mermado   su sustento y el de sus familias. 2020 fue un mal año y tenemos puesta nuestra esperanza en el 2021. Pero mirando en retrospectiva, y sin minimizar el sufrimiento que han generado los efectos del COVID 19 en todo el mundo, hay datos que nos brindan un optimismo hacia el futuro:   Ésta es la mejor época de la humanidad y la tendencia histórica es que vamos a la mejora.   leer más...

Christ as Teacher (Cristo Docente)\ Fourth Century Roman Sculptor  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:21-28 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) [Jesus and his disciples] went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.   And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.   And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,   “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”   But Jesus rebuked him, saying,  “Be silent, and come out of him!”   And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came ou...

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If you're back for more of "A Catholic Citizen in America:" thank you! These daily 'journal' posts are something new. I started talking about them last Saturday. ( January 23, 2021 ) Then I got distracted, which is par for the course and almost another topic. Today I'll say what I'd planned to say then. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

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I never wear a face mask while at my desk. Make that almost never. I did this morning — Saturday, January 23, 2020 — while taking that picture. △ And I wore one I'd had at the hospital while taking a picture for " Back from the Hospital: The Masked Minnesotan Rides Again ."... The face mask I'm wearing in today's photo is from Sauk Centre's Walmart. And that brings me to one of the two things I was going to talk about today. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

On the whole, I prefer being alive. Particularly when I consider the alternative. I don't consistently enjoy the moment I'm in: whatever is "now." Relishing some of the "nows" I've experienced would have been reason for concern, and that's another topic. But life, being alive? That's good. Even when it's been bad. Remembering that life can feel good helped me talk myself out of my first suicidal impulse, decades back.... ...But that's not what I'm talking about today.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I woke up this morning, which is always a good thing. My memory tells me that Friday night, January 1, I didn't sleep. At all. Maybe I dropped off for a few minutes to an hour, but even then I didn't get nearly enough sleep. Three weekends and most of a week after my all-nighter, I'm starting my eighth day of one-a-day 'journal' posting. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

  Today’s reading brings into focus a very deep truth of the Catholic Church’s Sacrament of the Eucharist, that sacrament in which Jesus offers himself today in sacrifice at the hands of the priest through the consecrated elements of bread and wine. Let me explain. In Hebrews, Chapter 7 (Verses 26-Chapter 8:6), the author emphasizes that Jesus offered himself as sacrifice (for us) “once for all” unlike the high priests of the time that made repeated sacrifices. When a Catholic Mass is celebrated, the priest is not re-sacrificing Christ at the altar, but, rather, each sacrifice of the Mass “makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church’s offering.” ( * CCC 1330 ) In fact, at the Last Supper, “in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again” Christ instituted the Eucharist, which is the sacrifice of his body, blood, soul and divinity. (CCC 1323) This profound understanding of the Eucharist mea...