Association Of Catholic Bloggers

When I asked our oldest daughter what she'd like me to write about this week, she suggested "stories about when each of us was born". The birth of each child was an important event, at least for me and my wife, so I figured it'd be a matter of deciding which memories to pick. Then I started poking around the labyrinthine interior of my mind. Turns out I've got a few vivid snapshots, but not nearly as many details as I thought there'd be. I've got a pretty good memory; apart from things like appointment times, anniversaries — fact is, I'll be asking my wife for help with this post. It's been decades since the mental machinery filed away those experiences. Meanwhile, I'll start talking about our oldest child's birth, and see what happens. Birth: The First Time Changes: Delivery Rooms and Fainting Fathers Focused New Experiences and Evaporative Cooling A Couple Details Baptism of Desire, Uncertainty, and Hope ... More at A C...

    "Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless, of course, you fail the test." In the last chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul makes this statement that, I think, we should all take to heart. Are you living in faith? What in your life shows that you are, or, more unsettling, what in your life reveals that you aren't? Paul goes on, telling the Corinthians, "I hope you will discover that we have not failed." That's because it was important that when the people of Corinth observed Paul, that they would see someone in the "fight," someone whose discipleship was genuine.  It is so important that we try to live genuine lives of faith, lives that are not contradictory to the gospel. In each of our lives, there is surely a great struggle between doing what we feel like doing, and doing what is in line with what our faith teaches us. It is not an easy struggle, and...

Young Jew as Christ Rembrandt [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,) Readings   (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 14:1, 7-14  (English Standard Version, Anglicised) One Sabbath, when Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honour, saying to them, ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honour, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give your place to this person”, and then you, with shame, will take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, “Frie...

Two children, ages eight and 10, went to school this morning. They won't be going home. Somebody decided that this would be a good morning to spray bullets into a church full of people. Why the 20-something (probably) man made that decision is an open question, and may remain so. He killed himself after committing murder.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis, MN, interrupted by someone shooting into the building. Two children dead. So is the killer. A terse summary of what happened, links to what I've said about suicide, murder, human life, and emotions.)

It's been about a half-century since I worked for the Red River Valley Historical Society. Articles I wrote for their Red River Valley Heritage Press are in the MSMM Archives, and that's another topic. 1 Something I liked about that historical society is that it focused on what I think of as my 'home turf': the Red River Valley of the North. It's some of the flattest land, and best farmland, on the planet. When it's mentioned at all, it's in the context of 19th century treaty violations. Or the latest spring floods. 2 And I'm drifting off-topic again . The point is that while I was working for that outfit, we had a meeting with folks in Winnipeg, Canada — and got a tour of one of Winnipeg's old houses. After a half-century, all I remember about it — in any detail — is our tour guide's account of how a stained glass window narrowly escaped destruction.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Saving the stained glass window was probably...

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Crowning a baby after baptism George Cardinal Alencherry,  Major Archbishop Emeritus of Ernakulam-Angamaly  (Syro-Malabar), India  [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,) Readings   (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 13:22-30  (English Standard Version, Anglicised) At that time: Jesus went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. And someone said to him, ‘Lord, will those who are saved be few?’ And he said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us”, then he will answer you, “I do not know where you come from.” Then yo...

    I came cross a quote by St. Bernard of Clairvaux that addressed the issue of people who cannot seem to get to a place of faith. He asked a lot of questions that got me to thinking about WHY, indeed, don't you believe in God. You must have your reasons, but maybe you should dig a little deeper as to what they are. Bernard wondered (and answered) these questions. Are they relevant to you today? Maybe you can make your own list of questions. What are you afraid of, that he (God) will not pardon your sins? Are you used to soft living? Are you bound like a chain because of your habit of sin? Are you angry because how big and frequent your sins are and how slow God is in helping you? Are you unwilling to give up your possessions? In answering these questions, Bernard offered a remedy for each one: Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He forgives us. Jesus knows our weaknesses. He frees prisoners from what binds them, he can loosen our chain of sin. Where sin abounds, God giv...

I took that picture of the Stearns County Fair while coming back from an errand last Saturday. It's about as close to being there as I've gotten in the last several years. But since this household isn't much more than a thousand feet from the fairground entrance, I get to see folks parked on the side street. Or, rather, I see the vehicles they've parked there. Sometimes my timing is right and I see them heading toward or returning from the festivities. My favorite memory this year was seeing a young family — dad and a little girl — heading back to their car.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Experiencing the Stearns County Fair second hand: a favorite memory, and justifiable caution during a Friday night storm.)

Blessed Margaret Ball and Blessed Francis Taylor St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,) Readings   (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 12:49-53  (English Standard Version, Anglicised) At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided: three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law ...

      On this blessed Holy Day (Assumption of Mary) it is a good opportunity to explain a little about the Catholic Church's view of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. For some people, Mary is a roadblock to Catholicism. Part of the reason is the belief that Catholic's worship Mary.  We do not. Neither do we consider Mary God. We adore Mary. We hold her up in the place of honor in which she was placed by God the Father. Specially chosen to be the Mother of Jesus, we give her the respect she is due. The Catholic Church didn't design it this way, God did. Mary was prepared for this role and she accepted it, even though it brought her much heartache (and blessings) over the years.  There is much that can be said about Mary, but I think it is important to put out there in the e-verse the simple fact that Catholics do not consider Mary a replacement for Jesus. She should not be an obstacle for anyone.  She is our dear Mother and we turn to her as one who is dee...

    We were deep cleaning our kitchen cupboards and drawers, throwing away outdated and never-used stuff.  My husband was going through one of the drawers and I heard "thump" as he tossed something significant into the wastebasket. "What was that?" I cried out in response to the sound of an old mixer manual hitting the bottom of the wastebasket. "Oh, it just belonged to that old mixer," my husband innocently replied, as I shrieked. Unbeknownst to him, it contained the recipe I have been using to make bread. What a close call! I know, I know, how would he know? In his defense, together we had been tossing outdated manuals and such all morning. But in my defense, just so you know, I never overreact in situations like this. I have falling apart recipe books from my mom. I have clipped recipes that I might use someday. Like I told my husband, it's a good thing I can save new recipes online now, on my phone, or that drawer would look A LOT worse. A...

    I was inspired while listening to the account of Abraham and Sarah having a child in their later years ( Hebrews 11 ): "So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore." It struck me that, metaphorically, we, too, are sometimes nearly dead. Maybe for us we need life support for our motivation, our hope, or even our spiritual life. The truth is, like he did for Abraham, God can bring us back from the brink as well. Abraham was old. Sarah was sterile. Yet--and this is key--God worked through them, to bring about life. For them, it was to give them descendants, but for us he can bring us to life in other ways. If it seems to you that all is lost, or that life has (or is) passing you by, hold on to this proof that God is walking beside you and that he will never give up on you. If grief is zapping your will, or sickness and pain is leaving you l...

My oldest daughter suggested that I start telling 'family stories' about eight months back: which struck me as a good idea. This week's, involving a door and — I think — showing where I get some of my attitudes and priorities, got me started looking for places in one of my ancestral homelands. I'll be talking about that; and, eventually, what happened when a husband's idea of what's good enough didn't line up with his wife's. Surnames and Ancestry, Mostly A Place in Ottertail County: Scenic, But Not Practical Names, Language, Accents, and Legacies Changes — or — Seeking Lost Branting and Beridalen "An Interesting Pattern" Priorities and a Door Family, Names, and Links More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Another family story: this one involving a pioneer couple, a first home, and a door. Also surnames, ancestry, and what's changed in an ancestral homeland.)

St Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death El Greco [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,) Readings   (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 12:32-48  (English Standard Version, Anglicised) At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ‘Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed...