Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Prayer changes things. Do you believe that? Are you willing to join me in a very special prayer request? Learn more on Veils and Vocations .

I have learned that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  The lead up to the election is breeding a lot of anger all around, so I am choosing to respond in righteousness.  I don't know what God's Will is for this election.  I don't know who He would vote into office.  However, I am pretty sure it would be for a candidate who loved this land, liberty, and life.   Please visit Veils and Vocations to read more.  

Today was set aside by the French Bishops as a day of prayer and fasting after the slaying of Father Hamel in Normandy.  Even if you did not get to fast today, please pray along with me for our clergy and the conversion of our enemies. Please visit Veils and Vocations for the prayers.  God bless.

It is day 2 of our novena, please keep praying and feel free to share this even if you missed a day.  Here is the post for day 1 if you are behind. Visit Veils and Vocations for the prayers.

I am hosting this pray along of a novena of novenas for the protection of our priests and deacons, as well as the conversion of our enemies--not only for our sake, but the sake of their souls. Please pray along with me and share this with your friends and family, our clergy needs our prayers and petitions more than they ever have! Please visit Veils and Vocations for more information and the novena prayers. God bless.

This is a post that I hoped I would not have to write, but His Ways are not our ways.  His Plan is perfect even when it is not the plan we would every choose for ourselves or our loved ones.  Thank you all who have joined me in praying for James Fischer--praying, pleading, begging for a miracle. Read more at Veils and Vocations.

They are dead and we rejoice in that shred of hope that at least they can commit no more atrocities against humanity.  However, part of me always wonders, what were their last thoughts?  Did they have children, a wife, siblings, friends?  Even in a radical, militarist society, their mothers must weep knowing they are gone.  Surely, even with a mission from Allah, they will be missed.  Even if they aren't, they were all infused with immortal souls at conception, they were blessed by the LORD and their lives were planned before eternity began.  Yes, they have turned against God.  Yes, they have sinned against their fellow man, taking innocent lives and creating fear in a cloud of evil and destruction.  But, do we not all sin?  Does it not grieve the Father when we speak harshly to our brother or child, when we react selfishly and refuse to focus on the other?  Are we any more deserving of mercy because our sins have not become internat...

I have hosted a Novena of Novenas before.  I think it is time we do so again.  The conditions for Christians in the Middle East are beyond horrendous! When the photos were released of the Holocaust, the world vowed, never again!  Yet, photos are flooding out of the largest and most vicious genocide ever, and our world is waiting and watching in silence. Syrian Christians are on the cusp of mass slaughter, already displaced and starving, they now face certain death at the hands of ISIS. Am I being over dramatic?  I think not. I think that there are no real words to explain to horror.  We have been inundated by such horror of late, we are paralyzed, overwhelmed by the onslaught of endless evil and darkness. Continued on Veils and Vocations.

On Facebook, the other day, there was a meme that stated, "If we offered a minute of silence for every victim of the Holocaust, we would be silent for eleven and a half years.  It got me wondering, if we offered a minute of silence for every victim of persecution and ethnic cleansing, would we ever speak again? In college, I had the opportunity to spend six months in Austria to study political science and history.  As one of our study tours, we visited a small concentration camp. It is the only part of my three semesters abroad for which I have no photographs.  It seemed like too hallowed of ground to photograph. Also, I knew I would never forget being there-- twenty years later I can still feel the immense weight of sorrow that presses in on you and smell the stench of heinous deaths.  What struck me most, though, was the small strip of green grass that separated this place of horrors from a beautiful town.  Yards away people were eating and drinking...

The plight of the persecuted has never been more dire, yet most of the world has remained silent---a deafening silence!  My heart has been heavy with wanting to help those who are suffering the unimaginable.  They are constantly on my mind and in my prayers.  While I have tried hard to shield myself from the graphic photographs, just reading about the atrocities has flooded my mind with images that I can't forget. Many nights thoughts and fears have consumed me. Perhaps fear is not the correct word. I do not fear, I know that the gates of Hell shall not prevail. I know that my God has already won. I know that Christ is risen, and in Him I shall never die. God always prevails and provides. However, the feeling of evil closing in around us has greatly saddened my heart. Read more on Veils and Vocations .

Do you remember Flight 800?  It was the jet that exploded over the Hudson river in 1996.  I had a ticket on that flight!  My dream from when I was very small, maybe 3 years old, had been to study in France.  I learned everything I could about the language, nation, and culture. I pleaded with my mother to send me to a boarding school in France, like my heroine  Madeline .  I collected every Madeline book and trinket and dreamed of one day strolling down the streets of Paris.  When I was a junior in college, my chance finally came.  I was required to study abroad for my major. My father booked me a non-stop flight to Paris and a three night hotel stay in Paris, so I could live my dream before heading to school in Reims. I could not have been happier!!  Then, the Sunday before my scheduled departure, I had a complete panic attack like no other panic attack in history. I was up the entire night wondering how I could explain to my parents that I...

This is a wonderful website with many contributors posting articles and links to their Blogs. I had a thought the other day. I started reading the contributors'/writers' bios every day (see link at top of page) - one a day - and pray for that individual on that day. And also visit their Blog and leave a message. If we all did that, can you imagine how many prayers will be sent for each other? That will certainly keep the Angels up there busy filing all prayers for personal attention by Our Lord. Prayers are the greatest gifts we can send and receive. So why not join in praying for one author a day. And whilst we're at it. Let's visit that author's Blog and leave an encourageing message. God bless.