Association Of Catholic Bloggers

1. It's snowing here. Hard. The Northeast of the United States is expecting a major blizzard. Our home is ready with newly made beeswax candles, food, unread books and for me, some cross-stitch. My husband and I worry we will lose power; Superstorm Sandy showed up the infrastructure here is pretty fragile.   newbrunswick.patch.com   Keep Reading... 

What better gift than this? We purchased this beautiful painting of the Holy Mother from my friend  Ann Burt,  who lives and works in Raleigh, N.C. This is the largest piece she has created so far in her rustic barn series. She painted Mary on a piece of salvaged barn wood. I was unpacking Mary today from the cardboard box and bubble wrap she showed up in when my friend  Dan,  himself an artist, happened to stop by. (You know I don't believe in coincidences.) Keep reading...

Nancy Bilyeau's debut novel The Crown takes readers on an odyssey through the England of Henry VIII during the bloody period of the dissolution of the monasteries as seen from the point of view of a young Dominican novice. There are many aspects of this extraordinary novel that contemporary Catholics will find that they can relate to, namely the confusion in the Church and the compromises of many of her members to political persecution and social expediency, as well as the heroic stand taken by those with the courage to speak truth to power. In Tudor England, speaking truth to power, or even silently trying to follow one's conscience, often meant dying a hideous death. Young Joanna Stafford finds that in those intense times there is no such thing as spiritual mediocrity; either she must take the high road or face perdition. Joanna is not one to settle for less than heroism anyway, having entered a strict Dominican monastery where she looked forward to an auste

 Through our baptism, we're called to be royal, priestly parents to our children, exercising our God-given authority with kindness and benevolence. When we truly understand the essence of our authority, we can be leaders and nurturers of our children and help them to become the nurturers and leaders of the future .~ from Strengthening Your Family by Marge Fenelon, p.176  I did a lot of babysitting when I was young and became quite proficient at handling other people's children. I wondered at some parents' inability to control their children in church and other public places, since I rarely had any problem getting my little charges to listen to me. There was no doubt in my mind that I would someday be a  model parent with model children, all sitting quietly in the pew with rapt attention. However, when I finally married, God in His wisdom saw fit to send me the most rambunctious little girl ever created, the kind of child who loves to perform in publi

I've been asked to substitute cantor Sunday morning at our former parish.  Yesterday, I chatted with the substitute organist over the phone and she's searching for the music to accompany Psalm 67. I'm making some inquiries. (Hey: if you know, let me know) In the meantime, I googled Psalm 67. It is a song of national thanksgiving. And then I thought about how we'll be singing this song on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God,  or Theotokos. Please read more here....

Let women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith. But if they would learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church. ~I Corinthians 14: 34 This elusive verse, when not totally ignored, is a matter of controversy, as scholars and theologians try to explain it away. St. Paul, not caring a fig for political correctness, past or present, wanted it to be clear that women were not to usurp the functions of priests at the altar. On another level, the spiritual director at our Secular Carmelite meeting said that the verse is not to be seen as a negation of women but as a call, a call to silence, both interior and exterior. It is in the deep silence of the soul that spiritual warfare on behalf of the Church, her ministers and her people, is best waged. Many women have sought a life of prayer and have become prayer warriors, from the earliest days of the

Birth of the Virgin , Murillo, 1660  Lord God, the day of our salvation dawned when the Blessed Virgin gave birth to your Son. As we celebrate her nativity grant us your grace and your peace. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (From the Divine Office approved by the Episcopal Conferences of Australia, England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland).  Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae, ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte; et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.