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Showing posts with the label Christ

All Souls Day: Why We Pray for the Dead

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Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin. ~2 Maccabees 12:46 November 2 nd marks the Commemoration of All Souls; the day in which the earthly faithful are called to pray for the faithful departed in Purgatory. Often considered connected to Pagan or other ritualistic ceremonies, All Souls Day is, in fact, a practice with roots in the early Church where the names of the faithful departed would often be posted so that church members could pray for each soul by name. All Souls Day follows on the heels of All Saints Day, November 1 st ; which itself is traced back to origins as early as the fourth century when St. Basil of Caesarea invited neighboring dioceses to share relics of martyrs and to join in celebrating those whose lives had been given for the Church. Eventually Pope Urban IV instituted the practice of using All Saints Day as a way to honor all saints, known and unknown, thus acknowledging our limited knowledge of how each person ha

POPE FRANCIS: A MODERNIST HERETIC? RIDICULOUS!

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Why do  Faithful American Catholics Label  Pope Francis: A Modernist Heretic? Every time Pope Francis speaks, the papers are filled with sensational headlines; he does not emphasize many of the popular, hot issues like abortion and homosexuality, issues which often simply serve to divide voters into an  us  and  them  mentality. When did these issues become  the  only  issue that concerns the Church? Yet when the pope reminds us that our life in Christ is so much more, vocal advocates become extremely angry, denouncing the pope as the anti-pope. How ridiculous! Why such a strong reaction? Perhaps many Americans do not like this South American because Catholics in America were taught that God loves capitalism and that Greed is Good. The Pope has made some pretty negative remarks about the freebooter capitalism that has flourished since the 1990′s and that will make him very unpopular with the freebooters in the US. Some of his comments about greed, avarice, and freebooter capi

St. Padre Pio Looks Amazing

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It was Padre Pio da Pietrelcina’s feast day, yesterday, September 23. 40 years after his death, Padre Pio looks like this. Padre Pio quotes  “Don’t allow any sadness to dwell in your soul, for sadness prevents the Holy Spirit from entering freely.”​ “Joy, with peace, is the sister of charity. Serve the Lord with laughter. ”  “Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. read more>

Near the World Trade Center: Contemplating an Open Heart

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I had not been to the World Trade Center site in about five years, hadn't taken that big escalator up to ground level, hadn't seen World Trade One or Four or seen the memorial site.  My friend M. and I on Saturday took the PATH train to the World Trade Center. Our final destination was about a fifteen-minute walk away and this was the quickest way there from New Jersey.  During this journey, my heart was full, remembering: how I used to take the double stroller here with our two boys to visit my husband at work up on the 68th floor of Tower One and to have lunch at the Stage Door Deli, how one sunny fall day we lost friends who risked their lives in the buildings so that others could escape, how my husband managed to survive even though he waited and made sure everyone on his floor was accounted for before he headed down the stairwell.  Keep Reading...

We Stop Beneath the Buckeye Tree

The seed pod dropped on the sidewalk and split. I see the ruddy shine through a slit in the spiked orb and wonder at its depth of color, the certain slant of light spent on its creation and its becoming. I hold the sharp husk gingerly between my fingers and thumb and wonder at the satisfaction in prying apart the halves, the silken rip at the pith.  Notions of Autumn’s approach, the colored leaves, the drying bits of grass and flower are upon me.  The death and dormancy that fit beneath the harvest ground conceal a greater thing: Latent energy bursting into fullness, our God blossoming into the son of man ripening into the fullness of his mystery. I am tempted to hold fast the shells and face the blank wall, keep myself hidden within the pointed case and find my way to fullness turned inward.  Yet I strain against the covering, press into the exterior a plain and arching back.  I drop against the ground and split to see a shining depth of light in which death and birth work to

Come Out of The Cave

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The worst possible fate for me would be to die and discover that I had lived an existence similar to the allegory described in Plato’s Cave. Plato describes man’s condition similar to living in a cave, chained, only seeing shadows on a wall cast from a candle. Yet the human race believes that this is all there is to life. When one person manages to break free and stumbles out into daylight, he realizes that what he thought was real were actually shadows of real objects. After this messenger makes his way back into the cave to explain this revelation of the real world, no one believes him. No one else has any reference point; they simply cannot grasp this alternate reality. When I speak with someone who is curious about the faith, I realize my revelations about the spiritual life in the Mystical Body of Christ are completely foreign. I might as well be a fantasy character explaining life in an alternate reality. Psychologically speaking, people need to hear a completely new concep

Four Marks of the Catholic Church

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Every time a Catholic recites the Nicene Creed , he is proclaimingbelief in the “Four Marks of the Church.” He joins with all other believers and professes a faith which says, “We believe in one , holy , catholic , and apostolic church…” These “four marks” are called “indelible” in that they cannot be changed or removed. They are the same as when Christ founded the church and will remain the same until his return. As indicated in the Nicene Creed , they bind together the believers in a unique and significant way. The first mark: the church is one . As diverse as we are, we are also considered one in that we are one body in Christ. Even as we bring our different cultures to the one body of Christ, we all believe that this Christ is our Lord and Savior; in him we have our redemption. All who have been baptized are part of his one, true church. The second mark: the church is holy . The teachings of the church lead each believer to holiness . They never lead away from God—who

The Better Part (Luke 10: 38-42)

A warm mug rests in my hands while fairies, gossamer skirts and wings floating, chase their little monster through the house. I watch them run past empty and full laundry baskets, over the clean, unfolded towels and sheets. The breakfast dishes wait on the table while I stare at holiness in bare feet, Christ in comforting disguise.

A Daily Examination of Conscience: What Is It Exactly?

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A simple examination of conscience helps build the moral life of a Catholic. It guides a Catholic towards holiness and sainthood. Like taking vitamins or brushing your teeth, it should be done daily! Find a set time where you will have anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes of quiet and solitude. If possible, also find a specific location. This may be 10 minutes of quiet on your couch or it might be 20 minutes in a prayer corner on a prie dieu. No matter what, when you see this as a sacred responsibility, finding those few minutes each day will be easy. An Examination of Conscience is about reviewing your day and seeing it through the eyes of Christ. It is about offering it up for objective examination where the fruit will be your spiritual growth and maturity. Have a number of questions to get yourself started but be willing to allow the Lord to speak to you and guide where the time goes. To create a list of questions, consider your daily life in a general sense and

Opening Our Hearts to Our Enemies. Now.

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We live in divisive times. Sometimes, that grieves me.  How do we reconcile these two perspectives? Can we? A homily I heard yesterday gave me hope. Keep Reading...

A Life Lived Small and With Immeasurable Beauty

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When I checked my email this morning before work and opened the attachment from a colleague, I burst into tears. My colleague Mary, with whom I co-teach a Natural Science class, had put as the subject to the email "Aunt Eileen." "Aunt Eileen" was Eileen Jaqui Kuhn, 88, of Metuchen, who died on Holy Thursday at home with her family by her side. My husband and I have lived in this corner of New Jersey since 1995 and our lives have intersected with the Kuhn family's ever since. Tonight, Easter Monday, my husband and I attended Mrs. Kuhn's wake, which gave me a glimpse into the beauty of a life spent from start to finish within a three-mile pocket of friends, family, work and parish. Keep Reading....

Blessings to Pope Benedict XVI: "The Love of Christ Urges Us On

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I have always loved the writings of our Holy Father. In fact, I just bought his I nfancy Narratives as an audiobook. I wish that those who criticize the man  - within our Church as well as outside the Church - would read his words without preconception. Keep Reading...

Chicken Little

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I had an odd response to the 2012 presidential election: I stopped watching the news. I also stopped reading the news on the Internet. In fact, not a single television show appealed to me and the blackened screen simply became a piece of ubiquitous furniture in the center of the room. At that point I had already abandoned social media such as Facebook and Twitter so I was left with a decent amount of time on my hands. My work as a Catholic publisher took on a new meaning. I was working on Jennifer Frank’s fiction title He Shall Be Peace and I found myself praying for it every moment of my work day. My desire to get solid, entertaining, faith-filled books into the hands of the lay faithful became an obsession. As did my own desire to read. My appetite for books was ravenous. In the month and a half following the election I read well over a dozen books. I read the entire Book of Revelation (Navarre Bible Study version) as well as the entire Gospel of Matthew (N

Amid Lockdowns, Christ is Coming

As a public school teacher in the United States, I am accustomed to lock-down drills. In fact, as it happened, we had one Friday. We have one once a month, as the state of New Jersey requires. We have "non fire evacuations" and "lockdowns" and "active shooter" drills. The teens in my care know what to do; we turn off the lights, we lower the shades, we huddle in a corner and we stay quiet and we wait until the all clear. I can see from the news coverage that those kindergartners and their teachers were trained too, on how to deal with a shooter in the building.... Read more here...

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

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A gorgeous jacket caught my eye as I was flipping through an issue of a fashion magazine, trying to find the “perfect” haircut—you know, just cute enough to say I am still “fashionable” yet not too cute as to say “I’m 54 years-old trying to look 30.” The jacket was what I would call “car length.” It was covered in an animal print. I loved it! At that point, having lost my focus on trying to find a picture of a perfect haircut to take to my stylist, I intently surveyed the different animal print products—from handbags to pants to shoes—each seeming a bit wild and yet quite appealing. Of course at my age I couldn’t fathom donning a full-on animal print ensemble—or maybe I was never at the correct age to wear such an outfit—but there was still something attractive about an animal print accessory, and most especially that coat! It just seemed “fun.” Sometimes, as Christian women, we forget that we are called to have fun. In our day-to-day living in which we embrace our

My Name Is Cheryl...And I Am A Weakling

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My name is Cheryl. And I am a weakling. That’s the kind of group I want to be in: the kind of group where we each take the stand and own up to who we are—who we really are. Not the avatars we put out in the world through our blogs and our tweets; but who we are at the core. After all, that’s where we will all ultimately connect, where we will all see one another as Christ sees us: as humanity steeped in the dignity of our creation but as a weak humanity in need of strength found in him who has offered us salvation. I love being weak. It means I’m “needy” which seems, to many people I am sure, to be an unpleasant state of being. And I’ve been trampled on more than a few times in my weakened state. I don’t always fight back when society would say that I should. I’ve been hurt and I’ve been wounded. For years I tried to fight being weak. A bit ironic, right? I wanted to be able to pick myself up by my bootstraps. I wanted to be able to say with confidence and pride that I

Should I Pray for Healing...Or Should I Carry My Cross?

It is ironic that, as a Catholic, the most difficult part of having a chronic health issue isn’t the health issue itself but is the big question: Should I pray for healing…or should I carry my cross? And it is that question that often keeps us spiraling through a journey that is already burdensome and often overwhelming. In my own journey, which has lasted for the better part of two decades, I know that I’ve gone through many different phases. There were times that I tried to take on St. Paul’s attitude of embracing the “thorn” of an illness while at other times I was on my knees praying—between sobs of anguish—for healing. I’ve attended Healing Masses where I’ve been prayed over by a team of healers and have hands laid upon me; I’ve had private healing prayers said over me. I’ve done novenas and have sought alternative medical care—all at my own expense—when the established medical system failed me. I’ve been in bed unable to move from the dizziness that has enveloped me and hav

Loving Yourself and Your Body

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A dear sister-in-the-Lord recently shared her enthusiasm with me in regards to 6 pounds she had shed. I smiled and congratulated her and gave her a big hug. Six pounds – an awesome accomplishment, indeed! Of course she looked the exact same to me as she did before she lost the 6 pounds but I kept that little realization to myself. In other words, I thought she was perfect. Her physical beauty and her spiritual beauty were so interconnected, from my perspective, that had she gained weight I would not have noticed either. But those few pounds made a difference in how she viewed herself and how she believed the world viewed her. My own self-perception is just as fragile. I have never been known to purchase clothes that actually fit. I view myself as needing clothes that are always at least one size larger than the “real” me. My own body image still suffers as a result of many comments made to me while I was a young teenager. Body image is something that affects almost all wo

Reflections of a Catholic in Amish Country

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On a visit to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania last week, my husband and our younger son bought  combo passes to ride the historic Strasburg Railroad and visit the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania next door. From the train, the views of the verdant farmland were spectacular.(Above is one I took with my iPad.)  Still, the two most powerful moments of the visit came when I least expected them. Keep reading....

A Grandson Shows How Suffering Can Evoke Beauty

Today our 12-year-old son tidied up garbage in Abuelita's garage, where their spaniel went snacking.  Today he stayed with Grandpapi so I could take Abuelita grocery shopping.   Read more here...