Association Of Catholic Bloggers

St. Michael the Archangel and the Souls in Purgatory   The trap of Purgatory is too many souls rely on Purgatory as the destination of their soul after death, and slap God in the face by not trusting in His mercy, and do not seek Heaven.  They use Purgatory as their "backup plan" and as a result lead lukewarm lives, saying to themselves that in an exchange for just doing the "minimum" faith requirement, thinking that when they die they will just have to spend a few years in Purgatory and then eventually end up in Heaven. Whether we spend time in Purgatory is at  God's  discretion, not ours.   The greatest misuse of Purgatory is that many Catholics do not fear God because of Purgatory. Those that hang their hopes on Purgatory are already among the lukewarm and possibly among those heading to the second death. Jesus will spit those out of His mouth that have failed to make every effort to follow Jesus and heaven, NOT Purgatory. To READ MORE: CLICK HERE!

Some folks, like the magi and shepherds, were happy about our Lord's birth. King Herod, not so much. Today's Gospel reading, Matthew 2:1 - 12 , talks about this mixed reaction. Two millennia later, I'm on the same page as the shepherds and wise men. I think our Lord's birth is cause for rejoicing. ( Matthew 2:10 ;  Luke 2:20 ) "Only the Beginning of a Great Procession" " For the Church which believes and prays, the Wise Men from the East who, guided by the star, made their way to the manger of Bethlehem, are only the beginning of a great procession which winds throughout history.... " (" Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, Homily of Benedict XVI ," (January 6, 2013)) Today is Epiphany Sunday, when the wise men arrive at the nativity scene in our living room, and we remember Matthew's account of the magi. As usual, there's quite a bit going on.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

One of my favorite recurring characters on the long-gone  Mad TV  show was Keegan-Michael Key's "Eugene Struthers." Eugene, an overly enthusiastic delivery man, would catch Hollywood celebrities in random moments and gush about how they take their craft to "a hole notha level." On this sixth day of Christmas, I am thinking of Eugene. I imagine Eugene interviewing Christians throughout the world and marveling at how they take Christmas to, as he would say, a Hole. Notha. Level! Keep Christmas with us! At Praying with Grace .

Arthur Hughes, The Nativity shared from The Cloistered Heart

When we turned rounded the corner to the left and into the Baroque room at the   Virginia Fine Arts Museum   this morning, my eyes welled with tears. There it was; the painting I had visited the museum for, a painting called "The Visitation" by 17th century Baroque master   Mattia Preti , a Calabrian and a protege of  Caravaggian  naturalism. How fitting the painting first went on display here on Christmas Eve. Keep reading: http://ramblingfollower.blogspot.com/2014/12/pretis-visitiation-and-our-search-for.html

They say that Christmas has become materialistic. And how true this is. But surely it is right that Christmas is materialistic – in the proper sense of the word! Let’s consider this: God – A spirit somewhere out there in the universe He created, decided to materialise and come down to earth. He materialised, assumed a physical form, as the human Jesus, born by the Blessed Virgin Mary. God materialised to be amongst us, so that we may see Him, speak to Him, listen to Him and hopefully learn from Him. And most important of all, to be saved by Him. God – Jesus. The Spirit materialising for us. Now how wonderful is that? Do we ever stop and wonder about the real miracle of Christmas and the true meaning of materialism?

The Census at Bethlehem , Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566 Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels [ Web Gallery of Art ] In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  All went to their own towns to be registered.  Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.  He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child ( Luke 2: 1-5, NRSVACE ). Adoration of the Shepherds , Rembrandt, 1646 National Gallery, London [ Web Gallery of Art ] When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’  So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the ch

Last week Pope Francis visited the Roman parish of St. Joseph. One of his remarks there was eagerly snatched up by social media: "Babies cry, make noise, go here and there. But it annoys me when a baby cries in church and there are those who say he needs to go out. The cry of a baby is God's voice: never drive them away from the church!" Considering how much I crave silence, it is with great wonder and gratitude I realize how much I love to hear crying babies and noisy toddlers at church. And I don't mean I just love to hear  other  people's children cry, making my rambunctious brood seem comparatively docile. No, I mean squalling children help me pray. Please continue the reflection with me at Praying with Grace . . . .

Dear Grief, You have found me despite my hopes to escape you. You have become a travelling companion through this journey of life, but never a friend. You are the proverbial glass of spilled milk, happening when most inconvenient, spilling all over me and my home. You splash and roll into unexpected places, hiding for me to find as I go about my every day work, clinging to ordinary items and ringing them with painful recollection. Left unaddressed, your spill begins to smell and turn the stomach, causing disorientation, upset, and regret. Crying over you changes nothing, but in tears I can wash you away, I can shine the marred surfaces and begin anew. In tears I may respond but I am not vanquished, you have not won Read more at Veils and Vocations.

“Christmas is not an event within history but is rather the invasion of time by eternity.” Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Advent is a time of waiting. But how do I wait? Do I wait stoically or with joy? Do I wait like a child, a child who trusts that his daddy will keep His promises or has life’s disappointments left me jaded and closed off to any spiritual surprises? Come to think of it, how many of us actually expect to receive any joy on Christmas morning? When we are secretly cynical, we will not receive a thing, not a crumb of Light because we lock the door to our hearts. Then, we will cement our cynicism in place for another year. As we wait, secretly longing for the dark, empty places within us to be flooded with His light, we should look to our children to teach us how to wait for the Christ Child to be born anew in our hearts. They trust and believe the words of both their earthly and heavenly Fathers. Think of a young child, eyes twinkling, barely able to sit still and contain his excitement because he knows that his dad will never give him a stone instead of a loaf of bread. No wonde

(From John William Waterhouse, via FineArtAmerica.com , used w/o permission.) This morning's Gospel reading is Luke 1:26 - 38 . That's the bit that starts with.... ...This comes a little after an account of Gabriel's interview with Zachariah, Luke 1:10 - 20 . That's when Gabriel personally delivers God's response to Zachariah's prayer: and Zachariah demands proof. Zachariah got proof, all right. He wasn't able to talk for for months. That didn't stop until he agreed with his wife about his son's name: in writing. Elizabeth's name for the boy was John, the same name Gabriel had specified More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Wishing a Blessed Christmas to all my readers

FATHER FRANCIS MAPLE PLEASE CLICK HERE

Be an  everyday evangelizer!   Share the real reason for the season with these free creations.  No matter  whaat your profession is... blogger, secretary, warehouse worker or retired.... use these free images  to share your faith.  Twelve are sized for use as cover images on your facebook page. They could also be used as headers on a blog.    Here are two of the twelve... I have also created companion images sized for instagram  sharing or other social media purposes. To see all  twelve images, please visit me on my Blog - EmbeddedFaith , or on Cyndi  Canva . Wishing you a most blessed Christmas.  

St Nicholas Resuscitates the Children , Bon Boullogne,  Musée Ingres, Montauban,France[ Web Gallery of Art ] A priest-friend in Canada expressed his thoughts about the present and coming liturgical seasons in a recent email:  It’s Advent again. It’s too bad that the beauty of Advent is lost in the Christmas hype. Sometimes I think that we should give Christmas back to the pagans (from whom we hijacked it) and join the Oriental Churches in celebrating the birth of Jesus on January 6. I'm not quite sure that it would be practical to attempt that, though the Church should consider restoring the Epiphany as a mandatory holyday of obligation throughout the Church. It is such on the universal calendar of the Church but the reality is that in so many countries the bishops have opted for a Sunday celebration of the feast, thereby, I think, diminishing its importance.  Full post  here .  

I have a couple of posts that I am writing, and I apologize that it's been a few days since my last post, but I have a favor to ask. My mom's health is failing. After an almost six and a half year long goodbye, it seems that her time really is getting short. Brain cancer always wins in the end. There are so many emotions right now. I pray for a swift and easy death, but it is hard to wish her gone. However, she is suffering so, and it is selfish to want that to continue for the sake of continuing. Source God has been filling my heart and mind with memories of my mom. Read more at Veils and Vocations , and please pray and share.

Children are hungry for affirmation. Children are desperate for love, for family, for an understanding of their place in the world. Children who lack these things grow up hating themselves and wanting to disappear, or forcing others to pay attention to their outrageous displays of addiction or terror. The truth about Christmas provides all the affirmation we need: the only reason we exist is because our God created us out of love; and when we forgot this, God proved his love by becoming one of us. Relentless headlines tell us about school shootings, suicides, rampant drug use, epidemic STDs, teenagers joining terrorist groups. . . . This is not God's plan for us or for our children. And we don't begin to address the crisis by telling children how great they are. We free our children by showing them how great God is. Read more at Praying with Grace .

It is easy to get caught up in the seasonal frenzy and forget that Christ is at the center of Christmas; so here are ten great ways to put Christ back into Christmas! Purchase cards that say “Merry Christmas” as part of the message; don’t settle for “Happy Holiday” cards! And if it has been a while since you’ve sent Christmas cards, make this the year you start again. Christmas cards with a personal note are a great way to put Christ back into Christmas. Lots of people have service jobs that we often take for granted. Decide which person (or people) you would like to notice at Christmastime and purchase some small gift. Maybe purchase a set of pretty, padded hangers for the school bus driver or a gift card for a coffee shop for the mail carrier. Make sure a Christmas card is included with the gift! This year make sure you have a nativity set for your most used room in the house. The crèche doesn’t have to be large or expensive. A small, inexpensive one put on a pedestal serves

Like I said last week, 'tiz the season to be frazzled . It's also a time of year when folks get together with family, including folks like Yogi Yorgesson's "goofy relations:" " ...After dinner my Aunt and my wife's Uncle Louie Get into an argument; they're both awful screwy Then all my wife's family say Louie is right And my goofy relations, they yoin in the fight. Back in the corner the radio is playing And over the racket Gabriel Heater is saying 'Peace on earth everybody and good will toward men' And yust at that moment someone slugs Uncle Ben.... " (" I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas ," via eLyrics.net) Oddly enough, December is generally a month with the fewest suicides each year in America. (" Holiday Suicides: Fact or Myth? ," Injury Prevention & Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (December 31, 2013)) Digging a little deeper, I noticed that those 'December suicides' sta