Association Of Catholic Bloggers

I was a Christian long before I became a Catholic Christian , and that's another topic. Topics. The point is, I've been trying to follow Jesus ever since I was a child. Somewhere along the line, I started noticing a disconnect between what I occasionally saw in religious art and the Jesus I was reading about in the Bible. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Do you believe in miracles? Really? Have you witnessed one? CLICK HERE

DO MIRACLES HAPPEN TODAY? HAVE YOU WITNESSED A MIRACLE? DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? WHAT ARE MIRACLES ANYWAY? CLICK HERE

I'll be talking about miracles today. Also religious art and kitsch, the Mayan apocalypse, and why folks occasionally see faces that aren't there. Even by my standards, this post rambles a bit. Quite a few folks act as if they think faith and reason, religion and science, have about as much to do with each other as cheese and Wednesday. Some go a step further, and blame the world's woes on religion. The antics of loudly-religious folks don't help make faith look like a reasonable, or safe, part of today's world. I think faith isn't reason, but that it's reasonable. I also think that an honest search for truth doesn't threaten faith. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 31 - 35 , 159 ; " Fides et Ratio ;" " Gaudium et Spes ," 36) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

DO MIRACLES REALLY HAPPEN? EVEN TODAY? IN OUR TIMES? PLEASE CLICK HERE

It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me.  Daniel 4:2-3 God Straightened My Spine  A nurse, with a freshly scrubbed face in running shoes and jeans, announced she had a gift of praying for people with crooked spines, scoliosis. My friend elbowed me and I shyly raised my hand only a little higher than my head. The nurse spotted me right away,”Come right up here to the front and I will pray with you for a physical healing.” I sighed and stood up front, trying to open my heart to God but feeling self-conscious and doubtful. As she prayed for me, I felt nothing- no heat or tingling, stretching or shifting of bones. When the nurse had me touch my toes again, I assumed I would fail this test.  Instead, the nurse excitedly announced to the crowd, “Her spine is straight”. She smiled at the audience. Then she sat me down on a chair, “Look, your legs are now the same length. How do you feel?” I was in shock...

God does 'Impossible Things'  Spend just a few minutes  learning my story  and you'll know without a doubt that God truly does impossible things.  He mends the broken so  they are able to forgive  the seemingly unforgiveable. Prepares the unqualified and anxious to be soldiers in his army.  Jesus worked miracles to allow the blind to see and lame to walk; today he continues to give sight, but now perhaps moreso to those who are spiritually blind.  Offering strength to walk in His ways to those stumbling due more to circumstance than physical ailment.  He  raised Lazarus from death  to life; and awakens our hearts to new life in him. Close your eyes (after you hit play of course) and allow  Sarah Kroger's  beautiful voice to transport us in this moment to a place in our hearts where we believe - that God can truly do  Impossible Things.        CONTINUE HERE for the Seeking S...

August 11 is the memorial of St. Clare, one of my favorite saints. She was the first woman to follow the life of radical poverty practiced by St. Francis of Assisi and is the co-founder of the Poor Clares. Although I am not a Franciscan, I have had Franciscan friends, clergy, and spiritual directors instruct me on the beauty of St. Clare's spirituality. I have also learned a great deal from reading about her over the years. Clare and Francis (2007) is a film which depicts the fascinating story of her dramatic conversion and surrender to the will of God. St. Clare is the patron saint of television. She is also the patron of eye disorders, embroiderers, good weather, and telephones. The Contemplative Life The Lady Clare was born into a noble family in Assisi in 1193 and was admired for her great beauty. When she heard Francis of Assisi preach his Lenten homilies at the Church of San Giorgio, she was captivated by his words. At age eighteen, she heard him say: "When the...

Lent is a time to focus on our discipline of prayer. Here is a prayer story from November, 2015: After completing my  54 Day Rosary Novena jaunt around the house  - I felt compelled to begin another when given a small tattered copy of  Rosary Novenas to Our Lady  (see image below) by a stranger when I attended a friend's Ultreya to hear her give her testimony.  As one who believes in GODCIDENCES (if you ask me there are no coincidences in life especially in spiritual matters), there was no way I was going to ignore this invitation from Our Blessed Mother to spend another month and half in prayer with her! The grace and blessings as I closed on the first 54 days was truly remarkable!! One of the most miraculous moments came when I went to my bank on November 30 - prepared to beg for leniency with overdrafts I was sure had been incurred after paying an unexpected HUGE house bill and then a creditor unwilling to hold off on their payment for just a few days,...

I so did not want a root canal and although I couldn’t chew on the right side of my mouth for more than 6 months, I still patiently prayed for my miracle healing. After all, I kept telling myself, “I am healed by the stripes of Christ.” Am I right? Read more here

    Instructions for Parents   I recommend that you meditate on Luke 17:11-19 in your own prayer time before presenting it to your kids. If you’re not sure how to do this, look at last Thanksgiving’s meditation . Talk to the Lord about it from your heart. Ask Him to teach you to be truly grateful, and to lead your children towards thankfulness. Next, read and discuss the passage with your children. Use your favorite children’s Bible. Define any words they may not know. (I have highlighted some words in the meditation you may want to define before praying with them.) Choose one or two of the optional activities at the end of this post to help them dig deeper into the meaning of the passage. Finally, read the meditation aloud to them, pausing for several seconds to a couple of minutes after each of the first two paragraphs. Ask them to repeat the final prayer after you, sentence by sentence. This meditation works best with children ages sev...

This is a post that is a personal testimony to the providence of God, to His power to perform miracles today. At the mention of a miracle, s ome people scoff, others think that miracles are relegated to biblical times but others have experienced inexplicable events that can only be called miraculous. Sometimes God snags a skeptic with a powerful surprise physical healing. This blows up the poor guys world view and suddenly he realizes that there actually is a God who loves him. These kinds of miracles are a pure gift. Another kind of miracle happens when we are desperate, without recourse to any other solution to solve our problem. Then the Father supplies our needs. As parents of a large family we depend on Him to supply a lot of the basic necessities. Not our wants but our needs. Even our skeptical children concede that this is true. We were completely oblivious at first to the fact that we were part of an unexpected miracle last winter. In mid January when our furnace ...

Sometimes there is no other explantion Some people scoff, others think that miracles are relegated to biblical times but others have experienced inexplicable events that can only be called miraculous. Sometimes God snags a sceptic with a powerful surprise physical healing. This blows up the poor guys world view and suddenly he realizes that there actually is a God who loves him. These kinds of miracles are pure gift. Another kind of miracle happens when we are desperate, without recourse to any other solution to solve our problem. Then the Father supplies our needs. As parents of a large family we depend on Him to supply a lot of the basic necessities. Not our wants but our needs. Even our sceptical children concede that this is true. We were completely oblivious at first to the fact that we were part of an unexpected miracle last winter. In mid January when our furnace was serviced for its annual cleaning, the repairman red tagged our oil tank. This was just before the...

My friend Melissa drove me to Staten Island tonight so we could attend an inspiring talk about St. Rita of Cascia at a parish called Saint Rita Church.  Call it food for our Lenten journeys. The speaker was Father Michael Di Gregorio, O.S.A., who grew up in the parish and graduated from its grammar school. He is an Augustinian priest who now serves as vicar general of the Augustinian order in Rome. He also is the author of a biography of Saint Rita called The Precious Pearl: The Story of Saint Rita of Cascia.  "We think of a saint as someone who is out of this world." he told the audience of about 70 in the church sanctuary. "But a saint is someone who is attuned to the Voice that speaks within and who tries to respond openly and honestly. " Saint Rita, he said. "had her feet on the ground." Keep Reading...

A princess of Hungary, Countess of Thuringia, her feastday is celebrated today in the Catholic Church, although it is kept on 19th November under the General Roman Calendar.  Married at 14, widowed at 20, she died at the age of 24. Despite many trials and afflictions, she persevered in her devotion to God and  became revered for her charity and piety, building hospitals and tending the sick and the poor. Once, under suspicion of stealing from the castle, she was questioned whilst on her way to feed the poor.  When her cloak was opened, a bouquet of roses was revealed, instead of the food she was taking. She is, therefore, often portrayed with the miraculous roses. The Charity of Saint Elizabeth - Edmund Blair Leighton St Elizabeth of Hungary - Pietro Nelli

Reposted from Costing Not Less Than Everything Mary the Mother of Mercy, Chapel of the  Gates of Dawn  in Vilnius, Lithuania The  rizas  (robes), or revetments, of gilded silver, are in three separate pieces. The gown of Our Lady is embellished with flowers, in a reference to Our Lady as a ‘hortus conclusus’ or walled garden.  Many miracles have taken place after veneration of the painting – and about 8,000 votive offerings have been presented to the chapel, including the silver crescent moon at the base of the painting. The painting is believed to be of Polish origin and, unusually, represents Our Lady without the Infant Christ. The statues on either side of the painting are of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin. The chapel is an important place of pilgrimage in Lithuania and was visited by Blessed John Paul II in 1993. In the third week of November every year – in 2012, from 11th to 18th of November, the Indulgenced ...

A repost from Costing Not Less Than Everything Seventh-century Abbess of Gwytherin in Denbighshire, miraculously restored to life by Saint Bueno after being beheaded by an angry rejected suitor. Her miraculous healing well is still busy today at Holywell, known as the Lourdes of Wales, and remains a place of pilgrimage. There is also a healing well named after the saint at Woolston in Shropshire. For fans of Brother Cadfael, the monk detective, her relics feature in A Morbid Taste for Bones , by Ellis Peters. Here is an ancient hymn to St Winifred: Virgo Venans Velut Rosa – Virgin Blossoming as the Rose More fair than all the vernal flowers  Embosom’d in the dales,  St. Winifred in beauty bloom’d  The rose of ancient Wales.  With every loveliest grace adorn’d,  The Lamb’s unsullied Bride,  Apart from all the world she dwelt  Upon this mountain side.  Till Caradoc, with impious love,  Her ...