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Lawrence OP St Augustine, Flickr Creative Commons "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace." from The Confessions of Saint Augustine This prayer of St. Augustine reminded me that it’s not enough to ride on the surface of life. Click here to continue.

I decided this Lent that I would not travel alone. I asked St. Bernadette, the visionary of Our Lady of Lourdes, if she would accompany me. In the course of our walk together I am rediscovering someone I had long forgotten but who has not forgotten me. A classic movie It began on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes with a suggestion from a friend to watch “The Song of Bernadette,” a critically-acclaimed 1943 movie based on the book by Franz Werfel. It was available on YouTube so I could watch it at my leisure. The movie is long so I viewed it on my tablet over the course of three nights. Unexpected emotions That was a good decision. I did not expect to be so moved by the film and was glad I could cry in private. Each time "The Lady" appeared to Bernadette, the tears would flow. I did not know why. Was it the beautiful music? Was it the way Bernadette (played by Oscar winner Jennifer Jones) looked at "The Lady" with such love? Maybe it was b

Have you ever really paid attention to your vocabulary? Does it match your faith life? Or is your faith life a bit stalled and you wonder how to jumpstart it? Your vocabulary is the key to it all and understanding these five simple words can drastically change your life. Word One:  Disordered Our world gets a bit crazier every day. More things take up our time and energy and consequently leave us less time for God. Our dreams, desires and longings get caught up in the ways that we experience the world. So, instead of dreaming God’s dreams for our lives, we live with and pursue disordered dreams and desires. We keep ourselves on Satan’s treadmill where our disordered existence exhausts us and steals our joy. “Lord, remove the disordered desires from my mind and heart so that I may experience your peace and dream your dreams for my life. Do not allow the illusions of the evil one to infiltrate my heart or mind where I unwittingly allow them to undermine or repl

I mentioned yesterday that I have been having some strange dreams lately. I wonder what you'll think of this one. I can't remember why, how or with whom I was having a conversation. I was being told that the lack of sacramental wine offered at parishes of late is causing the faithful to forget that Jesus shed his blood for our sins. How we need to sip and taste the sweet, stinging wine to remember, really remember. I don't dream like this and I am the kind of person that pays close attention to her feelings, the movement of thoughts and their possible origin. I'm always psychoanalyzing myself. To be honest, I think that's how I am able to separate, mentally, the bad from the good in my childhood and early adulthood from how I interact with my children and husband. So why this dream? Why now? What does it mean and where do I go from here? Of course that's rhetorical. Read more at Filling My Prayer Closet

The past eleven days has been a real roller coaster ride! I am not a big fan of roller coasters, either at amusement parks or in real life! They make me nauseous and I'm not a fan of the thrill. Sometimes however the trials of life that feel like roller-coaster rides can help us grow the most in faith. Hopefully the story I am about to tell will produce growth in me. After all, the Lord can use anything (Romans 8:28)! Our children have been begging us for a while for a puppy. My husband and I have been researching what would be a good breed for our family. We have tried big breed dogs and they usually knock the children over and can be pretty destructive so that did not work for our family.    Read more @ Beautifulthorns >

Living an  unequally yoked marriage  is not easy, especially when one person is an atheist and the other decided six years into their marriage to convert to Catholicism. Whatever your faith denomination, or not, as the case may be, here are some quick Do's and Dont's that I've collected that may help you get through some of those tougher moments. Do ask your children to pray for your spouse.  I don't know where I heard this, but  children's prayer's are powerful . Maybe it's that scripture verse  Matthew 19:14 . Simply praying as a family for them to have a good day, or a safe flight is perfect. Don't tell your children to pray for the conversion of their parent's soul.  Don't create a divide in your marriage this way. In essence what you're doing is pitting your spouse against the rest of the family and if what you want is peace in your marriage, do your best to eliminate unnecessary us vs them scenarios. Do participate in church

Even though you've sought forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, do you still find yourself burdened with regret? Susan Bailey from beasone.org offers a prayerful way to use your imagination to let it all go. Click here to read ...

Jesus, through this frantic world, could you just hold me still? I don't want to be happy. I do not want comfort, for these things pass. O How I long to be still, still, still with you. I've had enough, and nothing else will satisfy. and there is nothing I won't do to be still with you. Let the world keep spinning, Let it spin until I'm sick, but Jesus, hold me still. continue reading

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.

Kepler spotted its first planet since mission planners found a new way to hold the robot observatory steady, earlier this year. Scientists at the Nordic Optical Telescope didn't discover 55 Cancri e: but they're the first to observe the super-Earth from Earth's surface. The planet is too hot for life: but 55 Cancri f is another matter. I'll get back to that. Other scientists are fine-tuning how we can search for life in the universe.... ...Before getting to 55 Cancri e and the search for life in the universe, I'll be rambling on about billions of planets, Genesis, and the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. Feel free to skip ahead to Planet-Spotting: Nordic Optical Telescope's 'First.' Or take a coffee break, go for a walk: whatever you feel like.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I do not know how I would cope with my life if I were not Catholic. I can easily tell you that I would not cope well. Years of living beforehand would bear that out. Here are some differences in how I get through tough times today vs. during my "heretical" years.  (1) My emotions do not control my decisions as much Free will has to do with making decisions without being driven by emotions. I am making more solid, logical and clear choices now than I ever have before. During my "heretical years," I believed that free will had to do with extricating myself from the oppression of moral obligations in order to be free to follow my feelings. How did that work out for me? Hmm.. I'm writing this... so... (2) I take care to have selfless motives.  When I pursue being of the greatest service to God above the motives for comfort, public opinion or material things, each decision I make has meaning. When I work to make my life a gift to God rather than a gif

You’ve discovered what it truly means to be “young at heart.” The wrinkles around your mouth and the pouchy jowls have no effect on you. You see the varicose veins in your legs and feet as a sign of victory—having carried children and lifted the loads of life. You are able to make fun of your bat wings and still wear sleeveless shirts in the summer. That’s what it means to grow old gracefully; it is a sign of maturity of spirit. Something we attain while we nurture others and as we, ourselves, learn and grow from life’s experiences. Yeah, not so much… read mroe here

Several years ago, as I was on my way into St. Patrick’s Church, a man approached me. His eyes looked straight into mine, searching for something. Perhaps directions to some place in the neighborhood? Then he inquired, “Let me ask you something. Why do you go to church?” Spontaneously, I answered, ”Because I love Jesus.” My answer surprised me. It sounded like a slogan from Vacation Bible School. Sometimes the Holy Spirit catches me with my barriers down and blurts out the truth. The man smiled, and then leaned toward me intently. ”But why do you go to this church? He pointed to the church building in front of us. I shrugged, "This is where I live, and Jesus is here. If I lived in a different neighborhood, I’d go to a church there.” He nodded and slowly walked away. That encounter came to mind as I thought about the many opportunities the Lord puts right in front of me to tell about my faith in God. My natural shyness prevents many of these occasions from making any im

The Virgin of the Grapes , 1640s, Pierre Mignard  Musée du Louvre, Paris  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Winegrowers in France celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of Mary  as the  Feast of Our Lady of the Grape Harvest . Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Matthew 21:33-43  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition : Canada)  Jesus said to the chief priest and the elders of the people:   “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.   When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.   But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.  Again he sent other slaves, more than the first;

This universe has been around for about 13,798,000,000 years, give or take 37,000,000. That's the current best estimate, from 2013 . It's big, too. The photo shows part of the Hercules Cluster of galaxies. Light from that bunch of galaxies traveled for about 500,000,000 years before reaching us. What we see is the Hercules Cluster as it was around the middle of the Cambrian here, roughly when the first trilobite showed up. Taking the universe 'as is' makes sense: for me, anyway. I would much rather learn more about this wonder-filled creation, than insist that the Almighty is limited to what folks knew a few centuries back. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Between spending my teens in the '60s and stubbornness worthy of a mule, my attitude toward "authority" had been less than fawning. Happily, I married a woman with a very low tolerance for nonsense. She pointed out that I had no problem with authority. It was pompous nitwits who claim authority that set my teeth on edge. ( December 2, 2012 ; March 30, 2011 ) That helped explain why I became a Catholic , and that's another topic. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Our oldest son was a senior in high school on September 11, 2001.  In his valedictory speech on his graduation day in June of 2002, he mentioned the tragic event that forever scarred the hearts of  all Americans.  In part, here is what he said:  ...this year we looked on in disbelief on September 11th as innocent lives were taken by the evil of terrorism.  The pain we felt...was acute, but strength is often forged in the fires of misfortune...through the 9/11 tragedy, I hope, we learned to respect and protect life, every human life.  It is this that our society needs most today.  Our society's moral values have been in a downward spiral for quite a while, and this trend shows no sign of getting better unless there is a change in the way we think.  At the heart of this moral decline is a cheapening of human life.  Pope John Paul II has called this the "Culture of Death."  Choices once unanimously considered criminal and rejected by the common moral sense are gradual

It’s good to be posting again! I was in an unexpected blogging break because we moved on short notice from Iraq to the U.S. (Pittsburgh area). We aren’t fully settled in yet, and are still job hunting, hoping we find something soon so we know we can definitely stay in the area and start getting put together. It’s been an absolute whirlwind of a month, with so many unknowns and unexpected changes, hopes and disappointments, sad goodbyes and happy hellos as we left our friends, family and community in Iraq, and have started making new connections and renewing old ones here in the U.S. We are still praying so hard for the community we left behind in Erbil, and are so deified by the solidarity with which they have welcomed all the refugees that have come to the city from other places in Iraq. I think it’s going to take a long time to fully process everything that’s just happened (and still is happening as we try to keep getting settled on this end). God was blessing us so much

With the sad and tragic death of Robin Williams, there is now a lot of talk and speculation about depression and suicide. Suicide is always a tragedy. I do not agree with the people that are saying Robin Williams is free now and in a better place. Yes, we can entrust him to a loving and merciful God but I am not going to presume he is in a better place. It is so tragic that he felt there were no other options than to end his life.  Continue Reading at Beautifulthorns.com>

I often find myself in tears during Mass.  Not always, but sometimes.  And these tears come out of the blue, when I least expect them.  If I don't remember to tuck some tissues into my purse before I head out the door, chances are I'm going to be in trouble.  I'm going to be wiping my nose on my sleeve like a five-year-old. Sometimes it's the lyrics of a particularly moving hymn that make me cry, or the stirring music combined with the unequaled beauty of a Catholic church's interior.  Sometimes it's just that in those particular surroundings, I feel closer to God, and that nearness hits me just so and goes right to my core--to my very soul.  And I am left feeling vulnerable and unworthy of His love, and yet profoundly loved by Him. I've talked before about how seeing my sons dressed in tuxes, standing on the altar in the role of groomsmen at one another's weddings, reduces me to tears.  But even when there isn't something particularly noteworthy