Association Of Catholic Bloggers

The prospect of a long winter ahead is daunting especially with memories of the epic snowfall amounts of last year still haunting many of us. I once anticipated January with dread. Winter can be dark, oppressive and confining: the arctic air and biting winds… the deep snows burying the landscape … ice covering the streets and sidewalks … darkness that greets us when we rise and meets us at the end of each work day. January is a quiet month. Birds don’t come to the feeder; their songs no longer greet me in the morning. Crickets and locusts have gone silent at night. January was a month without life. Then I read Henry Beston’s classic, The Outermost House and it changed my perception of winter forever ...   Click here to continue reading ...

John's Story:  I died.  I went through the darkness to the light and was before the throne of judgement.  Looking around I saw his Guardian Angel, instantly recognizing him, although this was the first time I had ever laid eyes upon him.   I turned to my left and saw a hideously deformed creature that had nothing by hate and evil in his eyes, especially directed at me.   For the first time I had breathed my last breath, I was afraid.  There was someone else there also, a woman, I didn't immediately recognize.  I knew where I was, I was at my judgement, and that scared me even worse.  I hadn't lived the best life, I wasn't really nice to people, kind of selfish really, even in my own family.  Even when I was near death I didn't want to give anything to anyone, not even very many kind words.  Being given a time to die was a great gift, because, although I wasn't a perfect saint, I did have a chance to repair some damage I had done in...

Today, on  Vivificat,  Teófilo de Jesús posted a quote by a Carthusian monk. Interestingly enough, when I tried to visit his site, Google told me to stay away because his site was infected by Malware. I don't understand computers but this was all bogus and it was soon fixed. When I got to the site and read the message, it was as if God was speaking just to me. What a consolation and encouragement. Tears of relief come to my eyes with this quote because my private prayer has been a wordless encounter with Light and Joy for a long time. No effort on my part; I just glance in His direction and Christ takes over.  Praying like this, it is easy to feel  slack, lazy.... . The Wound of Love  By A. Carthusian  "Solitude is the place of prayer"  first published in 1994 by the Carthusian Order in England Solitude is the place of prayer. The only true prayer which radiates there is that of Jesus: all other prayer is a reflection of the light...

Hebrews 4:1 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Where does Evil Come From? In the beginning God Said, "Let there be light."  And there was light.  God creates with His word, and when He gave the angels free will He also gave them this ability to create out of their words, although to a much lesser degree.  God is all good, there is no darkness in Him.  However, having infinite knowledge of His creation, He knew of evil as a concept (because God knows all things), but evil only existed in the mind of God as a concept, a potentiality.  When he gave the angels free will they two had a knowledge of what rebellion what evil was as a concept, otherwise their will would not be free because they would have no other choice but the good God.  It was a concept, and so as to truly choose God freely, they were given knowledge of "another way".  Again, this was only a concept in the mind of God and the angels, at this time evil did not yet exist.   God did not create evil, even though He knew...