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Showing posts with the label marriage

BOOK COVER REVEAL of The Four Keys to Everlasting Love!!!

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The thrill-ride of book publishing continues as we hit our next milestone: the cover of our new book,  The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for a Lifetime !!! This Catholic marriage help book is  already   available for pre-order at Amazon.com  (what a dream come true). Our editor called publisher Ave Maria Press' art department their "secret weapon" because of how great they are at developing attractive cover art, so we were overjoyed to work with them. Like everything else in publishing, coming up with a great cover is a long process. For the final cover and to see how the book got from rough sketch to finished product, click here !!

Confession of a timid soul

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The recent ruling by the Supreme Court on the legal state of marriage has reverberated across the country. People cannot stop talking about it and the conversations are often heated. A seismic shift has taken place in our culture. It caught me unprepared for the personal storm of confusion and fear that I would experience as a result. Facing the inevitable KatLevPhoto fear of rejection, Flickr Creative Commons Christians are facing a “brave new world.” Confrontation is now inevitable; I cannot avoid it no matter how uncomfortable it makes me feel. I have to be clear as to what I think and how I feel and learn how to express it both firmly and in love, as Jesus would do. Confession These recent events have revealed in broad daylight what had been concealed in the shadows of my soul: I am a weak-kneed, timid Christian, locked in the tyrannical grip of caring about what others think of me. My instinct to self-protect causes me to hide away my faith and avoid discuss

The worst result of the SCOTUS marriage decision

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The worst result of the SCOTUS marriage decision  is an article I posted to my  Being Catholic ... Really page  (scroll down to find the article and the comments made) and I got a lot of flack for it.  Some thought I wrote it and became very angry with me.  I didn't correct them because I agree with what was stated.  I lost a few likes over it too.  That's happened before so it doesn't bother me like it used to when I first started blogging. You can read the rest at Being Catholic ... Really .

What is the most effective way to preserve marriage?

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What is the most effective way to preserve marriage?   How can Catholics preserve the sacrament of  holy matrimony? My husband and I often talk about the disintegration of marriage.  My husband feels that the baby boomers (our generation) have destroyed marriage.  We were the ones who brought about free love, living together and the divorce epidemic.  Divorce has become common place and the  "starter marriage"  is part of our vernacular. You can read the rest of the article at Being Catholic ... Really

Life and Marriage and Equal Protection

As long as the Supreme Court is basing a big ruling on equal protection, how about protecting something even more fundamental than marriage? Read more ...

Home

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Pope Francis' encyclical reminds me we are not angels. We have bodies, and we must live in the physical world. It is this physical world, our common home, that Pope Francis asks us to consider: On many concrete questions, the Church has no reason to offer a definitive opinion; she knows that honest debate must be encouraged among experts, while respecting divergent views. But we need only take a frank look at the facts to see that our common home is falling into serious disrepair. Hope would have us recognize that there is always a way out, that we can always redirect our steps, that we can always do something to solve our problems. [61] Interestingly, when I searched for images of "home" to include here, nearly 100% of the photos looked like this: ©IPGGutenbergUKLtd/Getty Images Read more at Praying with Grace !

Same Sex Marriage Ignores the Dignity of the Human Person

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What is the dignity of the human person? “Human persons are willed by God; they are imprinted with God’s image. Their dignity does not come from the work they do, but from the persons they are.”  Our dignity comes from who we are. It comes from our “being” rather than our “doing.” The very fact that a person has been willed into existence by God and imprinted with His image, gives them a dignity that cannot be taken from them. This fundamental dignity must be respected. To read more, see The Sincere Gift

A Vocation Story

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©mocoo/Getty Images Only the best for God I spent most of high school and college assuming I would never marry or have children. God had set me on fire with faith, and I wanted to give him my absolute best. In Catholic terms, as far as I knew, that meant entering religious life. For a couple of years I attended campus ministry meetings for wanna-be nuns and priests, and my weekends were often scheduled with "come and see" retreats at various religious communities. And then I met a guy. . . . This guy, David, was different from others I had dated. He loved life, he loved God, and he knew God wanted him to be a father. Please join me for the rest at Praying with Grace .

I Was Going to Be the Perfect Mom

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Did you get a load of this  New York Post article ? A New Yorker named Wednesday Martin just wrote a memoir called  Primates of Park Avenue , due out June 2. The book chronicles her experience with Upper-East-Side women who wear motherhood like an assault rifle. According to Maureen Callahan's article about the book, these moms pay $400 an hour for play-date tutors, enroll 3-month-old infants in music classes, and time pregnancies so their children will be the oldest ones in class. Loyola Press offers a  rosary kit  for children ages four and up. They sent me a kit and asked me to share my thoughts. So, I turned right around and shared the kit with some families (including one family with a son who has developmental delays), and asked what  they  thought. The  Loyola Press  rosary kit includes 61 prayer cards, 1 lacing string, 4 Mysteries of the Rosary cards, and a diagram explaining how to pray the rosary. Join me at Praying with Grace for the whole article!

Marriage Divorce Annulment

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MARRIAGE DIVORCE ANNULMENT YOUR VIEWS?

The Do’s and Dont’s of Living an Unequally Yoked Marriage

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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

Holy Family, Not '50s Family

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This morning's readings — Sirach 3:2 - 6 , 12 - 14 ; Genesis 15:1 - 6 , 21:1 - 3 ; Colossians 3:12 - 21 or Hebrews 11:8 , 11 - 12 , 17 - 19 ; and Luke 2:22 - 40 — have one thing in common: marriage and family. That figures, since this is Holy Family Sunday. Taking a cue from our Lord, Catholics see family as a big deal. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1601 - 1658 , particularly 1655 ; 2210 ) That's not the same as holding up Happy Days or All In the Family as an ideal toward which all must strive. So why is this in one of today's readings? 8 Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord." ( Colossians 3:18 ) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Helping Kids Discern a Vocation

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(Excerpt is reprinted with permission from  All Things Guy: A Guide to Becoming a Man that Matters) Have you ever been in a religion class or in Church and Father asks you to think about a vocation? Do you get the feeling you want to crawl in a hole and disappear, fearing he will ask you to become a priest? A vocation is a call from God. It’s not merely a career choice. Everyone, everyone, everyone has a calling from God! The word vocation refers to three different things:     1.         Vocation comes with baptism. It’s a call to know, love and serve God in your life. 2.       Vocation also means, “state in life,” such as priesthood, religious life, marriage or single life. 3.       Vocation also means a personal relationship you have with Jesus. It’s you, yourself, trying to know, love, and serve God. read more here

Fear of the Lord: Ancient, Timeless Wisdom

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2014: Proverbs 31:10 - 13 , 19 - 20 , 30 - 31 1 Thessalonians 5:1 - 6 Matthew 25:14 - 30 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2014 By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas November 16, 2014 Our Catholic Christian tradition teaches us that happiness and friendship and marriage should all be based on a healthy loving fear of the Lord. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the psalmist expresses it very simply and poetically. "Blessed are those who fear the Lord," and then he explains what, exactly, that means: "to fear of the Lord is to walk in his ways." This is the wisdom of the ages. It is the perennial principle of human happiness. And it is the foundation of true success in marriage.... (Guest post.) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Galileo, the Roman Inquisition and the Extraordinary Synod on the Family

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Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)  [ Wikipedia ] Catholic synod: Gay rights groups 'disappointed' As I write this at 07:45 GMT/UTC, Sunday 19 October, the above is the main story on the website of the BBC. It was also the lead story on BBC World when I watched the news there at 22:00 Saturday and again at 04:00 today. Both bulletins featured two men in Rome living together, one of them speaking fluent English and telling of his desire to raise the three young children that they have  as Catholics. The 04:00 bulletin also included an interview with a representative of The New Ways Ministry, described on the BBC website report as 'a US Catholic gay rights group'. James Reynolds' report on the BBC website begins with this sentence:  Catholic gay rights groups say they are disappointed after bishops rejected a call for wider acceptance of gay people, which had the Pope's backing. Full post here .

'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.' Sunday Reflections, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

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'I die His Majesty's good servant - but God's first.' St Thomas More A Man for all Seasons Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Matthew 22:15-21  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition : Canada)  Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.   So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.   Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’   But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?   Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius.   Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is th

Synod 14: What I Expect, and What I Don't

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(From John Hart Studios, used w/o permission.) This post is not about global warming, the coming ice age, or manure burying London. Don't laugh: in 1894 the Times of London ran a warning that London would be under nine feet of manure by 1944. ( July 9, 2011 ) Wikipedia has a list of fizzled apocalypses, from 634 BC to 2013 AD; and that's another topic. Topics. ( February 25, 2014 ; November 29, 2013 ) Synod 14, an extraordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops, is in progress. It's running from the 5th to the 19th of this month. In this post, I'll be looking at what I expect from the Synod; what I don't expect; and why I'm not upset that the Synod probably won't address the annual collision of Mother's Day and fishing season in Minnesota. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Men Ask "What Did It Cost?" Women Say "This Is What I Saved!"

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“You saved $58.00,” the cashier said to me as she handed me the receipt for the cute summer dress. “And that’s exactly what I tell my husband,” I replied. She chuckled and we exchanged a knowing nod. We each fully understood that this dress, marked down twice on clearance and then with a coupon tendered, was a total deal—it would almost be wrong not to have bought it. Where men ask “What did it cost?” women say “This is what I saved…” Somewhere into our second decade (yes, decade) of marriage my husband stopped trying to understand my logic when shopping. He stopped pointing out what I had to spend to save because he finally realized that my brain simply did not compute his logic. Around the same time, I gave up trying to understand why he had 32 different kinds of string and dozens of power strips hanging on the pegboard in the basement. For me, what was most frustrating was that whenever we needed string—or a power strip—what we already owned “wasn’t the ri

Our Love Story (@ Melody's Harmonies)

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I decided it was time to write down Joel and my story. It's a bit long so I've broken it into two parts with lots of photos (all for your amusement of course). Putting together the pieces of our full story is actually kind of hard to do because when we first met, we certainly didn’t think we’d ever get married (or at least I didn’t) so remembering important dates and events wasn’t important. However, we put our heads together and I think we’ve come up with what we’ll call Our Story with semi-accurate dates and timelines. I’m glad we’ve done this now… cause there is no way I’m going to remember this in 10 years unless I write it down! Read all the romance here .

Dear Friend, Pregnant and Conflicted

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Dear Friend, You are pregnant. Married just over a year and working steadily at your career, you were hoping to wait a while longer before this day arrived. But here it is. You wish this pregnancy felt more like a deliberate choice rather than a shock. But let me propose something, something you already know, which is worth considering now in a new way: with this pregnancy, God is visiting you. You might quickly object--and rightly so--that God was  already  a frequent visitor in your newlywed home; there was no rush for God to send a baby at this particular moment. In truth, God has been your constant companion, accompanying you in your first year of marriage, in your engagement, in your courtship, in your college years, in high school, in your childhood . . . in your own mother's womb. Read more at Praying with Grace .