Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Return to Paradise , by Tim Speer, makes for an interesting read. David Martin, a Catholic investment banker from Dallas, Texas, is in the process of driving to his hometown in Missouri.  OOPS! His car suffers a little mishap near Spring River Missouri, requiring that he stay in town for a few days. While in Spring River, David learns of some unsavory financial happenings in town.  Such dealings promise to make life miserable for many of the local citizens. David suspects that the action is illegal. His moral values of truth and righteousness urge his conscience to investigate the unsavory business dealings. Might there be anything he could do about it? Read more...

Today marks the first day of Summer. It’s a time of year when families come together to refresh mind, body and spirit. Perhaps it’s a trip to the mountains, or a week at the beach; whatever your pleasure, I hope that you experience much peace, joy and fond memories this summer. Summer is a time when we can sit back and take stock of all of our blessings. Perhaps it is a stable job and health insurance. Perhaps it is news of improved health of a loved one. Whatever your blessings, I pray that the Holy Spirit fills you with... Read more...  

In Adventures of Faith, Hope, and Charity: Finding Patience , Mr. Luke Gabriel lives next door to his new neighbors, the Livingstone family. He is retired from corporate life, and a widower. To fill his spare time these days, he breeds Westminster Terriers. Why, you might ask? Because the loss of his dear wife left such a hole, that he attempts to fill that hole with the unconditional love from puppies. He has developed quite a passion for these dogs, and they are fun to have around an empty house. When Faith, Hope, and Charity moved in next door, Mr. Gabriel was delighted. He loved having children around. Not only did he miss his beloved wife, but he also missed... Read more... 

On this Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, I just had to share an experience that my husband and I had while visiting the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua, Italy. We had planned on visiting Rome, Florence and a day trip to Tuscany. Padua was not originally on our schedule. However, while travelling from Rome to Florence on their high-speed train, I saw that a trip to Padua from Florence was only a 90-minute high-speed train ride away. With Saint Anthony of Padua being my all-time favorite saint, I couldn’t travel all the way to Italy and not visit his tomb, when he was only a 90-minute train ride away. So, my husband and I made the trip on June 16, 2011. I’ll never forget this day. As we entered the Basilica, my husband noticed that Saint Anthony’s tomb was immediately to our left. As we approached the tomb, my husband noticed that everyone was heading toward the back side of the tomb. So we followed. Then we saw people touching the tomb. So we followed suit. Wow! What happened

Wow! Oh, wow! Dying for Revenge , the debut novel by Barbara Golder is fantastic! Talk about page-turners! Barbara Golder had me hooked from page one. The characters are deep and riveting, to the point where you won’t truly understand the depth of each character until you read the last page of the book. And don’t skip a word! Everything within the storyline is important – very well laid out. The lead character, Dr. Jane Wallace, is the Forensic Pathologist for western Colorado, unable to forgive, let alone have any mercy for the murderer of her own husband. To handle the pain, she steels herself from human interaction by engrossing herself with autopsies on the dead in the little resort town of Telluride, Colorado. To Jane’s surprise, murder follows her to Telluride, and she finds herself in... Read more (and enter to win your copy) 

This month we begin our discussion of the spiritual works of mercy. In this post, we focus on counseling the doubtful and instructing the ignorant. These two spiritual works of mercy seem to go hand in hand; similar on one level, but in actuality, different on another level. Yet, both of these works of mercy offer us opportunities to evangelize our faith. Counseling the Doubtful Everyone is at a different point on their faith journey. Some of us have progressed rather far along. Others have doubts. Those with doubts are not quite sure what to believe about God, religion, and... Read more...   

Have you ever really given this question much thought: What are you doing with the rest of your life? I ask from the perspective of what you plan to do with your eternal life. At the time of your departure from this earthly life, you will go down one of two paths: a life with God, or a life without God – for all eternity! What is your preference? If you prefer an eternal life with God, then the question begs to ask: How involved do you allow God to be in your earthly life? What kind of relationship do you have with Him now? Might it be that you tend to keep Him somewhat at a distance? You think that if He were actively involved, then you... Read more...

How do you want to be perceived by others? Do you want to be perceived in light of honesty and trustworthiness? I’m sure the answer is yes; who wouldn’t want to be perceived in such a manner? Well, to be considered honest and trustworthy, you have to be honest and trustworthy in your words and actions. Even con men get found out sooner or later; so deception will never win the day for you. So, “everyone lies,” you say? Even if that were true, does that give you the right to lie? Just because everyone else does it, does that make it morally right for you? The answer is “no!” For 36 years, I was a banking professional; more specifically, for 23 of those 36 years I was an auditor for a few banks. Therefore, I know what it feels like to be lied to by an audit client. It’s amazing... Read more...

This past weekend, I was honored to present my “ Living a Virtuous Life ” day retreat to my home parish. I have to admit, that I was nervous at first. I kept thinking about the biblical passage where Jesus wasn’t accepted within His own home town of Nazareth (Luke 4:14-30). Would my own parish family treat me the same? It wasn’t like I was claiming “ Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing ” (Luke 4:21), but I was proclaiming what we as followers of Christ need to do to become more Christ-like; more virtuous. I kept wondering, “why should I be treated any better than Jesus was treated?” If anything, I should be treated worse, because I don’t deserve the level of respect that Jesus deserved. He is God; I am a mere human servant. Yet, Sunday was Pentecost Sunday; a day to celebrate when the Apostles received the power of the Holy Spirit. My pastor and I decided to... Read more...

The Back Story to Hope's Character Hope Livingstone, and her family, had just moved into a new house, in a new town. Life was chaotic. Boxes were everywhere. Peanuts were flying out of boxes, thanks to Hope’s little sister Charity. Hope didn’t mind that it would mean that Hope would need to clean it all up. Hope thought moving was exciting! Everywhere she turned, she found a new surprise, as she explored every nook and cranny of their new house! Hope always looks at life as if it were an adventure; something to explore; treasures to find. So moving was thrilling to Hope, who possesses an optimistic nature. She approaches life with an easy-breezy style. Nothing ever really bothers her; that is, until she couldn’t find... Read more...

Live Today Well: Saint Francis de Sales’s Simple Approach to Holiness , by Fr. Thomas F. Dailey, O.S.F.S is a gem! This five-star book offers anyone wanting to grow closer to God a practical means of doing so. Fr. Dailey takes the reader through Saint Francis de Sales’ Spiritual Directory , using contemporary ways of applying this ever useful, and timeless instruction of St Francis on how to live today well; from one’s first rising in the morning until one lays their head down to sleep at night. This book offers prayerful ways that we can grow in virtue; thus grow in holiness. My favorite line from Fr. Dailey’s book is this: By seeking ways to practice a particular virtue throughout the day, we can counteract those imperfections toward which prior examinations have revealed we may be inclined (page 113). How to Live Each Day Well How often have we looked back on our day and said to ourselves... Read more...

Not sure if y’all knew this or not, but I am a big country music fan. I heard Tim McGraw sing his new song, Humble and Kind , at a recent Country Music Awards show. Then, I seemed to catch it every time it played on the radio. Tim McGraw has a wonderfully distinct voice and this song speaks to my heart. Being the lover of virtue that I am, I immediately honed in on the lyrics, as well as the melody, of the song. I had some thoughts on the underlying message, but I was interested in learning how Tim McGraw interpreted the lyrics. So, I went to YouTube to see the video. Visual messages seem to have a way of really drilling the concept home. The video... Read more...

When you think about those virtues that you want your children to possess, what comes to mind? Is it gratitude? Do you constantly tell them to say thank you? Is it respect? Do you keep reiterating to them to say please, play nicely; share their toys? Is it patience? Do you tell your children that some things are worth the wait, and in the process teach them how to wait? By your living example, you teach them all of this, and much more. By your own faith and trust in God, or lack of faith and trust in God, you teach your child what to believe. By your own hope in Christ’s promises, or lack of hope in Christ’s promises, you teach your child about hope/despair. By your demonstration of love for God and family, or lack of love for God and family, you show your child the meaning of love/hatred from your own perspective. Read more...

Jesus is the epitome of virtue; the exemplar of how we are to live. We are all good at some virtues but, unlike Jesus, we are unable to master all of them. It seems that no matter how hard we try, we seem to continue to struggle mastering some of them. With what virtues do you excel? With what virtues do you struggle? In the areas where you excel, do you find the virtues come easy to you? In the areas where you struggle, do you have any idea why you experience such difficulty in mastering said virtues? Let’s do a very quick analysis: On a scale of one to ten, with ten being outstanding, how virtuous do you think you are in each of the following categories? Read more...

April is a time of renewal; new beginnings! I spent most of this past month of April caring for a friend, who underwent her second hip replacement. Throughout the month, I was repeatedly reminded of God’s presence in the midst of all that went on; from the day of her surgery, until she departed to return to her own home, with her brand, spanking, new hip. It started with the day of her surgery (March 30 th ). While walking down the hall to my friend’s hospital room, I noticed that each room had signs under the room numbers with unique quotes . For my friend’s room we had a quote from Saint Thomas Aquinas (my virtues mentor!). It read: “ There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship .” As I read this quote I realized... Read more...

Mark’s Gospel Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Mark, author of the Gospel According to Saint Mark . In Mark’s Gospel, we read succinct passages central to the life of Christ. Mark was not loquacious, but, rather to the point! His gospel was termed, urgent, brief and direct. For example, the evangelist’s entire message can be considered summed up within one verse: “ This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel .” (Mark 1:15) Mark wrote his gospel for the Roman Gentiles. Therefore, he wrote it in Greek, sometime around 67-70 A.D. It is considered to be the first of the four Gospels to be documented in writing. Saint Mark portrayed Jesus as... Read more... 

“… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control ” (Gal. 5:22-23) Do you notice something in common with all of these fruits of the Spirit? Each one of them is also a virtue! As I was studying for my Master of Arts Degree in Pastoral Theology, I came across this passage from Galatians, and it hit me: Virtue must be very important to the Holy Spirit, when six of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, received at Confirmation are virtues, and all nine of the fruits of the Spirit are virtues. Bearing fruits of the Spirit is the outcome that results from... Read more...

So ... Where Are We in this Process I thought I would take this week to share where Kevin (my hubby of 26 years) and I are mentally in this process. As I begin my Weight Watchers journey this month, I realized the similarity of the discipline the Lord is trying to create in my heart.  This mind shift from spending as we wish on what we wish, much like my eating what I want and when I want, is a process.  IT is not overnight.  As we say in the weight loss world - YOU did not get 20 lbs over weight overnight, you will NOT shed it overnight. It has been literally 32 years of mistakes and missteps; along with some serious emotional and mental baggage that has brought us to be this over our heads with debt.  Add to that my desire to serve God in the ever lucrative (read only for Joel Osteen) ministry world - and this is not going to be a quick fix.  The  Navigating Your Finances God's Way   study has truly been a God Send - but it has not been the miraculous fix all I had hope

Adventures of Faith, Hope, and Charity: Finding Patience (The Back Story) Faith was anxious about moving to a new town. That meant a new house, new school, and new friends. Faith was shy and found it difficult to make new friends. She dreaded the move and all of the change that would ensue. Faith had very little patience. She wanted to claim her “new normal,” ASAP, for she knew that once things settled down, she would feel more comfortable about this move. Faith did not welcome change! It was all her Daddy’s fault for getting that new job. If it wasn’t for him, she would be at home in her old house, with her friends from her old school. Being eight years old stunk! If it was up to her, she would have stayed put, where she felt most comfortable. Yet, it wasn’t up to her, so... Read more...

Wisdom, Counsel, Understanding, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord (awe): These are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. We specifically receive these gifts at our Confirmation, when we become full-fledged Christian adults. However, in my rather long lifetime, I seem to receive these gifts over and over. The well never seems to run dry. Apparently these gifts are important, since we seem to grasp for them at various junctures in our lives. We seek wisdom, counsel, knowledge and understanding whenever we need to make difficult, sometimes life-changing decisions. We seek Fortitude whenever hard times, suffering and persecution land... Read more...