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The saint of the day is St. Etheldreda (also known as: Audrey, Ethelreda, Æthelthryth, Edilthride, Ediltrudis, Edeltrude), a widow and a Benedictine nun. She was born in Exning, Suffolk, England and died at Ely, 679. To her friends and family, this once most famous female Anglo-Saxon saint was Etheldreda. To poor people she was Audrey, and the word "tawdry" originally came from the cheap necklaces that were sold on the feast of Saint Audrey and which were believed to cure illness of the throat and neck. This was because Etheldreda had suffered from neck cancer, which she attributed to divine punishment because she was once vain enough to wear a costly necklace. She had a huge tumor on her neck when she died, but, according the Saint Bede, when her tomb was opened by her sister Saint Sexburga, her successor as abbess at Ely Abbey, ten (or 16) years after her death, her body was found incorrupt and the tumor had healed. Etheldreda was a woman of noble birth, the daughter o

By Allison Salerno During my eighth period hall-walking duty, I heard a commotion in the downstairs hallway by the high school's gym. The school nurse, who was standing with the school's security officer and a local police officer, told me a deer had given birth to two fawns in an outside alcove. Staff and students had watched while the new mom hustled into the woods with one of her newborns, leaving the other fawn in the shade of our concrete building. Worry filled the air: what would happen to the new fawn?

Picture source "...And I saw the river over which every soul must pass to reach the Kingdom of Heaven and the name of that river was Suffering...And I saw the boat which carries souls across the river, and the name of that boat was Love..." Source: Universal Living Rosary Association

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BBC News - New Archbishop of Cardiff George Stack is installed

I have posted this on my own blog, Autumn's Leaves , but thought it worth reproducing here too. A conundrum. As we all know, the new revised order of Mass will be upon us from the first week of Advent this year. This will be a challenge for Priests and parishioners alike, especially those who have memorised the Liturgy by rote after years of repetition. All of a sudden, the familiar words have changed, and will necessitate a slower, more thoughtful reading, which can't be a bad thing. But for a while, I would expect a fumbling through Missals, or printed Mass sheets for a while... But no, our Priest has decided that a PowerPoint screen above the altar with the revised words on will do. When he announced this at the end of Vigil Mass on Saturday, there was an audible gasp which rippled around the sanctuary. He assured us that it wouldn't "get in the way of the Sacrament" but that it was about time the Church "joined the modern world". My heart plu

 The link to the video was sent by my friend Frances Molloy (photo below), founder of the Pastoral Care Project in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England. I was involved with the Project to a limited degree while based in Solihull, near Birmingham, from 2000 to 2002.   Here is a brief history of the Project from its website: In 1989, I was leading a Spiritual Development programme (Light Out of Darkness written by Sr Kathleen O’Sullivan SSL) and the theme of that particular week was ‘finding God in my weakness’, Romans 8.26-27. I met a lady with dementia in an EMI (Elderly and Mentally Infirm) Ward at the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, while visiting as a church volunteer. She was also blind and yet seemed to have an awareness which captured my attention. She couldn't remember her name – and yet she had this great awareness of God and others. Reflecting on the scripture and the visit, I became aware of how special and unique each person is. The visit highlighted that Go

No matter where you fall on your opinion of this man , it is time now to pray for everyone concerned. In particular, we should be praying for the many people who placed so much faith in his ministry. They are finding all of this quite devastating. Let us pray. . . . For priests who are ill or in any kind of difficulty, that our prayer may reach them all and give them true spiritual consolation, that it may strengthen their certainty of the Lord's love for them, which is also manifest in the sign of his Cross. For those called to the priesthood, that their choice may be motivated solely by the desire to glorify God and to serve him in their brethren, communicating to them the gifts of the divine mercy of the Lord who came to find those who were lost and to restore to life those who lived no longer. For priests who are in difficulty, so that, through prayer, they may accept enlightenment from the Lord in order to rediscover the joy of their identity as men in the world but n

Today's saint of the day is Blessed Osanna Andreasi  of Mantua (1449 - 1505), a Dominican tertiary, stigmatic, and mystic. The daughter of Italian nobles Nicolaus and Agnes, she is reported to have had her first mystical experience at the age of five: a vision of the Trinity, the nine choirs of angels, and Jesus as a child her own age, carrying His Cross. Feeling called to the religious life, Osanna rejected an arranged marriage and became a Dominican tertiary at the age of 17; however, she waited 37 years to complete her vows so she could care for her brothers and sisters after the death of her parents. At the age of eighteen she experienced mystical espousal to Jesus -- like St. Catherine of Siena , she had a vision in which Our Blessed Mother made her a bride of Christ, placing a ring on her finger. When she was thirty she received the stigmata on her head, then her side, and finally on her feet. She also had a vision in which her heart was transformed and divi

Little Voice: Terry Pratchett - choosing to die : "I caught Terry Pratchett's BBC2 documentary on assisted suicide by chance last night. Watching it was depressing and desperately sad. The fo..."

The Trinity , El Greco, painted 1577, Museo del Prado, Madrid Readings   (New American Bible, used in the Philippines and USA). Gospel John 3:16-18 (Jerusalem Bible, used in Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland)  Jesus said to Nicodemus,  God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God's only Son. An Soiscéal Eoin 3:16-18 (Gaeilge, Irish) San am sin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail: Óir ghráigh Dia an domhan chomh mór sin gur thug sé a Aonghin Mic uaidh i dtreo, gach duine a chreideann ann, nach gcaillfí é ach go mbeadh an bheatha shioraí aige. Óir ní chun daorbhreith a thabhairt ar an saol a chuir

My husband and I are the parents of 3 wonderful children, well one is grown, married, and on his own, so he isn’t a child anymore. But the two remaining at home are daughters...... in their teens. You got it, in their teens. I swore that when they reached their teenaged years, we would not label them the dreaded “teenager” in a negative way. Fast-film forward and here we are and the label is unavoidable. Mood-swings, temper-tantrums, and sullen eyes have been the norm around the house lately, all from me! It all started a few years ago when sweaters were not fitting nicely on our eldest daughter, until I realized that she needed a bra. What a different THAT made! Shocked as I drove home to report that new development to my knight, who couldn’t believe it either. “I’m not ready for this!” I told him, he just nodded in agreement. Our son was fairly even-keeled, the only annoyance he brought to the teenaged table was his phrase, “I can handle it, Mom, I am 16 now!” Driving infractions

 by Alexandre Grellet inspired by the post on this sweet child of God I had a look around the web and found this touching image.

I recently had some discussions with a blogger who identifies herself as a "Recovering Catholic." The first time I heard that phrase was when a columnist in our local paper used it to describe herself too. She never said really why she was recovering or what happened to her. When I used to debate on AOL boards, another debator and my comrad-in-arms, Eileen came up with the theory that a majority of Catholics who leave the church, don't know anything or very little about their Catholic Faith. In discussion after discussion the amount of basic knowledge of Catholicism that these people did not know was stunning. They in fact weren't recovering from Catholicism, because in fact they never knew what Catholicism really was, what it really taught, or how it was really to be lived. It may be that they had a run in with a mean nun, or an abusive priest or something. But that's not recovering from Catholicism - that's recovery from physical, emotional, intellectual

Today is the is the feast day of St. Germaine Cousin, a simple and pious young girl who lived in Pibrac, France in the late 1500s. Germaine was born in 1579 to poor parents. Her father was a farmer, and her mother died when she was still an infant. She was born with a deformed right arm and hand, as well as the disease of scrofula, a tubercular condition. Her father remarried soon after the death of her mother, but his new wife was filled with disgust by Germaine's condition. She tormented and neglected Germaine, and taught her siblings to do so as well. Starving and sick, Germaine was eventually kicked out of the house and forced to sleep under the stairway in the barn, on a pile of leaves and twigs, because of her stepmother’s dislike of her and disgust of her condition. She tended to the family's flock of sheep everyday. Despite her hardships, she lived each day full of thanksgiving and joy, and spent much of her time praying the Rosary and teaching the village childr

I recently wrote a post on my blog about how deadly silence can be and how, we, as Catholics, are called upon by God to speak up against the "shroud of sin" which encompasses our world today. After writing this post about silence, I began reflecting on the power of words. On how words have the power to build up or the power to destroy; the power to hurt others or the power to help. During this reflection I thought about one simple word and the effect it can have on humankind. This word is "yes". Every single "yes" to God has the power to change the world forever. Mother Mary gave her "yes" to God and changed the course of human history. "Yes" - such a simple word to say to God....yet its effects ripple into eternity.

Listening to the radio this lunchtime, I heard a woman on a discussion show describe how she aborted her 3rd child, the fruit of a stable relationship, because the family income was just a little too much to qualify for Child Benefit. She talked about the "wonderful counsellors" at the abortion agency who helped her come to this decision, and their "care and support". For the sake of a few pounds a week, a human life was torn from what should be the safest place in the world, his/her Mother's womb. When my children were small, we were living on an extremely low wage and had no luxuries. There were times when we had to rely on the generosity of others, and help from the state. And yet our girls were richly blessed with love, joy and laughter, and have grown to be lovely young women with children of their own. I feel such pity and sorrow for this Mother, who has been led to believe that we can put a price on a human life. May God have mercy on her, and may w

Joanna Bogle is one of my "heroines". She writes in a hopeful & joyful way about our Catholic faith & church. Here is a snippet from FAITH Magazine which might be helpful for us all to read & maybe discuss. My personal view of the Catholic Church is that it extols women & femininity & indeed it's great to be a Catholic woman! Contemporary Catholicism on Femininity: An Appreciation Joanna Bogle FAITH Magazine May – June 2011 In a frank reflection Joanna Bogle, writer and journalist, helpfully offers a short case study concerning the necessary interaction of Catholic tradition and contemporary culture. The arrival in the Church of new groups of Anglicans, whose journey to Rome was begun by the decision of the Church of England to ordain women, has thrown a new spotlight on the whole topic of the Church and women. "They think we're all misogynists" sighed one of the group heading for the Ordinariate, who had had spiteful - there is

In Wales the prefix Llan means 'church of..' and there are many Llanfair's (St Mary's) and Llandewi's (St Davids) but only one Tyddewi which means David's house and it was here in what is now Britain and possibly Europe's smallest city, that St David was born and built his house. It was called Menevia and his monastery following the Celtic monastic tradition was a community of small huts in the valley of the Alan.Today it is a very popular spot for holidays and walking tours of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path,  http://www.stdavids.co.uk/ We have just got back from a short camping break there, here are some photos of the great cathedral built in the valley to hide it from the viking raiders, in the days of catholic Britain 3 pilgrimages to St Davids equalled 1 to Rome. Like most of the ancient Welsh Bishoprics St Davids is older than Canterbury. Dewi Sant is Britain's only native principal Patron. Patrick was Welsh too and left to convert Ireland from Wh

I found these beautiful, relaxed pictures of our dear Pope Benedict at his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, and just wanted to share them with you... We love you, dear Papa!

Picture source . Happy Feast of St. Anthony of Padua! The following is from an old Catholic newspaper article that my mom has on her refrigerator.  I find it useful to read and follow at least one of these suggestions daily. "...1. No matter what happens, try to let no displeasure appear. 2. If possible, attend daily Mass and secure God's blessing on your work. 3. Bear daily annoyances in a spirit of resignation in your imitation of the Mother of Sorrows. 4. You are aching to tell a bit of news. Wait an hour; it will keep. 5. Are you in bad humor? Laugh if possible. 6. When you hear the clock strike, repeat the indulgenced prayers, "Divine Heart of Jesus, convert sinners, save the dying and release souls from purgatory." 7. Have you received a letter? Wait a while before reading it. 8. Do you wish to avoid certain persons? Say a little prayer and put yourself in the way to meet them. God goes before you. 9. Do good to the souls of

I have been reading through Hosea every night this week, one of my most beloved of OT books, and was struck by these verses: Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortingly unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. [Hosea 2:14-15] Achor means trouble, or suffering. It is the place where, in the book of Joshua, Achan and his sons and daughters were stoned to death by the Israelites because of Achan's greed. [Joshua 7] And although Hosea's use of the Valley of Achor as a metaphor is in direct reference to this incidence, as his unfaithful wife Gomer would have warranted stoning according to OT Law, it is also a useful description for those times we find ourselves in the wilderness, when times are troubled, or when we are suffering in one way or a

Do you struggle with worry? I know I do on occasion. Life for the Christian is a daily exercise in surrender to Divine Providence and  Venerable Solanus Casey knew this all to well. Recently, I have found the following quote from Venerable Casey to be most helpful. It is a wonderful reflection to use during your prayer time, especially if you are struggling with worry.  “Worry is a weakness from which very few of us are entirely free. We must be on guard against this most insidious enemy of peace of soul. Instead let us foster confidence in God, and thank Him ahead of time for whatever he chooses to send us.  If we only try to show the Dear Lord a good will and ask Him for resignation to the crosses He sends or permits to come our way, we may be sure that sooner or later they will turn out to have been just so many blessings in disguise.” Venerable Solanus Casey, pray for us.

This post is by way of making amends to St Anthony of Padua. I must confess that he impinges on my life only when I can't find something. He has never failed me. I do thank him when I find the lost object - and then forget him till the next time. On one occasion when I was doing a mission appeal in the west of Ireland I was chatting with the sacristan. We got around to St Anthony and how he had helped both us of. She then mentioned something that for the life of her she couldn't find. We both prayed to this saint from Lisbon, Portugal, but associated with Padua, Italy. Then we found the lost object - right in front of us in the sacristy! The hymn above was written by a Filipino Franciscan friar, Fr Mariano Montero OFM, and sung at the shrine of St Anthony in Sampaloc, Manila.   This great saint is a doctor of the Church and was known as 'The Hammer of Heretics' . Here is an extract from his writings, part of the reading for the saint's feast day in the Office o

In a commentary on the gospel of St. John, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishop , wrote the following on the subject of transformation by the Holy Spirit. “It can easily be shown from examples both in the Old Testament and the New that the Spirit changes those in whom he comes to dwell; he so transforms them that they begin to live a completely new kind of life . Saul was told by the prophet Samuel: ‘The Spirit of the Lord will take possession of you, and you shall be changed into another man.’ Saint Paul writes: ‘As we behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, that glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit, transforms us all into his own likeness, from one degree of glory to another.’ Does this not show that the Spirit changes those in whom he comes to dwell and alters the whole pattern of their lives? With the Spirit within them it is quite natural for people who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become entirely other-worldly in outlook, and for c

I have always thought of Pentecost as an ending because it concludes the great season of Easter. However, today I was reminded by the priest at Mass in his homily that Pentecost is actually a beginning; it was one of those aha moments .  With the coming of the Holy Spirit, something new was started~first and foremost the Church. But something new was begun in each of the Apostles as the gift of the Holy Spirit was breathed into them by Christ. They went and did things they never had before, probably never thought of before. I somehow suspect that like most things Jesus told His Apostles, they probably didn't quite get what He meant when He told them He would sent another Advocate, the Paraclete. It probably wasn't until after Jesus ascended and after Pentecost that they understood more fully what He meant. As Father reminded us in his homily today, there are no endings in Christ. His Passion, Death and Resurrection conquered death. He tells us that He makes all things new and

I hope each of us has had the experience of loving someone so much that words fail us when we try to express that love. Or perhaps a simple "thank you" just doesn't seem like an adequate response to a great gift someone has given you. Similarly, someone may have asked you to pray for them but you find yourself at a loss for exactly what their real prayer need is at that moment. Or, closer to home, we know that we ourselves have a deep down need for healing in some corner of our being but we have no idea where or what that corner is. In each of these situations and so many many more, the gift of tongues which the Holy Spirit gave me gratuitously years ago has helped me alot. Often, especially after receiving Communion, repeating 'thank you' with all my heart just doesn't seem like enough. Often people, some of whom I've never met, ask for my prayer support. I can easily respond to these intimate moments of prayer because I let the Holy Spirit speak for me &

First of all apologies if you received this 3 times! If I missed anyone off the email list can you email me on jacquelineparkes@hotmail.co.uk I just noticed we have 2 Kellys..sorry if that was confusing.. First monthly report: ( First post & start of this blog was 9th May 2011 ) Can I just say thankyou to our 34 blog authors! Particular thanks to Marion..I still haven't got full internet access..SKY are slow! It seems as though the ACWB is proving very successful. In our first month we have 52 followers! We have 3 priests writing for us... Fr Sean Coyle, Fr Patrick Brennan & Fr John Abberton. Thankyou so much Rev Fathers. Although I notice we discuss such things as head coverings & Facebook..etc we are aware that the ACWB has no official preference & tries to avoid the "liturgical wars" that are such a feature of Catholic blogging. Naturally our authors are entitled to their own preferences & generally the more contentious issues are best

heart speaks unto heart: " In this House of Brede " : "I'm re-reading & enjoying very much In this House of Brede..below & here is a review: In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden The Viking ..."

I would imagine that at least a FEW of you here also have a Facebook account and this question is for you...how do you feel about posting things that others may not agree with you...for example something like Abortion??  I'm thinking of deleting my FB account, lately reading it just gets me in a bad mood.  Does anyone else feel this way?? Thanks! Lindy