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As the Morning Rising: Remembrance : Remembrance Summer remnants do not warm us now When the first winds bite And though her dark colours try to gleam, Novemb...

I once asked a priest what my life would have been like if I had not suffered or if I had married a well-off dentist, had 1.75 kids and lived in a nice house. He put on a phony, pious face, with his hands together in prayer and said in a high, sweet voice, ‘Oh,  you would be a nice Christian lady, praising the Lord.’ What he meant by that amusing bit of acting was that I would be shallow, without depth and strength. If that is the case, I say bring on the suffering because I want, no I  need  to live in  reality.  I refuse to simply play games during my time on earth. continue reading

Donald Trump will be the new President of the United States. Whether you voted for him or not, perhaps we can agree that one of the saddest things about this election is the fear and hatred our children have witnessed. I remember watching replay after horrid replay of 9-11. I watched until I heard a child expert explain that children lack the ability to understand that a replay is not an actual repeated event. Finally, it dawned on me (I'm a little slow sometimes - figure I'd say it first! ;) ):  what we understand as adults does not register the same for children and children most need to know they are safe. I may have been scared, but I understood we were not in immediate danger. They did not. Children listen. Children internalize. Children fear. I am by no means comparing a Trump election to 9-11, but too many memes and social media comments are. What a shameful scar that is on the memories of those lost that day. There are instead look positively at this

Why is it so important to pray for others, especially the dead, given that they have already received their particular judgment at the time of their passing? Here’s the skinny on the answer, coming directly from Jesus: “I say to you, if two or three of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father” (Matt 18:19).   Prayer is a powerful tool, used to communicate with God. When we use our prayer time to pray for others, both the living and dead, we demonstrate... Read more...

Each year a team of medical professionals from my parish, St. Dominic, spend a week in a poor village in El Salvador screening and treating more than 1,000 patients. On their visit last month, to their dismay there was only enough lidocaine for local anesthesia for five or six patients. However, each time the doctors needed the lidocaine to prepare another patient for a procedure, there inexplicably was some left in the vial! This went on day after day until the last patient was treated. The pastoral associate who led the group views this was an honest-to-goodness miracle. Click to continue

I don't have the 'I'd rather be dead' attitude of the deceased in that 2011 Non Sequitur strip. My viewpoint is more like Edison Lee's dad in yesterday's comic. I figure that someone will win the 2016 American presidential election. It'll probably a candidate from one of the two major political parties . I think which candidate wins matters. But I also think that whoever gets the job — America will keep going. There's a great deal more to this country than the national government. That's not what this post is about, though.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

As the Morning Rising: The Stirring in the Long Grass : The stirring in the long grass - is that not the movement of one in search of the lost? And the birdsong at twilight, the re...

I was tired, bone tired. It was a tiredness that went beyond mere physical exhaustion to conquer my every thought. It pumped through my heart to poison my entire being. This exhaustion festered in my soul, and there it sat. My toe nudged the carrier holding my sleeping son forward. His sleeping was a small blessing. It was a miracle that I still recognized small blessings. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I may have recognized more. I might have realized sooner that God hadn't abandoned us as I had accused Him of doing. Instead, this belief is part of what brought me to this place. To read the rest of this post inspired by a Catholic Facebook group's comment, please join me at SingleMomSmiling.com God Bless... As always, thank you for sharing, commenting, liking, and following! 

Due to popular demand, my first Christian novel,  Rain from Heaven , is now available in paperback. If you prefer Kindle, you can get it on sale for just $.99.  As usual, all net profits go to charity. https://www.amazon.com/Rain-Heaven-J-Avila-ebook/dp/B00DPO6A3E What would you sacrifice to save the eternal soul of your enemy? Dellan Whitcom has every reason to hate Eliat Rebysh, the man who has unleashed a deadly virus on the world. It has not only killed Dellan’s parents and friends but threatens all of mankind. Rebysh also controls the only vaccine that can save everyone from certain death.  God chooses Dellan to destroy this nefarious evil, and the young man is delighted with the opportunity to exact revenge. But the more he strays from God’s path of love, the more Dellan becomes like Rebysh, the object of his hatred. Before it is over, the life of the woman both men love hangs in the balance. Only by making an extraordinary sacrifice will Dellan be able to destro

Today would have been the 71 st wedding anniversary of my parents, if they were still with me today. The veil between heaven and earth divides us, but the love remembered between my father and mother, and their mutual love for me remains in my heart. My parents married shortly after my father returned from World War II’s European front in 1945. From their love first came my sister Joan, now a mother to two children and grandmother of four children. Then came my brother Ed, father to three children, and grandfather to one child. Next, my sister, Susan arrived, followed by me. I tell you this to demonstrate that this love, a love remembered, between two people, is responsible for an additional fourteen people populating this earth! Love has a way of... Read more... 

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      En su visita a México, el Papa Francisco visitó los dos extremos de México: Chiapas y   la frontera de Ciudad Juárez. Esto no es una casualidad o una mera repartición geográfica de su actividad pastoral sino que tiene un significado más profundo: la gran preocupación que el tema de los migrantes y los refugiados tiene para él y para la Iglesia Católica y que no pudo enfatizar lo suficiente en su reciente visita a los vecinos Estados Unidos.   Con estas visitas, busca interpelar nuestras actitudes ante los dos extremos de este fenómeno demográfico humano: México es un país de emigrantes que buscan oportunidades en el país americano, pero también es un país de inmigrantes, principalmente centroamericanos, que buscan mejores horizontes en nuestras tierras o están de paso hacia el norte.  

I have learned that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  The lead up to the election is breeding a lot of anger all around, so I am choosing to respond in righteousness.  I don't know what God's Will is for this election.  I don't know who He would vote into office.  However, I am pretty sure it would be for a candidate who loved this land, liberty, and life.   Please visit Veils and Vocations to read more.  

(from The Cloistered Heart)

There's trouble everywhere, and that's not news. It's not new, at any rate. "Your princes are rebels and comrades of thieves; Each one of them loves a bribe and looks for gifts. The fatherless they defend not, and the widow's plea does not reach them." ( Isaiah 1:23 ) "Yes, I know how many are your crimes, how grievous your sins: Oppressing the just, accepting bribes, repelling the needy at the gate!" ( Amos 5:12 ) How come the world is such a mess, and has been at least since we started keeping records? More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Moses before the Burning Bush, Domenico Fetti, 1613-14 Gospel Luke 20:27-38 [or 20:27, 34-38] ( NRSV, Anglicised Catholic Ed ) Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus(.) [and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’] Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of

Scientists spotted 2016 UR36 days before it passed by Earth. "Killer asteroids" headlines notwithstanding, we knew it would miss our planet by a comfortable margin. Sooner or later, though, something big will hit Earth: again. We still can't prevent that, not yet. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

It was in the church of St Mary of the Angels that a momentous event took place in the life of St Francis. It took place in 1208 on the feast of St Matthias that was then celebrated on the 24 th  February. When the priest was reading the Gospel St Francis’ heart leapt within him. He became totally convinced that at last God had spoken to him. This time he spoke through the words of the scriptures. "As you go out, proclaim that the kingdom of God is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge. Provide yourself with no gold or silver, not even a few coppers for your purses, no haversack for your journey no spare tunic or footwear or staff, for the workman deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. As you enter his house salute it, and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your

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(from The Breadbox Letters)

As the Morning Rising: Thanks be to God! : A world seemingly brimming over with sinfulness still produces great saints! Thanks be to God.

Today we celebrate All Souls Day. Yes, I said “celebrate.” This day is set aside for us to remember and celebrate God’s mercy. This day is meant for remembering all souls who have departed this life and now reside in Purgatory, where they are in the process of having their venial sins cleansed, as well as experience the temporal punishment for confessed mortal sins. As Catholics, we know that to see the face of God, we must first be purified by the fires of Purgatory, where we are cleansed of our sins; refined like fine gold – Only then may we enter the gates of Heaven and see the face of God. Praying for all souls, on this dedicated day, can only help them. Need some proof that your prayers actually help those in Purgatory? Okay, here is an excerpt from... Read more...

My Aunt Arline was born with cerebral palsy. A good Lutheran couple adopted her. Operations to straighten her arms left long scars on her. Her speech was slurred, and she walked with difficulty. Sometimes her slight body was marked with ugly bruises from falls. Nevertheless she was a delightful person, married to my father’s brother, who had polio. In the seventh grade I wrote an essay about Aunt Arline called “The Abused Handicap.” During the summer my sister and I each took a turn spending a week with Aunt Arline, working jigsaw puzzles and going shopping with her, as she held unto our arm. When my mother called one day to tell me that Aunt Arline had died, instantly I had a vision. In my mind’s eye I saw Aunt Arline in a large green field. She was doing cartwheels! Click to continue

Not all saints are known; many are hidden and do not receive any attention from the Church. The Gospel reading, the beatitudes, reminds us that it is precisely theses little people, the nameless, faceless poor, the  anawim , who are especially blessed by God. continue reading

Catholicism is, most importantly, an experiential faith, a living relationship with Christ. A Catholic is not a person who merely accumulates intellectual knowledge about God nor simply fulfills tradition and the letter of the law. Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have repeatedly emphasized that Christianity is an encounter with Jesus. Many people perceive Christianity as something institutional — rather than as an encounter with Christ — which explains why they don’t see it as a source of joy. Pope Benedict XVI The evangelization of the person and of human communities depends totally on this encounter with Jesus Christ.  Pope Benedict XVI We must always have the courage and the joy of proposing, with respect, an encounter with Christ, and being heralds of his Gospel. Jesus came amongst us to show us the way of salvation and he entrusted to us the mission to make it known to all to the ends of the earth.  Pope Francis Somehow we mistakenly believe the phrase “a personal r

I know it may seem that this weeks craft and activity was boring but we have something my kids and I needed to discuss.  You see last week in our review one of the questions was "Do we worship Mary". Unfortunately my class answered yes in unison. Time for a sit down.  First we all had to explain who is Mary. That my kids knew Mother of Jesus Answer of Prayers Saint   Next we needed to discuss the difference between honor and worship. So more thinking questions for the kids.       Click here for full lesson.

As the Morning Rising: Departed

Huh? Pray to a statue?  Well that sure does sound like a bizarre practice - doesn't it.  I can assure you I have never, ever prayed to a statue.  Having cleared that up, I can equally assure you that I count among my closest friends a Bishop from North Africa who lived in the 4th century, an 11 year old Italian peasant girl who was brutally martyred, and a globe-trotting, baby-kissing, truth-preaching Polish Pope. They are my "go-to" people for back-up prayers and spiritual advice. Ok, so these are not exactly people I met at the local homeschool group, but they are some of the best friends a girl could ask for.  And they most certainly are NOT statues.  Click here to read more....

Man cannot transform himself into a holy being. As my Irish grandmother would say,  "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."  In other words, only Christ can transform us into His image and draw us into the heart of His Father. Stealing Christ's Job Although we don't really understand what we are doing when we tackle sanctity like a chore, we are basically trying to save ourselves with our religious works. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  ( Ephesians 2:8,9 ) When religious practices are not motivated by love and humility but fueled by pride, they damage our intimacy with God. In fact, self-appointed spiritual disciplines that are  not  inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit are self-centered, not God-centered. To put this thought in more shocking terms, when we try to perfect ourselves we are stealing Christ's job o

Hey everyone I know that I am late with my CCD post but with mid-terms and papers and life in general I am just now getting around to it. Last week we continued with the Gospel of Luke. Our lesson was on Luke 18 9-14.  This is the parable was about the tax collector and the pharisee and their character qualities. So after reading the passage we sat down and talked about a few things: What is the tax collector like? What is the pharisee like? Who’s character does Jesus want us to model ourselves after? Is it okay to judge the sins of others? Instead of arroganance like the pharisee what should we be ?                                                             The answer is we need to be humble! Click here for full lesson