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Calling of Sts Peter and Andrew Cigoli [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings  (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:14-20 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,   and saying,  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.   And Jesus said to them,  “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”   And immediately they left their nets and followed him.   And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.   And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed hi

I'm copying this prayer from the website dailyscripture.net because I thought it was beautiful and it really spoke to me. I hope you find it motivating as well. "Lord Jesus, may I give you fitting honor in the way I live my life and in the way I treat my neighbor. May I honor the Lord's Day as a day holy to you. And may I always treat others with the same mercy and kindness which you have shown to me. Free me from a critical and intolerant spirit that I may always seek the good of my neighbor." Janet Cassidy janetcassidy.com Follow my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/reflectionsinfaith/

    I got a call from "Maddie at the State Medical Center" who was calling because I was "having pain in my back and knees . . . right?" I am not. I just hung up, without engaging her, and naturally, I never give information out. I suppose this is good practice for not allowing ourselves to be deceived and learning to say "no." Scammers can be really good at drawing people in, but if you are aware of the pitfalls, you can avoid them. St. Paul must have known something about this, as he gives this warning in his Second Letter to the Thessalonians (Chapter 2): "We ask you, brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a 'spirit,' or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand." Be careful that you are not deceived by those whose agenda is contrary to th

    Are you on mountain time? Mountain time, for me, is when I find myself waiting on God, asking life's big questions, seemingly not doing much. Mountain time, of course, is a time for much prayer, and it is a good reminder that mountains bring you closer to God. Jesus had plenty of mountain time. He would go up on the mountain to pray before and after miracles and decisions. He revealed himself in the transfiguration, on a mountain. So as we can see, mountain time can be useful, depending on what we make of it. If we find it hard to sit still during those times in life that call for patience and waiting (our mountain time), we will most likely either get frustrated, or move in a direction not of God's making. Enjoy your mountain when God calls you to it. Notice the beauty around you, and don't get in a hurry to get busy doing stuff. Don't look for ways to move on, because God will let you know when it is time and what you should be doing, if anyt

Headlines about Tyrannosaurus rex, scientists, and "what we thought we knew" being wrong started showing up in my news feed last week. It's been a while since I talked about dinosaurs, and I found Nicholas R. Longrich and Evan T. Saitta's research paper: a pre-publication copy, at any rate. So this week I thought I'd talk about T. rex, Nanotyrannus, and what they'd learned. That's what I thought. Here's what I wound up with, after diving down delightfully diverse rabbit holes: Tyrannosaurus, Nanotyrannus: New Study, Old Debate T. Rex, Tyrant King Lizard; something else; and King Kong Trix the Tyrannosaur Takes a Walk 'What is Wrong With This Picture?' A Hodgepodge of Oddments A Skull, a Caption, and As-Yet-Unsolved Puzzles Best Supporting Monster? T. Hawkins, H. P. Lovecraft: and a Little Science Great Western Seaway: From Hadrosaurs to Prairie Chickens "...There is a Great Deal We Do Not Know...." Growth Rates

From   The Gospel of John , directed by Philip Saville Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   John 1:35-42 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,   and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”   The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.   Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them,  “What are you seeking?”  And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”   He said to them,  “Come and you will see.”  So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.   One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.   He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ)

    I don't suppose I was the only one who tried to brush my teeth with my non-dominant hand this week. For those of you who do not know what I'm talking about, the Michigan Wolverines quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, said he does this to change the neural patterns in his brain. Naturally, I had to look it up to see if it's true. I found mixed results, but what I did learn from doing this is that it is more challenging than you would think, and it did feel like my brain was being forced to operate differently--which is a good thing. It's like learning a foreign language, or trying to read dense church documents. It's all good, and definitely worth trying, even if it is hard. In regards to the church writings, it takes patience to wade through some of them, but they are often so beautifully written and insightful. Never a waste of time. As we begin the new year, why don't you pull out something like the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or a document

  I was reading about Norman Lear in "People" magazine. They repeated a story from his childhood. Apparently his grandfather told him when he was a child that every pebble he tossed into the lake "raised the water level." Lear, then, threw in a rock, but when he still couldn't see any change, his grandfather said, "All you see is the ripple." As the article goes, when Lear reflected on this many years later, he concluded, "When you measure how you yourself might have changed the world, 'be satisfied with the ripples.'" You may not be making a big splash in the world today, but that's okay. Maybe God has given you a "little" way to make a difference. Be satisfied with that. Some of our greatest saints (such as St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Calcutta) understood this intimately. It is in the Little Way or in the ordinary things that we make the world a better place by loving others in extraordinary ways. Go

  Throughout the Michigan/Washington football game, I kept hearing the announcers refer to something called the "doomsday defense." Nobody ever explained it, though, so I decided to look it up. All I can gather is that it is a name given to the defensive line of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960s-1970s, which was "the backbone of the Cowboys' dynasty." It must have been a big deal, because it is still part of football jargon today. Anyway, when I think of "doomsday" in religious parlance, it is not a pretty word. It brings to mind judgment and damnation, not exactly a backbone for us. But, believing in a final judgment, and the damnation of hell as we do, these can certainly motivate us to live a better life. And that's okay, but they are not the best motivators. Accepting they are a reality is one thing, using them as our sole motivator is another. Our motivation to live a better life should be connected to our love of God and each other. Be wat

    Yesterday we celebrated the Baptism of Jesus so this is a good time to talk about a couple of things. First, Jesus didn't need baptism because of sin (he was sinless.) Simply put, his baptism highlighted the importance of baptism and our need for it. There is a lot more we could say about it, but that's it in a nutshell. And from that point, we need to consider why baptism is important for us. Each of us was born with original sin, which was passed on to us from our first parents, Adam and Eve. Baptism removes that sin. For Christian parents to deny, or postpone, the baptism of their children, is to essentially deny what Jesus himself has shown us is the pathway to eternal life. Why would we do this? For some, it is because they don't want to offend parents/grandparents from one side of the family. For some, they really don't understand its value. For others, it is just a matter of getting around to it. But are any of these reasons good enough to deny yourself,