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      Paul was addressing some of the challenges of the people in Corinth. In some ways, they were not unlike challenges you may be having in your own family or friends' circle. Is someone stirring up drama, leading someone astray, or causing division? Is your adult child disappointing you by the decisions they are making? Is your friend ignoring you because they are self-absorbed? Paul gives one of the great, all-time expressions of what we can do for someone who is failing in some way. "You should forgive and encourage him . . . or else the person may be overwhelmed by excessive pain. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him." ( 2 Corinthians 2:6 ) We may be tempted to "punish" the offender beyond what is necessary, and Paul challenges us to look outward and have concern for "the other."  In the case of the Corinthians, Paul determined that the action taken by the Corinthians, i.e. "the punishment" to address the situat...

I wrote this paper in 1972 for Dr. K. Smemo's History 349, The Scandinavians in America. I'm planning to share a 'family story' or two about this side of the family in Saturday's post: which will be both shorter, and easier to read than this. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A paper I wrote in 1972, following part of my mother's family back to a gaard in Norway, and touching on how we adopted American language and customs.)

    My husband and I stopped in the grocery store to pick up a few things and I saw a sale sign over some bacon. I thought it was confusing, so I asked the butcher how much the bacon actually cost. Determining the price of the bacon turned out to be more difficult than you might think. The butcher explained:  The red sale sign is the sale price everybody gets ($5.99.) The blue sale sign indicates that if I am a "perks" customer, I can get an extra $1.00 off the sale price if I go into my online account and clip the coupon. Clipping the coupon meant I first had to find it in the app. It was buried in the weekly ad, where I had to click on a tiny, little button to add it to my customer perks. (I've never seen that button before. What have I been missing?) After ALL THAT, the butcher said we might want to ask customer service to be sure we did it right, because he wasn't real good with this stuff (although he was very nice and helpful.) When we went to the ...

  A GIFT FOR YOU CLICK HERE 

I've had memorable instructors. Most of them were memorable in good ways. Like Dr. Hong, 1 who taught Moorhead State's ancient history classes in the early 1970s. By the time I graduated, I think I'd taken every 'ancient history' class the History Department offered. One reason I liked, and like, that subset of humanity's long story is that we know a fair amount about it: and it's a part of the story that's now complete. As I see it, pretty much all the "history" since then is still in progress. Studying it is interesting. But it's a bit like reading a mystery story, where the last few chapters are missing. Most students very likely didn't see ancient history that way, since Dr. Hong's classes seldom had more than maybe a half-dozen students. That's probably why they were in what I'm guessing was a conference room in MacLean Hall. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Remembering a favorite college professor; review...

Altar of St Ignatius of Loyola, Il Gesù, Rome Andrea Pozzo SJ [ Web Gallery of Art ] Very rightly the fine arts are considered to rank among the noblest activities of man's genius, and this applies especially to religious art and to its highest achievement, which is sacred art. These arts, by their very nature, are oriented toward the infinite beauty of God which they attempt in some way to portray by the work of human hands; they achieve their purpose of redounding to God's praise and glory in proportion as they are directed the more exclusively to the single aim of turning men's minds devoutly toward God  (Vatican II,  Sacrosanctum Concilium , No 122). Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,) Readings   (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 12:13-21  (English Standard Version, Anglicised) At that time: Som...

      Throughout Mass the other day, the word "mercy" took its place in the forefront of my thoughts. I had a strong sense of needing God's mercy for a bothersome sin that had been frustrating me.  Recognizing our sins is so important because without doing so, we cannot truly appreciate the gift that is God's mercy. His love and forgiveness in the face of our sins brings such joy. There is a Christian music group called MercyMe that has been around since the 90's. The lead singer, Bart Millard, wrote one of their famous songs ("I can only imagine") about standing in front of Jesus.  I read that he had suffered terribly at the hands of his abusive father, but over time, before his father's death, he watched his transformation and conversion. Eventually they became very close. It's amazing what can happen to a person when they open themselves up to God's love and mercy.  It changes everything. Janet Cassidy Email me at:  jmctm2@gm...

  SONG SAVES TWENTY BABIES CLICK HERE