Association Of Catholic Bloggers

An Ancient Doorway to a Lovely Lent. An excellent proposal

Hello Everyone! I have been asked to mention my new book which will be released this fall. It will be a book for ALL Catholic women of every walk of life - single, married, mothers, and consecrated religious. It speaks to every Catholic woman's heart about our calling as Catholic women. As soon as I get the cover image I will share it with you. I'll also keep you updated with additional information when I have it. Right now, my two newest books are Embracing Motherhood and Bringing Lent Home with Mother Teresa . Cardinal Timothy Dolan endorsed, Embracing Motherhood  which speaks of the joys and challenges of a holy vocation for mothers and grandmothers of all ages. It's also available in Audio format narrated by me. From the publisher:  Popular author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle is back, this time with a book that addresses the vocation of motherhood, with all its joys and challenges. Using personal recollections, stories, Scripture, papal writings, and quotes

I hesitate to give any more oxygen to Rush Limbaugh and his mean-spirited "entertainment." His three-days-worth of on-air name calling a 30-year-old Georgetown University law student ("slut" "prostitute") is only the latest incarnation of his penchant for making money spouting vulgarities. His remarks are gross and I am delighted he has lost 33 and counting sponsors. Perhaps inadvertently, he has managed to undermine real concerns about the lack of conscience protections for religious institutions in President Obama's health-care mandate. Still, while politicians are taking to the airwaves to condemn Mr. Limbaugh's remarks,  in places as humble and as important as high school cafeterias, the name-calling of women continues. During lunch duty in a suburban high school cafeteria, I regularly hear words like "slut" "bitch" and "whore" flow from the mouths of seemingly sweet adolescent girls. And I wonder

Today was one of those days where nothing, from start to finish, went as I planned. Nothing went badly wrong, it's just that nothing went really well. At work, my laptop gave me all sorts of trouble, refusing to link me to the school's server. Then, an important, comprehensive evaluation of me, which I had been prepping for and anticipating for days, was postponed.  By the time I got to the after-school faculty meeting, I was a knot of anxiety.  My girlfriend K, my best friend at work, eight months pregnant with her first child, sat down beside me in the school auditorium. Turns out her laptop too is being disobedient. I told her how terribly, terribly stressed I was feeling. Read more here...

I want to encourage all to pray this prayer, the Litany of Humility. It has been one that, as I pray it more, it continues to change my life. Yesterday I was running with a group and fell a little behind, so I began to have pity on myself because I felt rejected; however, I was reminded of praying this, and took it as an opportunity to embrace it, and be humbled by it.  O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me. From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being loved... From the desire of being extolled ... From the desire of being honored ... From the desire of being praised ... From the desire of being preferred to others... From the desire of being consulted ... From the desire of being approved ... From the fear of being humiliated ... From the fear of being despised... From the fear of suffering rebukes ... From the fear of being calumniated ... From the fear of being forgotten ... From the fear of being ridiculed ... From the fear o

Prayer Card from Catholic Icing Today, more than ever before, children need comfort and security in their lives, nothing -- no thing -- is more important than to have our youngsters engage in prayer. All children, even the youngest child, can learn God is always there for them–at any time–from the moment they wake up in the morning, throughout the day as they play, as they share meals, right up until they are tucked in bed to fall asleep at night. Lent is a special time to offer praise and thanks. Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, and to pray more deeply. Lent is also a good time to join with others in prayer. On Sunday, we come together in our parish. We praise and thank God together. We especially give thanks to Jesus.  Activities: Pretzel for God: Lent and the Pretzel The

Fiftysomething: A very remarkable and largely unknownevent happene... : A very remarkable and largely unknown event happened on the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, 1893, the bishops of England and Wales, in

My mom was born 81 years ago today, in her parents' home outside Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was an investment banker and her mother was an immigrant from Argentina. My mother met my father, a surgeon and the son of Italian immigrants, on the beach in St. Croix, where she was vacationing with her parents. She was 25 when she converted to the Catholic faith and married my dad. When she opens her mouth, she does so wisely; on her tongue is kindly instruction. She keeps good watch on the conduct of her household, no bread of idleness for her. Her children stand up and proclaim her blessed, her husband, too, sings her praises: Many women have done admirable things, but you surpass them all!' Proverbs 31 Read more »

Fiftysomething: Five First Saturdays Devotion: What To DoSign Up f... : Five First Saturdays Devotion: What To Do Sign Up for First Saturday Reminders.. Upcoming First Saturdays History of the Five First Saturday...

Transfiguration of Christ , Paolo Veronese, painted 1555-56 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Mark 9:2-10 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus. 'Rabbi', he said it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, 'This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.' Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them an

Clement Shahbaz Bhatti (9 September 1968 - 2 March 2011) Today is the first anniversary of the assassination of Clement Shahbaz Bhatti in Pakistan, the only Christian member of the cabinet. He was a devout Catholic deeply committed to justice for those on the margins, especially the Christian minority,  who said not long before he died, I only want a place at the feet of Jesus. I want my life, my character, my actions to speak for me and say that I am a follower of Jesus Christ . I will have more about Shahbaz Bhatti on Sunday Reflections for the Second Sunday of Lent. But you may read about him here . Columbans wre first assigned to Pakistan in 1978 and have been there since.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus i bawb! Happy St David's Day.

Here in Ontario we have just observed a rather ironic statutory holiday: Family Day. Ironic because this long weekend is very nearly the only acknowledgement of family we have in public life. No longer is a stable home life with a Father as the head of his household, and Mother at the heart of her family the norm. Instead we have a society of broken homes and blended families of every configuration with little stability or permanence. We have the idea that marriage is desired only by women, and that men are either coerced into it, or trapped within it. Marriage is ‘an institution’ and who wants to be committed to an institution? Wives are ‘the old ball and chain’ holding a man back, weighing him down. At the same time we have the very serious problem of young men refusing to grow up, remaining in an adolescent state while mom continues to cook and clean for her 25 year old boy. When combined with modern women being quite free and easy with their favours, where is the inducement for

Today we all wear Pink Shirts to represent how we are United against Bullying ! We do this in order to bring awareness to bullying issues and hopefully bring discussion as to what we can do to create a safe and respectful environment in all of our communities. Why Pink you ask? Well, Pink Shirt Day is not just an engaging way to get kids, especially students, though not limited to just them ;) thinking about bullying and what they can do to create a safe and respectful environment in schools. All of this started back in 2007 when 2 High School Students in the Province of Nova Scotia, Travis Price and David Shepherd, took a stand against bullying. How? These two Brave Students asked all of their peers to wear pink to school in support of a male classmate who had been bullied for wearing a pink shirt! Little did they know that their actions would create a Grassroots Movement that would attract worldwide attention! So...Make sure you wear Your Pink Shirt today a

Last night, I bought a frozen Paul Newman pizza for dinner and our 12 year old made a large salad. Since our family comes home for dinner in shifts, I took a tiny slice of pizza and warned the 12 year old to leave enough for dad and his older brother. Guess I should have written a memo to the teen: I returned to the kitchen about 20 minutes later and there was no sign of the pizza. Seems between the two boys, the pizza was gone. Evaporated. A friend who raised four children told me that all pizzas should come with a label saying that one pizza serves half a teenaged boy. I ended up serving really emergency food - cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli. Yuck and Yikes. My husband read on my facebook wall that I was heating it up and said he'd stop by the deli for a sandwich.  Read more here...

I have never given a Marian focus to Lent before, but this seems to be the year for it. The picture that keeps coming to mind for me is of a young Mary packing up her infant child, all the earthly goods of her small family, and following where her husband leads her in the hope of escaping the wrath of Herod. What a lot of trust was required of her in unknown circumstances. We don’t know much of her life after that, until she appears in some of the gospel stories, most notably the wedding at Cana when she quite memorably advizes: Do as He tells you. The most striking image of all is that of Our Lady, standing at the foot of the Cross of her son, her Saviour. Everyone else has left Him, but her love of Him keeps her there. I am going to ponder those three points over the next six weeks: trust, obedience, love. Blessed Mother,grant me some measure of the faith you exhibited, so that I, too, may trust in God, be obedient to His Holy Will, and know His great Love for all. Help me to enter

On this sunny, blustery February day, we have just returned, our little family of four, from a standing-room-only Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, where the celebrant was the newly minted Timothy Cardinal Dolan. Given the politics of these days, I expected he might preach about the intrusions that politicians are making into Catholics' lives of faith. But he didn't, at least not overtly. Instead, the joyful man in the red hat preached the Gospel, reminding us that, just as Jesus learned during his 40 days in the desert, during Lent we need to realize that our lives must be lived with God's will, not our will, for God's kingdom, not our kingdom, for God's values and not the passing values of the world we live in. (Thanks to my CL friend Dan Finaldi for sharing the photo he took after Mass)    Read more here...

As a community of believers God asks us to look for, care for and pray for each other. Karinann is hoping that we can all hold her up in prayer and thought. It seems that work responsibilities leaves her with little time for blogging, let alone anything else. You might want to send her an encouraging email, or favourite prayer, or just let her know she is being thought of! Blessings

Hello beautiful, catholic women! I am thrilled to be able to introduce myself and blog to you and to become a part of such a treasury in the catholic blogger world. I was raised catholic by my mother who above all else taught me to love Our Lady and the Eucharist. She prayed the rosary with me faithfully from an early age and often took me for "visits" to Jesus in the tabernacle. My father was protestant, so I was also exposed to many protestant groups and encountered several humble, christian people who molded my faith journey and gave me a deep love for beautiful worship through music, dance, and even art. I met my husband, a Baptist at the time, at a Baptist university where I was attending music school. He was studying to become a Baptist minister. Though I was not fully prepared to defend my faith well, he was intrigued enough to study further, and study, he did. He consumed every book he could get his hands on about the Catholic Faith. He finally came into the Church

Hello everyone, I am writing to let you all know that we are at 49 authors!  This is a very exciting thing for Association of Catholic Women Bloggers!  We get emails quite often from Catholic women who would like to contribute to the site, and I wish we could accept everyone who asks, but Blogger sets the limit at 100, and we are half way there! If anyone knows of authors who no longer contribute, authors who have stopped blogging all together, please let me know, like any good gardener knows pruning is the best way to make things bloom! Blessings

Think about spring. Remember how plants push their way up through the earth. Trees sprout leaves and buds. Birds sing their best songs. In spring we plant new seeds. We cut away dead twigs and stems. We prepare for a new life. Jesus talked about death and new life. He held up a seed and said, “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” John 12:24 During lent we clear a place to plant seeds of faith and love. We work and pray. We grow in faith and love. Stations of the Cross for Children and Families Jelly Bean Prayer Activity  Source: Faith First, Catechist Guide

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13.33-35 from the Official King James Bible on line

The Temptation of Christ,   Tintoretto, painted 1579-81 Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:12-15   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness and he remained there for forty days, and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild beasts, and the angels looked after him. After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. 'The time has come' he said 'and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.' An Soiscéal   Marcas 1:12-15 (Gaeilge, Irish) Chuir an Spiorad Íosa amach faoin bhfásach é agus bhí sé daichead lá san fhásach á phromhadh ag Sátan. Agus bhí sé in éineacht leis na beithígh allta; agus bhí na haingil ag freastal air. Tar éis Eoin a bheith tugtha ar láimh, tháinig Íosa go dtí an Ghailíl ag fógairt soiscéal Dé agus ag rá: “Tá an t

Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints | Catholic Homeschooling and Traditional Catholic: Lent Day One: Unplugged Living : Lent Day One: Unplugged Living Our family is in the middle of packing for a big move across three states North of us so when I thought of...

On a rare day off this week, I took our dog for a walk down our block, a block of century-old houses on tiny lots with scraggly lawns. The sun was bright, the sky was clear and my neighbor Anita, nearing 60, was seeding her lawn. As we chatted, I noticed moss had taken over parts of her pocket-sized front lawn. I told her how pretty it all looks. Anita, who is some kind of scientist for a pharmaceutical company, said our neighbor Ruth farther down the block, a landscape architect with grown children, told her to let the moss grow. Moss, she said, is good for the soil. I am now thinking it is good for the soul, too. Read more here....

Iranian Christian pastor to be hanged ‘immediately’ CatholicHerald.co.uk

When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you." That seems like a very strange Gospel reading, considering how many people will be asking us, with great concern: "Did you know you have a smudge on your forehead!?" If you are a sport fan like our second son you will be seeing Tony Reali host of the ESPN show: Around the Horn, wearing his ashes very proudly!  So, what about this Gospel?  Does God call us to wear Ashes proudly to be a Evangelist; because we know we will be asked about that all day.  Or do we wipe our forehead and let our Lenten actions evangelize for us? For me I love seeing Catholic Celebrities proudly being out and Catholi