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Sonnet XCVI. Ascension Day, 1845 by Henry Alford They stood and gazed into the summer sky, That earnest band of holy men and true: It was no vision that might pass them by, As the bright clouds enwrapt Him from their view; No self--withdrawal of His form still nigh: As victory was strange, and hope was new, More gloom athwart their hearts this sorrow drew, While vainly upward searched each eager eye. But on their ear those voices' unison Broke, as the choir of heaven on men below: And, as the portals of the morning, shone Their glistering raiment; and though still alone We dwell without our Lord, yet this we know, That He shall thus return as they beheld Him go. 

One of the most beautiful aspects of my Catholic faith has been devotion to Mary, the Blessed Mother. I was thinking about this post today before mass as I was waiting for PSR to get out so that I could go to church with my family, chasing my toddler down to brush her hair, and struggling with a pecular stinging sensation in my lower back, and asking Mary to pray for me! And then it occurred to me that my understanding and devotion to Mary has grown and changed as I have grown and changed. I didn't need a  degree in Marionology  to understand a relationship with Jesus's mother. She has always met me where I am. When I was little Mary seemed like the elegant lady, the untouchable, unreachable, princess-like figure of the beautiful pictures and statues we had of her. And although I felt so small compared to Mary, her presence as Queen filled me with awe and respect. As a teenager I wondered how Mary, a shy and quiet teen herself, managed to deal with the momentous task tha

Of your Charity please pray for , Many known to us who are ill and their families, Pregnant women and their unborn children, Those who mourn and the souls of the recently departed, A private intention of my own. Trusting in the Mercy and Love of God I entrust my prayers to St Joseph wise and loving patron and friend. Present my prayers to your Most Holy and Beloved foster son my Lord and my God.

His Eminence, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor delivered the Far and Near Club Lecture at Leicester Cathedral yesterday evening. He explored three ways in which religion and, most particularly, Christianity relates to society in the public square. The Cardinal’s reflection focused on the centrality of the family, the dignity and importance of elderly people and the relationship between faith and reason in today’s world. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness”. This quotation is well known and comes, of course, from Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities . But what about today? The philosopher, Martin Buber speaks of “epochs of habitation”, and “epochs of homelessness”. In the former, man lives in the world as in a home. In the latter, man lives in the world as in an open field and at times he does not even have four pegs with which to set up a tent. Sometimes I look round and wonder if we a

Devout Catholic, 21, ignores doctors' advice to abort unborn baby due to lung cancer and gives birth to healthy girl | Mail Online

Ascension , Rembrandt, painted 1636 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)  Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  The Ascension is celebrated on Ascension Thursday, 17 May, in Scotland and the USA, and on Sunday 20 May in England & Wales, Ireland and the Philippines. I'm not sure about other countries. I won't be posting Sunday Reflections for the Seventh Sunday of Easter . Gospel Mark 16:15-20 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) Jesus said to the Apostles, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt th

Franciscan Media Center a very useful Catholic site, I use their free Breviary app on my ipad for private devotions  There are films about the Holy Land and its history, I'm sure the Home Schoolers among us will find it use full! and its juts a really great site for the rest of us to learn about the original sites of all the moments of Jesus life and to support our Christian and Catholic brethren who face many many challenges in the still un- peaceful lands of the Bible.

The Holy Gospel according to John: 15: 12-17 This is my commandment:  love one another, as I have loved you .  A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends, if you do what I command you.  I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master's business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.  You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last;  and then the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name.  What I command you is to love one another . Source: The Jerusalem Bible How should we love one another? At this morning's daily Mass, our parish priest, Fr. Walter Tabios, preached about the quality of love that God asks of his friends.  He cited four types of love, all of which are anything but egotistical or self-serving. You may read the rest

RADIO: Mothers and Mother's day!

A lot of our Bezalel Book titles are free on Kindle today! We hope you will take advantage of this great offer. Catholic Family Bootcamp Our Jewish Roots: A Catholic Woman's Guide to Fulfillment Today Ten Commandments of Lifting Weights Tending the Temple: 365 Days of Physical and Spiritual Devotions The Rosary Workout A Body in Prayer Please tell your friends and family, too!  Happy Reading:-)

The Last Supper , El Greco, c.1568 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)  Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)   Gospel John 15:9-17 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) Jesus said to his disciples: ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have

I rarely--if ever--sign up for newsletters; so when I discovered this great new site about healthy eating, I found myself stunned to be signing up to receive the weekly newsletter!  After years and years of ill health, I've recently begun an anti-yeast diet in the hope that this will be the answer that I've been seeking. The diet is not easy, even though I've always been a fairly "healthy" eater. You discover that the things you eat are filled with ingredients that are either full-out harmful or are questionable at best. Anyhow, within a month of starting this diet (which really shouldn't be using the word "diet" as much as changes to eating habits), I lost 10 pounds. Now I know that sounds great but believe me, I'd rather weigh that extra 10 pounds and feel good--but I digress. One thing I found very difficult on this diet was the lack of sweets; but Whole New Mom has some amazing recipes that have worked each time I've made them and

I first wrote about this on my blog a few years ago. When my firstborn was a new baby, I went to a La Leche League meeting to make some new friends and to get some support for my breastfeeding adventure. Within an hour or so I had made friends with another new mom of a baby boy. As we chatted I discovered that her birth experience was almost identical to mine. She had entered the hospital, had her membranes ruptured, pitocin started, and an epidural. The baby was shortly thereafter in fetal distress and an "emergency" C-section (that took an hour before they could get her into an operating room) ensued with delivery of a robust and healthy infant with great APGARs. It was wonderful to find someone else who would speak openly about her experience. She confirmed for me that I was not a terrible, crazy person for not being "just grateful" that I had a healthy baby, and that wishing for a better atraumatic birth experience experience didn't make me neurotic! This

From over at the Ultramontanist , the blog of our pastor Father Paul Beach...   Archbishop Martin John Spalding, the Baltimore Catechism, and Babe Ruth... I had the opportunity to cover a Mass this morning for a brother priest at one of the most historic parishes in our Archdiocese: Holy Name of Mary parish in Calvary, KY. The historian in me was distracted all during the Mass thinking of the significance of this small parish in the Kentucky countryside. It's the home parish of two bishops, John Lancaster Spalding and Martin John Spalding. John Lancaster would go on to be the first bishop of Peoria, Illinois, and be connected with a rather nefarious story involving the Caldwell family of Kentucky. The Caldwell sisters were big contributors to the newly founded Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. They are the namesakes of Caldwell Hall, where I studied canon law for the last three years. Martin John Spalding succeeded Benedict Joseph Flaget to be the second bis

Recent radio show about the role of mothers and "Embracing Motherhood."

LINEN ON THE HEDGEROW: Techniques for Thurible Management : Recently there has been a brief flurry of correspondence between Fathers Finigan (see Fr Tim's account HERE ) and Zuhlsdorf regarding the r... Worth reading for a good chuckle

Motherly wisdom from Blessed Teresa

.   Wine grapes on the vine You will find the full post here .     There is something of interest to Welsh-speaking readers, of whom I know there is at least one, at the end of my post.   I've been having trouble uploading videos on this blog, though not on Bangor to Bobbio , on both Mozilla and Chrome. Internet Explorer is very slow at the moment on my computer. Has anyone else been having similar difficulties?

This afternoon, between work and errands, I stopped by a funeral home a mile or so from the high school where I teach. A young colleague's father had died at age 86 after a long, difficult illness. Along with dozens of my colleagues, I went to pay my respects and to pray for her father's soul before his funeral Mass. As I headed out of the funeral home, I was struck by the idea that such a beautiful and solemn tradition is precious and might one day be a rarity.   Read more here...

Queen of Heaven rejoice, alleluia

Fiftysomething: A poem for St Josephs Day : Limbo by Sister Mary Ada, OSJ The ancient greyness shifted Suddenly and thinned Like mist upon the moors Before a...

The Holy Family with a Bird , Murillo, 1650 I was assigned to Glasgow, Scotland, for five months in 2002. One day I went strolling around St Enoch Centre, a shopping malls in the city centre, and had need to use the men's room. The janitor, who was an immigrant, happened to be there. When I told him that it was the cleanest restroom I had ever seen in a public building anywhere his face lit up.   St Enoch Centre , Glasgow Find out who the Fiddler is and see and hear him play here .

  ...[the sheep]they will hear my voice.... John 10: 16  The Gospel of this Sunday is one of the Good Shepard readings.  What spoke to me in this Gospel is the voice of the Shepard.  The Sheep know his voice and follow him.   If you have toddlers, school children, teens you may have very little triumph getting your children's attention.  Sheep bleat all the time, they are not quite, so how did they ever hear their Shepard let alone be able to tell one Shepherd from all the others?!  We all know how hard it is to get the attention of our own children.   From  Ten Sneaky Ways to Get Your Child's Attention 1. Whisper. If your child shuts out shouting, try whispering. Your child may be intrigued enough by this hard-to-hear approach that she'll turn her attention to it. Saves your voice, anyway. 2. Surprise. Something that makes your child jump -- a clap of the hands, say, or a flicker of lights -- can break attention from one thing and focus it on you. You can take