Association Of Catholic Bloggers

A Woman's Place...: 7 Quick Takes Friday : --- 1 --- Mae Bae has these days that you really have to see to believe.  They're the days when she wakes up and thinks "what can I ...

My Domestic Church: Simple Woman : Outside my window ... I am thinking... about lessons learned from my Aunt Opal. For many years,  Mr. Pete and the kids and I spen...

Rooted in Love: Our Calling as Catholic Women: Exceeded My Expectations : 5.0 out  Rooted in Love: Our Calling as Catholic Women is not quite the book I expected it to be. This particular book exceeded my expe...

The Collect Prayer from The Traditional Mass: "We humbly entreat Thy Majesty, O Lord: that as the blessed Apostle Andrew was once a teacher and ruler of Thy Church: so he may be a constant advocate for us before Thee." [Fr B] Andrew was St. Peter’s brother, and was called with him. "As [Jesus] was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is now called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him" (Matthew 4:18-20). John the Evangelist presents Andrew as a disciple of John the Baptist. When Jesus walked by one day, John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus. "Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’

Before my feet touched the floor on January 1 st , 2012, I offered a simple prayer: Please Lord, before the year is over, find me where you want me to be . Up to that point, I had been suffering from a decades-long chronic condition and although imagined health in my future, that morning I offered every cell in my body to the Lord. I just wanted to serve Him and His kingdom. If He wanted me to be healthy, so be it. If He had other plans, so be it. From that point on, all hell broke loose. The first Friday in January, I was on-air when I had an “episode” and was forced to hang up quite abruptly and was immediately taken to the emergency room by my husband. I’ve got to admit, there is nothing quite as humbling as having to hang up during an interview on a national radio show because the room is spinning and the floor seems to be at a 45 degree angle and you are crawling for help. I suffered more physical problems over the next few months than I had in the previous years

My name is Natalie and I blog over at "Here I am the Handmaid of the Lord" To sum up the reason why I started blogging.. I am defiantly I blog reader. For some reason I love reading about the lives of people even though I don't know them. Although I love this, it is really hard to find blogs about young, single, passionately Catholic people. So then I thought "well I fit into that category, I should start blogging again" (by again I mean really start because two posts don't really constitute as a blogger). Well then of course I wondered what the heck would I write about. Again another idea "I love reading about people's everyday normal lives not always about their out of ordinary stuff" And thus it came full circle. I plan on writing blogs hopefully with lots of pictures of just the ordinary stuff I do each day. Things about my life as nursing student, as a student at Franciscan University of Steuvenville, as a young lady striving to follo

Revving Up for Advent and Christmas

Sunday Readings for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King, November 25, 2012, Year B

Six new cardinals: various birettes, tears and African cheers in St. Peter's Basilica

Catholicseeking: St. John Berchmans : This young saint of the Society of Jesus was born in Flanders, the oldest of five children. He grew up in an atmosphere of political turm...

It's fall, the leaves have changed color to a fascinating array of oranges, yellows, reds, and browns.....my colors.  I'm a fall girl, a rusty, copper-colored hair girl with blue eyes and mid to light skin that burns easily in the summer months.  Autumn weather just calls to me for a hike, or a walk, or just a visit to the garden. Besides the cooler weather, the festivities in the fall are amazing.  A few weeks after schools start up and the flurry of buying school supplies and the smell of newly sharpened pencils have passed, the days begin to rush by in a furry.  All the while the landscape quietly transforms into their fall attire, quietly.  Before you know it, Halloween is upon us and the kids are all making their plans with friends about their "trick or treat" adventures.  Our family goes to the local pumpkin patch and each family member picks a pumpkin to carve the night before the big day.  In the past, I've made Irish soul cakes and salad fo

The Breadbox Letters: Comes the Winter.. : “I see that all the seasons are to be found in your soul ; for at on e time you feel the winter of sterility, distractions, disgust, and ...

The Breadbox Letters: Find Me, O Lord : Find me, O Lord!  I am lost except in You.

Peter Robinson: "A majority of Protestants and Catholics alike support our constitutional position within the United Kingdom" Continue reading the main story Related Stories NI leader hails cross-border link Irish minister at DUP conference Irish PM in Enniskillen ceremony Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson has said he believes a majority of Catholics now support Northern Ireland staying within the UK. Speaking at his party's annual conference, the DUP leader said the peace process had helped to secure Northern Ireland's place in the UK. Sinn Fein are pushing for a referendum on keeping the union as Scotland is. Mr Robinson said the result would not be in doubt, and said republicans "should take the hint". He compared Sinn Fein's push for a vote to "turkeys voting for Christmas". Mr Robinson also paid tribute to the Royal Family and said: "Long may you reign over us. God save the Queen." He described the

Deacon Gerry's Blog: Stop telling God how big your storm is. Instead, t... : THE BLESSING OF THORNS Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes as she pushed against a November gust and the florist shop door. Her lif...

Deacon Gerry's Blog: May the world be kind to you...

With just over a month to go before Christmas, the Pope has declared that the presence of animals like cattle and donkeys in traditional Nativity scenes is based on little more than a myth. The inclusion of domestic animals in the Nativity scene may have been inspired by pre-Christian traditions   Photo: ALAMY By  Nick Squires , Rome 7:32PM GMT 20 Nov 2012 251 Comments As churches and families around the world prepare to dust off their Nativity figures for the festive season,  Benedict  writes in a new book on Christ that contrary to popular belief, Jesus's birth was not presided over by oxen, asses, camels or indeed any other beasts. "There is no mention of animals in the Gospels," he wrote in the third and last volume of his biography of Jesus Christ, which like the previous two books is expected to become an international best-seller, with an initial print run of a million copies. The inclusion of domestic animals in the

The entire Christian calendar is based on a miscalculation, the Pope has declared, as he claims in a new book that Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly believed. The Pope also weighs in on the debate over Christ's birthplace   Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP By  Nick Squires , Rome 4:02PM GMT 21 Nov 2012 2110 Comments The 'mistake' was made by a sixth century monk known as Dionysius Exiguus or in English Dennis the Small, the 85-year-old pontiff claims in the book 'Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives', published on Wednesday. "The calculation of the beginning of our calendar – based on the birth of Jesus – was made by Dionysius Exiguus, who made a mistake in his calculations by several years,"  the Pope  writes in the book, which went on sale around the world with an initial print run of a million copies. "The actual date of Jesus's birth was several years before." The asse

From  The Gospel of John  (2003)   Directed by Philip Saville. Jesus played by Henry Ian Cusick; narrator, Christopher Plummer.  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  John 18:33b-37  (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) Pilate said to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world." Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a

Revving Up for Advent and Christmas

Nov 21, About Today for Presentation of Mary

Humblepiety: His Spoken Voice : His Spoken Voice His spoken voice pierced the f...

Humblepiety: I Stand and Knock! : The first “task” a priest has to do is to be a believer and to become one ever anew and ever more. Faith is never simply there automatic...

One of the hardest things about Thanksgiving Day, and then of course the Christmas holidays, is dealing with loss and grief. It's just difficult to be in the holiday season when you are still dealing with sadness over the death of a loved one, loss of a marriage or other changes in life that take us away from our traditions and ties to the past. But there are ways to make the holidays bearable and even pleasant.  Here are some things that have worked for me in the past.  1. Grieve. Take the time to be sad, angry, quiet or talkative about the lost loved one. I really think we do grief badly in this country. It's almost as if the day after the funeral, life should be back to normal, but for someone who has lost a dear friend or a loved one, that "normal" life is over and it takes time to find out what the new normal is.  2.  The same will be true for families after a divorce, or a serious illness, or for family with loved ones not able to be with them for the holida