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Want to Listen instead of Read? Here is an Audio of the Following Posting =============================== When we take Holy Communion (note the word "Holy") - do we think about what we are doing? Do we prepare for the most  important act we can ever do in our entire lives? Yes, I said the MOST important act you can ever do in your entire life, greater than any stature you may attain or any choices that you make in life.   You are taking into yourself, the Body, (Not bread - it is no longer bread, it is our Lord Jesus in the hidden form - but no less real.) Why do the Eucharistic miracles find the heart muscle when the Eucharist is examined? (See link at bottom of posting). Are we not taking His very heart into ourselves?  It is His Blood - his true and real blood that He shed for love for us and now we take at Holy Mass.  His soul...wow, that one gets me.  A touching of His soul with ours which fail Him in so many ways, what love is this!  And finally His Divinity...

17 December / Advent Calendar / Featured / Home / Catholic News - The Catholic Church for England and Wales

"Like a secret told by angels, getting known upon the earth, is the Mother's expectation of Messiah's speedy birth."    F. Faber, "Our Lady's Expectations" 

17 December / Advent Calendar / Featured / Home / Catholic News - The Catholic Church for England and Wales

As a public school teacher in the United States, I am accustomed to lock-down drills. In fact, as it happened, we had one Friday. We have one once a month, as the state of New Jersey requires. We have "non fire evacuations" and "lockdowns" and "active shooter" drills. The teens in my care know what to do; we turn off the lights, we lower the shades, we huddle in a corner and we stay quiet and we wait until the all clear. I can see from the news coverage that those kindergartners and their teachers were trained too, on how to deal with a shooter in the building.... Read more here...

Sunday, December 16, 2012 Pope: prayers at Angelus for victims of Connecticut school massacre (Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the victims of Friday’s mass murder of school children in Newtown, Connecticut on Sunday. Speaking in English to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus with him on this third Sunday in Advent, the Holy Father renewed expressions (first offered on Friday in a Message of condolence to the Diocese of Bridgeport, of which Newtown is part) of his profound grief over the incident, as well as his promises of prayers for the victims and spiritual closeness to their families. The Pope went on to call all the faithful everywhere to renew their prayer and action in favour of the cause of peace. Below, please find the full text and audio of Pope Benedict's English remarks: ************************************** I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Angelus. I was deeply saddene

Thoughts on Grace: Rejoice! : Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people. - Luke 3:18  The Third Sunday of Advent is Guadete Sunday. Guadete...

Q uestion:  What Is Gaudete Sunday? Certain Sundays throughout the  liturgical year  have taken their names from the first word in Latin of the Introit, the entrance antiphon at Mass. Gaudete Sunday is one of these. Answer:  Gaudete Sunday is the Third Sunday of  Advent . (See the Liturgical Calendar for Advent  to find the date of Gaudete Sunday this year.) The Introit for Gaudete Sunday, in both the  Traditional Latin Mass  and the  Novus Ordo , is taken from Philippians 4:4,5: " Gaudete in Domino semper " ("Rejoice in the Lord always"). Like  Lent , Advent is a penitential season, so the priest normally wears  purple vestments . But on Gaudete Sunday, having passed the midpoint of Advent, the Church lightens the mood a little, and the priest may wear rose vestments. The change in color provides us with encouragement to continue our spiritual preparation—especially prayer and fasting —for  Christmas . For this same reason, the third candle of the  Advent

The murder of 26 innocents in a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school and the suicide of the shooting suspect are evils I am unable to absorb. I struggle to even pray about this. Words feel inadequate. Instead, yesterday and today, I have tried to make my actions my prayers, focusing on the children put in front of me: my own children, their friends, and the dozens of students I teach. Is this self-absorption?  Keep Reading...

Moving Closer To The Crib

Reposted from: Costing Not Less Than Everything I posted this painting in another post and wanted to write more about what I thought and felt about it. This is a domestic scene, first and foremost – quotidian and earthbound. The dwelling is dark, probably cold, draughty and damp.  Rembrandt painted several similar pictures of the Holy Family, in which the relative meanness of the surroundings contrasts with domestic warmth and love. Saint Joseph is, as is often the case,  back in the shadows, an older, shaded, quieter figure. The Madonna and Child are always foregrounded. That was the convention of the times – but he is not redundant.  Joseph is working at his trade (and there is rather a nice rendition of a drill hanging on the wall). Whatever the artistic convention, Venerable Fulton Sheen contends that the common conception of Joseph as an older, less powerful man than the conventional young Jewish husband of the day is incorrect. He describes Joseph as youn

Moving Closer To The Crib

reposted from: Costing Not Less Than Everything . The Last Communion of Saint Lucy – Tiepolo A Nocturnal Upon Saint Lucy’s Day, Being the Shortest Day –  John Donne ‘TIS the year’s midnight, and it is the day’s, Lucy’s, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks;     The sun is spent, and now his flasks     Send forth light squibs, no constant rays;             The world’s whole sap is sunk; The general balm th’ hydroptic earth hath drunk, Whither, as to the bed’s-feet, life is shrunk, Dead and interr’d; yet all these seem to laugh, Compared with me, who am their epitaph. Study me then, you who shall lovers be At the next world, that is, at the next spring;     For I am every dead thing,     In whom Love wrought new alchemy.             For his art did express A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull privations, and lean emptiness; He ruin’d me, and I am re-begot Of absence, darkness, death—things which are not. All others, from all things,

My Domestic Church: An interesting look at the Lady of Guadalupe Image... : -->

Pope Benedict XVI blessed the possibilities of social media last year but warned it may lead to isolation. 'The Pope's presence on Twitter is a concrete expression of his conviction that the Church must be present in the digital arena,' the Vatican said. 'This initiative is best understood in the context of his reflections on the importance of the cultural space that has been brought into being by the new technologies ... the Pope's presence on Twitter can be seen as the 'tip of the iceberg' that is the Church's presence in the world of new media,' it said in a statement. Read more:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246890/Pope-Benedict-XVI-tweets-time-Dear-friends--I-bless-heart.html#ixzz2Ess18nkv Follow us:  @MailOnline on Twitter  |  DailyMail on Facebook

Our priest, Father Eric Augenstein will be leaving us soon, this is our last Christmas that we will celebrate with him.  I am finding it difficult to convey what I am feeling at this time.  First I am happy that the will of God is being done, for His will is always perfect.  Although I am sad at Fr. Eric's leaving, I know this is selfish so I will turn these feelings to prayer of protection for him and for what he must do in the days ahead.  How can I thank you, you gave me everything I ever wanted.  You gave me the Holy Mass, the pearl of great price.  One day in the confessional you gave me the foreshadow of  heaven.  I told Father I loved the Holy Mass and I asked him if there was Mass in heaven, and he said, "Mass IS heaven."  I was overwhelmed with joy and hope!  As I walked out of the confessional I turned to him and said, "Thank you Father, you made my day...twice." (I had just gotten the sacrament of reconciliation!)  How do you thank a

Rooted in Love: Our Calling as Catholic Women: Rooted in Love Blog Tour: Day # 10 : E komo mai! (Welcome!) to our stopover for Donna's book tour! It is very exciting to be able to participate in this book promotion be...

St Boniface and the Christmas tree What does a Devon Saint who was born in the 7th century have in common with the tradition of the Christmas tree? We all know the story of how Queen Victoria's consort Albert brought the tradition of Christmas trees to England from Germany but how did the tradition begin there? According to one legend the famous Devon Saint, St Boniface, was the creator of the very first Christmas tree. In the early part of the 8th century, St Boniface was sent into Germany as a missionary, with an aim of converting the pagans to Christianity. St Boniface was later to become the patron saint of brewers, so sending him to beer loving Germany may well have been a masterful mission. He worked tirelessly in the country destroying idols and pagan temples across Germany and building churches in their place. He was named Archbishop of Mainz and founded or restored the diocese of Bavaria. It was on this trip, around the time of Winter Solstice, that h

Rooted in Love: Our Calling as Catholic Women: Rooted in Love Blog Tour Day # 9 : How many books begin with an invitation to a slumber party? This one does! Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle’s richly personal, but powerfully...