Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Are you tired of your prayer being a shopping list read to God? Are you yearning for something more meaningful? Read how this image can help you at Contemplative Homeschool.

A just laicism allows religious freedom. The state does not impose religion but rather gives space to religions with a responsibility toward civil society, and therefore it allows these religions to be factors in building up society. Pope Benedict XVI

Audio of this Blog - Click HERE Honoring the Virgin Mary by praying the Hail Mary is like praising God's choice for our Blessed Mother.  Mary never points to herself - she only asked one question and all her other words were pointing to God or Jesus. The honors that God has bestowed on Mary are not Honors that she sought or even asked for. They are honors that God gave to Mary for her humility and obedience to God. God made her Queen of Heaven, and when we proclaim our mother Mary also the Queen of Heaven we are also proclaiming God's goodness in His choice of Mary as the Arc of the Covenant and the first "yes" of our salvation. This is why when we say a Hail Mary, we are not doing any disservice to God the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, but by every Hail Mary we give praise to the most Blessed Trinity's choice of our Holy Mother.

http://www.onlinepsychologydegree.net/2013/01/07/the-times-the-world-ended/ Allison Morris sent us the above piece - any comments or feedback would be appreciated.

Tea at Trianon

"The Lord was baptized, not to be cleansed himself but to cleanse the waters, so that those waters, cleansed by the flesh of Christ which knew no sin, might have the power of baptism. Whoever comes, therefore, to the washing of Christ lays aside his sins" St. Ambrose of Milan This morning we all went to the 9 a.m. Mass, an early one for us. Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the day in which the Church commemorates the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Today was also the day where several eighth graders in our parish, including our son, participated in a Confirmation Commitment ceremony during Mass. Since Confirmation seals the sacrament of Baptism, the timing could not have been better. Read more here...

Rambling Follower: On Pancakes, the Human Person and Prayers for A Pe... :  Three small things happened this afternoon that provoked me into thinking, yet again, about why we're gifted with time on this planet.  ...

Catholic Mom's Cafe: My New EWTN Television Show: Catholic Mom's Cafe! : It's getting exciting! I have been introduced recently to my lovely EWTN producer and we have been plotting and planning to get every detai...

View from the Domestic Church: Bringing Lent Home with Mother Teresa

The Virtual Family  A pertinent article by Randy Hain.

Baptism of Christ , El Greco, painted 1596-1600 ( Web Gallery of Art ) Readings  (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings  (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel  Luke 3:15-16, 21-22   (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."  Full post here .

I had an odd response to the 2012 presidential election: I stopped watching the news. I also stopped reading the news on the Internet. In fact, not a single television show appealed to me and the blackened screen simply became a piece of ubiquitous furniture in the center of the room. At that point I had already abandoned social media such as Facebook and Twitter so I was left with a decent amount of time on my hands. My work as a Catholic publisher took on a new meaning. I was working on Jennifer Frank’s fiction title He Shall Be Peace and I found myself praying for it every moment of my work day. My desire to get solid, entertaining, faith-filled books into the hands of the lay faithful became an obsession. As did my own desire to read. My appetite for books was ravenous. In the month and a half following the election I read well over a dozen books. I read the entire Book of Revelation (Navarre Bible Study version) as well as the entire Gospel of Matthew (N

Greetings, Ladies (and you few gentlemen who are members of or visit this site). Thank you for the privilege of joining you in spreading the Gospel on the internet. I'm Connie Rossini. I'd like to introduce you to my new blog.   Learn how to pray and live the Carmelite way I began writing at http://contemplativehomeschool.wordpress.com in November. Unlike many homeschool blogs, Contemplative Homeschool is not so much about daily life in my family as it is about growing in Christ. I believe the best way to keep our kids Catholic and to educate them in the faith is modeling prayer and virtue for them. I write a lot (about half my posts) about how you can grow closer to Christ. As a former member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS), I write from a Carmelite perspective. Let your homeschool be an outgrowth of your own prayer time I use my own unit studies based on The Golden Children's Bible for daily instruction. I meditate on one of the Bib

Jeffrey Wright uses wacky experiments to teach children about the universe, but it is his own personal story that teaches them the true meaning of life.  

St. Apollinaris

Tea at Trianon

Catholicseeking: The Fifteenth Day of Christmas : Dawn is the time of day in which the first rays of light begin to glimmer, to illumine and dispel the darkness. . . Christ’s actual birth...

Adoration of the Magi , Francisco de Zurbarán, 1639-40 ( Web Gallery of Art ) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel   Matthew 2:1-12   (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it is written by the prophet: 'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for fr

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned "unregulated capitalism" for contributing to world tension, in a new year address to worshippers. The Pope also thanked the world's peacemakers and said humanity had "an innate vocation for peace". The Roman Catholic Church leader  spoke at a Mass  in the Vatican, then greeted a crowd outside St Peter's Basilica. He deplored "hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor". Those "hotbeds" also grew out of "the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism", as well as "various forms of terrorism and crime", he said. The 85-year-old pontiff delivered a prayer for peace to the crowd in St Peter's Square after his homily at Mass. "The peacemakers are many, but they are not loud. As leaven in dough, they raise humanity according to God's plan,&