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Daniel diSilva sent me a video that he made with Kristen VonBerg ( www.kristenvonberg.com ) about a San Diego parish that conducts a summer camp where children learn to sing Gregorian Chant. They are not so much promoting the camp itself as much as the ancient art of singing the ancient music of the Church. ​ ​ New 2000 Year-Old Summer Camp Tradition At a Catholic Church ​in San Diego, children as young as 8 years old are learning the ancient art of singing Gregorian Chant while attending a fun, activities-packed, musical summer camp. Campfire sing-a-longs may never be the same! Under the direction of former opera performer Mary Ann Carr-Wilson, the young campers study and sing the traditional music of the Latin Rite - particularly Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony. Listen to these comments from the youtube site:  I am so impressed, enchanted (!) by the voices of these kids in San Diego, and would love to expand this beautiful tradition so that everybody coul

Hi All!  My real name is Ann Frailey but I go by the author title A.K. Frailey for no other reason than I thought it might be a little more memorable.  Little did I realize that about half the authors now-a-days use their initials and books are now presented to readers by a veritable alphabet soup of names.  Oh well, always trying to stay head of the curve - I once again managed to trip over the obvious:  It isn't the name that makes the writer, but the writing that makes the name! Besides being an author I am also a mother.  Should I restate that? Yeah, probably.  Lets say - Besides being a full time mother, I sometimes find a moment or two to scrape a couple of thoughts together and actually write them down.  There, much more honest.  I feel better now. While I'm in the business of being a mother, I also love to teach.  Uhmmm, how awkward.  How about: As a mother of 8, I find teaching a relatively safe way to save my sanity.   Yes, that works.  So, you get it now.  I am

This quote is the opening portion of a beautiful prayer to be recited during the Liturgy of the Hours, Morning Prayer on the Solemnity of Pentecost. The line "with the power of a mighty wind" has always given me pause. By inviting the Holy Spirit into our lives, things will never be the same.  A mighty wind's power transforms the landscape in ways that cannot be imagined in advance.  This Pentecost, let us ask the Father to send the Spirit to transform our lives according to his good plan!  Click here for more Pentecost Quotes!

Writing a book on saints, I’ve come to realize how much they have suffered. You would think that a person who lived a good life and loved God would be blessed with a peaceful, easy life. So often this wasn’t the case. Instead of enjoying a charmed life, saints endured conflict, criticism, persecution, not to mention bad health. Sound familiar? If this is the story of your life at times, take heart. You must be doing something right! Recall when St. Teresa of Avila was riding a mule and ended up sitting in mud. She prayed, “If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!” Jesus did warn us that in following him we could expect persecutions and a share of the cross. To continue

    'Never utter in your neighbours' absence what you would not say in their presence.' St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi       Painting:  Edward Henry Potthast, in US public domain due to age

I believe God's greatest plan for us is to perfect us in love. We are called to love God and love others with Christlike sacrifice and abandon. In order to get to this place we need to be able to abide in God's love (John 15:1-9). The way we abide in God's love is through contemplation which should be the ultimate goal of all prayer. Contemplation is a state of beholding God and union with him. Through contemplation we encounter God. It is ultimately a gift but we can place ourselves in a state that is best able to receive this gift and then it is ultimately a work that God does in us as we surrender to him more completely.   Continue Reading >

1. God loves you.  No matter who you are.  No matter what you do.  God loves you.  He will never not love you.  He will never stop loving you.  God loves you. “ Can a woman forget her child…?     Even if these may forget…,     I will not forget you. I have carved you on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49: 16 2. Even if life is challenging, you are alive.  You still have a chance to make things right or good.  You can still make this world a better place in which to live. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5: 14-16 Read more at:: His Unending Love .

I don’t usually write a post showcasing another blogger’s post, but this one is worth it. My friend Brittany from The Lily Field, wrote a refreshing, and humorous post proving that it’s possible to raise a child without spending almost $250,000 per child as they grow. Head over and read  Brittany’s post  – you’ll get some good laughs and food for thought and, if you’re like those of us that will NEVER have $250,000 to spend per child, you’ll know you aren’t alone. Brittany’s post got me to thinking more about how society views children. The whole concept of trying to determine how much a child costs and whether or not they are affordable is pretty nervy of CNN and the Department of Agriculture, if you ask me! The assumption that a parent should calculate the cost of a child that way implies that the child is a commodity. Head over to Eyes On Heaven to finish reading the post!

When I asked which Bible verse makes people feel most loved, the answers were surprising. Very few verses mentioned love at all. Many people were deeply affected by descriptions of Jesus' agony, suffering, and death on the Cross to save us. Others were amazed by all God had promised to give to us and how close he had to be, how far he had to stoop, to give us these gifts. But everyone had a different favorite. It made me realize how intensely each line of the Bible speaks to us. God's strength and love shine through his Word with the power to pierce every human heart. Read more here

Allegory of Virtues and Vices We’ve been delving into temptations coming from the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Last week we discussed demonic temptations in detail. Today, we’ll examine temptations of the flesh and how to combat them. We saw that people with melancholic or choleric temperaments tend to be more prone to the temptations that come directly from the Devil: pride, envy, and anger. Temptations of the flesh particularly plague the other two temperaments. More specifically, sanguines often struggle with gluttony and sins against chastity. Phlegmatics  struggle with sloth. (I will be writing more about the four classic temperaments throughout this year. I am creating a spiritual growth plan for you to use with your children of each temperament.) As I have said before, the flesh can be the most relentless of the three sources of temptation. While the Devil may leave us alone for a time, and we can shut out the world to a certain extent, we can never ge

As someone who used to be very much not-Catholic, first as a Protestant child/adolescent and then an atheist adult (a  very  liberal atheist adult), I have had a lot of misconceptions about Catholic dogma in my lifetime. As a young person, I thought that Catholics worshiped Mary and/or the pope, that all their churches were named after saints (though I had no real understanding of what a saint is), and that it was silly for them to confess to a priest when they could just confess directly to God through prayer. As an adult, I still thought all those things, and also that Catholics were anti-woman, backwards-thinking, guilt-inducing prudes. Granted, I kind of thought this of all Christian religious groups, but maybe Catholics in particular. My, how things have changed.   Read the rest HERE .

by Ann Chapin We sang this worship song at a mass a week ago and now it plays in the back of my mind almost  continually. The words and melody are not in my everyday conscious mind but when I stop talking, reading, writing or even as soon as I wake-up, there it is playing within me. It as if my subconscious, my inner spirit is singing these words to God. . This is the sort of hymn that I love. I really don’t want to sing about God or about what we are going to do for him. No, I need to sing TO God, heart to heart, spirit to spirit.  . Perhaps  God is giving me a small taste of what Jesus promised us when he said in John 4: 23,24: 23  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.   24  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” continue>

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I am pretty much done with this one now.  I've always loved the Original by Fra Bartolomeo, which you can see  here .  I've left out the figure at the far right (Mary Magdalene), and actually I prefer Bartolomeo's original composition to this, but this was just an experiment to see what could be made to fit in this shape. I've not seen any Lamentation where the figures are arranged so naturally and tenderly as in Bartolomeo's.  John the Beloved holding up Christ's torso, with Mary embracing his head and arm...it seem you can sense the motion of them laying him down on the slab. I love just gazing at this.  There's a larger version  here.

Much as we would love for our kids to pass through life without ever being hurt or offended, that’s not possible. At one point or another, usually starting from a very young age, our kids are going to be in situations that require forgiveness. This works in both ways. They need to learn how to forgive; they also need to learn how to accept forgiveness from others. As parents, we need to have a thorough understanding ourselves of what forgiveness means in order to teach it effectively to our children. The phrase “forgive and forget” is often used to sum up the act of forgiving, but doesn’t actually touch upon the nature of forgiving at all. Forgiveness is much more nuanced than simply letting go and moving on. Forgive and forget is often presented as a Christian philosophy of forgiveness to the extent that many people believe it is something from the Bible. It’s not. Heaven for the 5 ideas to teach your kids about forgiveness.

“As the wall remains the same however many shadows pass across it, and as the looking glass remains the same however many changes of expression it reflects, so the soul that is held fast in God remains uninfluenced by the waving shapes and images that come and go.” (Dom Hubert Van Zeller) (continue ..)

(From Dosso Dossi, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) ("The Ascension," by Dosso Dossi /Giovanni di Niccolò de Luteri.) This is one of my favorite bits of the Bible: " 8 The eleven 9 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.   " teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 13 And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." ( Matthew 28:16 - 20 ) So, for slightly different reasons, is this: " When they had gathered together they asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time going 4 to restore the kingdom to Israel?'   " They said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.' " ( Acts 1:6 - 11 ) Acts 1:11 reminds me of stories where, after the general's address, a sergeant says 'you heard the orders: Mov

So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your pr esence before the world existed. Andrea Mantegna-1462 Salvador Dalí. The Ascension of Christ  see more images>

This is a piece in-progress with the focus on creating the sense of light, and the style being something the secular world would not reject.  So I figured I would post it for Ascension Sunday.

Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter 2014: Acts 8:5 - 8 , 14 - 17 1 Peter 3:15 - 18 John 14:15 - 21 Sixth Sunday of Easter 2014 By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas May 25, 2014 In an anonymous e-mail, we are told a story we need to hear on this Memorial Day weekend. It's about an old man and his wife sitting in the parking lot of a supermarket. The hood is up on their car. Evidently they were having engine problems. A young man in his early 20s with a grocery bag in his arms walks in the direction of the older couple. The older gentleman emerges from his car and takes a few steps in the young man's direction. He points to the open hood and asks the young man for assistance. The young man puts his grocery bag into his expensive SUV, turns back to the old man and yelled at him: "you shouldn't even be allowed to drive a car at your age." And then with a wave of his hand, he gets into his car and speeds out of the parking lot. The old gentleman pulls out h

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The Ascension of Christ , Rembrandt, 1638 Alte Pinakotech, Munich [ Web Gallery of Art ] Solemnity of the Ascension  Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                                   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Matthew 28:16-20   ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition , Can) Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.   And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,     and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The readings above are used whether the Solemnity is

Some Catholic Fun : 7 quick takes to make you smile because sometimes we take ourselves too seriously.  "Nothing in man is more serious than his sense of humor; it is the sign that he wants all the truth." Thomas Merton Joy cannot be held at heel . ... means to put our lives in the hands of God, especially in our most difficult moments.” —  Pope Francis , May 23, 2014, via Twitter ... continue>

The church celebrates the Feast of the Visitation on May 31, bringing to a conclusion the month devoted to our Blessed Mother. The account of Mary's Visitation to Elizabeth from Luke's Gospel (Luke 1:39-56) is reflected upon by Catholics in  the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, and I number it as one of my favorite scriptural accounts. Here are seven lessons the actions of Mary and Elizabeth in the Visitation have taught me. Lesson 1:  Put a little pep in your step.   Luke's account of the Visitation opens with the following line: "During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste..." (Luke 1:39). The phrase that always jumps off the page at me is "in haste". Mary went in haste to be of service to her cousin, Elizabeth, whom she had just found out was pregnant in her old age. Let's consider a few things here: First, Mary is pregnant. Second, she didn't jump in her SUV, stop at Dunkin Donuts for an Iced Coffee on

This week’s word is a call to bring more Courage into the way we are relating. With others, with circumstances, and most of all, with ourselves. What does that mean? Below are a few thoughts: Courage is not about BIG, BOLD action. The times I’ve behaved most courageously in my life have involved being still, closing my mouth and opening my heart. Offering Empathy. Listening Fully. Being present for someone who is hurting, angry, confused, can feel uncomfortable. It takes courage to stay in the discomfort and connect deeply with another. You can read some thoughts on how exactly to do this, here . Courage means following your heart. The word courage comes from the Old French corage and the Latin cor, both meaning heart, innermost feelings. If I listen to my mind-chatter going round-and-round long enough, I can talk myself into or out of just about anything. When I choose courage, I get still & quiet in my mind so I can tune into my heart. I think of it as tuning into God’s

A century ago, we didn't realize that mountains fall from the sky at irregular intervals. A century from now, we'll probably be mining asteroids. Today, we're learning that there's much more to learn.... ...Knowledge and Dominion (From ESA/Hubble, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) " Today I would like to highlight another gift of the Holy Spirit: the gift of knowledge . When we speak of knowledge, we immediately think of man's capacity to learn more and more about the reality that surrounds him and to discover the laws that regulate nature and the universe. The knowledge that comes from the Holy Spirit, however, is not limited to human knowledge; it is a special gift, which leads us to grasp, through creation, the greatness and love of God and his profound relationship with every creature.... " (Pope Francis, General Audience . (May 21, 2014)) We live in a beautiful, good, ordered universe: surrounded by wonders which had remained unkn

St. Teresa of Avila and other Contemplatives have commented at various times in their writings how prayer is in some fundamental sense responding to Christ who is looking at us by us standing in the presence of God and looking back.  This is not necessarily an easy thing to do, nor immediately obvious what that ‘looking back’ is supposed to involve concretely. However, one thing St. Teresa does say is to find an image of Christ that moves you, that enables you to connect with him, and don’t be influenced by any of the fads of the culture at the moment. So, what that means in this day is that you can go to the internet to any search engine that supports image searches, and search for things like “Face of Christ” or “Face of Jesus” or something like that and scan through them till you find one that speaks to you, that makes Christ present.  I’ve painted several versions of the face of Christ, but you may like none of them and that’s fine.  If your tradition doesn’t use icons,

Recently I had a conversation with a dear friend of mine. She is a Protestant and she has been burned by most of the churches she has been involved with. She and her husband have encountered numerous people in the Church that have been anything but loving; people that have been caught up in a power trip and their own agendas. Currently they are not involved in any church and she was lamenting to me that they do not know where to go anymore. I encouraged her to seek the truth and seek intimacy with Jesus. I told her the problem with many of the churches she has belonged to is they were starting in the wrong place.     Continue Reading>

On Holy Thursday, Jesus told his disciples, "I call you friends" (Jn 15:15). It's interesting to note that he said this AFTER Jesus had left. Jesus was very merciful and open. He invited EVERYONE to be his friend. He wanted everyone to be his friend. But he knew who he could call his friend and who he couldn't. Teaching our children how to choose their friends wisely from a young age will save them a lot of heartache and confusion when they grow up. On the flip side, this process also instinctively teaches them how to BE a good friend at the same time. Head over to Eyes On Heaven for 7 ways to help your kids learn how to choose good friends.

I prayed for my children. I prayed for Pope Francis. I prayed for priests. I prayed for the priests whom I have spiritually adopted. I prayed the sick. I prayed for the dying I prayed for the Holy Souls in purgatory. I prayed for the young man with the baggy pants walking down the street. I prayed for the woman holding a lit cigarette out the car window as she drove. I prayed for all of us at Mass. I prayed for my family. I prayed for my friends. I prayed for those who are suffering. I prayed for my dog. I prayed for you. Read More at :: His Unending Love