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" Lord, I am Yours.  Lead me where You want.  I come to do Your will.  Let me be Your eyes.  Let me be Your mouth.  Let me Your Hands.  Let me be Your Feet.  I am here.  I come to do Your Will." When the Divine touches you. You will never be the same. You will go to places you never dreamed you'd go. You'll do things you never dreamed you could do. You'll sail seas you never dreamed you'd sail. You will walk in His Footsteps.   Read more at:: His Unending Love

'The more we pray, the more we wish to pray. Like a fish  which at first swims on the surface of the water, and afterwards plunges down and is always going  deeper; the soul plunges,  dives, and loses itself  in the sweetness  of conversing with God.' St. John Vianney   (from The Cloistered Heart)

You've heard this one before: or not. After church, one of the older folks said to the pastor: "you should talk more about sin." The pastor was puzzled, since he'd been talking about nothing but sin for the last few weeks. Then he realized that for this person "sin" was a handful of activities that the person either didn't enjoy, couldn't participate in, or actively disliked. Having well-defined personal preferences is okay. Expecting everyone to share them is unreasonable: Getting them confused with universal principles leads to trouble. I'll be talking about sin. I'm against it, by the way: which may not mean what you think it does. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Say again, please!   “Diet and Nutrition Essential for Mental Health” ? Yes, indeed...  “Evidence is rapidly growing showing vital relationships between both diet quality and potential nutritional deficiencies and mental health,” a new international collaboration revealed… “It is TIME for clinicians to consider diet and additional nutrients as part of the treating package to manage the enormous burden of mental ill health”… >> Click Here to Read More at: The Way to Nourish for Life >> Let us pray: “Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of Your presence, Your love, and Your strength. Help us to have perfect trust in Your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us; for, living close to You, we shall see Your hand, Your purpose, Your will through all things.”–St. Ignatius of Loyola [In honor of young Gabby, whose funeral was today (1/31/2015), may she rest in peace.]

I was fed up being ripped off at motorway service stations. I found the price of ‘tea’ appalling and it invariably tasted like coffee-coloured dishwater. So I bought two 12 volt kettles at a sale and decided to make my own tea in the car. The good news was that it worked. The bad news was that the water took three hours to boil. I was so frustrated that when I returned home I plugged the kettle into the mains for a quick cup of tea. There was a flash, a puff of smoke, followed by the smell of burning and my poor kettle gave up the ghost. I had learnt my lesson – 240 volts into 12 volts will not go. It was the same in the Old Testament, the infinite love of God simply would not go into finite human beings. That’s why nobody could even see God and live, and the very thought of his infinite love entering into our finite human being was therefore total inconceivable.  read on ...

Vatican II can be properly understood only as being in continuity with the church's millennial traditions, not as a radical break with the past . Pope Benedict Man likes to be in control, even of God. Of course,  most of us would deny trying to box in the Almighty because we realize how ridiculous this sounds.  Yet because we really do not like to change, we end up resisting even God.  We like our comfort zone. We especially don't like the rug ripped from under us and that is usually how God must most often snag our attention. God is not stagnant. He is not the God of the past, but God of the present,  alive, a dynamic powerhouse seeking to heal, transform and draw us ever closer to His heart. This week I was wondering why so many Traditionalists are against Vatican II, labelling all the popes which came after as illegitimate and even heretics, especially Pope Francis. When I researched the question, an insightful homily popped up by Pope Francis from May 29,

Today is Thomas Merton's 100th birthday.   Thomas Merton  (January 31, 1915- December 10, 1968) was a Catholic convert who became a Trappist Monk, a writer and even a peace activist.  Why does  Merton still matter ? You can read the rest at Being Catholic ... Really .

St Joseph and the Christ Child , El Greco, c.1600 Museo de Santa Cruz, Toledo, Spain [ Web Gallery of Art They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.   They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.   Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,   and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”   But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”   And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.     They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He   commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”   At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. Remains of the 4th century synagogue, Capernaum [ Wikipedi

I am from an era when everything was closed by 5 PM on Saturday and all day Sunday.  Not a gas station, grocery store, department store or anything else I can think of was open.  Sunday was truly a day of rest and for family. You can read the rest at Being Catholic ... Really .

Humans have hands . So do apes, monkeys, lemurs, and koalas. For that matter, a chameleon's feet look and act a lot like hands. But they don't have precision-grip thumbs that can line up with any finger. We do: and apparently have had a firm grip on tools for over two million years. Scientists had a pretty good idea about how the common ancestor of dinosaurs, crocodiles and alligators, and birds, developed. A quarter-billion-year-old fossil shows that the situation is more complicated than scientists thought.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The darkest month. The sky is mostly gray. The wind is cold. The trees are bare.  The days are short and the nights are long. My  mind fills with memories. My daughter's cancer diagnosis several years ago. My dad's short, final bout with cancer three years ago. Day after day I relive the pain I felt through their struggles. Each day of this month I can tell you what I was doing on this day then.  It is as if no time has passed at all. Some days I feel as if I am lost in the past.  Other days I worry what is out there in my future. I find it difficult to fully embrace the present. I spend my time turning back, looking forward--unsettled. I have lost my focus. I ask my husband if this is all there is.  Struggling to get up in the morning. Going back to bed at night. With little thought of what I have done in between.  To an outsider, I may look still, but my mind is racing. Thinking. Remembering.  To read more:  http://www.restfulwaters.net/january/

'One of the glories of Scripture is that it can embrace many meanings in a single passage.' St. Thomas Aquinas From The Breadbox Letters

Every month, my dear friend Tiffany at Life of a Catholic Librarian and I pair up and share a saint whose feast day is celebrated within the respective month. The saint has to speak to us. This month, I didn't know who I would "adopt". I opened my Magnificat for January, and flipped to read the last pages first, don't you? The artwork is always stunning. There she was, St. Agnes found me. St. Agnes was born c. 291 A.D. Her feast day is January 21st, but before 1970, an additional feast was celebrated on January 28th. More important than when St. Agnes was born was when and how she died. When St. Agnes was thirteen years old, she refused Eutropius, then the son of the prefect of Rome. Eutropius fell in love (some say lust) with the young girl and just had to have her. He tried to win her over with gold and jewels, asking her parents for Agnes' hand in marriage. She flatly refused claiming that she already belonged to someone else. How could this be? How could

Those of us of a certain age will remember the singer,  Perry Como . You can listen to Perry at Being Catholic ... Really .

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With cleaning out my childhood home and house hunting, the concept of home has been on my mind a lot. Where is home? What makes it home? What happens when home is no longer your own? We have been evaluating foreclosures and pursuing real estate listing--often getting side tracked with the absurd, such as the home that is listed so cheaply that it obviously is barely standing but has "tons of potential for those with vision" and the $8 million estate with 15 bedrooms and it's own lake.  So far, nothing has felt right and the homes we have seriously considered have all fallen through for various reasons. Source Read more on Veils and Vocations.

Praise God. Adore God. Acknowledge Him as your Creator. Thank God. Love God. Talk to God. Rest in the presence of God. Sing to God. Love God. Adore God. Read more at:: His Unending Love

“More than one half of an average person’s day is spent being sedentary—sitting, watching television, or working at a computer,” said Dr. David Alter [Senior Scientist, Toronto Rehab...]. Okay, you may want to stand for this… He goes on to say: “It is not good enough to exercise for 30 minutes a day and be sedentary for 23 and half hours.”  [...ah, yes, just like with our spiritual lives] >> Click Here to Read More at: The Way to Nourish for Life >> with simple strategies from Dr. Atler on how to reduce sitting time, plus a little extra motivation to STAND ... in the place where you live ... and work ... think about it. ;) ;)

Since faith influences every part of  Sandra Dettori’s life, she creates religious art. As a Catholic mom and artist, she loves images which bring  glory to God and  blessings to others. Sandra understands that beautiful religious art can uplift our spirit and our thoughts. Through her art, Sandra shares her faith with others and offers her talents to God. read and see more

Vocations being at home - as small seeds planted in the hearts of children, that, with the proper care and feeding can develop into lives of self-giving witness to the Gospel. Parents can and should plant these seeds in their domestic churches. If you are looking for ways to promote an openness to priesthood or religious life in your children, grandchildren, classroom, homeschool group, etc. -  click here   for ideas, resources and prayer support for giving your children a vocations' mindset.