Association Of Catholic Bloggers

St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, is well known for his voluminous writings, his mind-bending theological and philosophical insights, and the unparalleled beauty of his Eucharistic hymns. And yet, above all else, Aquinas was a man of prayer  - after a mystical experience he had near the end of his life, he declared that all his writings were like "straw" in comparison to this supernatural revelation. Read more here....

Bovine tuberculosis may not be a big problem, if Ministry of Agriculture in Northwest A&F University, Yangling, research pays off. Meanwhile, we may be learning who made Europe look and sound the way it does today: and scientists at the Max Plank Institute discovered how a uniquely-human gene helps our brains grow.... I've seen attitudes toward science and technology shift, quite a bit. I grew up when quite a few folks still thought human ingenuity would solve all our problems: or at least make "the future" a magical place to live.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS IS GOD IN? TO FIND OUT CLICK HERE .

We are just over two weeks in to Lent.  How is it going? On Ash Wednesday, there were posts and pictures all over social media of ash covered foreheads. People everywhere were discussing what they were giving up for the next forty days and what they were going to do to make this Lent a prayerful, sacrificial time. It is easy to get started… …but 40 days is a very long time… …and our attention spans are very short… …and we haven’t even reached day 20 yet! On Ash Wednesday, I stated that I was going to give up my i-phone for six hours a day.   I had originally planned on three hours, but decided that six would be a much bigger sacrifice. I have since discovered... Read more:   http://www.restfulwaters.net/40daysisalongtime/

My friend Sister Mary John Paul wrote an intriguing and thought-provoking article for our Associate newsletter. She let me share it here. Coincidentally (?) it echoes the theme of a book I’m reading now called Becoming Beholders. The book develops the idea that everything, person, and occasion can be a channel of grace, a sacrament. In it a line from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., is quoted: “These things, these things were here and but the beholder/Wanting.” The poet wrote this when he watched a beautiful harvest scene on a lovely day and realized the beauty of it was lost on him as he dwelt on the past and dreaded the future. Enjoy Sister’s thoughts! Click to continue

From  The Gospel of John  (2003) directed by Philip Saville Gospel   John 2:13-25  The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.    In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” continue reading the gospel Christ Driving the Moneychangers from the Temple   Rembrandt, c.1626. Pushkin Museum, Moscow [ Web Gallery of Art ] In 1990 I went to renew my driving lice

I don't have a bucket list, per se. Sure, there are things I'd like to do, but I won't feel my life a failure if I don't get to do them.  However, I have formulated what I call my "Million Dollar Plan."  These are the things I would do, if I ever were handed a million dollars. Read more at Veils and Vocations .

In our study of Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle , we have come to the end of the third mansions, the end of the Purgative Way. The fourth mansions begin the second stage of the spiritual life, the Illuminative Way. How are these stages different? Souls in the Purgative way are beginners–yes, even those in the third mansions. They may be very zealous about following God, but they have not yet advanced very far. Thus far they have been combating sin and attachment with the ordinary grace God gives Christians. They have had to work hard. But eventually they come to a place where that is no longer enough. They have advanced as far as they can without greater help. Then God steps in and begins to cleanse them himself. Pere Marie-Eugene writes: We come now to the souls that are in the first three Mansions, or in the first phase of the spiritual life. To say that there is in them a mystical life would be formally to contradict Saint Teresa who characterizes this phase b

Order Online! Pope Francis encourages us to pray from the heart. In his Message for Lent 2015, he invokes the Sacred Heart of Jesus: During this Lent, then, brothers and sisters, let us all ask the Lord: "Fac cor nostrum secundum cor tuum": Make our hearts like yours (Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus). In this way we will receive a heart which is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent or prey to the globalization of indifference. I'm guessing a bunch of us have never seen--let alone prayed--the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so let's get to it! Some words may be unfamiliar, so use the handy little glossary as needed. Join me at  Praying with Grace   to discover the version  available  from the Apostleship of Prayer, which accommodates group prayer or inspires profound  private prayer, just you and Jesus.

A good self-mortifying exercise for Lent?  Look no further than your local self-publishing site. Actually,   Smashwords    publishing  is  wonderful, explaining every step with diagrams and in ordinary terms  in a  Smashwords Style Guide. . .but I am a technological idiot. After days of fumbling, forcing myself to work as if I was technologically intelligent, I finally self-published a short, free e-book on Smashwords.  The bonus of this ordeal is now, if anyone is stuck while trying to self-publish, just ask me..I made all the mistakes.    continue reading Link to  Echoes of the Divine “Melanie Juneau—motherofnine9—knows that a woman’s ground of creativity lies as close as her child’s heart. In her delightful stories and memories of mothering nine children, she shows how a Christian mother bathed in love brings all the power and light embodied in her faith to that most important sphere of hope, the family. ”— Isabel Anders, author of Blessings and Prayers for Married Couples 

LIES                                                                TRUTH You are not worthy.                                        You are worthy.  I died for you.   You are not loved.                                          I died because I love you.   No one  loves you.                                           I AM your Father.  I love you.   You are alone.                                                 With Me, you are never alone. Read More at:  His Unending Love

Does God know it's March and Spring should be here soon? It's March 1st and another snowstorm is sweeping across the eastern United States. It's cold and snowy and bitter outside, and if I could have reached through my dashboard to the Christian DJ who predicted "gusty breezes in the week ahead," I might have shaken him pretty good. "Gusty breezes???" Who is he kidding. The euphemism isn't fooling any of us this far into the season. And euphemisms weren't the only thing from some long past English class that floated through my head this morning. It's March 1st, and I'm also reciting the cliche, March comes in like a lion, but goes out like a lamb,  as if saying it will make it come true, but while I'm saying it, I'm really thinking,  "blah blah blah,"  as I wonder yet again how many more days I'll have to turn up the heat in the morning and how many more times we'd wait to hear whether school wil

This March is the 500 th   anniversary of the birth of Saint Teresa of Ávila, Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church. One of her legacies to the Church is her teaching about prayer. In Teresa’s final book,  The Interior Castle , written near the end of her life, she summarized her life of prayer. In it she imagined that her growth in love of God had been a journey from the outskirts of a crystal castle to its center, inhabited by her King. The castle image with its many rooms symbolized her soul. The King was God who beckoned Teresa to come to him and to be spiritually united with him. Responding to her King’s call meant that Teresa first had to leave the dark, cold, noisy place outside the castle, where she spent so much time. Steadfast prayer was the key to unlock the castle door. Once inside she prayed faithfully. Quietly and persistently Teresa traveled through the castle’s rooms, each representing a stage of growth in her personal relationship with God. Read the rest a

I shared a powerful video  by Ascension Press called " Will You Follow"  a few weeks ago. It is a dramatic, vocation video aimed at teens, part of a soon-to-be-released five-part series called Altaration designed to enliven teens with a love and enthusiasm for the Mass. This 3-minute trailer for Altaration is  extremely moving, thrilling actually. Mark Hart speaks in the power of the Holy Spirit. His words rang in my heart and lifted my spirits with fresh insights into the true meaning of the Mass. His words cast a fresh light on what is really happening on the altar and lit a new fire of love for the Father, Christ and the Eucharist within me . The video shows flashes of other young people and priests, real men, real role models who will appeal to teens. continue reading

Each time I say a deeper yes to God, I battle thoughts about what to expect. Will a giant cavern suddenly open up beneath my feet? Will I be asked to hike barefoot through burning deserts? I really should know better by now. Funny that I seldom consider (when I'm uttering deeper yeses) the truth that God's will is always for my good.... (click here to continue...)   Painting: Jules Cyrille Cave

Once in a while I run into the notion that emotions, particularly strong or unpleasant ones like anger, are bad — or 'beastly,' not something people should experience. Reality check. Emotions are part of being human. There's something seriously wrong with someone who lacks emotions. It can be a sign of hebephrenia , or other serious disorders. We may seem less emotional as we mature: but that's because most of us learn how to manage our emotions. Or mismanage them.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Are you a night worrier? My mother has never had any trouble falling asleep at night. But once in a while, if she’s unlucky enough to wake up during the night, that’s it for sleeping. She calls them “racing thoughts.” Turning, churning, and tumbling in her mind at a pace that won’t stop. What is it about the middle of the night that things always seem so dire? We awake with a feeling of dread. A worry that seemed small during the day seems to blow up in the dark of our bedroom. Taking on a menacing shape. Like that monster from our childhood, threatening to creep out and grab us in our sleep. Larger problems seem insurmountable, even hopeless.         Read more

Transfiguration of Christ , Paolo Veronese,1556, Cathedral of Santa Maria, Montagnana, Italy  Gospel   Mark 9:2-10      Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,   and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one   on earth could bleach them.   And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.   Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,   one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”   He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.     Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved;   listen to him!”   Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. continue reading Bishop Edward Galvin (1882 - 1956) After his ordination in 1909 for his native Diocese of Cork in the sou

In preparation for Mass this weekend, Father Steven LaBaire of Holy Family Parish in Worcester offers his insight on the gospel reading: "In the ancient world, the journey up a mountain often symbolized “enlightenment” or “seeing” things in a “new” or different way from previously. In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus takes his students (disciples) up a very high mountain. (Mark 9:2-10)" Click here to continue.

(from The Breadbox Letters)