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During the 1950s, space aliens in the movies came in two basic models. Some were invaders — " Plan 9 from Outer Space ," " Earth vs. the Flying Saucers ," and " Invaders from Mars . The title character in " The Thing from Another World " acted like an invader. But I think the Thing's bad attitude might have come from being shot after the humans blew up his ship, and that's another topic. Then there's Klaatu, in " The Day the Earth Stood Still ," who stopped just short of walking on water. Between Klaatu, movies like " Prometheus , and folks who believe space aliens are angels , I'm not surprised that some Christians don't like the idea that we may have neighbors on other planets. As I keep saying, I don't believe that life exists elsewhere in this universe: or that it does not. We don't know, not yet. If we meet folks whose ancestors developed on another planet, I think Brother Guy Consolmago is r

From  The Gospel of John  (2003)    Directed by Philip Saville. Jesus played by Henry Ian Cusick; narrator, Christopher Plummer. [John 6:24-35 is found between 2:36 and 4:24 in the video.] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 6:24-35  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)  When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”   Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.   Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

It has been said that “All roads lead to Rome” and this morning as I awoke, truly my very thoughts turned to Rome. To the many visual and epicurean feasts for the eyes and palate, but also to those moments which speak to our very soul.  At one time distance itself was measured in proportion to Rome, to the  Milliarium Aureum , a monumental marker erected by Emperor Augustus centrally placed in the heart of the city. Dependent and connected through the well constructed Roman roads there seemed little way as a traveler to avoid passing through this jewel of the Empire. Today, we are beckoned here still, to walk in the footsteps of the saints and martyrs that have gone before us and to see where this road is continuing to lead us as a people of faith. With this in mind, I wanted to invite you to reflectively join me on my last pilgrimage to Rome, as part of a series, and to share your insights and impressions as well from each of these incredible sites of early Christianity. Read M

Pluto may have nitrogen glaciers, and the planet's air pressure is much lower than scientists expected. Kepler 452b, "Earth 2.0," isn't the first roughly Earth-size planet found in a star's habitable zone: but the star, Kepler 452, is remarkably similar to our sun. Another planet, HIP 11915b, is the first we've found that's around Jupiter's size: and orbiting its star at about the same distance as Jupiter. This is the first other planetary system that 'looks like' our Solar system. Scientists still haven't found life elsewhere in the universe: but the odds seem to be getting better that we will, eventually.... ...A 'science threatens faith' op-ed got my attention this week, so I wrote about beliefs, reasonable and otherwise, before getting around to the interesting stuff. Feel free to skip ahead to Pluto's Probable Glaciers , take a walk, or whatever suits your fancy.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The older I get, the more I love summer. Despite the fact that I have my own "private" summers, I treasure every day during the summer. You can read the rest of the article at Being Catholic ... Really .

I recently came across this video, "Atheists Who Oppose Abortion." Watch these atheists eloquently speak about being pro-life. To view the video, go to Being Catholic ... Really .

What have you been reading?  I've been reading a lot lately and on a regular basis.  I do that sometimes.  Then other times, I go for long stretches and I don't read anything at all.  I also like to mix it up.  I love fiction, but I also like a variety of other genres.  For a long time I read one western after another. You can read the article and view the photo gallery at Being Catholic ... Really .

Poverty Can Be Eliminated Poverty can be eliminated if we, to whom much has been given, were to share with those less fortunate. Everything that we have comes from the providence of God. Nothing that we think we own, do we actually own, for it could all be taken away in the blink of an eye. Everything belongs to God, and we are merely the stewards of his benefaction. Saint Francis de Sales says: …our possessions are not our own; God has given them to us that we may cultivate them, and it is His will that we should render them useful and fruitful . 1 Therefore, what we do with our surplus matters in the eyes of God. Do we use it for the benefit of others, or do we consume it for ourselves? Read more...

Before the Age of Starbucks and Costa Coffee I used to travel all over the country trying to spread the Good News that I hadn’t really understood myself.   Then, thanks to my aversion to the motorway coffee that looked like sepia soup that tasted like dishwater with a hint of soap suds, I bought two twelve vault kettles at a car boot sale to brew my own in the car. The good news is that it worked, the bad news is that it took two hour to boil and made me lose my temper. As soon as I got home I plugged the kettle into the mains and watched the flash as it went up in smoke. It was as the smell of burning rubber was invading my nostrils that I saw the light, this time it was a spiritual flash of light that enabled me to see what I’d never seen before. Just as I discovered the hard way that 240 volts into 12 volts will not go I simultaneously saw that infinite love into finite love will not go either. That was why, before Jesus came, nobody could get close to God, nobody ever saw him, le

Prayer is as essential to our spiritual life as breathing is to our physical life. It is getting in touch with God, our Creator, and communicating with him. This deepens our relationship with God. We wouldn’t want to arrive at the pearly gates of heaven and have God say to us, “And who are you?” Many of us who know the value of prayer also know that it may be plagued with difficulties. As one woman bemoaned, “I would pray more if I knew how to do it.” Let’s investigate some of the complaints about prayer and possible solutions. Click to continue

It is neither popular nor politically correct to say so, but one of the most important "jobs" Christians have is to save souls. Esmeralda Kiczek's book  The Adoption Movement   approaches the subject with love, dignity and grace. Featured in a recent Catholic Digest article,  The Adoption Movement  addresses the issue of saving souls head on. There's a lot at stake and the business of saving souls--our own as well as others--is something that can't be ignored.

Why does Planned Parenthood need to be funded in the first place?  Don't they make enough money to do their genocide (oops! I mean women's health care) in poor neighborhoods for free? You can read the rest of the article at Being Catholic ... Really .

WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM THE TOILET ROLL? BET YOU WILL IGNORE THIS AND NOT CLICK HERE

Why be a giver? You might be thinking, “Why should I part with my hard earned money and give it to someone else? No one’s done any favors for me?” The short answer is that you do it because Jesus commanded you to when He said “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). How can you love your neighbor as yourself, if you allow your neighbor to do without while you live comfortably? You, in essence, love yourself more than your neighbor. We are all in this together. We are all on the same journey, heading hopefully to the same place – eternal life with Christ. Are you ready to stand before Christ for your particular judgment and answer these questions? Read more...

Touring Chicago's beautiful churches continues with   St. Thérèse Chinese Catholic Church .  It is a church close to my heart as our choir has been singing there since September 25, 2011. You can read the rest of the article and view the photo gallery at Being Catholic ... Really .

In my life-long journey with God, I v grown from,  innocent faith (inheriting it from mom and grand dad as a child) to teenage liberal-Christianity (when I figured out my own convenient brand of Christianity-meets-new age-secular  theology) to reaching a point where my new-age-theology failed me miserably to seeking to know Him to busying myself with activities for His kingdom to a genuine realization that actually I didn't know the person of God And then, there is love:) Read the complete post at J.A.M.

J ohn 6:1-15, from  The Gospel of John  (2003)  Directed by Philip Saville. Jesus played by Henry Ian Cusick; narrator, Christopher Plummer. Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 6:1-15  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)    After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.   A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.     Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.   Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.   When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”   He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.   Philip answered him, “Six months’ wa

(from The Cloistered Heart)

(From NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); ESA/Hubble Collaboration; used w/o permission.) " The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft. " ( Psalms 19:2 ) Genesis 1:1 - 31 says that God created the universe, and us, and found everything "very good." Psalms 19:2 says that the celestial light show declares the glory of God. Who is this message being directed at? More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I understand modern man often glibly, glosses over the atrocity of abortion, justifying it by focusing on the mother and not on what really happens during abortions. There is a place for shock tactics in the battle to save our unborn children.  Yet our society is bombarded by grotesque images of war, starvation and torture; it is almost immune to the  most horrific scenes flashing across the media. Sometimes humour, warmth and humanity gets the point across.   With this thought in my mind. I have collected or created a few pro-life memes which use humour rather than horror to celebrate the miracle of life and birth.  continue

From The Breadbox Letters

Pluto's still in the news, as New Horizons starts sending data from its July 14 flyby. That will take more than a year, but there have already been surprises: including "not easy to explain terrain" near Pluto's equator. Meanwhile, the DSCOVR Solar weather monitor sent back a snapshot of Earth; and Professor Stephen Hawking is supporting a new search for intelligent life in the universe. I think the Royal Society in London's Breakthrough Initiatives group will collect interesting facts while listening for extraterrestrial radio broadcasts. But I also think that our neighbors could easily have been using wireless telegraphy when Oldowan tools were our high tech. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

In honor of NFP awareness week I thought I'd share my journey in NFP. Not an easy one. You will find real honestly here . Blessings, Jen

    I recently decided to dig deeper into understanding Centering Prayer, so I could advise readers on it. I bought Fr. Thomas Keating’s book Open Heart, Open Mind and wrote a review that will appear at SpiritualDirection.com in September. But one blog post was not enough. The errors in this book were so many and so serious, I decided it needed a more thorough response. So I am writing a quick ebook called Teresa of Avila Debunks Centering Prayer. It should be ready for publication in a couple of weeks. Here is an excerpt, on Centering Prayer’s errors about God. It still needs to be edited, so please excuse anything my editor/husband would refer to as “infelicities.” The first error concerns the distinction between God and man. Continue reading at Contemplative Homeschool.

As a child, I had a record that played the song, “Mr. I. Magination.” I believe the first line continued, “the man with the magic reputation.” Our imagination truly is magical.  We thank God for our gifts of sight, hearing, and—especially after a scrumptious meal—taste, but how many of us thank for the gift of imagination?  Recently I heard a homily in which the priest pointed out that imagination is a power of our soul that we share with God. After all, God first imagined the world and us—conceived it in his mind—before he brought it into being! Our imagination helps us to create too. Author Jules Verne imagined things like lunar modules, diving bells, and tasers before they became realities. As Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” No doubt Michelangelo, Monet, and Van Gogh first visualized their masterpieces in their mind’s eye. Click to continue

Touring Chicago's beautiful churches brings us to  St. Viator  located at 4170 W. Addison.  St. Viator was established in 1888 by the clerics of St. Viator and the original site was at Belmont and Crawford (Pulaski). You can see the photo gallery of St. Viator at Being Catholic ... Really .

As a Christian, living in the Mystical Body off Christ, I can choose to live in the joy of the Lord or stay in my misery, isolated from the Spirit of God who dwells within. When I live in my head, I live in a prison of whirling thoughts cut off from others and God. If I go deeper into my being and live in my human emotions, in pain or in self-manufactured “happiness”, I end up stuck as a victim of others and in my sinful, independent self. However, if I allow God to draw me even deeper into my core, united to Him, joy springs up automatically.  Now I exist in a state of effortless prayer connected to God. Living in my spirit , as a child of God, I am in my true self.  continue

Give freely from your wealth to alleviate the suffering of the poor; that is the easiest way to define the virtually unknown virtue of Munificence. A person truly practices Munificence when he/she uses his/her wealth to alleviate the suffering of the poor, while acknowledging the merit of poverty for oneself in regards to eternal life. Remember, you can’t take it with you! As with the virtue of Magnanimity, with Munificence, intention matters. The primary purpose must be to alleviate the suffering of the poor; to address poverty. If the primary purpose for donating from one’s wealth was for a tax deduction, then the person would not be munificent, albeit generous. As a society, we should be... Read more...

Michele, over at My Domestic Monastery, had a really nice post the other day,  I'm Wasting My Life (and So Should You) , about the purpose for motherhood, and the transition of going from a working Mom to a stay-at-home,  writing Mom.  She wrote about working and then choosing to stay home, as well as the link between the monastic vocation and the vocation of motherhood... and plus,  why it matters. It  really  resonated with me.  oh, ya know... just wasting my life... on this preciousness.  just two of the sweetest little munchkins  ever .... nothing special. ;) I did the whole working wife/working Mom thing for about 3 1/2 years. I was a (Pre-School, Classical School Co-op/Dance) teacher and a nanny in Maryland, helping put my hubby through grad school and helping to pay the bills. I then transitioned to stay-at-home Mom turned Homeschooling mom, which was its own vocation, surely. ;) Now that I am a writer and mostly a stay-at-home Mom, I've had to rethink my voca

Congratulations to Jared Zimmerer for his Honorable Mention win in the Gender Issues category at the 2015 Catholic Press Awards! Jared's book  Man Up! Becoming the New Renaissance Man  is a gathering of twelve voices who speak to a variety of topics.   They include:  Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Foreword;  Jared Zimmerer: Where Have All The Good Men Gone?;  Jesse Romero: Do Not Be Afraid of the Culture of Death;  Marlon De La Torre: Theological Manhood; D eacon Harold Burke-Sivers: Biblical Manhood and many more! Author Zimmerer  is an avid weight lifter and sought-after conference speaker whose first book is the popular   Ten Commandments of Lifting Weights .