Association Of Catholic Bloggers

We continue with the sixth installment of our seven-part series on the seven deadly sins. Today we discuss Laziness (also known as sloth). Everyone has goals in life; things that you want to accomplish. Whether it be obtaining a new house, or new career, spiritual growth or mastering some skill; nothing comes easily without hard work and effort. Laziness will hamper your ability to achieve your goals because it robs you of clear focus and purpose. You begin to doubt that what you want is achievable, so why try? Allowing doubts to take root is the underlying cause for laziness. Doubts come from the devil! He doesn’t want you to think that improving your lot in life is worth the effort, because he tells you that you are worthless. You begin to believe the devil’s lies and before you know it, laziness has settled into your life. Once laziness takes root in your life, you “refuse the joy... Read more... 

I’m interrupting my series on mercy by this blog that is relevant in light of current events.  God would certainly support women’s rights. According to Genesis, our God, who is neither male nor female, created women in his own image and likeness. Therefore, they are God’s children who share in God’s divinity. Women are men’s partners and have equal dignity. However, God apparently favors women! When God decided to come to earth as a human being, there were many options. God could have appeared as a grown man, a baby washed up on the shore, or the wealthy son of a king. Instead, the Son of God was conceived by a young village girl by the power of the Holy Spirit. As abolitionist Sojourner Truth pointed out in a speech, “Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with him.” God’s mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, was the first person to hear the news that the Messiah was on his way. Click to continue

As the Morning Rising: Prayer : What prayer does best is bring me out of myself - and that's always a good place to go.

Although most respectable members of our parishes try to  look  healthy and content in public, mental illness is as common and invisible among the faithful as it is in secular circles. I would wager that mental health issues are especially prevalent among the devout who are serious about their inner life; when people tackle deep inner issues which prevent God from working in their lives, their inner equilibrium is upset by stress, anxiety, and depression.  This probably explains why most saints experienced profound periods of depression when they finally looked beneath their pious actions to face the reality of their own ingrained sin and subsequent need for inner purification. God offers His children the means to become free from sin, bad habits and mental illness through the Church, prayer, confession but also through therapy. Let's bring mental illness out of the shadows of shame and into the Light of Christ. continue

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This is not St. Patrick’s. This is another Catholic church down town. It is what inspired me to go. You see I go to this part of the city at least four times a year for the last seven years and I had never been so I was inspired to take a stroll… While visiting NYC last week I was able to take my self on a date. Maybe it is just me but I enjoy the time. I had some where to be at 12:30 and was in the city by 9 am. So I figured I would just go exploring. One of my adventures that day was a MINI-Pilgrimage to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. If you would like to learn more about ST. Patrick’s so you can take a trip  click here . It was absolutely AMAZING and BREATH Taking.  Click here to continue 

           I attended Catholic school grades 1 through 8, and this of course meant wearing a uniform. In the lower grades it was a blue plaid jumper with a skirt.             That created a problem. Our play yard had a jungle gym, and some boys in the class took advantage of the situation to look up our skirts whenever we girls were on it. A few of us complained to the teacher about this unscrupulous behavior. Well, Sister came up with a not so brilliant solution: ban the girls from the jungle gym.             I'll never forget going out to recess that day, and hearing some boys on the jungle gym sneering, "Nyah, nyah. Girls aren't allowed. Nyah, nyah."             I learned a lesson that day, although I'm sure it wasn't one Sister intended: continue

We continue with the fifth installment of our seven-part series on the seven deadly sins. Today we discuss Greed. Greed, also known as avarice, will debilitate you because you’re dealing with a bottomless pit; an abyss. The unending desire for more money, power or fame, leaves a person feeling empty, insecure and unfulfilled no matter how much one tries to garner. There is no amount of money that guarantees security, for the fear of losing it all is ever-present. No amount of power garners confidence and self-assuredness, for the fear of losing control is ever-present. No amount of fame makes one feel like he/she “has arrived,” for the fear of being discounted and dismissed never goes away. Anyone who seeks more money, power or fame, for the purpose of filling a void, fights a losing battle. Read more...

As the Morning Rising: Healing : Healing Lord let me be as healer To the suffering stranger. May enough pass between us In silence For him to know I w...

How do we know what miracles of grace we may be the instruments of when... (continue)

(From Philippe de Champaigne/Tessé Museum, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) Life in my mid-60s requires caution that wasn't necessary in my youth. Considering the alternative, though, being alive is pretty good: even in moments of loss. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

    In recent decades Europe, leader of modern secular culture, and other countries of the Asian continent have aged and the stress of their population control principles has already affected entire economies, after having swept the Christian social culture of Europe. The problem is now so serious that Governments have adressed the emergency, but with the same bureaucratic methods   used to solve other social problems: campaigns advertising and incentives so that couples have children. But it seems that these marketing efforts are not working and the answer and solution are, paradoxically, in the Christian culture that they spurned in the past.

As the Morning Rising: Our Lady of the Rosary : Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us. http://saintpatricksbelfast.org.uk/ The statue was presented to the priests and people of St ...

Peasant Girls with Brushwood , Jean-François Millet, c.1852 Gospel Luke 17:11-19 ( NRSV, Catholic Ed , Canada) On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” I've told this story before but the incident in question had a profound impact on me. It happened on the morning of Holy Thursday

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2016: Habakkuk 1:2 – 3 , 2:2 – 4 2 Timothy 1:6 - 8 , 13 - 14 Luke 17:5 - 10 Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2016 By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas October 2, 2016 I'm sure we are all saddened to hear that by this time Father Tom is back home. ... He will be missed! There is one word that is repeated in all of the readings for this day. That word is Faith.... ...Now we can't just let this word Faith hang out there alone without some support.... ...If now we should take our Catechism and referred to paragraphs 142 through 165 we get a far more complete explanation of Obedience and Faith.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

A Jordanian couple have a baby boy: who does not have a lethal genetic disorder, thanks to DNA transplanted from a third person. Four of his siblings did not survive the procedure. I'll be talking about the decisions involved in that procedure, research involving "tiny brains" grown from human cells, genetically modified humans grown as research subjects, and water bears.... ...After discussing recent genetics news, I'll share why I take human experimentation and medical ethics personally, and what I see coming in the near future.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

As the Morning Rising: Rosary Poem

We Christians should laugh at ourselves as we go through the inner transformation because most of our inner anguish is self-inflicted and really quite ridiculous.  Of course dying to self is not all fun and games but a sense of humour helps put our pain in perspective. continue reading

As the Morning Rising: The Cross : The Cross is the hand of God that I dare not let go of.

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words. continue reading

(From John Martin, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) Anger is bad, right? Yes, sort of, but it's a bit more complicated than that. Emotions, anger include, are good; in the sense that they're part of being human. They're "...the connection between the life of the senses and the life of the mind...." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1764 ) In another sense, emotions aren't good or bad by themselves. What matters is what we decide to do about them. (Catechism, 1762 - 1770 ) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

As the Morning Rising: Mary's Way : Mary’s Way No foot of ours could fill the shoe of Mary But we can follow on the path she trod Keeping to the stepping st...

We continue with the fourth installment of our seven-part series on the seven deadly sins. Today we discuss Gluttony. Gluttony, the overindulgence of eating/drinking to excess, will physically and spiritually harm you if left unchecked and unaddressed. Overeating/drinking can result in physical illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and liver disease, just to name a few. Gluttony robs you of the life you were meant to live, because you become the slave to the object of your temporal desire. You become fixated on the food and/or the drink. Gluttony causes you to use food and/or drink to ... Read more...

Jesus is the Face of God: He is God made visible. He is the incarnation of mercy. Moreover, mercy is the principle theme of his preaching and is manifested in how he treated people. We could say his middle name was Mercy. Jesus met people’s physical needs. In a synagogue he read his job description: “He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free” (Luke 4:18). When John’s disciples asked who he was, Jesus replied, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (Matt 11:4-5). Click to continue

As the Morning Rising: St Faustina : Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for...

" Even if we have thousands of acts of great virtue to our credit, our confidence in being heard must be based on God's mercy and His love for men. Even if we stand at the summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved. " - Saint John Chrysostom For a very long time, despite reading and hearing wisdom to the contrary, in the depth of my being, i equated holiness with the lack of discomfort. You know that state with  the  absence of those disconcerting moments when you know deep down you have done wrong/are doing wrong yet continue to banish the thought. When you don't want to deal with, nay even acknowledge,  your own weakness. When you think having being a renewed Christian means having only pure and holy thoughts. From experience i tell you, thats a load of bladderdash. No one can ever hope to become saint overnight. It truly is a long winding journey acknowledging and being fully aware of the grossness of  one's  sinful soul. All through th

As the Morning Rising: St Francis of Assisi

For the feast day of St Francis on the 4 October, I am beginning a series of blogs on the life of St Francis of Assisi. In 1209 St Francis of Assisi who the medievals called The Second Christ presented his first rule, totally based on the Gospel, to the great Pope Innocent III in Rome. No saint has ever had such an impact on the history of Christian Spirituality. He was born towards the end of 1181 or at the beginning of 1182. The date might mean little, so let me put it in the context of English History. Henry II was on the throne of England with his equally famous or infamous wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. He is remembered by most of us from our school days for three things. Firstly, he was the first of the Plantagenets. Secondly he was the first to set up law courts or assizes for all. Thirdly he was the first to have a blazing row with the church that culminated in the famous murder, when Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury, was savagely cut to pieces by three knights in

We continue with the third installment of our seven part series on the seven deadly sins. Today we discuss Lust. Lust causes you to objectify the “object” of your desires, rather than to see the individual as a human being deserving dignity. When you remove human dignity from the equation, it becomes very easy to lose respect for others and for yourself. Lust is disordered desire for, or inordinate enjoyment of, sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes . 1   Lustful behavior is addictive.  Repeated over and over again, it deludes... Read more... 

As the Morning Rising: Blessed Columba Marmion : http://www.catholictradition.org/Passion/lent7.htm http://www.benedictinemonks.co.uk/ http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2011/...

WHAT IS LOVE? ARE YOU INTERESTED ENOUGH TO FIND OUT? THEN CLICK HERE

Angels saved my son’s life. The phone call comes on a Saturday night. I listen to the police in shocked silence. “Your son has been in a serious car accident.” “No, we have not ascertained the extent of his injuries.” “We did use the jaws of life to extract your son and his girlfriend from the vehicle.” “No, I told you, I cannot tell you the extent of his injuries but if you head over to Trauma 1 at the Civic, they will give you an update.” “All I can tell you is it seems that the vehicle did flip end over end and then barrel-rolled down into a ditch filled with water.” “Off the record, I will say that in 25 years of service, I have never seen a car look as bad as his does and not have someone dead on arrival.” continue

As I have been struggling to draw the fine line between mercy and truthful compány when adressing an homosexual person I want to share with you the best balanced advice I have found yet and it comes from the recent words of Pope Francis in this regard. Very clear and useful. taken entirely from CNA Catholic News Agency site:   Aboard the papal plane, Oct 2, 2016 / 03:55 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ) .- On his way back from Georgia and Azerbaijan Pope Francis criticized what he called the “wicked” push of gender theory in schools, but stressed that individuals who struggle with their sexual identity ought to be treated with mercy, as Jesus would do.

(From Radomir Vrbovsky, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.) (دروازه ایشتار, Ishtar Gate, eighth gate of Babylon's inner city: a reconstruction using original bricks in the Pergamonmuseum , Berlin, Deutschland.) Prophets had their bad days, too — like Habakkuk, from today's first reading ( Habakkuk 1:2 - 3 , 2:2 - 4 ): " 1 How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not intervene. "Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord. "Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. "For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late." ( Habakkuk 1:2 - 3 , 2:2 - 3 ) This was about 26 centuries back, and not a good era in our Lord

'From the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.'  Colossians 1: 9 Reflection by Malcolm Davies When I was  first a Christian I was convinced that I would grow so rapidly that I would be totally mature and integrated within a few years. The reality was  that each small part of growth would be followed by a challenge where I realised that my growth would be very slow. One book that  helped me on my journey was Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila. In that book Teresa describes the journey to spiritual maturity and how long it would take.  I felt encouraged  because I could see in my own life some growth that she described and challenged because there were insights that I could not embrace at this part of my journey.  I have come  to realise that God is patient and I have to be patient with myself, and others, as well. Read on:  http://susannetimpa

(From Wiley Miller, via GoComics.com, used w/o permission.) (Wiley Miller's January 16, 2016, Non Sequitur. The field of major candidates has narrowed considerably since then.). I have no great enthusiasm for November's election, but I plan to vote with whatever prudence and wisdom I can muster. Being a good citizen, contributing to the good of society and taking part in public life, is part of being Catholic: or should be. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1915 , 2239 ). In my country, that includes voting intelligently: thinking about issues and candidates, voting for whoever and whatever is best; or likely to do the least damage, in some cases. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

From The Cloistered Heart

As the Morning Rising: Showers of Roses

As the Morning Rising: October - the Month of the Rosary : “ In trial or difficulty I have recourse to Mother Mary, whose glance alone is enough to dissipate every fear.” St Therese of the C...

(from The Breadbox Letters)