Association Of Catholic Bloggers

As you may recall, I am a quote collector.   How and where to save them is a bit of a dilemma, but nevertheless I can’t stop myself.   I gather them from books and movies, reflections and Facebook, (just to name a few) and then I take pictures of them, copy them down in my phone and even, sometimes, jot them down on paper, if I am in a rush. I’d like to share one I took down a little while ago, from, of all sources, a Hallmark movie, called “My One and Only.”   I know, I know, but honestly, you don’t have to like Hallmark movies to appreciate this quote.   Guys, I promise, this won’t hurt a bit. 😀   It was delivered by one of my favorite celebrities, Pascal Hutton (also known from the series When Calls the Heart.) Anyway, her character was delivering this line, which really stood out for me.   She said whenever she was scared, her grandmother never told her not to be afraid.   Instead she would just say, “The fear may not go away.   You might just have to do it scared.”

La mayorÍa de las personas tememos la muerte. Es una realidad y un suceso cierto e ineludible que muchas veces queremos eludir. Nuestra naturaleza tiende a la eternidad y a la inmortalidad. No enetendemos el por qué todo se debe acabar con  el fin de nuestros cuerpos mortales y buscamos recetas y panaceas tecnológicas para alargar nuestra vida o tartar de evitar la muerte. Inquietud universal que nos deja ver que la enseñánza de la fe católica acerca de la vida eternal y la felicidad plena o cielo está cargada de verdad y que además responde a los anhelos más profundos del ser humano. Dentro de estas enseñanzas de la fe, encontramos un lugar gris indefinido y temido por muchos creyentes y no creyentes y ridiculizado por muchos no creyentes: el purgatorio.   leer mas...

In  eXtreme Blindside , (the second in a series of mystery novels), by Leslea Wahl, we meet up with teen sleuths Jake Taylor and Sophie Metcalf. Jake, fresh off his Silver Olympic Medal win heads to the Madness Games, in Colorado. Sophie, Jake’s girlfriend, longing to one day be a journalist, gets the opportunity of a lifetime to work for a noted magazine covering the Madness Games. While at the Games, Jake and Sophie, wind up investigating some strange happenings, such as numerous athlete injuries and equipment tampering. It’s all too coincidental for Jake and Sophie. So, they start snooping around. Lo and behold, they get themselves into some trouble with some unsavory characters. eXtreme Blindside Who gets extremely blindsided in this adventure? Will Jake, one of the top athletes get injured, or will he be spared?  Will Sophie’s journalistic skills uncover the cause of these strange happenings, or will she be blindsided by the bad guys? Ah, to learn the answers to these ta

I still remember reading  Matilda  by Roald Dahl when I was in elementary school, and as I put it back on the shelf, I sighed and stared at the spine lovingly.  I loved the character Matilda most of all,  It was surely one of my favorite books when I was about my daughter Madeleine's age. So it has not been easier to pick something at the library to read out loud with her than when I spotted  Matilda .  I am going to make an argument that it is -seriously- his best book.  I love some of his others, notably  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , but  James and the Giant Peach  let me down, and I have only seen the movie  The BFG , but I'm hoping to read this book out loud soon (I seriously can't wait.) But Matilda is downright stellar. Let me tell you why. I realize it might sound antiquated to praise a book I read as a child. It was published in 1988.  Imagine if your parents read a book (to you) from their childhood, when  Harry Potter  had first come out... anti-cli

Who are YOU in today’s reading? The event taking place is described in the Gospel of Mark Chapter 2.   There is a lot we can talk about when it comes to this passage, but I’d like to have you put yourself in it and see where you fit. When we do this occasionally with scripture, it increases the likelihood that we will learn something about ourselves. So here are the people involved: Jesus (we’ll just assume that’s not you!) A crowd who gathered around when they heard he was home.   (They overflowed and were too large to even crowd around the door.) The four men who brought the paralytic to Jesus. The skeptical scribes who questioned how Jesus thought he could heal someone.   They doubted his authority and accused him of blasphemy. The paralytic himself. Where are you in this scene? Let’s break these individuals down and dig a little deeper: Are you among the curious crowd, just wondering who this Jesus is that people are always talking ab

The Gospel of John  (1:29-34) Directed by Philip Saville Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 1:29-34 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)     The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen a

When I was in junior high, our typing teacher had us cover the keyboard so that we would memorize the letters’ key arrangement.   He must have had us saying the letters to ourselves, because TO THIS DAY when I go to spell a word, occasionally I find my fingers silently moving according to the letters on my keyboard.   I do this out of habit, so you probably wouldn’t notice it.   I barely do anymore. Teachers definitely have a lifelong impact on their students! In addition to my “air” typing, I am concerned because I have to recall so many passwords throughout the day.   I expect one day they are all just going to get jumbled up in one big mess and eventually, when I no longer need them, I will probably still have them running through my brain, for no apparent reason.   I wonder if I will start reciting this mixed up mess out loud. Whoever takes care of me when I am old may find my curious ways, well, curious.   I know there will be a good reason for them, but nobody e

As we go through these weeks known as * Ordinary Time, we will be covering a large portion of the Gospel of Mark.   In these chapters we will continue reading about the miraculous healings of Jesus, the mission he sent the twelve apostles on, and the rather lengthy, but incredible, Parable of the Sower.   There is much to learn over these weeks leading up to the season of Lent, which kicks off with Ash Wednesday on February 26, 2020. The Gospel of Mark was written around 53-63 A.D. and is the earliest of the four gospels.   It was primarily written for a Gentile (non-Jewish) Christian audience in Rome. Mark’s Gospel zeroes in on the proclamation of the kingdom and is fast-paced compared to the others.   The parables Jesus told were really a device to give insights that are helpful for us even today. Being the shortest gospel, Mark’s gospel is still packed with revelations about who Jesus is, as can be seen in his transfiguration and his divine personality as his relationsh

When you need to make a big decision, do you take time for discernment? Do you gather all the facts and weigh your options? It is important to make the time to discern the appropriate course of action when facing life-altering decisions. As a Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) Coordinator, I see all too often, those wishing to become Catholic wanting to rush through the process. I get questions like, “What’s the big deal?” “Why do I have to wait?” Using RCIA as an example, let me explain why it is important to gather all the facts and weigh all options. My example could apply to anything occurring in your life as well. Take Time for Discernment A desire to embrace faith, when there has been none in your life, to date, is a big deal! Therefore, it is one, big, life-altering decision. When you embrace the Christian faith, you make a commitment to living a Christ-like life. Now, that can seem like a tall order to one who has been raised with no, or little, faith. First

It was “advertised” to be an icy, snowy, generally very messy day in our area, so my husband and I—like newlyweds organizing their first home—decided to attack our kitchen cupboards, which, honestly, probably haven’t been rearranged since we moved in back in 1992. You see, we have managed to accumulate a multitude of various plastic cups, dishes and glassware over the years that are endlessly crowding each other out for space. Unbelievably, there were some hard decisions which resulted in what we came to call our pile of sentimental cups that would go back into an unused cupboard over the refrigerator. These cups somehow rose to sentimental status because one or the other of us has carried them around for many years.   That familiar glass cup that was always part of our childhood cupboards, the Arby’s glasses with the B.C. characters on them, or the mug that was given in honor of an 18 th birthday. But the better part of our cupboards got reorganized in a logical mann