Association Of Catholic Bloggers

With all the illness and death, due to the coronavirus, possibly affecting our relatives and friends, we may find it difficult to see virtue. Yet, the virtues of caring, kindness, patience, generosity, gentleness, love, compassion, courage and hope abound. Especially in times of crisis, we need to find virtue, or we might just go insane! Find Virtue Caring : We don’t need to look far to see caring eyes behind those masks of the nurses and doctors. Kindness : When we see the 7 p.m. round of applause for all of the hospital workers; that is a pure act of kindness, showing gratitude. Patience : We show patience while waiting for our turn to get that coveted toilet paper. Generosity : Oregon and California’s generosity were on full display in the lending of ventilators and sharing supplies with those states in more dire need. Read more...

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba by  George Frideric Handel , conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner Handel's  Arrival of the Queen of Sheba  is a favourite of mine, one of the most exuberant pieces of music I know. Here it is conducted by  Sir John Eliot Gardiner  who, as it happens, is a 'twin' of mine. We both turned 77 today, having been born on Tuesday of Holy Week, 20 April 1943, when Easter fell on the latest day possible, 25 April. It had not fallen on that date since 1886, has not since and will occur again in 2038. After that not till 2190. It happens  only once in a century . Handel, who was German, lived in England for many years but has a significant connection with my native city, Dublin, since his  Messiah    was first performed there, on 13 April 1742. There were no fireworks in Dublin on the day I was born. But below is Handel's  Music for the Royal Fireworks , conducted by Sir John. Please remember in your prayers my parents

I recently watched a very good webinar offered by Patrick Lencioni.   If you don’t know him, he is a popular consultant for secular businesses to help them create better leadership within their culture. As a leadership advocate, he co-founded the Amazing Parish organization because he felt that parishes could utilize the tools he uses in secular organizations. I was fortunate to attend one of his Amazing Parish conferences in Colorado a few years back.   It was inspiring and well done.   It was/is also dependent on pastors (who he greatly respects) to lead the way in creating a healthy culture at their parish. So anyway, in his webinar the other day, he said parish offices should be “nuclear power plants of prayer.”   Isn’t that great? Lencioni said if parish staffs could get to a place where they not only begin their meetings with prayer, but have prayer as the go-to throughout the day for everything they do, they have the power to change the culture. Lest y

The Incredulity of St Thomas Caravaggio [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)            Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   John 20:19-31   ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada) When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ But Thomas (w

Okay, Jesus didn’t actually say I-told-you-so with the attitude you and I might use, but in today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24 (verses 35-48) he did point out to the disciples that he did exactly what he’d been saying he would do. You and I?   We probably would have had some attitude going on, don’t you think?   We’d be like, “I TOLD you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms would be fulfilled.   I TOLD you   when I was with you that I would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.   And I TOLD you that you needed to repent of your sins and that you would be forgiven and that this would be preached in my name to all the nations. You are witnesses of all this!   Weren’t you paying attention? Yea, that would be us, don’t you think? But Jesus, being the epitome of love, said it much better.   That’s because he knew that the disciples really couldn’t have understood what he had been telling them becau