Association Of Catholic Bloggers

CLICK READ MORE TO CONTINUE - BOTTOM RIGHT NOW CLICK HERE

There were a number of times when I was a Director of Religious Education and RCIA (the process by which people come into the Church) that I would talk to grandparents who were concerned about their grandchild’s sacramental life. Sometimes the parents did not have time to think about it; sometimes the parents were unable to focus on it due to their own ill health or lifestyle, and sometimes the parents were simply uninformed about the faith themselves. Often parents would not have any problem with their own parents seeing to this aspect of their child’s life.   Some knew that it was important, but they just couldn’t make it happen themselves for whatever reason. Some parents, coming to a mature recognition of the importance of the sacrament, were devastated to think that they had ignored this part of their child’s life for many years. And I must say, more than once, a child attending a Catholic school came to his/her own personal desire to become Catholic, even i

The Trinity with the Dead Christ Lodovico Carracci [ 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 3:16-18 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition) Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.   Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.' Léachtaí i nGaeilge The Two Trinities Murillo [ Web Gallery af Art ] A few years ago we in Worldwide Marriage Encounter in Bacolod City, Philippines, h

In today’s Gospel from Mark 12:18-27, some Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, questioned Jesus. They asked about a woman, married to seven brothers, in successive order. As was the Jewish custom, as each brother died, the next brother, in line of succession, took her as his wife. The Sadducees wanted to know whose wife she would be in this so-called afterlife. Jesus, in his typical manner of responding to a question, posed a different question. “ Are you not misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God… As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’” (Mark 12:24, 26). Are You Not Misled? If Jesus were to ask you today, “are you not misled because you do not read scripture or understand the power of God,” how would you respond? Would Jesus be justified in accusing you of being misled? I think we could all

Have you ever found yourself needing some help in the midst of one of life’s challenges? I bet you have, because the truth is, we all need help sometimes.   Whether it is working through grief from the loss of a loved one, struggling with anxiety or stress, or learning to live with the unknown, every one, at some point, can use some help. Often we turn to family or friends, therapists or ministers—and those are good people to help us—but additionally, an immediate advocate that we can turn to for powerful help, is the Holy Spirit. Now for some of us, the Holy Spirit might just seem like a figment of one’s imagination since we can’t visibly see or touch the Spirit, but I promise you, the Holy Spirit is very real and a powerful Advocate for us. Jesus, knowing his apostles would need help after he ascended into heaven, promised that they would receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not one to lightly make promises, nor is he one to not make good on them. So what exact