Association Of Catholic Bloggers

  PLEASE CLICK HERE

You've heard the saying (or some version of it):  If you want to make God laugh, make plans.  I was thinking about this when I was reading the passage from Genesis, Chapter 18, about the three messengers of God informing Abraham that he and Sarah would be having a baby in their advanced age.  Apparently, Sarah laughed. So here's the twist.  God made his plans and man laughed!  Isn't that something! But when you think about it, that probably happens more than we realize.  God created us in his image and he loves us.  He knows what is best for us.  He's given us all we need, and yet, for some reason, in a sense, we laugh at him, or at the very least, dismiss him or ignore him completely. We go on our way, seeking materialism, position and power.  Ignoring those we might be able to help, we look out only for ourselves.  Rather than tithe and support the Church so that we can serve others in a variety of ways, we spend our money on expensive lattes and donate a

 I was remembering recently that my brothers, spouses and kids would quite regularly visit around my mom's dining room table on Sunday nights.  When she moved to a nursing home, we simply moved our gatherings there, sometimes adding in time over a puzzle in the activities room. I miss those times.  Now, instead of going in for our weekly visits, I visit her grave.  Let me just say, although I can still talk to her, I don't have to tell you it's not the same.  I miss her desperately. There's something about losing a parent that opens a hole in your heart.  Moms, like mine, can be such great listeners.  And they are great supporters.  And they are great reminders that no matter your troubles, things will be okay.  It's like they are the great stabilizer. Yes, that's the word.  Moms are the great stabilizer. One of the books I got from my recent trip to the library is about Cokie Roberts.  Some of you may remember her as a very savvy political comment

It hasn't been quite four years since a small patch on my tongue's underside went numb. My wife said I should call our town's emergency room, so I did. I'd long since learned that she's got common sense.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . A checkup and changing plans: atrial septal aneurysm and other medical terms, mostly good news from the scan. And a happy musical memory from 1963.

  Christ in the House of Martha and Mary Tintoretto [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 10:38-42 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)    Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.   And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.   But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”   But the Lord answered her,  “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,   but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”   Léachtaí i nGaeilge Abraham and the Three Angels Gerbrand van den Eeckhout [ Web Galler

Fr William Gerard Moran 14 May 1936 - 8 July 2022 William Gerard Moran was born 14 May 1936, at Flemington, Victoria, Australia, not far from the Flemington racecourse, home of the Melbourne Cup. This led to a lifelong interest in horse-racing. After primary and secondary schooling, Bill worked for two years with the Commonwealth Public Service while doing part-time studies in Latin and Economics. Continue at Bangor to Bobbio .

I was bored with my phone and online stuff the other night and decided I needed a book.  My husband doesn't mind reading books on his phone, but I just don't like doing that, so off to the library I went. I haven't been to the library in years.  When we were homeschooling, I remember being at the library all the time.  In fact, I recall going in there once and the librarian saying, "Do you realize you have 100 books checked out?" When I homeschooled, we did a lot of what they call Unit Studies.  Unit studies are a way of learning that brings all subject areas together so you can see how they work together.  With this way of studying, you don't isolate subjects.  For instance, you can learn history and explorers, while studying the ocean and science.  I've always thought it was interesting and a great way to make learning stick. I can see a correlation to the way Catholics approach scripture and this way of learning.  For instance, we do not is

In the June, 2022 issue of Reader's Digest, I came a cross a very timely article titled, I Never Thought of It That Way .  The author, Monica Guzman, describes her experience as an interviewer and how she has learned to talk to people who have a point of view opposite her own. Guzman even described people she knows that discouraged her from talking to friends--or even her own parents--who disagree with her.  After listening to people for 17 years, her insight is helpful to most of us in this current, divisive, political environment. As Guzman tells it, she said, "I stopped being afraid to ask questions; I was too impatient to hear the answers.  Soon I developed an incurable addiction to people--our stories, our passions, the totally unique way each of us sees the world--and to conversation itself, that unpredictable meeting of minds where individuals with wildly different lives can surprise, delight, and ultimately learn from each other." What caught my attention, and why

First, the good news. A month after deciding to start using WordPress blocks before their classic user interface became one with Nineveh, Tyre and rotary telephones — I don't have the usual Saturday post ready. The good news is that I'm more comfortable with WordPress blocks than I'd feared.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . I spent this week fixing technical issues. Not-so-good news, RSS feeds don't work with HTTPS. Good news, I should have a regular post ready next week.

  Fr Pat McCaffrey with friends in Pakistan Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 10:25-37 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)    And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”   He said to him,  “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”   And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.”   And he said to him,  “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”   Jesus replied,  “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.   Now by cha

  When our now 35 year old daughter was in second grade at our local Catholic school, she came home with a new fangled idea----hand sanitizer. "Why don't you just wash your hands with soap and water?" I asked, not believing that hand sanitizer could possibly do the trick, and clearly not having a clue about the challenges of second grade classrooms. Now, as you can see from the picture above, I actually have a little bottle of sanitizer dangling from my purse.  Yes, people can change!  How have you changed over the years?  How have your opinions, behaviors or thoughts matured? For me, I am much more tolerant and accepting that not everyone thinks the way I do--even though I am right almost all of the time.  All kidding aside, I do have strong convictions, most especially because I know what Jesus has done for us, and I sincerely wish everyone, everywhere, would come to accept it. But, along with age, I have--honestly--come to a greater understanding that other

(From Balon Greyjoy, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) (Prometheus sculpture for Rockefeller Center's lower plaza. (Paul Manship, 1934)) It's been 246 years since a bunch of disgruntled colonists decided that they'd had enough of transatlantic micromanagement. There's more behind the Declaration of Independence than that. But today I'm focused more on what's happening and what's ahead, than on where we've been. Although, given the way I see things, that involves looking back, too.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Patriots, pigeonholes and attitudes. The Apotheosis of Washington, loving America anyway. Alabaster cities and Hair. Working toward a patriot dream.

(From Giovanni Paolo Panini, via Staatsgalerie, Stutgard/Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) (Giovanni Paolo Panini's "Ancient Rome" — an 18th century view. (1754-1757)) "...Naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome...." (" To Helen ," Edgar Allen Poe (1845) via Wikipedia) I've split this week's post into three sections: History 101 and Humanity's Continuing Story About History: Definitions, Documents, and Narratives Will the Real Ancient Rome Please Stand Up? More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Impressions of ancient Rome: morals, Cicero, Sallust and Gibbon. An almost-forgotten King, a president and a thought experiment. Historical narratives.

Into every life a little levity should walk, and I feel like we can use some right now, so here goes . . . While I was at work one day, my husband was watching our five year old granddaughter.  Out of the blue, she asked my husband: "Does Grandma knit?" "Yes," he kindly said. "Can she knit me a kangaroo costume for Halloween?" I love the simplicity of children.  Nothing is out of reach.  If it can be imagined, someone should be able to do it. Knitted kangaroo costume?  No problem.  I'll get right on it.  Forget the fact that, in reality, the extent of my knitting comes in the form of uniquely shaped, little square dishcloths! Unfortunately, as adults, sometimes our life experiences get in the way of fulfilling our dreams.  We imagine that the thing we always wanted to learn or try must be out of our reach.  We can create lists of reasons why that is the case.  Naturally, we may have actual limitations that get in the way, but I think many time

  Madonna and Child Francisco de Zurbarán [ Web Gallery of Art ] For thus says the  Lord : “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river  and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;  and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,  and bounced upon her knees.  As one whom his mother comforts,  so I will comfort you;  you shall be comforted in Jerusalem  (Isaiah 66:12-13, First Reading) . Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 [or 10:1-9] ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)    After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.   And he said to them,  “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into h

  Bono [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] Paul David Hewson, the U2 member better known as Bono,  spoke recently  with Lauren Laverne on  Desert Island Discs , a long-running radio programme on the BBC, about his half-brother and his at times difficult relationship with his father, Bob Hewson.  Sinéad Crowley, the Arts and Media correspondent of RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster,  in her report  on this wrote:  Bono (62) also spoke to Laverne about how his relationship with his father came under tremendous strain following the death of his mother, although he now admits he was partly to blame, adding that after Bob's death in 2001, he apologised to him during a visit to a chapel in France. 'There was nobody there, I lit a candle and I got on my knees, and I just said, “look, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, you went through a lot and please forgive me”, and I felt free,’ Bono said . Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] Continue at Bangor to Bobbio.

Every day I pray for protection against discouragement.  I needed to rely on that prayer yesterday on my way home from work.  Earlier in the day I had read some disheartening comments from people I know and don't know on social media.  I had just left a meeting that, although encouraging, left me frustrated on a larger scale. Within the meeting, I had a chance to speak to a lawyer to get the facts about what the Constitution actually, specifically says about our right to privacy and abortion (they are not even mentioned in the Constitution).) I had a chance to ask for greater clarification about my observation that it was seductive language that got us into this abortion mess in the first place, oh so many years ago, i.e., (a woman's right ) and how the same tactic works today: abortion=healthcare .  Both enticing. Both effective in duping us. I learned about a sexy, term now being thrown out-- body autonomy .  When you take a minute to think about it, "body auto

  CLICK HERE

I have a few magazines on my dining room table that I recently promised my husband I would read through so we could get them off the table.  One of them was the AARP the Magazine.  In it I came across a rather long-titled article by Rich Cohen:  The What vs. the How, Closing the Deal and Other Lessons from the Game of Life . Turns out, it was an interesting article and I'm glad I took the time to read it.  The author wrote about the life lessons his dad taught him, and in the last paragraph he recalled this little nugget:  "Remember that all this passes and that how we have treated and forgiven one another is all that will remain." How fitting this little piece of wisdom is in our current circumstances surrounding overturning Roe vs. Wade.  I won't lie.  It was like music to my ears.  I could hardly believe that I have lived long enough to hear that beautiful proclamation. But there is much work to be done. Catholic Archbishops José H. Gomez of Los Angeles

(From STR/AFP/Getty Images, via NPR, used w/o permission.) (China's FAST radio telescope, another eye on the universe since 2016.) Scientists in China's Guizhou province have been receiving radio signals from interstellar space since 2016. Three of these signals may have been from folks who aren't human, but use radio waves the way we do. Then again, maybe they weren't.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Narrow-band signals from interstellar space. Tesla, pulsars, the Wow! signal and Tabby’s Star. Still looking for alien civilizations.

It's a fact of life:  good trees bear good fruit and rotten trees bear bad fruit.  If you want to know if a tree is good or bad, just look at its fruit. In the language of scripture, Jesus was warning his disciples, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves." (Matthew 7:15-20) Good things would not come from false prophets.  False prophets could deceive people.  They could dress up bad things and fool people into thinking they are good.  This happens all the time today.  It certainly isn't limited to the time of Christ. (Don't even get me started on the pro-abortion arguments which fool some people and are extremely deceptive and dangerous.) Can you name three things you thought were good but turned out to be deceptive?  I'll bet most of us can.  In fact, sometimes we can talk ourselves into thinking something is good as rationale for our behavior.  It can be a horrifying self-discovery. In si

Some people are afraid of heights.  Others can't handle going up or down steps that have an open back.  I don't have either of those problems, but I do remember going down a very long stairway one time and after a lot of steps, I felt like I was going to freeze as I neared the bottom.  I think it's a visual thing.  After you have been looking down so long, it seems like your brain and your feet get out of sync. Anyway, I read in the Gospel of Matthew today about the narrow gate.  I've never heard of anyone being afraid of gates like they are stairs, but the gate in Matthew 7, verse 12, is something that does make me a little nervous. It goes like this: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” Boy does that make me shiver!  Today, we easily understand this as a de