I was reading Fr Z’s excellent blog. He said something in this post on one of the prayers of the liturgy about application of Church teaching being specific. If I can see someone I am to love God right there in that person. If I am to do some task I am to love God right there in that task. We are called to love and desire God’s will in concrete situations, in the details of life, especially when those details are little to our liking. We must love God in this beggar, this annoying creep, thisJesuit, not in beggars, creeps, and … Continue reading
Category Archives: Prayer
The whole concept of submission in marriage has taken on some very non-catholic baggage these days. I think we need to reframe the Catholic teaching on submission in marriage so as to avoid all the negative stuff and get at the heart of a proper Catholic understanding of “wives submit to your husbands…”(Ephesians 5: 21 etc) Replace the language using “submit” with this: “I am my husband’s second, I have his back in the spiritual war we call life.” I chose this because in Catholic teaching men and women are of equal dignity. We are partners, we are part of … Continue reading
Everyone Knows that prayer is essential for spiritual growth. We seek to grow closer to Jesus, to become better conformed to His plan for our lives, and so we incorporate both planned and spontaneous prayer into our days. Prayer routines are as varied as the people who have them. Some pick up the book, CHRISTIAN PRAYER, and pray the psalms for morning and evening prayer. Others use the full multi-volume LITURGY OF THE HOURS and pray some or even all of it. Some pray one or more Rosaries a day, and some spend a daily time reading in the New … Continue reading
Hating on the Rosary makes the people who do it look foolish and ignorant. Even more ridiculous, they claim the Bible as their justification for speaking out against the Rosary. I think my readers are better than that and if they do not already know the awesomeness of the Rosary they are at least open to knowing what it is and why they should not hate on it. For those who don’t know: The Rosary is a structured meditation on the GOSPELS. The 20 meditations taken from Scripture. The pattern of prayers, the contents of which are also Gospel based, … Continue reading
Guess what people? I consider ABORTION=MURDER. There, I have said it. I am against the murder of a baby for any reason. No argument has ever been made that will sway me. No argument has ever been made that would make keeping it legal OK with me. Those, like the Democratic candidate for president, who are in favor of abortion through all 9 months gestation, are in favor of murdering viable full-term babies. If you vote for such a person you are helping to promote that agenda. Turn your back on me–I do not care. If you can stomach voting … Continue reading
TERESA OF AVILA:(1515-1582) Institute for Carmelite Studies Publications I recommend: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ST. TERESA OF AVILA, Vol. 1: Book of Her Life & Interior Castle, Vol. 2: The Way of Perfection, Vol. 3: Foundations, and COLLECTED LETTERS OF ST. TERESA OF AVILA: Vol.1 and Vol. 2. The Study Editions are good too but I prefer the basic collection for reading without a pre-conceived opinion. I suggest beginning with the Book of Her Life, and then reading the Collected Letters 1 & 2 to focus on a woman religious’ view of her life and world. She was quite familiar … Continue reading
After enjoying a lovely conversation on religion and history, I promised to send a write-up of the books I had mentioned. Maggie, this post is for you. 🙂 Catholic and fun and history. So, I will begin with the works of fiction I thought she would enjoy. Declan Finn writes wild action adventures, in modern settings, but often with historical roots and themes. The Pius Trilogy is my first suggestion. These are: A Pius Man, A Pius Legacy, and A Pius Stand. In addition are books such as Pius Tales which are background short pieces on some characters, and Pius … Continue reading
People in our culture are starving for beauty. I remember when Trudy Krise, a wonderful woman, would bring her deserts to class for the snack. Those days we had standing room only! People stood around the table exclaiming over the beauty of her deserts. They were indeed a work of art, and what is more, they tasted BETTER than they looked! People are so starved for beauty that knowing her art would be at the next class was all it took to get standing room only. Why the popularity of the Extraordinary form of the Mass? We often call it … Continue reading
Beauty is missing from our culture. Oh, there are still a few beautiful buildings put up, and you can buy pretty things, and you can find artists making art, but the everyday making of beauty is missing. We have devalued it until it has almost completely vanished. The mentality that if your work is not producing a paycheck then your work has no value is killing off everyday beauty. Home making is both work and an art form that is almost dead from neglect because it does not bring in a paycheck. Few are those who knit or crochet beautiful … Continue reading
I love this particular prayer. I love it because I love the Holy Trinity. I love the Our Father, because it references the first person of the one God. I love the Jesus Prayer and the Hail Mary for their focus on the second person of the Godhead. Few prayers say much about the Holy Spirit, third person of the Triune God, so I find myself praying this one in honor of God the Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall … Continue reading