I have heard it said that the Catholic and the Orthodox are two different churches but I don’t buy that. There may be a fissure in the full unity, but they are not two different Churches. I believe this because after all these hundreds of years the Holy Spirit has preserved orthodoxy in the whole. Oh there is a fissure, made by man, maintained by man, but the guardianship of the Holy Spirit is evidence to me that both are part of God’s one Church. God has one Church (visit the Bible to read up on this). You can recognize … Continue reading
Category Archives: Sacraments
I experienced a marvelously refreshing silent spiritual retreat last week. This quiet time to be focused on God and not on the everyday stuff came just in time to help me find my center for Advent. Besides giving us deep messages from Scripture and Church teaching to ponder, daily Mass served faithfully and reverently, this priest spent several hours in the confessional so that if in our examinations of conscience we found anything requiring confession, that was available to us. This priest was so dedicated he was in the confessional so long that every participant in the retreat could have … Continue reading
Drew Mariani show with Fr. Rocky talking about St. Josemaria Escriva on his feast day, June 26. Just look down the calendar to June 26th and click on the first hour of the show. It is a wonderful conversation about this marvelous and beloved Saint. All are called to be saints. There is no room in the Church for slackers. People underestimate their vocation, they think they must do famously great things, but the truth is sanctity can be found anywhere and in any task. You become a saint exactly where you happen to be. (paraphrase from the audio). I … Continue reading
St. Josemaria Escriva is a favorite of many people I know, especially me. So it is a wonderful joy to me that we are celebrating the Baptism of our newest family member on June 26th, Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva, who passed into the hands of God on this day in 1975. The prelate of Opus Dei writes a letter each month to the members of Opus Dei, and I find it highly edifying. Bishop Javier Echevarría is eloquent: The whole month of June is filled with significant dates, for the history of Opus Dei as well: the ordination of … Continue reading
We Are Starting Over I am very very impressed with what this priest wrote. PLEASE, please go read his entire blog post. It is an important set of things he has to say. I would so love to attend a parish with a priest like him– although I love and respect our parish priest for the excellent work he does. Home School is one means that parents can use to teach the Faith to their children and at the same time be reinforcing their own understanding. I think this priest understands that value and would welcome children of good home … Continue reading
Choosing Godparents is a serious process for a Catholic. The persons you choose will be responsible for helping you raise your child in the Faith and few Catholics these days take that responsibility seriously. I was very blessed that a good friend and her husband were willing to take on the responsibility for our young daughter. I considered asking them to also be Godparents to our little son, but I didn’t want to ask my friends to take on the responsibility of two. I have therefore, asked a friend from graduate school in theology if she will be godmother and … Continue reading
I’ve been unwell and this has messed with my goal of perfect attendance on my prayers for this season. I’m catching up now that I feel a bit better, and accepting that being miserably ill is a good penance for me. We should give thanks in all things and so being miserably ill is a good time to practice being thankful even in the midst of being miserable with a head-ache that just would not quit. Meanwhile, my older daughter is planning the baptism of her first child and our first grandchild and asked if I wanted to have her … Continue reading
Baptism of the Lord: Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Catholic Culture has a wonderful post about celebrating activities for the Baptism of the Lord. One of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, this feast day is the perfect time to reflect on our baptisms into the death and resurrection of Christ. I particularly liked the link above from Catholic Culture’s article on one way to celebrate the baptisms of your children so that they become familiar with the reasons why they were baptized and what it means as a sacrament. Christ did not need remission from sin. WE … Continue reading
Bishop Aquila of Fargo wants to see the Sacraments of Initiation restored to their historic order. I am very excited by this move because the main thing that has bothered me about the modern separation and re-ordering of the Sacraments of Initiation is that the historical reason for permitting the change no longer exists. Originally the Pope permitted Eucharist to be received even if Confirmation had not been because Confirmation required the presence of the Bishop and due to problems traveling some parishes might not see the Bishop except once in a decade or longer. Rather than force people to … Continue reading