6th Day of Christmas: Feast of the Holy Family

6th Day of Christmas: Feast of the Holy Family Today we celebrate the Holy Family: Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.  The Church holds them up as the ideal for the family life of all people. This is a feast day that moves depending on which day Christmas falls on in the year and there is a nice explanation at the link in this sentence. Joseph, sensitive to the spirit of God, was guided by angels in his care and protection of the Christ Child and the Holy Virgin Mary.  His role as protector included teaching a craft to Jesus so … Continue reading

Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi on the situation with Fr. John Corapi

  The Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi writes at his blog  ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT / DEEP CALLS TO DEEP and specifically, he has commented on the situation with Fr. John Corapi here. The Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi is a voice of reason in a maelstrom of unrest.  After reading what he has to say, I have come to the conclusion that while I do think the lack of good due process is an issue to be worked out in the Church, it is not good to condemn decisions being made here just because of that issue.  Separate them, deal … Continue reading

Issues of Faith: Sacramental Marriage

On my favorite forum we had a discussion about divorce.  Agreed upon was that divorce is too common among Catholics.  I believe it is also too common among other Christians as well, but here I deal from the Catholic perspective and allow other Christians to apply the ideas to their own situations. I argued that the problem is not divorce but that Catholics enter into civil marriages without entering into Sacramental Marriages.  Furthermore, the problem of lack of sacramental marriage is due to poor Catechesis (knowledge of what the Church teaches) and lack of discipleship (application of Church teaching to … Continue reading

Discerning a Vocation

God desires our highest good and so He gives each of us a vocation to bring us closer to Him. God makes use of common things to communicate to us about our vocations. We pray for discernment and then look around at the evidence of God’s will for us that already exists. Why do we do this? Because most of the time the information about our own particular, unique vocation is already available to us but we aren’t looking properly and miss it. MY VOCATION I have discerned my vocation, prayed, evaluated my life, and practiced detachment to let go … Continue reading

Lay Vocation

What is a Lay Vocation? A vocation is the work a lay person does for God and includes everything that person does in this life. Every vocation is as unique as the person to whom that vocation belongs.  Each of us has a special call, a special vocation, and it will be made up of many elements unique to us and is designed to help us become saints.  A Lay person is any person who has not received Holy Orders (anyone not a deacon, priest or bishop). What are the elements that make up a vocation?  Every single activity in … Continue reading

Lay Person, Christian, Saint…say what?

What is a Lay Person? I’m Baptized Christian, specifically a Catholic Christian, and as I am not a priest that means I am a LAY PERSON. Even monks, friars, sisters and nuns are LAY PEOPLE, unless the monk or friar is also a priest.  A Lay person is any baptized Christian who has not received Holy Orders.  That is pretty much every Christian out there.  We are all called to be Saints. What does it mean to be a Christian and to become a saint? To be a Christian is nothing less than turning our lives around and living the … Continue reading