“Right now I have a sense of growing evil that has me both a little shaken and increasingly combative. I am taking some steps in my own life in the face of what I see on the horizon. I suggest that you do to. As part of that preparation… GO TO CONFESSION.”– Fr. Z’s Blog I’ve been feeling this for a number of years now, growing stronger over time. At first, it would only be short waves of evil, easily over-looked, but in the past year the sense has been intense and almost over-whelming. I’ve stepped up my efforts with … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Sacraments
The Rosary is the most amazingly versatile prayer ever. Yesterday I prayed the Glorious mysteries twice, once on my own after Reconciliation and once with the congregation before Mass, so this lovely morning I did not wish to repeat the same set of Mysteries yet again. So I chose the Luminous Mysteries and made my focus on each those Sacraments and sacramentals reflected in them and how grateful I am that the Sacraments were given to us through the Church. Baptism of the Lord I cannot pray this mystery without thinking about how odd it used to seem that Jesus, … Continue reading
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
Many times we give a gift and the first response of the recipients is, “You didn’t need to do that!” and I always feel a bit annoyed by the comment because I’m not so virtuous a person that I would give a gift I didn’t want to give. I know I don’t need to give a present, but sometimes I simply want to give a gift anyway. I think the comment ‘You didn’t need to do that.” comes from a niggling feeling that anytime a person gives a gift it is because they felt obligated to do it. This worry … 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