Thursday, September 30, 2010

Thurs. Sept. 30, 2010 - Saint Jerome: Priest and Doctor, Father of Biblical Science, Teacher of Obedience - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

St. Jerome, pray for us!!

Saint Jerome: Priest and Doctor, Father of Biblical Science, Teacher of Obedience - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Excerpt from above link:
For instance, he opposed the objections of Helvidius concerning the perpetual virginity of Mary. Among such false objections, as are common even today, were those based on scriptural references to "the brothers" of the Lord, the "carpenter's son," and Mary's "firstborn son" (see Mt 13:55; 1:24-25). .
Jerome responded: "Every only-begotten son is a firstborn son, but not every firstborn is an only-begotten. By firstborn we understand not only one who is succeeded by others, but one who has had no predecessors." In reference to the Lord's "brothers," St. Jerome tells us: "In Holy Scripture there are four kinds of brethren - by nature, race, kindred, love." Certainly we still associate the word "brother" with those same "kinds of brethren" today. St. Jerome explained that, as our holy Church teaches presently, the brothers of Jesus were his cousins and the nephews of the Virgin Mary. Showing both his usual yet wonderful bluntness, which often surfaced due to his love of truth, St. Jerome admonished Helvidius: "You neglected the whole range of Scripture and employed your madness in outraging the Virgin."

Monday, September 27, 2010

Reflection: When Prayer is a Struggle, Do It Anyway. Perseverance in Prayer - Living Faith - Home & Family - Catholic Online

Persevere in prayer, especially when it is difficult!!!

Reflection: When Prayer is a Struggle, Do It Anyway. Perseverance in Prayer - Living Faith - Home & Family - Catholic Online

St. Vincent de Paul - Monday September 27, 2010

St. Vincent de Paul, pray for us!!

St. Vincent de Paul - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Excerpt:
It would be impossible to enumerate all the works of this servant of God. Charity was his predominant virtue. It extended to all classes of persons, from forsaken childhood to old age. The Sisters of Charity also owe the foundation of their congregation to St. Vincent. In the midst of the most distracting occupations his soul was always intimately united with God.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Martyrs of Chalcedon - Friday September 24, 2010

Martyrs of Chalcedon, pray for us!!

Martyrs of Chalcedon - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

The truth will set us free. Sin enslaves us. Which will you choose?

Taken from the September Magnificat, pg 327

I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope. (Jer 29: 11)

The penitential psalms very often speak of sin as sickness brought on by the attack of enemies. Their vivid descriptions of the sinner's suffering remind us again and again that the misery of sin is not what God wants for his beloved children.

I am on retreat this weekend so I will keep you all in prayer as I hope you keep me! God bless!!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

St. Thomas of Villanueva - Wednesday September 22, 2010

St. Thomas of Villanueva, pray for us!!

St. Thomas of Villanueva - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Ode to Frank Sheed: A 'Secular' (Natural Law) Defense of Marriage - Marriage & Family - Home & Family - Catholic Online

Ode to Frank Sheed: A 'Secular' (Natural Law) Defense of Marriage - Marriage & Family - Home & Family - Catholic Online

Excerpt from this article:

In his 1933 book A Map of Life, Frank Sheed, a Catholic lay apologist whose work is still as vital and worth reading as it was decades ago, offered these observations on the laws of nature:

"Very early in life, man becomes aware that he is living in a world of laws: ...he discovers that fire burns, that hunger weakens, that rain wets, that bodies fall toward the earth and not toward the sky, and so with a myriad other things. If he reflects at all upon these laws, he realizes that they are not of his choosing-in fact that, in many cases, they are the reverse of what he would have chosen-but that their power is in no way affected by his disapproval. There is no way in which he can get free of them."

Read the rest...

God bless!!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Saint Matthew - Tuesday September 21, 2010

St. Matthew, pray for us!!

Saint Matthew - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Taken from the September Magnificat, pg 294

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit. (Mt 28: 19)

We who take access to words for granted should pause to be grateful to those who preserved the Gospel words so carefully and spread them to the utmost bounds of the world without benefit of the printing press or instantaneous media.

God bless!!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

St. Joseph of Cupertino - Saturday September 18, 2010

St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us!!

St. Joseph of Cupertino - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Today's first reading is from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, 15: 35-37, 42-49

Taken from the September Magnificat, pg 257

Saint Paul says, "What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies." What must die is all our resistance to the seed that is the Word of God. We must die to the deception of the devil, to our shallowness, to our mindless anxieties and self-indulgence. What "is sown weak is raised powerful." That is, it enables us today to live the very life of God with a hundred-fold intensity."

God bless!!

Friday, September 17, 2010

St. Robert Bellarmine - Friday September 17, 2010

St. Robert Bellarmine, pray for us!

St. Robert Bellarmine - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

God gave us his only son Jesus that we might be set free from our own egos. For we are but creatures and limited in knowledge. And Jesus gave us the sacraments as a means to strengthen us on this journey. How blessed we are who receive these sacraments especially to be fed by his body and blood! God bless!!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Our Lady of Sorrows | Wednesday September 15, 2010

Our Lady of Sorrows | Saint of the Day | AmericanCatholic.org

Our Blessed Mother suffered so much as she watched her son Our Lord Jesus humiliated and tortured and hung on a cross. How could any mother watch all this happen to her only son? All that we are and all that we do is only possible because of God's great love for us and his desire to bring us home. This earth is ever changing and constantly passing, but many of us put all our hopes and desires into this temporal place. Build up your treasure in Heaven today. Ask our Holy Lady to give you the courage that God gave her as she stood before the cross of her only son Jesus. God bless!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Happy Birthday, Ken Doherty

Hope you have a great day!!

Exaltation of the Holy Cross | Tuesday September 14, 2010

Exaltation of the Holy Cross | Saint of the Day | AmericanCatholic.org

Taken from the September Magnificat pg 175
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal 6:14)

The cross, instrument of torture and death, raised aloft as a sign of glory, continues to confound the wisdom of this world. God's work of salvation stands human expectations on their head: humility is exaltation, wounds are healing, death is life

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Saturday night at Jim's house with S'Mores!!

Evan on the slide
Elizabeth, Dick, Jim and Maisie at the fire pit!
The girls - Sophie and Maisie!

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 12, 2010

24th Sunday. The Happy Priest on the Prodigal Son: God Always Forgives - Living Faith - Home & Family - Catholic Online

Our human condition often prevents us from forgiving others whether it's close family or friends or the guy who cuts us off on the highway. But God always forgives. He is unchangeable. Loved us from the beginning and loves us always. He is patient as well and waits for all his creatures to return to him. He should be our one true love. What is the one thing in your life that you cannot live without? It should be God!!
God bless!!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

St. Paphnutius - Saturday September 11, 2010

St. Paphnutius, pray for us!

St. Paphnutius - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

The moral sense and the religious sense do not consist in what one knows or can do, but in what one wills. "To the extent that you will, that you do," Saint Gregory wrote. There is no excuse, then. Religiously and morally, I am precisely what I will, in the measure that I will it and as long as I will it. On that alone does God judge me.
Father Antonin Gilbert Sertillanges, O.P. (Taken from the September Magnificat, pg 133)

Remembering, Mourning and Praying: Saturday September 11,, 2010

Remembering, Mourning and Praying: Where Were You September 11, 2001? - U.s. - Catholic Online

Friday, September 10, 2010

St. Salvius of Albi - Friday, September 10, 2010

St. Salvius of Albi, pray for us!

St. Salvius of Albi - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

If we walk in the presence of God in our lives, we will know what Heaven is. If we walk in the absence of God in our lives, we will know what Hell is. Both Kingdoms exist in eternity and therefore are outside of time and space. They exist forever within and without us. Jesus promised that he would give us a peace beyond our understanding and he does. I know this for I am humbled by God's presence in my life and the peace and wisdom that he gives to me. I who am a great sinner am loved greatly by God and this brings me to my knees. For as St. Paul has said - I do what I say I am not going to do and I say what I say I am not going to say and yet he loves me. We all yearn for that love though many deny it and some even run from it. But when we let ourselves be loved by our creator and redeemer we find then that we are truly free. He leads us to a place of great joy!! Walk in God's eternal love; know His presence in your life; and find Heaven on earth! God bless!!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

St. Peter Claver - Thursday September 9, 2010

St. Peter Claver, pray for us!!

St. Peter Claver - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

Pray for all of us!! Our egos keep us proud and blind and deaf and dumb. It's in humbly admitting the sin in our own lives that we come to know ourselves well. And it's the sin in our own lives that keeps our egos from growing and allows God to enter in with compassion and great love. And when God enters into our lives, we become fruitful and we see, hear, and know the truth. God bless!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary | Wednesday September 8, 2010

Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us!!

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary | Saint of the Day | AmericanCatholic.org

The Kingdom of God lives within each one of us. We can choose life this day or death. We can choose truth this day or lies. The worst lie of all is the one we tell ourselves. If we live in the truth, we live lives of joy and peace - peace with ourselves and with all those whose lives we touch. If we live in the lie, we live lives of frustration and anger - anger at ourselves and with all those whose lives we touch. The Sacramental life of the Church helps us to live lives of joy and peace. Follow Jesus!! God bless!!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

St. Rosalia - Saturday September 4, 2010

St. Rosalia, pray for us!!

St. Rosalia - Saints & Angels - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

God calls us to a greater love than the world can give. We humans fail each other and we do it more often than we admit. But God never fails. Our one true love and protection comes from our creator. We are but creatures made in the likeness of our creator. We are called to love one another and to serve each other well. We cannot do this unless we first love God and serve him well. When we are tempted to judge one another, we should first look at ourselves for it is there that we will always find the greater sin. And it is then that we discover God's great love in his forgiveness of our sin and thus our forgiveness of the sins of those that God has put into our lives. There is nothing in our lives that we have because we have willed it. It is all there because God willed it first. If you did not have your health or your job, you would probably have nothing. Remember to thank God today for all that you are and all that you have. God bless!!