Are You Steady?

This morning during my prayer time I noticed how steady the candle flame was, burning straight and quietly. Maybe I noticed because the other day I had a candle so flickering and fluttering I had to blow it out. I was beginning to feel dizzy and ill even if I didn't look at it directly.

I'm fascinated by words and as I thought about the steadiness of the candle flame I wondered where the word came from and about it's meaning. I got this from an etymology site:

steady(adj.)

1520s, "firmly fixed in place or station" (displacing earlier steadfast, which came to be used of persons and characters), from stead + adjectival suffix -y (2), perhaps on model of Middle Dutch, Middle Low German stadig.

Whom Do You Reckon Among Your Best Friends?

Have you ever had a good friend who ditched you after a disagreement? In these days of TDS and disputes over religion, it seems pretty common. I still mourn over some lost friends. I pray for one who died years ago. I'm confident she and I will be friends again worshiping together before the throne of God. Until that day, I think of her kindly and pray for the repose of her soul and our happy reunion.

Question for the Day: What is Our First Duty?

 "I must be holy because my Jesus wants it."    

                                    St. Bernadette Soubirous

The Church often reminds us of our obligations according to our state in life. A priest's or nun's duty is not the same as a husband or a wife, a mother or a father, a student, an employer, or employee. But one duty in which we all share is to be holy "because my Jesus wants it."

How do we do that? It's not very complicated, but it's anything but easy. Mary showed us how in her "fiat." When she responded to the angel, she gave us the answer. "Be it done to me according to your word." The angel was the the messenger of God's will. If we want to be holy we have to do one thing -- embrace the will of God! It's better to embrace His will out of love than out of fear, but Scripture tells us that the "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." A child may behave out of fear of Daddy's anger, but it's better to behave out of love and respect. And as we mature in our faith, that hopefully becomes our default position.

Death has a way of focusing the mind.

My husband and I have experienced two deaths in the past eight months, an older sibling in each family. Reflecting on death and the power of prayer makes me so grateful for the Catholic Church family. Whenever I ask for prayers, dozens of you respond immediately offering Masses and rosaries and who knows what other acts of charity for the requested needs? I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Lent and the Number 40

I keep coming across the number 40 this Lent. Today was another reminder. It's the feast of the 40 martyrs of Sebaste. Since I hate the winter cold, this story strikes me particularly hard. I think of the poor soul who failed to persevere and died in the warm bath. Is he in an even hotter place now? It's hard to imagine that, under such torture, a person gives full consent of the will to the evil act. I'm praying for him today. I hope he is in the company of his fellow soldiers today glorifying God.

If I Want to Love God, I Need to Know Him!

And how can we know him? Look to the pillars of the Church: Scripture, Tradition, and Doctrine as taught by the Magisterium. Prayer isn't mentioned specifically in that trio, but it is certainly implied. Reading scripture in prayer involves stopping to reflect and meditate. If we read scripture with the intent of meeting God through His Word, how can we not stop along the way to chat with Him? 

Today Begins the St. Andrew Novena! Ready, Set, Pray....

The best Christmas present you can give anyone is prayer. And what better intention can anyone offer than for the salvation of the souls of their loved ones. That will be our intention for this 25-day novena seeking the intercession of St. Andrew. I love St. Andrew and ask him to do for me what he did for his brother, Peter. Take me to Jesus! 

St. Andrew Christmas Novena

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"To Have and To Hold from this Day Forward"

I recently read an article about the need for couples to make their relationship a top priority, especially when family life gets hectic and demanding. I couldn't agree more. A husband and wife are married to each other, not to their children. Of course the offspring are important, but, as the saying goes, "The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother; the best thing a mother can do for her children is to love their father." And love doesn't just happen; it needs to be cultivated.

Catholic Lite?

Lite foods may be fine for dieters, but does lite spiritual food really nourish the soul? Today being All Saints Day, my husband and I went to the early low Mass at the Linden Chapel. Yesterday I asked someone what time they were going to Mass on the "Holy Day of Obligation." She reminded me that it isn't a holy day because the feast fell on a Saturday and when they fall on Saturdays or Mondays the obligation is lifted.

Retire the Fairy Godmother and Watch your Mailbox for the Invitation

Do you sometimes wish you had a fairy godmother who could wave her magic wand and sprinkle her fairy dust to resolve all your problems? I've been thinking about my own challenges (Mother Teresa would never let her nuns talk about "problems;" everything was a challenge or an opportunity.) and it occurred to me that everything, every single thing, is a gift! The alarm on the septic going off, the water in the basement during a heavy thunderstorm, the tick disease that puts you in the hospital -- all those challenges are opportunities. 

As my mom always said, "Offer it up for the poor souls in Purgatory." What an opportunity to put my sufferings to work! Why waste them when they can do so much good?

And if people fail you or condemn you or treat you with disrespect or shun you, or persecute you, those are the gilded invitations, the special ones that take you directly to the feet of the King where you can say, "My Lord, I trust in You. In Your wisdom and love, take care of everything!"

Sunday Meditation: God is not "Mr. Policeman"; He's the Sacred Heart, "Mr. Loving".

When I was a young girl, I had a sadly incorrect image of God. Perhaps it stemmed from reading so much mythology. I think I read every book on Greek, Roman, and Norse gods in the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Doylestown, PA. At any rate, I created for myself a view of God with the lightening bolt, ready to strike if I did something wrong. I guess He was an amalgamation of Zeus, Jupiter and Odin.

I also tended to be a people pleaser and later my view altered to ask myself whether or not I was "doing enough" to please God and make it to heaven. If I had raised these issues with my parents, I'm sure they would have corrected me, but I never did. And so, it wasn't until I moved on into early adulthood, that my false images began to disappear, replaced by the reality that God is love, the Sacred Heart, bleeding, wounded, and on fire for love of me. I'm His daughter, the apple of His eye, whom He loved so much He stretched out His arms on the cross and died.

Sunday Meditation: A Mini Retreat on Prayer and Contemplation

 Fr. David Torkington is a cancelled priest, driven out for exposing sex abuse in his religious order decades ago. He tells us we must return to the early Christian prayer practices which encompassed four principles.

Feast of the Most Sacred Heart - Prayer for the Day to Be Repeated Often!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You. 

Have You Been Praying the Daily Rosary This Lent?

Read the article below and consider the power of praying the rosary in union with Mary and the Holy Trinity and the angels and saints. Outside of the Mass there is no more effective prayer than the devotion of the Holy Rosary. If you aren't praying the daily rosary why not start this minute to enrich these last days of Lent? 

If you already pray the rosary, consider adding another set or at least another decade. What a blessing to pray the Sorrowful Mysteries every day contemplating the great love of Jesus who gave Himself up FOR YOU, not humanity in general, but FOR YOU -- personally. If you can't say an entire five-decade rosary, how about choosing one decade. It won't take you five minutes and you will be giving ten blows to the devil's head and ten kisses to a loving mother! Lent calls for us to focus on prayer, sacrifice, and almsgiving. Increasing your recitation of the rosary is a prayer that will bless these last days of Lent and the soon-to-begin triduum!

And now the article...

On the Feast of St. Joseph, Let Us Thank Him for All His Assistance!

I have to smile when I think that Joe the Plumber has St. Joseph the worker as his special friend and patron saint. But St. Joseph belongs to all the regular Joes who are fathers as well -- and all foster fathers -- named Tom, Dick, or Harry. They can all claim him for a friend and mentor. St. Joseph has a carpenter's tent big enough for every man no matter who his other patrons are. And what a model he is - real man's man: strong, patient, courageous enough to leave town with his family at night on a road commonly traveled by robbers. No arguments with God, just a hasty response to God's will. Scripture tells us he's a "just man," no small feat in any age. He says not one word in Scripture, but his faithful presence and his prompt obedience to God's will speak volumes.

Is your Lent off to a good start?

Lent will be five days old tomorrow. Have you made a plan yet? When will you go to Confession? Have you already? Do you plan to go every two weeks as part of your Lenten journey? Or even every week? If you do, you will have one of the requirements for gaining a plenary indulgence every day. Do you know what the requirements are?

The First Consideration for the Rule of Life

Even little ones can start practicing a rule of life. 
See The Beginner's Rule of Life

I'm going to do a little series on the Rule of Life as Lent begins. Yesterday was part 1, Crafting a Rule of Life.  Today I'm going to begin going through the conference by Fr. Ripperger, essentially the How-to-do-it guidelines for developing a rule of life.

What do you think about Trump's pardon of the J6ers?

Timothy P. Carney writing at the Washington Examiner, decried Trump's blanket pardon of the January 6ers. You can read his original article here. He followed up with another article presenting the other side of the story from Matt Braynard, an activist defending the January 6ers. I thought Braynard's arguments in favor of the blanket pardons were sensible, although Carney disagrees. But he fairly presented Braynard's position:

I reached out to Matt Braynard, who has been an activist for years on behalf of the Jan. 6 arrestees. I granted that some of these folks were overcharged, and I asked him for two things: Examples of the most overcharged individuals, in his opinion, and a broader defense of the blanket pardon, as opposed to individual clemencies for specific folks who were grossly mistreated.

Fr. Ripperger Urges Us to Pray Daily for President Trump and our Civic Leaders

Let's get serious about praying for our country and her leaders. Can any Christian fail to recognize that we are in serious trouble? Ten states put abortion on the ballot in 2024 and seven voted for child killing. Only in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota did the majority of the electorate refused to embrace the human sacrifice of abortion. 

"What Are You Doing? Pray!" Are You Praying and Sacrificing for the Incoming Administration?

Before Our Lady visited Fatima, the Angel of Peace appeared three times to the little shepherd children: Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta. On his second visit he chided the little ones, saying, “What are you doing? You must pray! Pray a lot! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs on you. You must constantly offer your prayers and sacrifices to GOD, the Most High."