Boycott the CCHD Collection along with Other Thoughts for Thursday

• The CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development) collection is coming up. This is the fraudulent pocket picking of pew sitters to divert Catholic contributions to groups that lobby for liberal Democrats and support abortion, contraception, and sodomy. Check out the Lepanto Institute report and see how the collection funds intrinsic evils. Don't give a plug nickle; do put in a note that you will not be supporting the parish until they issue an apology for passing the basket to enable evil. I made the video above 16 years ago. Nothing much has changed at the CCHD except it's worse than ever. It's way past time to eliminate that group for good. Add prayers and penance to your boycott. 

Monday Morning Musing

The start of another week, one that will be stressful to say the least because of some medical interventions for my husband and myself. But I experienced a light-hearted moment of amusement this morning as I was praying. Thinking about what the Lord wants from me, the thought came: "Patience and perseverance." Well...Larry and I both certainly have challenges to both patience and perseverance, so working on those virtues is definitely good advice! I'll ask my guardian angel to keep me on target. Then I read the Mass for the day which honored St. Paul of the Cross who founded the Passionists.

Random Thoughts on a Lenten Friday

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  Checked the bees this week. Hard at work!

  Two of my grandsons are coming today to help do Camp Kreitzer cleanup. The yard is littered with hundreds of pine cones and sticks, even thick branches that winter winds have dislodged from our numerous pine trees. And oh-my-goodness the pine needles! I rake them up occasionally and put heaps of them in the chicken yard and the coop and on the garden. It cuts down on the cost of pine chips for the coop and mulch for the garden. But no matter how much yard work I do, it always seems like drop in the bucket...or in the pool...or in the ocean. To put a spiritual outlook on it, working on my sins and faults is just like that. No matter how much I try to cultivate the garden of my soul, there is always more to do. And so often it seems I am raking up the same old same old. As I work with the boys today putting yard litter on the fire pit, I will beg God to help me make real progress this Lent placing all my sins and faults on the altar of reconciliation and begging that they be "burned and consumed in the fire of [God's] love." [Imitation of Christ]

Random Thoughts on Monday

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  In the traditional Catholic calendar, tomorrow is the Feast of the Apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes. Interesting coincidence: I'm readinga biography of Pio Nono, Pope Pius IX so I checked the shelf where I keep encyclicals of the popes. Among those in the rubber-banded stash for Pio Nono I found Ineffabilis Deus, the Apostolic Constitution defining the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. I happen to have two copies. While I was reading my Benedictus today, I noticed that the feast for tomorrow is Our Lady of Lourdes. Then when I came in to check out my email and news on the computer, I saw that I left both copies of the apostolic constitution front and center on the desk. What a great time to re-read the pope's declaration about Our Lady. So I will invite my dear husband to do an after dinner reading before we pray our daily rosary. It will be a gift to ourselves and to Mary, the Immaculate Conception. How I love that dear mother. I will use one of my mom's many rosaries. I think she had a rosary in every coat and jacket pocket she owned. Mom, please join me today in glorifying the Blessed Mother, whom you taught me to love so much. 

Farewell to 2024

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  Remember, the Christmas season has hardly begun. Traditionally, it continues until Candlemas Day on February 2nd. So keep the celebration going. If you have any family birthdays or other events, rejoice and enjoy them. Keep the tree and the creche up, the lights lit, the carols playing, and the feasts going! After the seasons of penance in the Church, the celebrations are always longer. And the Master of the House is Jesus Himself. Let us adore Him with praise and thanksgiving and keep the wedding feast of God's love for mankind in style!

•  I'm grateful to God to have made it through another year as I run, walk, limp, crawl, stumble through this valley of tears. 2024 had its ups and downs, its joys and sorrows, its blessings and curses. Thank you, God for everything. As Fr. John Hardon, whose anniversary into eternal life was yesterday, often said nothing "just happens." All is God's will; all is His Providence.

Random thoughts as the new year approaches.

• I pray a lot of novenas, sometimes for the needs of specific people and sometimes for specific intentions. Reflecting on this, I realized that I've never prayed a novena for myself. So two days ago I started a novena to my patron saint, Mary's mother Ann, for myself. It's not very specific -- I just want to be conformed to the will of God. If you've never prayed a novena for yourself why not make one. After all, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. Do we love ourselves enough to pray for ourselves. We certainly need it!

Random Thoughts for Monday

• When a man defends a woman's "right to choose," I always wonder how many women he's used as a sex object and how many times he's hired a serial killer abortionist to kill his children.

• Following your conscience makes sense only if you have an informed conscience. For some people, following their conscience is like hiring a guide who's blind, deaf, and dumb to lead them to their destination. 

Monday Morning Musings

Where will the road take you this week?

Ah...the beginning of a new week. I guess actually yesterday was the beginning. Sunday offers the view from the city on the hill for the next seven days of the journey. Do we look forward to it with pleasure? Do we see a road covered with thorns and brambles or a straight path bordered by glorious gifts of nature? Here are my own random thoughts for the day.

• Life is often challenging, no surprise in this "valley of tears." I was holding a new baby after Mass yesterday. Little Pio is only a little over a week old. His sister who I think is nine was holding him with such an air of motherly protection, but she gave him up to me to fondle for a few minutes. There is nothing like a new baby to give one hope. As Charles Dickens wrote in one of his novels (I think it was The Old Curiosity Shop), "It is no small wonder that these who are so fresh from God love us." That is a truth indeed!

Monday Morning Musings.

Beach buddy!

It's been a busy few weeks. I spent five days in April with my blogging partner, Susan, who lives in Florida. We met in North Carolina at her daughter's cabin in the woods, a great spot to appreciate the glory of God in His creation and revel in our friendship. We always laugh a lot when we're together. How can one not laugh at the insanity of the world?As one Catholic blogger says, "We laugh because we believe."  The long drive back to northern Virginia was grueling for this old lady, but the weather was beautiful, the woods and fields fresh and green. While the redbud and daffodils were finished, the dogwood put on a full bloom show all the way home. 

Thoughts on a Drizzly Wednesday Morning

• I transplanted some day lilies yesterday so I welcome today's soft rain that will help their roots set -- makes me think of grace that helps the "roots" of our spiritual resolutions set.

Random Thoughts on New Year's Day!

New Years Eve dinner table

• Why do they call New Year's Eve "first night" when it's really last night?

• We had a little New Year's Eve party last night with a priest friend and several other guests including my sister-in-law. When we said the rosary she surprised me by gifting me a rosary that belonged to my grandmother, our grandchildren's great-great grandmother! My mom gave it to her, and she generously regifted it to me. I am so grateful! Big hugs to Jessica! I can't think of a gift I would appreciate more!

Need a Boost in Common Sense? Visit Dymphna's Blog!

I'm a regular visitor to Dymphna's blog and hope one day to meet her. I think we are "kindred spirits" as Anne Shirley would say. Her random thoughts are always filled with wisdom. Check them out and see if you agree. Thank you, Dymphna. If you and Rocky ever want a getaway come visit us in Woodstock. 

Friday Morning Musings and Articles of Interest

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  I love working with our bees!

  I'm watching an eastern bluebird couple go in and out of the birdhouse my son-in-law built and posted for me. There is plenty of coming and going, so I suspect there are hatchlings demanding to be fed. It will be fun to watch them. I hope to see them fledge. God is so clearly revealed in His creation. The only creatures who defy Him, after the fallen angels, are we human creatures who persist in rebelling. The saddest thing is to see so many deform their reason and function at the level of feelings and passions. They scratch where it itches and live for their bellies and their genitals. What a pathetic way to live!

Random Thoughts on New Year's Eve

 

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. 

• FINALLY -- The year from hell is coming to a close. Of course the new year will find Satan as active as ever, but perhaps our prayers, fasting, and almsgiving can bind him and release many of those enslaved in his service. I'm praying for that! My new years resolutions are 1. to pray a Memorare for that intention every day along with the Angelus three times a day, 2. to make little acts of sacrifice for that intention, and 3. to make almsgiving in the form of practical assistance and financial aid a weekly intentional activity. 

Random Thoughts on Tuesday Morning

• Another Tuesday on lockdown....When will it end? The animals at the farm down the road are more free today than many Americans.

Guest Post: Not Too Random Thoughts on the State of the Church

I received this email from a friend and found his insights interesting and thoughtful. He lives a quiet life and has turned his home into almost a little chapel. When he shared photos of his projects and then sent this email I couldn't resist asking to share it. I think it shows the benefits of silence and healthy labor. We also share a love for St. Joan of Arc. I added a few comments in red.

Some thoughts, hoping they are not too random....

Of course, I was wary when a Latin American Jesuit was elected pope. But I still hoped for the best. I was alarmed by this statement from the early interview which appeared in the Jesuit journal America: “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently."

How is truth disjointed or disconnected from itself? [Good Question! The pope's comment is like a math teacher saying math rules encompass a "disjointed multitude" and shouldn't be "imposed insistently." If the students want to say 2 + 2 = 5 who are we to judge? Only pharisees and disturbed individuals insist on rigid rules]

Random And Meandering Thoughts

AB Sorondo's Chinese Utopia.

• What times we live in eh? The Vatican is betraying the faithful Chinese bishops and throwing the persecuted underground Church under the bus. Retired Chinese Cardinal Zen has been very outspoken about the betrayal which has elicited the usual Vatican response -- a rebuke (without naming him).

• Telling the truth these days isn't popular at the Vatican. Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Academies for Sciences and Social Sciences, praised the current bloody Commie bosses who, according to him, have made the country a Utopia: no drugs, no "shantytowns," a country that has taken on a "moral leadership that others have abandoned." (This was likely a reference to Trump pulling out of the Paris Accord. China, of course, is a bastion of ecological responsibility!) The bishop must be clueless about the millions of forced abortions in China, the fact that most of the meth in the Philippines comes from China as well as the synthetic opioids that end up in the U.S., and that many people in the country live on the equivalent of a dollar day. Archbishop Sorondo apparently lives in the Potemkin Village!

Random Thoughts for Monday

After dedicating his life to eradicating segregation, would Martin Luther King be thrilled by black students today demanding segregated dorms and spaces?

I'm glad Donald Trump is being tough with the Korean dictator, but I wish he'd stop calling him "rocket man." It's funny, but poking a madman may not be too prudent. It's kind of like poking a mad dog with a stick.

 Just wondering: Will Pope Francis respond to the 62 signatories, clergy and laity, who issued a "filial correction" for his "propagating heresies" or will he give them the Dubia treatment?

Monday Morning Meanderings

An abundant harvest from our little apple orchard!

What a lovely weekend! A birthday party to celebrate our granddaughter's ninth on Saturday and a big Sunday brunch after Mass with twelve of us around the table. I'm never happier than when I can make a big meal for loved ones. The table is the altar of the little domestic church. And then a visit from my sister who was passing through town. Weekends filled with family are the best!

Rain this morning -- the kind the Irish call a "soft rain," gentle, soaking in, erasing the brown with a green wash, a rest for the soul.

Random Thoughts for Monday

Strange isn't it? The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity says that, “Catholics are now able to hear Luther’s challenge for the Church of today, recognizing him as a ‘witness to the gospel.’” (source) But the cardinals who wrote the dubia are in hot water for daring to challenge the conclusions of Pope Francis' confusing and ambiguous exhortation, Amoris Leatitia. Soooo....the heretic takes his place of honor at the Vatican, while the orthodox get the hobnailed boot. We are truly seeing the days predicted by Christ when evil is called good and good is called evil. Pray and keep the faith.

The celebration of the vile Martin Luther makes me think of the recent celebration of the vicious tyrant Fidel Castro by so many "progressives" on the left. Fidel was so wonderful in what he did for Cuba - murdering his own people, summarily executing his enemies, impoverishing the nation, etc. Talk about rewriting history and dumping the unpleasant truth about the man down the memory hole.