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© Ron Chapple Stock/Getty Images It was 3:07 on a glorious afternoon in late May. I was sitting in my car with the power turned off and the windows wide open. The baby was dozing in her car seat while we waited in the car line for the school bell to ring, signifying the end of another busy school year and the beginning of sweet, sweet summer. Read my unique tip for enjoying summer with your children at Praying with Grace !

What happens when you begin to fear doing something you've done for much of your life? How to cope? This scenario has been playing out since I received a healing of my singing voice. God was calling me to go public again. I share to show that fear never conquers so long as we are willing to go where God leads and we trust in him. from picturespost.blogspot.com During the fifteen years that I was a professional musician I went out on gigs, holding concerts and sometimes doing some public speaking. When my mother died in 2010, I stopped doing that sort of thing. Now, five years later, I've decided to dive back in. It is not without fear and trepidation for I am rusty! While I had my years of experience to fall back on, I wasn't sure I would remember how to do it. Something once familiar to me had become unknown territory. Was it worth trying? Yes! Click to continue reading.

Schools in Sierra Leone reopened today, having been closed since the Ebola outbreak in July. According to an  NPR report , "more than one-third of the 10,000+ deaths have been in Sierra Leone." When this year's harsh winter closed schools for several days in a row, some parents joked about how grueling it was to be trapped at home with stir-crazy children. Very few of us reading this blog can imagine what it's like to experience nine months of closed schools, especially amid a health crisis claiming thousands of lives. Not that long ago, in 1991, Sierra Leone faced another horrifying crisis: civil war. A month ago, I had the opportunity to listen to a survivor of that war. Ishmael Beah, author of  A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier , was forced to become a soldier in Sierra Leone at the age of thirteen. Photo courtesy of Brookfield Academy Ishmael visited my children's school, where his book is required reading for the ninth graders. Students, t

St Joseph and the Christ Child , El Greco, c.1600 Museo de Santa Cruz, Toledo, Spain [ Web Gallery of Art They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.   They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.   Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,   and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”   But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”   And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.     They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He   commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”   At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. Remains of the 4th century synagogue, Capernaum [ Wikipedi

This morning's readings — Sirach 3:2 - 6 , 12 - 14 ; Genesis 15:1 - 6 , 21:1 - 3 ; Colossians 3:12 - 21 or Hebrews 11:8 , 11 - 12 , 17 - 19 ; and Luke 2:22 - 40 — have one thing in common: marriage and family. That figures, since this is Holy Family Sunday. Taking a cue from our Lord, Catholics see family as a big deal. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1601 - 1658 , particularly 1655 ; 2210 ) That's not the same as holding up Happy Days or All In the Family as an ideal toward which all must strive. So why is this in one of today's readings? 8 Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord." ( Colossians 3:18 ) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

There's a new item on the blogroll : Training Happy Hearts " Join us as we journey along in training up our children (and ourselves!) to live fully, love deeply and learn passionately, with faith that promises (and delivers!) truly happy hearts. " That's the entire post. There are more at A Catholic Citizen in America .

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2014: Proverbs 31:10 - 13 , 19 - 20 , 30 - 31 1 Thessalonians 5:1 - 6 Matthew 25:14 - 30 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2014 By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas November 16, 2014 Our Catholic Christian tradition teaches us that happiness and friendship and marriage should all be based on a healthy loving fear of the Lord. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the psalmist expresses it very simply and poetically. "Blessed are those who fear the Lord," and then he explains what, exactly, that means: "to fear of the Lord is to walk in his ways." This is the wisdom of the ages. It is the perennial principle of human happiness. And it is the foundation of true success in marriage.... (Guest post.) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Paleontologists uncovered a huge pair of arms, plus assorted ribs and vertebrae, in the Gobi Desert 49 years back. Discoveries since 2006 supplied the missing pieces of Deinocheirus, the largest known theropod dinosaur. Other scientists are filling in more of humanity's family history, with 45,000-year-old DNA. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)  [ Wikipedia ] Catholic synod: Gay rights groups 'disappointed' As I write this at 07:45 GMT/UTC, Sunday 19 October, the above is the main story on the website of the BBC. It was also the lead story on BBC World when I watched the news there at 22:00 Saturday and again at 04:00 today. Both bulletins featured two men in Rome living together, one of them speaking fluent English and telling of his desire to raise the three young children that they have  as Catholics. The 04:00 bulletin also included an interview with a representative of The New Ways Ministry, described on the BBC website report as 'a US Catholic gay rights group'. James Reynolds' report on the BBC website begins with this sentence:  Catholic gay rights groups say they are disappointed after bishops rejected a call for wider acceptance of gay people, which had the Pope's backing. Full post here .

(From John Hart Studios, used w/o permission.) This post is not about global warming, the coming ice age, or manure burying London. Don't laugh: in 1894 the Times of London ran a warning that London would be under nine feet of manure by 1944. ( July 9, 2011 ) Wikipedia has a list of fizzled apocalypses, from 634 BC to 2013 AD; and that's another topic. Topics. ( February 25, 2014 ; November 29, 2013 ) Synod 14, an extraordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops, is in progress. It's running from the 5th to the 19th of this month. In this post, I'll be looking at what I expect from the Synod; what I don't expect; and why I'm not upset that the Synod probably won't address the annual collision of Mother's Day and fishing season in Minnesota. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas I've been asked, to write something for this Sunday's bulletin, but what to write? How about something of an 80-year-old, celibate, Deacon. Right off someone is going to ask, "well, priests retire at 70 what about Deacons?" We are required to send a letter of retirement to our Bishop when we turned 70 years of age and so I did. I got a letter back from the Bishop when we turned 70 years of age and so I did. I got a letter back from the Bishop saying, "your time clock is not run out yet, you can go on for a while." I was so proud of him that he even remembered that I worked on clocks. So now 10 years later having had lunch with our Bishop a few months ago and for some reason telling him I was 80 years old, he said, "Ak, only 20 more years ago." I'm not sure what that means, are you stuck with me or am I stuck with you? Ha.... (Guest post) More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Our oldest son was a senior in high school on September 11, 2001.  In his valedictory speech on his graduation day in June of 2002, he mentioned the tragic event that forever scarred the hearts of  all Americans.  In part, here is what he said:  ...this year we looked on in disbelief on September 11th as innocent lives were taken by the evil of terrorism.  The pain we felt...was acute, but strength is often forged in the fires of misfortune...through the 9/11 tragedy, I hope, we learned to respect and protect life, every human life.  It is this that our society needs most today.  Our society's moral values have been in a downward spiral for quite a while, and this trend shows no sign of getting better unless there is a change in the way we think.  At the heart of this moral decline is a cheapening of human life.  Pope John Paul II has called this the "Culture of Death."  Choices once unanimously considered criminal and rejected by the common moral sense are gradual

It’s good to be posting again! I was in an unexpected blogging break because we moved on short notice from Iraq to the U.S. (Pittsburgh area). We aren’t fully settled in yet, and are still job hunting, hoping we find something soon so we know we can definitely stay in the area and start getting put together. It’s been an absolute whirlwind of a month, with so many unknowns and unexpected changes, hopes and disappointments, sad goodbyes and happy hellos as we left our friends, family and community in Iraq, and have started making new connections and renewing old ones here in the U.S. We are still praying so hard for the community we left behind in Erbil, and are so deified by the solidarity with which they have welcomed all the refugees that have come to the city from other places in Iraq. I think it’s going to take a long time to fully process everything that’s just happened (and still is happening as we try to keep getting settled on this end). God was blessing us so much

I often find myself in tears during Mass.  Not always, but sometimes.  And these tears come out of the blue, when I least expect them.  If I don't remember to tuck some tissues into my purse before I head out the door, chances are I'm going to be in trouble.  I'm going to be wiping my nose on my sleeve like a five-year-old. Sometimes it's the lyrics of a particularly moving hymn that make me cry, or the stirring music combined with the unequaled beauty of a Catholic church's interior.  Sometimes it's just that in those particular surroundings, I feel closer to God, and that nearness hits me just so and goes right to my core--to my very soul.  And I am left feeling vulnerable and unworthy of His love, and yet profoundly loved by Him. I've talked before about how seeing my sons dressed in tuxes, standing on the altar in the role of groomsmen at one another's weddings, reduces me to tears.  But even when there isn't something particularly noteworthy

The Edel Gathering is this weekend and there were some of us who couldn't attend, as much as we would have loved it! Rita over at The Catholic Review: Open Window thought it would be great to host a blog hop wherein we'd have a virtual conference! I loved the idea and thought to share how I keep the faith alive between Sundays, with kids. I'll admit, I don't always do a bang up job each week. Because work.You'll see what I mean. Finding the time to share the Catholic faith with my children isn’t easily done during the summer months especially when they’re not in school. I work full time from 8:30AM - 5PM Monday through Friday. The time I have with the kids is limited, but I make the best of it. Here's what we do to keep the faith! Check in with them about their feelings about their prayer life. Little ones can struggle too and experience spiritual dryness just like adults. Let them know that they’re being heard and share with them how you work through the

On May 9, our second-oldest son got engaged to a lovely young lady whom we are thrilled to welcome as a fourth daughter.  This is a date my husband and I will never forget because it is also the birthday of my late father-in-law, a figure beloved by so many, who would be 86 if he hadn't been taken from us--way too soon--back in 2003.  Papa lived for his grandchildren, and he would have certainly approved of his grandson's choice of a mate. Three of our other sons are married already; son #1 got married in December of 2009, son #3 in December of 2013, and son #4 in February of 2014.  Now son #2 and his bride-to-be are looking at a November 2014 wedding date.  Our firstborn pointed out recently that the oldest four in our family were born less than five years apart, and now they're going to all be married within five years of each other.  He had quite a head start on his younger brothers, but the three of them are making up for lost time by getting married in one 11-mont

This seemed a good day to talk about motherhood, family, and why Minnesota has the start of fishing season fall on Mother's Day weekend. My wife says it may be so that mothers can have some time alone . If that's so, Minnesota's DNR blundered. They say this weekend is "Take-a-Mom fishing weekend." Ephesians and Diapers 'Family' is very important to Catholics, or should be. The Catechism devotes quite a bit of space to what a family is, and how families should work. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2201 - 2233 ) . ( September 24, 2009 ) On the other hand, I'm not allowed see marriage as a casual agreement between consenting adults. For starters, we all have duties: children and parents (Catechism, 2214 - 2220 , 2221 - 2231 ). When I married my wife, I knew what I was signing up for. Ephesians 5:22 - 25 points out that as her husband, I must love my wife "even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her." That

When the gearshift pulled up and into his hand, my husband realized it was time to junk our 21-year-old car. The Saturn we bought as newlyweds had about 232,000 miles on the speedometer - six years ago when the speedometer broke. It has no horn, no ceiling upholstery, no working gas gauge and so on.  Since New Jersey only checks emissions on cars now, it did pass inspection recently. After a long winter that felt as if everything was stalled, life is moving at a fast pace. Keep Reading...

I grew up in the shadow of my sister who was 18 months older than me. I followed her around, copying her every preference and obeying her every request. She convinced me that her likes and dislikes, friends and fashions were the best and only choices possible for me.  When she was 16, she got married, leaving me wondering who I was without her. Perhaps like me, you habitually compare yourself with others, find yourself lacking and stop trying to succeed. Stuck in comparison mode, we can never develop into the person God created in his image.  God doesn't create clones. When we measure ourselves against others, all we see are our weaknesses. Our uniqueness hides from others and ourselves. Blessed John Paul II wrote about this, "We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures, we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son Jesus." Continue reading at JOYAlive.net

We four returned this afternoon from Pittsburgh, where we toured the University of Pittsburgh campus for an admitted students' day, ate at Primanti Brothers, and attended Mass at the Newman Catholic Center. A few insights: First, Pitt is a wonderful place. I had to stop myself from buying one of these sweatshirts; our oldest still is mulling his options for college and whether he prefers a large university to a small liberal arts college. Keep Reading...