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Showing posts with the label family

Dear Padre Miguel Pro

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NIELSON CARLIN November 23rd was the anniversary of the death of Fr. Miguel Pro, SJ. He died a martyr for Christ during the persecution of Catholics following the Mexican Revolution which erupted in 1910. Dear Michael, We shared your story at dinner last night. It was the 88th anniversary of your execution, and my husband and I wanted to honor your memory, passing on your story to our children. Some people may think it’s strange for me to write you a letter, I know. Obviously, I will never find a mailbox capable of getting this letter to you, but I know we’re connected. As Jesus reminds us in Mark 22:32, the Lord proclaims he is “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Even when we die, we live in God who has no beginning and no end. Disciples of Christ needn’t bother about space and time. You’ll get this. I wanted to write to you because I am so grateful for your life—and your death. While you were still a young man you chose to become a Jesuit, a pri
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Advent now comes and goes nearly unnoticed. The only thing worth of recognition between Halloween and Christmas is Thanksgiving, and even that has started to take a back seat as major stores start “decking the halls” and major TV stations start putting on Christmas movies in late October and early November. Advent, a delightful period of quiet waiting and anticipation for the coming of the child Jesus passes by largely forgotten. My husband is a Maronite Catholic. Any of you familiar with Eastern Catholicism may have heard that the Eastern Catholic rites follow a different liturgical calendar. Most major feasts, like Christmas and Easter, fall on the same dates, thereby emphasizing the unity of the Church, but other feasts and the general cycle of the liturgical seasons differs. Since we’re a mixed family (I’m Roman Catholic), I like to joke that we can opt for the longer Advent (Maronite calendar) and shorter Lent (Roman Catholic calendar). In all seriousness, though, I deeply

A Thanksgiving Plea

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Thanks to an outbreak of the bird flu this summer, grocers across the country are warning of possible turkey shortages – fewer and smaller birds for higher prices. Luckily, the bird flu didn’t affect our region too badly, so I’m pretty sure we’ll manage to get a tasty gobbler on the table, and I’m hoping that, in the end, all of you will too – unless, of course, you opt for ham, salmon or some other palate pleasing delight. Either way, please don’t let a vain bird, or any other main dish, steal the center stage. As Catholic families, one of the best favors we can do for our kids during November is to remind them that Thanksgiving is meant above all to be a feast for the soul. Continue reading at Eyes On Heaven .

Family, Firsts, and Francis: also Trading Cards

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(From Libreria Editrice Vaticana, used w/o permission.) Pope Francis arrived in Havana, Cuba, yesterday. It's his first stop on the latest apostolic journey.... ...Getting back to the Pope's visit to Cuba and the United States, the Philadelphia Phillies have been giving away Pope Francis Rookie Cards.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Sex, Satan, and Me: Getting a Grip

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This post is about sex, Catholic Style. Now that I've got your attention, a little background. I'm a Catholic: an adult convert, so I'm rather gung-ho about my faith. This post is longer than most 'Sunday' ones: mostly because I discuss a recent Supreme Court decision in the context of love, free will, and Addams Family Values... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Home

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Pope Francis' encyclical reminds me we are not angels. We have bodies, and we must live in the physical world. It is this physical world, our common home, that Pope Francis asks us to consider: On many concrete questions, the Church has no reason to offer a definitive opinion; she knows that honest debate must be encouraged among experts, while respecting divergent views. But we need only take a frank look at the facts to see that our common home is falling into serious disrepair. Hope would have us recognize that there is always a way out, that we can always redirect our steps, that we can always do something to solve our problems. [61] Interestingly, when I searched for images of "home" to include here, nearly 100% of the photos looked like this: ©IPGGutenbergUKLtd/Getty Images Read more at Praying with Grace !

Name That Summer!

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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 !

Leaping into the unknown: is it worth it?

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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.

Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

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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

'A new teaching - with authority!' Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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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

Holy Family, Not '50s Family

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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 .

New on the Blogroll: Training Happy Hearts

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 .

Fear of the Lord: Ancient, Timeless Wisdom

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 .

Dinosaur Arms, and Ust'-Ishim Man's DNA

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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, the Roman Inquisition and the Extraordinary Synod on the Family

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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 .

Synod 14: What I Expect, and What I Don't

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(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 .

Love, Death, and Families

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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 .

Remembering 9/11, Thirteen Years Later

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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

Coping with Change as a Family

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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

Tears During Mass

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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