+JMJ+ Today is the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. Read more here and here. Today is also Memorial Day, a remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country they loved, for their loved ones, and for those who were yet to come.
Continue reading “Memorial Day from a Catholic Perspective “
Happy and Blessed Pentecost, y’all!
“The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world, alleluia.”
–Antiphon for Evening Prayer II, Pentecost Sunday, May 28.
Continue reading “Happy and Blessed Pentecost, y’all!”
+JMJ+ This week we’ll continue on our quest to learn to pray the Rosary and we’ll also look at some Rosary art along the way. Since it’s Monday as I write this, and we could all probably use something joyful here at the beginning of the work week, I’ve selected the Annunciation, the first of the Joyful Mysteries, for us.
Continue reading “Learn to Pray the Rosary Part 3”+JMJ+ Last week we began looking at how to pray the Rosary, not why but how. We looked at the three basic prayers that make up the body of the Rosary. Well, maybe the bones of it. Oh, let me not get tangled up right here in the intro or we’ll be here all day. We’re here to take a look around and explore in a stress-free way, after all. The basic prayers are the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be. True, we only took a first and exceedingly brief glance at them in the previous post, but this is not the time or place to go deeper–because we could dive deep with just those prayers or any one of them, and perhaps we will. Later. Right now we’re just getting familiar with the lay of the land, getting a feel for things. And remember, there is a Rosary right here on the blog that you can use while you read this or anytime you like.
Continue reading “Learn to Pray the Rosary Part 2”+JMJ+ There will be more Rosary art posts but today I want to write about a different aspect of the Rosary. I’ve written about why I began praying the Rosary and about my conversion (see links at the end of this post). This is the first post in a short series about how I learned to pray the Rosary. I remember thinking I would “never be able to learn all of those prayers” in those early days. But it didn’t take long at all because it was a lot simpler than I realized at first. I’m going to write about the Rosary and its prayers in a few posts so I can take a closer look at some things without loading down this one post with too much. For now here are some thoughts that helped me. Maybe they’ll help someone else, too.
Continue reading “How I learned to pray the Rosary”
+JMJ+ Today is the optional memorial of St. Joseph the Worker, and even though he’s only seen in a couple of scenes in the Rosary (well, three scenes, sometimes four), he’s an important figure in the Church and in the lives of Christians. (I’m not going to say Catholics and Christians because that sounds like Catholics and Christians are two different groups, a notion I thoroughly reject. All Catholics are Christian, though not all Christians are Catholic, but this is a topic for another post.) When I’m searching for art for the Rosary threads I often find art related to but not exactly for the Rosary. Today’s a good day to share some St. Joseph art I’ve found, and some interesting links, too.
Continue reading “Mysteries of the Rosary in Art: St. Joseph Edition”
+JMJ+ There is a “Call to Intense Prayer: Boston Archdiocese Responds to Satanic Temple’s Convention.” The Rosary thread on Twitter tonight will be part of this response. I hope you’ll join me.
Continue reading “Urgent call for prayer tonight and this weekend”
This series is part of the Rosary Project.
+JMJ+ Continuing in our Rosary art series, I thought we’d look at another painting of the Resurrection, this time one by Matthias Grünewald. It’s part of a large winged altarpiece, a polyptych. And instead of me stumbling through the post, this time we have Kelly Bagdanov to guide us. These video aren’t explicitly about the Rosary, but the Resurrection is the First Glorious Mystery and the art in the video is a painting of the Resurrection (and other related scenes). That works. I’ll need a cuppa, then let’s go.
Continue reading “Mysteries of the Rosary in Art”
+JMJ+ Those who follow me on Twitter may have seen that Miss Lucy Dawg (my little miniature Chocolate Dapple Dachshund who I inherited when my father passed away in 2013) had some trouble with her back legs this past weekend. Well, of course it’s more involved than that. We went to the vet (and that is part of a saga in itself, a story for another time) Friday and got a bunch of new meds for her. Previously she was only on something for her liver. She’s got more than that now! Good thing we traded pill organizers a while back because she needs way more room than I do in one of those.
Continue reading “Miss Lucy Dawg Is Getting Old (and So Am I)”
+JMJ+ (I’ve got two posts today, this one and later a personal update on my little miniature Dachshund, Miss Lucy Dawg.) Tonight we begin a new series. Since I’ve been posting a Rosary thread on Twitter for the last couple of years—well, I guess it’s been longer than a couple of years now, wow. Anyway, since I’m into this Rosary Project thing and collecting art for the threads, and since from time to time people ask me about the art, and since I don’t know much about it, I thought I’d do a series and share the little I know, and also share some links and books from people who know much more than I do. (This is the first post in the series. Hopefully I will learn more and get better at this as the series progresses.)
Continue reading “Rosary Project, the Art: A New Series Begins”
+JMJ+ Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. I hope yours is a happy and blessed one. Here are some links to help you observe the day. (Sorry this is later than I’d hoped to post it, Miss Lucy Dawg and I are having some health issues. I’ll post an update about that later. Right now I have to grab a break while she’s taking a siesta. Whew! We’re both getting old.)
Continue reading “Happy and Blessed Divine Mercy Sunday, y’all!”
+JMJ+ Happy Easter Monday in the Octave of Easter! (I love that, as a Catholic, I get to say Happy Easter all week long and maybe even longer cuz it’s a season, not a day or even a week, ya know.) This post includes a repost from a few Easters ago the week of my 13th year anniversary. It’s been 27, not 13, years since I was received into Holy Church. It’s been a sometimes wild and bumpy ride but I wouldn’t trade it for all the money and power in the world, two things which I rather conspicuously lack. Ah, but I’m not complaining. Those things come with their own set of miseries and I’m perfectly happy not to have to deal with either of them, thank you very much. Repost begins below the fold.
Continue reading “Twenty seven years already!”
Catholic Heart and Mind 