+JMJ+ Today is the feast day of Saint Don Bosco. I’ve put some linked videos in this post and some more links in the notes section below. And as a special treat, we’ve got a video by Mother Angelica! Woohoo! Join me tonight for a celebration of one of the Church’s most beloved saints.
Continue reading “Don Bosco and his Dreams”
+JMJ+ Welcome to part 4 (and the First Step) of our sixth Catholic Book of the Month, Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus, by Brant Pitre. I’m on a quest to get more serious than ever before about the spiritual life, my spiritual life, and I’m inviting you to come along with me as I stumble my way along. If you ever felt intimidated by people who seemed to be further along than you are, you won’t have to worry about that here with me. Nope, not at all. Because I am a beginner, too. I have made all the excuses and put off my practice until I was too pooped to pray. In short, I have been a miserable disciple not worthy of the name. That’s why I chose it for my handle on social media, to keep before me my lack of progress and sincere effort and keep me humble. I’d rather read about spirituality any day than have to live it. I understand exactly how that is. That’s why I am doing this now. Time is short, the day is already far spent, and I ain’t gettin’ any younger! I’ve already landed in the hospital twice and the most recent time I was not expected to live. And STILL I have been a lazy sorry excuse for a disciple.
Continue reading “Book of the Month, January 2022, Part 4 – First Step on our Quest”
+JMJ+ Greetings! Here on the feast day dedicated to St. Francis de Sales I want to share some resources about this great master of the spiritual life for the laity. Notes and links are at the end of the post.
Continue reading “St Francis de Sales, Guide to the Devout Life”
+JMJ+ Welcome to part 3 of our sixth Catholic Book of the Month, Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus, by Brant Pitre. You can get a hardcover copy or a Kindle ebook copy using the links at the end of this post, and view other parts of the series on the annotated Table of Contents page.
Continue reading “Book of the Month, January 2022, Part 3”
+JMJ+ Join me on Twitter at 7pm CT, 8pm ET, for a special Rosary for the Week of Christian Unity. In the midst of all the turmoil in the world and in the Church, we are called to remember who we are and Who the Lord is, Whose Body it is in which we are members while He is the Head. So please join me as we set aside some time to pray to the Lord for the Church, for the poor and the suffering, and for each other. Lord knows we need it!
Continue reading “Week of Christian Unity 2022”
+JMJ+ So many things are going through my mind tonight, I don’t know what to write about first. I’m in the middle of research for a couple of different projects and another one just fell in my lap, so there’s that. The feast day for the Conversion of St. Paul is coming up, and I’ve got some new used books I’m reading, along with some others that I bought with a gift card from my sister for Christmas. (I already mentioned one of the Edith Stein books I got.) So maybe I’ll just ramble about these things for a while. Here goes nothin’.
Continue reading “Books on the Nightstand”+JMJ+ Welcome to part 2 of our sixth Catholic Book of the Month, Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus, by Brant Pitre. You can get a hardcover copy or a Kindle ebook copy using the links at the end of this post, and view other parts of the series on the annotated Table of Contents page.
Continue reading “Book of the Month, January 2022, Part 2”
+JMJ+ I haven’t posted a rambling ramble in a while so here’s the first one of the new year. I’m sitting here by the virtual fireplace, listening to the crackling sounds of logs burning without having to worry about setting anything ablaze or cleaning up any ash or checking the flue. Miss Lucy Dawg is sleeping in front of the TV stand. I wonder if she imagine it’s the hearth. She’s been known to lie there near the fire–until she gets too hot after about a minute. Major Tom Cat is out back, doing his perimeter check or whatever he does out there. He’ll be back in here wanting to sit in my lap and smother me soon. Major Tom is not a little cat. He’s a big ol’ guy and he radiates heat. I won’t be cold this winter with him in my lap.
Continue reading “Anotha cuppa and some new used books”+JMJ+ Welcome to part 1 of our sixth Catholic Book of the Month, Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus, by Brant Pitre. You can get a hardcover copy or a Kindle ebook copy using the links at the end of this post, and view other parts of the series on the annotated Table of Contents page.
I can’t help but think that it’s significant that we are beginning our new Quest on the day the Church used to celebrate as the Feast of the Epiphany, which is a day and a season. (For more about that, see my last post with notes and links.) Our Quest is to learn how to live as Catholics, how to grow in the spiritual life, how to let the Lord and His Church show us the Way.
Continue reading “Book of the Month, January 2022, Part 1 Introduction”
+JMJ+ I suppose most of us here in the States observed Epiphany on Sunday but in my mind it’s always on January 6. I found some things about it to share with you so here goes. Hope you find something interesting and helpful in the post.
Continue reading “Epiphany, Showing Forth to the Nations”
Greetings, y’all! I meant to do this earlier tonight but I got caught up working on a project and time slipped up on me, so here I am, typing like mad to get this short post out to you. I assigned numbers to all the entries based on the order in which they were received, then used a random number generator and the winner is (drum roll, please!): Amelia Monroe Carlson! I sent an email and I’ll post this on social media, too. Get back to me, Amelia, and let me know if you want a hardback copy or a Kindle copy of Dr. Brant Pitre’s book, Introduction to the Spiritual Life. If you want the hardback copy, send me your address and I’ll have it sent to you ASAP.
Continue reading “Winner of the New Year’s 2022 Giveaway”
Catholic Heart and Mind 