+JMJ+ Oh, so many things to share with you. I’ll limit myself to only a few in this brief post: a reminder, two videos, and some thoughts about what we should do. First the reminder. The novena to St. Joseph begins on Friday, March 11, ahead of his memorial on March 19. And be sure to check out the Notes and Links section at the end of the post for other stuff I wanted to share (including two updates that I found out about right after I submitted this post). Okay, on to the videos on the Ukraine situation (from a Catholic view).

Video, EWTN’s The World Over March 3, 2022 – Ukraine Invasion & The Church, Putin’s Assault on Ukraine & More

Video, Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, Ukraine, Russia, Fatima: What Is Heaven Telling Us?

Which brings me to something I want to say. Many of us are reading about and watching shows and videos about the situation in Ukraine and wondering what in the world we can do about it. Some will say that all we can is pray. It is true that we can pray but I don’t think we should think of it as “all we can do” as if only there were more we could do, something more powerful and helpful than mere prayer. I suggest instead that the best thing we can do is pray. In fact, I think we should pray before we do anything about or for Ukraine, or anything else, for that matter.

It’s important for us to realize that we are called both to love God and to love neighbor but the highest of these is to love God. If we love God, we will love neighbor and our love for our neighbor will flow from our love for God. What we do for our neighbor also needs to flow from and be rooted in our love of God. To be effective our good works must flow from and be rooted in charity, the love (real love, not the fleeting and unpredictable feeling often called by that name) which can shine the light of Christ into the world that so desperately needs it. Yes, people need real help. And the love that flows into the world from the love of God is the realest help there is. 

Praying isn’t just doing something, it’s doing the best thing.

Thanks for visiting the blog and reading. I pray that we will stay holy and virtuous this Lent, and may you and I become who the Lord intends us to be: SAINTS. God bless you and may His Peace be always with you. +JMJ+  

Join me on Fridays for the Rosary Project Live on Twitter at 8pm ET, 7pm CT, to cultivate a culture of Light, Life, Love, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, for the conversion of sinners, and for the salvation of souls. There’s also a Rosary on the blog you can use anytime.

“The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” — Padre Pio

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Notes and Links

• St. Joseph Novena via Pray More Novenas begins March 3. I’ve made notes to remember that when I prepare Friday’s Live Rosary Thread on Twitter. (You’ll find the Live Rosary on Twitter on my profile page on Fridays at 7pm CT, 8pm ET, beginning at a quarter before the hour.)
• EWTN’s The World Over March 3, 2022 – Ukraine Invasion & The Church, Putin’s Assault on Ukraine & More
• Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, Ukraine, Russia, Fatima: What Is Heaven Telling Us?
• To Believe, film, On Demand at EWTN, free: During the 20th Century, the Soviet Union relentlessly persecuted the Church within its own borders, as the atheistic government tried to eradicate faith from its own people. This is the true story of Fr. Sebastian Sabudzinski and the families who were part of the small Catholic parish he tended in Ukraine during the Communist persecution. May Not Be Suitable For Children. Also on YouTube. (That was just an ad on YouTube for the film. Sorry.)
• A film about St. Joseph is set to air on March 19 on EWTN. The news releases I’ve read said it was available now to watch online for free, but I can’t find it on the EWTN Roku app or on their website. I’ve replied to the Catholic News Agency tweet about it. I’ll update this if I find an answer. UPDATE! Someone on Twitter was gracious enough to let me know. Thank you, OccamsHammer! See quote below.

St. Joseph: Our Spiritual Father — a Knights of Columbus produced documentary for the Year of St. Joseph — is NOW AVAILABLE free of charge. Start or deepen your devotion to St. Joseph with this new film.

Another Update: The film is also available on YouTube. I just found it.

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Image credit: The Virgin in Prayer, Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, photo © National Gallery of Art, London, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, non-commercial.

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