+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+ Someone said to me recently that angels can be bad and that demons can be good. Now I don’t know what his religion is or where he heard such a thing, but that’s not what I’ve found as a teaching in any religion in all my years of study. And it’s certainly not what I learned as a young Methodist or in my twenty-five years plus as a Catholic. (I’ll link a video from the Thomistic Institute at the end of this post.)
Continue reading “Good demons, wth?”
+JMJ+ With the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul we’ve come to the end of this series of posts focusing on the Octave of Christian Unity. That’s no accident, I think. There are notes and links below at the end of this post.
Continue reading “Octave of Christian Unity – Conversion”
+JMJ+ Welcome to Day 7 of the Octave of Christian Unity. In Conversation with God, volume 6 (ICWG, 6) by Fr. Francis Fernandez Carvajal, is what I’m using as a jumpstarter for this series of posts. Keywords for tonight are, well, in the title: Mary and Mother of Unity. Notes and links will be at the end of the post.
“The disciples devoted themselves with one accord to prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.”
ICWG, vol. 6, p. 57.
+JMJ+ Welcome to Day 6 in our Octave of Christian Unity series of posts. Keywords today are: People of God, laity and priests, and covenant. Another good way of thinking of our relationship to the Lord, and, from what I remember of listening to and reading Scott Hahn, a better translation of the phrase used in Scripture, would be “Family of God.” As always, any notes and links will be at the end of the post.
Continue reading “Octave of Christian Unity – Covenant and Priesthood”“Christians are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people set apart for Jesus Christ.”
ICWG, vol. 6, p. 51
Welcome to Day 5 in the Octave of Christian Unity. I’m going to try something different tonight. I’ve been posting a Live Rosary Thread on Twitter (follow me on Twitter) for months now (this time around; I posted an earlier round for nine months from Summer 2018 to Easter Vigil 2019 the first time around). Tonight I devoted the Rosary thread to ending the culture of death and the Coronavirus crisis, and prayed for the Church and our country, too. I’m going to try to embed the thread here in this post and give my eyes a rest for the rest of the night. They’re dealing me fits. So here goes. Let’s see if it works. (Note: Success! It worked!) Note: This is the Twitter Rosary Thread for January 22, 2021.
Continue reading “Octave of Christian Unity – A Rosary Thread”
+JMJ+ Welcome to Day 4 of the Octave of Christian Unity. In Conversation with God,* by Fr. Francis Fernandez Carvajal, is what I’m using as a jumping off place for this series of posts. I’ll refer to it as ICWG with volume & page number hereafter, or Ibid. Tonight’s keyword is Foundation, specifically, the Foundation of our Unity. Notes and links will be at the end of the post.
This chapter of the book begins with this sentence.
Continue reading “Octave of Christian Unity – Foundation”“The primacy of Peter is realized in the Church in the person of the Roman Pontiff.”
ICWG, vol 6, p. 39.
+JMJ+ Welcome to Day 3 of the Octave of Christian Unity. I’m using a meditation book as a jumping off place for this series of posts, In Conversation with God,* by Fr. Francis Fernandez Carvajal. (I’ll refer to it as ICWG with volume & page number hereafter, or Ibid. You know, standard stuff, or as close to standard as I usually get. Notes and links will be at the end of the post.) In this post we’ll be looking at the deposit of faith and ecumenism.
Continue reading “Octave of Christian Unity – Deposit of Faith”“Ecumenical dialogue needs to be based on a sincere love for divine truth.”.
ICWG, vol. 6, 33
+JMJ+ Welcome to Day 2 of a special series of posts for the Octave of Christian Unity. I’m using one of my favorite meditation starters, In Conversation with God (ICWG hereafter), a seven-volume set published by Scepter, written by Fr. Francis Fernandez Carvajal. I’ve used it for years and it never gets old. As always, you’ll find notes and links at the end of this post.
The first image Fr. Carvajal mentions in this day’s meditation is the image of the Vine and the branches. He says that there was a sculpture of an immense golden vine in the vestibule of the Temple. So Jesus here is using an image familiar to His disciples. If the branches remain on the vine, they thrive. But if they are removed, they dry up and wither. (ICWG, vol. 6, p. 27.)
Continue reading “Octave of Christian Unity – Vine and branch”
+JMJ+ This is the first post in a short series for the Octave of Christian Unity. The practice of praying for several days for Christian Unity goes back—well, in a sense it goes all the way back to Jesus and the Apostles, but this particular practice goes back to 1897, though it was then observed during the nine days between the Ascension and Pentecost. These days we observe it “during the octave which precedes the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25.” So it begins today, Monday, January 18.
Continue reading “Octave of Christian Unity”
When I discovered the Church (as a new ager and Buddhist), many things drew me to her. The Church Fathers, the saints and great spiritual writers. The Rosary and the Mass. The teachings. The answers that made sense, the deep questions that the Church expected inquirers (and members) to ask, and that we are expected to go on to seek answers, true answers, not merely to express doubt and toss off a skeptical doubt disguised as a question (from a doubter disguised as a seeker). What I would have given to have had then what I have now and have been using since 2014 in my studies. (Note: I am not in any way affiliated with Verbum. I just like it. A lot.)
I’m talking about Verbum Catholic Study Software and Libraries, which I highly recommend and part of which I also happen to be giving away as part of my Triple Anniversary Celebration. I’m giving away a nine volume collection containing what you’ll need to study the teachings of the Church and the Scriptures in a deeper way. (See the other giveaways and enter to win.)
Continue reading “Verbum Catechism Collection Giveaway”
Lightly edited on Sept. 20, 2020, for clarity. Thanks for reading!
The famous (or infamous) Mysteries of Light, the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. Love them? Hate them? Never heard of them? They’re at the center of many heated arguments, both on the web and other places. In this brief post we’ll look at the arguments I’ve personally heard most often for not praying them, and then the argument I find most convincing for praying them. Near the end of this post, the video of an episode of EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, with guest Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, discussing his book, 10 Wonders of the Rosary. (See note 1 below at the end of this post).
Continue reading “Why the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary?”
Catholic Heart and Mind 