Happy feast day of Saint Joseph

On March 20, 2023 By Lee (@disciple96)In Lent, Saints and Blesseds, Spiritual LifeLeave a comment

St Joseph with the Child Jesus, by Murillo

+JMJ+ A blessed feast day of Saint Joseph to you! And happy first day of Spring. Here we in the fourth week of Lent. Hasn’t this Lent flown by? My sister sent me a gift card for Christmas and I’m just now using it. What did I get? One book, so far: The Silent Knight: A History of St. Joseph as Depicted in Art, by my favorite art historian and one of my all-time favorite speakers, period, Dr. Elizabeth Lev. I only bought the book today and I haven’t begun to read it yet, so how can I recommend it to you? Well, first, did I mention it’s by Liz Lev? And I’ve watched some interesting interviews about it (see below), so I am looking forward to digging into it. In keeping with the art of Saint Joseph theme I’m going to include a few of my favorite paintings of him.

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Treating Holy Things As If They Were Holy

On January 23, 2023 By Lee (@disciple96)In Relics, Saints and BlessedsLeave a comment

+JMJ+ I’ve heard it before and I heard it again this morning while watching some videos on YouTube. Dallas Jenkins (a Protestant and the creator, producer, director, writer of The Chosen) and Jonathan Roumie (a Catholic and, among other things, the actor who plays Jesus in The Chosen) had just visited St. Peter’s in Rome and spoke about it on camera for a few minutes afterward. And of course the conversation turned to statues and relics.

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I’m still learning about St. Joseph

On March 14, 2022March 14, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Saints and Blesseds, Spiritual Life2 Comments

+JMJ+ I’ve been exploring and studying the faith for many years, since those early days in 1994 until now, 28 years later. (I’ve been Catholic for 26 years but began exploring the Church a couple of years before I was received.) And still I learn something new all the time. Yesterday I discovered a devotion I’d never heard of before.

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Don Bosco and his Dreams

On January 31, 2022January 31, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Saints and BlessedsLeave a comment

+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.

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St Francis de Sales, Guide to the Devout Life

On January 24, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Books, introduction fo the devout life, Saints and Blesseds, Spiritual LifeLeave a comment

+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.

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St. Francis is not just about animals

On October 4, 2021October 4, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In Saints and Blesseds2 Comments

St. Francis of Assisi is not only and not even primarily about animals. Yes, he loved creation but he loved it because he loved the God Who created it.

+JMJ+ It took me longer than I expected tonight to write a post about St. Francis. Everything I looked at or read or thought about left me in tears. Not just sentimental tears, though there probably is some of that, but the tears of a deep longing. I don’t know what to call it. Maybe to see the way he saw, to love the way he loved.

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Solemnity of St Joseph, March 19

On March 19, 2021March 19, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In Saints and BlessedsLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Greetings! Today is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. I’m preparing the Rosary thread for tonight but I wanted to share these things with you on this day devoted to this very important Saint. I’ve included videos from Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina. I hope you enjoy them.

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Novena to St. Joseph begins

On March 10, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In Prayer, Saints and BlessedsLeave a comment

+JMJ+ I’ve found two different dates for when the Novena to St. Joseph begins. Some say March 11, some say March 10. The USCCB says March 10. You can use that link to use their materials for the novena. I’ve posted a longish version on the blog. I hope you find it useful. God bless you! +JMJ+

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love you! Save souls!

Images: The Child Jesus taking the cross of St Joseph, by Carlo Dolci, Wikimedia Commons, public domain. The Holy Family at Nazareth, by Rafael Flores, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

A Special Post for a Special Feast Day

On October 22, 2020October 23, 2020 By Lee (@disciple96)In Rosary, Saints and BlessedsLeave a comment

Updated, October 23, 2020 to add a line with a link to an earlier post and a video, which I included in the endnotes but somehow left out of the paragraph in which they belonged, cuz I’m talented that way.

+JMJ+ The weekly series on the soul, Part 42, will be posted next Thursday because today is a special day for me here at the blog and it snuck up on me and I didn’t realize it fell on a Thursday. Yes, I have a liturgical calendar but, sadly, it won’t slap me in the face and/or write my posts for me. (What, I bought the calendar, now I have to use it, too? Do I have to do everything around here? Oh, well, um, yes, I guess I do. Argh.) So, since October is the month of the Rosary and today is the feast day of Pope St. John Paul II, and the Rosary is so important to me (see, for example, the Rosary Project and the Live Rosary Archives on this site), that’s what I’ll write about tonight. (I’ll write more about why the Rosary is so important to me in another post soon, maybe for Monday’s post, before October is over.)

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Saint Matthew and Saint Michael

On September 21, 2020 By Lee (@disciple96)In Prayer, Saints and BlessedsLeave a comment

Feast of St Matthew, Apostle

Today, September 21, is the Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle. A few years ago Pope Benedict offered a reflection on St. Matthew which I read this afternoon and wanted to share with you. A lot of articles on the web quote from it, but they often don’t give the reference, beyond saying it’s from 2006 by Pope Benedict. That didn’t give me much to go on, but it was enough as it turns out. So if you like, take a few minutes to read and reflect on Pope Benedict XVI’s General Audience from August 30, 2006.

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