I am a soul who has a body, oh, really?

+JMJ+ (We’re continuing our series What is Christianity? or Catholicism 101.) How many times have you heard someone say it? “I am a soul, I have a body.” That’s not what the Church teaches. Think it doesn’t matter? Oh, but it does. If you think you are a soul who has a body, then you probably think your soul is the more important of the two and that the body is somehow second rate. There is a sense in which this is true. After all, the soul can live without the body, but the body can’t live without the soul. But without the body you would be incomplete. A human person consists of a soul and a body. A better way of saying that would be, a human person is a union of body and soul. *I like to say the words together, well, as close together as I can say them, bodysoul or soulbody. I just can’t seem to say them at the same time. We humans are limited that way, one thing after another, one thing at a time.)

Continue reading “I am a soul who has a body, oh, really?”

St Francis de Sales, Guide to the Devout Life

+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”

Speaking of art

+JMJ+ I’ve been going through my collection to select artwork for the Rosary books (edit Nov. 24: I should have said ebooks, though I may do a printed run at some point), and I’ve got enough for a gazillion books. Well, maybe not a gazillion. Maybe just a million. But it beats trying to format the text and all that. Aaaaaa! My eyes! My brain! ;) Speaking of art, I was taking a break from all the close up work (and tiny fonts!) to watch a video of Thomas Mirus, host of the CatholicCulture podcast, and Dr. Elizabeth Lev, my favorite art historian, discussing St. Anthony, the Abbot (or the Egyptian, or the Great, he’s known by different names) and the way he’s represented in the iconography and art of East and West. And a lot more besides. And I’m fascinated. 

Continue reading “Speaking of art”

Upcoming Posts

I’m working on some blog posts, one in particular I want to get written and posted at some point today. How many Catholics are there who do not know the precepts of the Church? How many do not know how many there are? (Hint: FIVE!) How many Catholics know what the purpose of the precepts are? How many Catholics know that tomorrow is a Holy Day of Obligation? Yeah, it’s not just the day after Halloween. Oy. How many Catholics know what a Holy Day of Obligation is? Do these things matter? Do you need to know them? Where can you find the answers, for yourself or for others when they ask you? Stay tuned. I’m working on the posts and plan to have at least one posted on the blog later today.

Confession, An App Apt to Aid Your Interior Life

Confession: A Roman Catholic AppI love to visit the blog Sonitus Sanctus and today I found an unusual treat, Confession: A Roman Catholic App. Imagine having an aid to the daily examination of your conscience, complete with various prayers and acts of contrition, and the ability to customize the whole thing for your state in life, your age, etc., for one user or several and with password protection. Well, imagine no more. Now you can have all this on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Get it at the App Store. I’m going to leave a little review there now because I like this app and I want it to do well. Gotta do my part, no matter how small.

Get Confession: A Roman Catholic App at the App Store.
Read the original post at Sonitus Sanctus.
The App Store on iTunes (requires iTunes).
App Store Downloads Mobile (iTunes not needed).

Who is to blame for the culture of death?

Christ is the True Manna from HeavenWho is to blame for the culture of death? Not atheists or progressives or democrats or republicans or pro-choice advocates. No, according to Dr. John Cuddeback in his talk, Spiritual Warfare: The Battle for Life in a Culture of Death, we Christians have no one to blame but ourselves. For we have forgotten who we are. We have forgotten to put on the mind of Christ. We have forgotten how to pray. We have forgotten that prayer is necessary to the life of the Christian. We have forgotten that the Eucharist, the highest form of prayer, is absolutely necessary to the life of the Christian. Prayer and reception of divine grace in the sacraments is not optional, not something extraneous to the Christian way of life but is absolutely central to it. Continue reading “Who is to blame for the culture of death?”

The Doctrine of Truth, humbling words from the Imitation of Christ

Christ's priest, the priest is not his own, he is Christ'sI’ve been working on my novel, well, perhaps “working” is a bit misleading. I’ve been thinking about it and gathering ideas and notes, at least. Been reading lots too. Theology, trying to deepen my understanding of how Christianity works, what things mean, how to explain things, how to enter into the Mystery in a deeper way, how to deepen my interior life. And working on some posts for my blogs Some for elsewhere. Everybody else at this other blog seems to have a background in theology and/or philosophy. Then there’s me…Oy. I feel singularly not up to the task of arguing abstruse points of theology and philosophy with anybody. (This is not to say that people who approach the faith differently do so with less devotion. It’s just that my approach to the faith is different, though, of course, I do spend much time studying. But for me, all my studying can take away from the central thing, the heart of the matter. I need to focus even more on the inner side of things. I also need to get back to attending Daily Mass and saying my rosary faithfully. And the daily recitation of the Divine Office. How my interior life has slipped!)

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been reading (and listening to an audio book of) the Imitation of Christ. So I get to chapter 3, The Doctrine of Truth, and what do I read? Continue reading “The Doctrine of Truth, humbling words from the Imitation of Christ”

Books on the nightstand

Someone asked me the other day what books I have on my nightstand. Seems like a good topic for a quick post, doesn’t require much thought, just have to remember what’s there. Hmmm…well, I’ve only got about half an hour before I have to leave the coffee shop, so I’ll have to give an abbreviated list. ;) Continue reading “Books on the nightstand”