What Should We Do

On March 7, 2022March 7, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Prayer, Spiritual Life2 Comments

+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).

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Your Best Catolic Lent Yet

On February 28, 2022February 28, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Lent, Spiritual LifeLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Lent begins on Wednesday. That’s just two days away! At least I don’t have to flail about like I do most years, wondering what to do, what to give up, etc. This year I’m going to do some spiritual exercises from the Sermon on the Mount to make this my best Catholic Lent ever! Join me and make this your best Catholic Lent ever, too. I’ll give a brief overview of these spiritual exercises in this post, but you can read more about them and what they are meant to remedy in the ongoing Catholic Book of the Month series, currently featuring Brant Pitre’s Introduction to the Spiritual Life (scroll down that page for the book’s posts).

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Praying for the Holy Souls – Part 4

On November 29, 2021December 1, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In PurgatoryLeave a comment

+JMJ+ This is part of a four-part series for November, the month devoted to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, during which we remember in a special way our loved ones who have gone on ahead, practicing devotions and praying for them. The Holy See extended the indulgences through November because of Covid-19, see notes below for links about that. The Catholic Book of the Month series continues on Thursdays for now. I’m still thinking about a topic for Mondays now that this series is at an end.

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Praying for the Holy Souls – Part 3

On November 22, 2021December 1, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In PurgatoryLeave a comment

+JMJ+ This is part 3 of a four-part series for November, the month devoted to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, during which we remember in a special way our loved ones who have gone on ahead, by practicing devotions and praying for them. The Holy See extended the indulgences through November because of Covid-19, see notes below for links about that. Also in the links are a couple of articles about Padre Pio and the Holy Souls. In this post are two videos, one about Padre Pio and his intercession for the Holy Souls and some encounters he had with them, and a video from the EWTN show, Living Divine Mercy on Why Purgatory Exists.

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Praying for the Holy Souls – Part 2

On November 15, 2021December 1, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In PurgatoryLeave a comment

+JMJ+ November is the month devoted to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. It’s a time to remember our loved ones who have gone on ahead and to practice devotions and pray especially for them. The Holy See extended the indulgences through November because of Covid-19, see notes below for links about that.

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Praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

On November 8, 2021December 1, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In PurgatoryLeave a comment

+JMJ+ During November the Catholic Book of the Month series continues on Thursdays and on Mondays we’ll be focusing on the Holy Souls. Tonight we have a video, Susan Tassone, the Purgatory Lady, being interviewed on EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ. (Yes, a Jesuit and he’s one of the good ones.) ;) I dearly love Fr. Mitch.

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Weekly Series on the Soul, Part 48 – Christmas and Purgatory

On December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 By Lee (@disciple96)In On the Soul, SeriesLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Welcome to part 48 of our weekly series on the soul. Just two more posts after this one in the series. November was the month devoted to the Holy Souls, but that’s not the only time we need to pray for them. I just discovered an article written in 2003 by an author I respect more and more: Christmas Seen As Best Time To Pray For Release Of The Holy Souls In Purgatory. After all, it’s the season of hope and for giving gifts. What better gift is there than the gift of release from Purgatory into Heaven? And all we have to do is pray for them. (Notes and links are at the end of this post.)

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Did I ever tell you about my embarrassing convert class?

On August 17, 2020 By Lee (@disciple96)In Did I ever tell you, SeriesLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Did I ever tell you about my convert class? It’s something that happened during our first session back in 1995. I’ll always remember, not only because it was personally embarrassing, but because in later years it took on a deeper significance.

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Weekly Series on the Soul, Part 29 – Intercession

On July 23, 2020February 10, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In On the Soul, SeriesLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Welcome to part 29 of our weekly series on the soul. Earlier today I was listening to a Catholic radio call-in show. The host was answering a question about the intercessory prayer of the saints, and some thoughts occurred to me. I made some notes quickly on my phone and decided to write about these tonight:

We who are in the Church are the Body of Christ.
We are commanded to pray for each other.
Our souls are immortal.
What does this mean for us as practicing Catholic Christians?

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The Live Twitter Rosary Thread Returns

On March 23, 2020March 26, 2020 By Lee (@disciple96)In Action Alerts, Rosary ProjectLeave a comment

Banner for The Rosary Project on Twitter, aka the Live Twitter Rosary Threads

Updated March 26, 5am: I’ll make a separate page later for the Live Twitter Rosary Threads. Until then here’s the link for the first one, from March 24. Also edited the post to show that I changed the way I post the thread, just a little.

Remember the Live Twitter Rosary Thread? (On Twitter known as the #RosaryProject.*) I’m bringing it back while the Coronavirus is affecting so many of us worldwide. If you missed the Live Twitter Rosary Threads the first time around, I hope you’ll join in this time. The schedule is Tuesdays and Fridays at 7pm Central Daylight Savings Time.

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Happy and blessed Fourth of July

On July 4, 2019 By Lee (@disciple96)In Seasonal2 Comments

“For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come.” — Heb. 13:14

May we all remember that we are citizens of a Kingdom not of this world. Here we are only passing through. May we all answer the Universal Call to Holiness so that we may come to enjoy the Beatific Vision with all the Angels and Saints in Heaven.

Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.

Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, pray for us.

Amen.

Image credit: The New Jerusalem, by Gustav Doré. Public domain.

Counting prayers

On May 13, 2019July 25, 2020 By Lee (@disciple96)In Mary, Rosary, Series, Something About Mary Every Day In MayLeave a comment

A post in the Something About Mary Every Day In May series.

In the good old days when I could still walk easily and without assistance, like a normal healthy person, and wasn’t tethered to an oxygen machine, and both of my beloved dawgs were still with me—man, I miss those days—back in those days of youth and health I would take our small pack to the park every day, and while the dawgs sniffed every blade of grass and chased each other and all the squirrels, I would pray the Rosary. I usually took them to the back of the park where we could be alone and they could enjoy some measure of freedom.

One day as I walked along praying the Rosary, I was watching the birds or squirrels or something in the trees overhead. A man passed us going in the other direction and of course, he spied my Rosary beads. And he couldn’t resist saying something about them.

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