It’s about transformation

On April 10, 2024 By Lee (@disciple96)In Series, What is ChristianityLeave a comment

+JMJ+ (Our loosely themed Catholicism 101 or What is Christinity series continues.) A Christian anthropology: what would that mean? Christianity does have a certain way of looking at man, at God, at the world, at reality. It is more than a way of looking but, yes, it is a way of looking. It’s a way of describing what reality is. And it is more than describing it. We describe it to think about it and to tell others about it, but we also describe it so we can do something with it or about it in an interior and an exterior way.

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I can see clearly now

On March 6, 2024March 8, 2024 By Lee (@disciple96)In Series, What is ChristianityLeave a comment

+JMJ+ (This week our informal series, What is Christianity, continues.) I wear glassess. When I was younger, before the days of plastic lighter weight lenses, I wore thick glass glasses. They were heavy, too. But without them I couldn’t see two feet in front of me. My third-grade teacher had observed that I couldn’t see the chalkboard at school so I had to move my desk right up next to the board when an assignment required reading it. That was embarrassing. But that same teacher told my parents about my poor vision and that’s how I got my first pair of glasses. What a difference they made. And not just in the classroom. I was amazed at all the things I could see now. Is this the way it had been all this time? I never knew!

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Christ didn’t suffer so that we don’t have to

On February 21, 2024February 21, 2024 By Lee (@disciple96)In Lent, Seasonal, Series, What is Christianity2 Comments

+JMJ+ It’s Lent, the season of suffering, one could say, and it seems like a good time to mention this in our ongoing Catholic Christianity 101 or What is Christianity series. This one is more, perhaps, about how to be a Christian and less about what Christianity is, but I’m going for it anyway. I know it will contradict what a whole lot of people say—people who should know better but have forgotten or never knew—but Christ did not suffer so that we don’t have to. He suffered so that we could learn how to suffer. More, so that we could suffer and unite our suffering to His redemptive suffering. So we could offer our suffering for the benefit of others. That they may be healed physically, well, yes, if the Lord wills that. But mostly so that they, and we, may be united to Him, now, in this life, and in the next.

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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: