Today is Day 6 in our daily walk with The Novena of Mary Undoer of Knots and we ask Mary’s intercession for us to “persevere in the living word of Jesus, in the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Confession…” This is pretty straightforward. And for all the simplicity of the apparent intention, probably one of the …
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Way back in the day when I lived in California I was introduced to the phrase “fat, dumb, and happy.” It is said after you’ve eaten a particularly large and sumptuous meal. I have no idea if that saying is a “California-ism,” but that’s where I first heard and used it. The thought ocurred to …
I read an article in the Catholic Herald about How Catholics can conquer depression. I thought a particular line from it may be relevant to readers, whether or not you suffer from it: “While the sacraments alone were never meant to cure mental afflictions like depression, they can and do play a healing role in …
There was a question and/or comment during my interview on the “‘On Call’ with Wendy Wiese” radio show regarding the Catholic Church and the validity or efficacy of 12 Step Movements. The basic contention of the caller (I think it was “Tom from Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Treatment Centers”) was that I was dismissing …
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The Responsorial Psalm for Holy Thursday’s Mass of the Lord’s Supper holds a wonderful prayer that can be used for an attitude of gratitude: Psalm 116: 12-13; 15-17 How can I repay the LORD for all the great good done for me? I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of …
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Many 12 Steppers usually scoff at “religious” solutions to addiction, and perhaps rightly so due to the low success rate (forgetting that AA has a very low success rate, too.) Maybe they also think that religious observance is pointless and is also an “easier, softer, way.” HA! I think the main reason that religious solutions …
I have probably blogged about this Scripture passage before, but it bears mentioning again. The Gospel reading for today’s Mass (Saturday of the First Week of Ordinary Time) tells us that Jesus came here for the broken and wounded of humanity: Mark 2:16-17: “Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners …
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The Gospel Reading from the Mass for Saturday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time has an excellent teaching from Jesus on the power of Faith to heal: Matthew 17:14-20: “A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said,‘Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;often he …
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In the previous four posts of this series I wrote about the things in the Catholic Faith that a Catholic can use to live a life that could be free of alcohol and drugs. “Catholic” means universal. A catholic life derived from the Catholic Faith would mean using all of the resources of the Faith …
Continue reading ‘How often do you pray and go to Church? Part 5 (Conclusion)’ »
Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of this post. Today I hope to conclude this topic. I concluded yesterday’s post with this question: “Now I ask the question, or rather reframe the question in the title, ‘How do you live the life of the Church?’ The life of the Church is marked by prayer and the …
Continue reading ‘How often do you pray and go to Church? Part 2’ »