John Paul II, I love you

Today is the feast day of Pope St. John Paul II. He acceded to the throne of St. Peter on this day in 1978; I was 15 years old. He died on April 2, 2005; I was 42. A lot happened to me in between those ages. I would have loved to have lived a …

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St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, patron saint of drug addicts?

St. Mark Ji Tianxiang was born in Hebei, China on 1834 into a Catholic family where he was raised in the Faith. He was a doctor, and in his early thirties he suffered from a stomach ailment for which he treated himself with opium. This cured him, but he developed an addiction to it. In …

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Feast of the Archangels Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

On September 29th the Church celebrates the Feast of the Three Archangels, St. Michael, St. Raphael, and St. Gabriel. In the pre-Vatican II Calendar, it was only for St. Michael; each having their own feast day. Belief in angels is required by the Church. Please see paragraphs 328-336 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. …

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Our Lady of Perpetual Help

I have recently been the recipient of multiple odd ocurrences of the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH). The seeming randomness has gone beyond being mere coincidence; I think it has reached the point of being a ‘signal grace.’ I could be watching a Catholic YouTube channel and the host has images of …

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November Visits to a Cemetery Devotion

This is an annual post on a fruitful pious devotion for November: Catholic Culture has an excellent article regarding a very beneficial pious activity that can aid in your own spiritual progression. It also is a good reminder of where we’ll end up someday. (A grave. Morbid, true, but you wouldn’t be here unless you’re …

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Holy Saturday and the Harrowing of Hell

Today is Holy Saturday and I hope that your Lent has been a fine and fruitful one. I didn’t blog except for a few times (I was ‘around’ but taken up with things.) The seasons come and they go; we as Catholics learn to live with the Liturgical Year as it helps us with the …

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33 Reasons NOT to walk the Camino

If you have been reading this blog for the past several years and retain a good memory for certain oddities, then you would know that I hold an obsession regarding the film “The Way.” It is a film directed by Emilio Estevez and starred his father, Martin Sheen. It is about a man (Sheen) who’s son …

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Conversion of St. Paul

Today is January 25th, the day set aside on the Church calendar to celebrate the Conversion if St. Paul the Apostle. You know the story: Paul, still known as ‘Saul,’ a particularly zealous Pharisee who took special delight in arresting and bringing to capital punishment followers of “the Way,” as the Jewish sect that recognized …

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Year of St. Joseph

On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis issued the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde which established these upcoming twelve months as the “Year of St. Joseph.” This had long been speculated by those who do that sort of thing, and they were finally proven correct. Like other “Year of’s…” the faithful among us are to delve …

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St. Andrew Christmas Novena

Advent started today, and tomorrow, November 30th is the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. Associated with the Feast is an old tradition known as the St. Andrew Christmas Novena. To do this, you say 15 times a day from St. Andrew’s Day until Christmas: “Hail and blessed be the hour and moment at which …

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