Mother Angelica is as helpful and inspiring today as she was decades ago

 I couldn’t this morning decide what to watch on TV during the time I set aside for that before ‘beginning my day.’ Old reruns of “Sliders?” How about “Farscape?” “Babylon 5?” Maybe pick up where I left off during an interrupted binging of the original “Quantum Leap?” No, no, no, and no. I was restless …

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Our Lady of Sorrows: the Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 10

For this Sacred Heart Friday, I bring up the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. It recalls Mary’s seven painful sorrows throughout her life; I believe she often ‘pondered them in her Heart.’   The Prophecy of Simeon  (Luke 2:34)
 The Flight into Egypt by the Holy Family (Matthew 2:13)
 The Loss of the Child Jesus …

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St. Maximilian Kolbe. August 14, 1941

St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was executed in the Nazi German concentration camp at Auschwitz eighty-twoyears ago today for being a Catholic priest. He was a Conventual Franciscan friar and Guardian (leader, administrator) of Niepokalanow, then the world’s largest friary and a major Catholic media center. It is located some distance west of Warsaw, Poland. He …

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St. Maximilian Kolbe and: the Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 8

On this Sacred Heart Friday, I remind you that the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe is coming up this Monday. He is an ideal patron for those of us who are growing in their devotion to the Immaculate and Sacred Hearts of Mary and Jesus. His method of consecration is deeply rooted in the Two …

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The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 4

For this Sacred Heart Friday I will relate another way the Two Heart of Jesus and Mary are allied. They are allied at the Foot off the Cross. Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them, and he said to his mother Mary: “Behold, this one has been set for the ruin and for the resurrection of …

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What is good and pleasing and perfect

The Evening Prayer for today (Monday, First Week of Lent) has one of my favorite passages from Scripture and the first one I ever attempted to memorize. To me, it is at the heart of being a person in recovery: Romans 12:2 “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of …

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Take up your cross

In the Gospel for today’s Mass for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Jesus exhorts us to come and follow Him. However, there’s a catch. The road isn’t easy. Luke 9:22-25 Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and …

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Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows

I said in this post that I’d write on devotions to Our Lady of Sorrows.  The devotion to the sorrows of Our Lady dates at least from the Middle Ages, if not all the way back to the Early Church. This is likely, given that Mary was around for a few decades after Christ Ascended …

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Our Lady of Sorrows

September 15th is the the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. It honors the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which are: First Sorrow: The Prophecy of Simeon Our Lady and St. Joseph took the child Jesus as was customary under Mosaic Law after her 40 days of purification were over. They were to …

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Exaltation of the Cross

Today, September 14th, marks the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (sometimes called the “Triumph of the Cross.”) It marks the day in 326 when St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, discovered the True Cross in Palestine. It also celebrates the dedication of Constantine’s two churches, that of the Anastasis and that of Golgotha …

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