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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St. Stephen and St. Paul: united in Heaven

I’ve always loved this passage from the Second Reading of the Divine Office for the Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr: From a sermon by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop: Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exalts, with Stephen he reigns. Stephen went …

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Four things to help you get through difficult times

I am going through some ‘stuff’ right now; some personal issues as well as the usual anxieties about world and national events. The latter are bothersome, but I’ve gotten to realize that there’s not much I can do about them apart from prayer. The personal stuff is very worrying and those worries intrude on my …

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More on the experience of ‘eucatastrophe,’ but from the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe

I am doing my annual novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe ( a different one from the one I publish for my readers) and in it I have been reminded of some examples of ‘eucatastrophe,’ the term coined by JRR Tolkien that I introduced to you in “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I …

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This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers

The First Reading for the Mass for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) is from 1st Book of  Kings Chapter 19, verses 4-8; Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert,until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death saying:“This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am …

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Holy Guardian Angels: You are never alone

Today is the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. There is a tremendous comfort in knowing that we are never truly alone, for as the Collect from today’s Mass in the Extraordinary Form says in regards to these: “O God, Who in Your wondrous providence graciously send Your Angels to watch over us, grant that …

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Psalms for sanity

I am blogging this in an Adoration Chapel; I’ve added a Holy Hour in addition to my usual one later in the week. I’m not boasting, I simply like Adoration and the Chapel isn’t too far from home. While here I chose to read the Gradual Psalms. They are Psalms 120-135 (or 119-134 in Catholic …

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Enrollment in the “Knights at the Foot of the Cross

Tomorrow, May 13th I will be officially enrolled in the “Knights at the Foot of the Cross.” What is that, you ask? Well… “THE KNIGHTS AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS (KFC) is an outreach within the MI movement, comprised of Catholics afflicted by the cross of suffering – physical, spiritual or emotional. As MI members, KFCs …

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A word on Suffering and Providence

The year 2019 is three weeks old. It has not been a good year for me so far. I will not go into details apart from sufferings from bad weather and extended power outages, some trouble with family members that required the attention of police, and transportation issues. May as well toss in some health …

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We should have a daily familiarity with death, a daily desire for death

An excerpt from the Second Reading from the Divine Office for the Feast of All Souls: by St Ambrose, a book on the death of his brother Satyrus “Let us die with Christ, to live with Christ” “We should have a daily familiarity with death, a daily desire for death. By this kind of detachment …

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