Roman Catholic Radio...

Listen Live here.....

unless you're like me and don't have real player on your lap top. Cool site, though. When I go to my PC, I'll listen there.

Tees to please...

it's better in Latin

When a loved one or friend passes on...

This is what I sent to a friend this morning re: her dear friend who passed on last Saturday. I'm not posting this because I think it's so great, not at all, it isn't. But how I so desired and longed to tell her I was 'praying for' her friend, and 'praying for the repose of her soul.' You see, this friend is a devout Christian and an Evangelical. Like so many, she does not believe in praying for the dead, or praying for those who've 'passed on' because to her, and to me at one time, there was 'no sense' in praying for those who had died, as they were either in one place, or the other. Heaven or Hell. There was no such thing as Purgatory or anything close to such a 'strange thing' in my belief system.

Now that I'm a Catholic, that belief I once held, seems more foreign to me than ever! I LOVE the teaching of the Church on praying for those who have passed on, even if it's been years and years since they left us! Those prayers are never wasted, they're never said in vain for those who've gone on to the other side of the veil. I ask you to say a quick prayer for the repose of Marcia's soul. For if she was 'your' loved one, or friend, how wonderful it would be to know that even "strangers" or those Christian's from other faith persuasions were praying for your loved one. Come the day we all meet, I'd like to see those I've prayed for, even once from my heart, that I knew or didn't know here on earth,gathered around the Throne of God, praising and worshiping the Lamb that was slain for us all with all the blessed in the Communion of Saints!

"Wrap yourself up in His love today. Jesus weeps with those who weep.
I've been praying for you, for Ron and for Marcia's family. How I thank
God that He became Man. He shed his garment of righteousness and clad
Himself with skin. The 2nd Person of the Triune Godhead, became a human,
yet remained divine. A mystery indeed, but how much He did and does love
us! He became human to go through everything we go through, to FEEL
everything we feel, to be TEMPTED with all the temptations we're faced with, yet
with an intensity that we'll never know. How grateful we must be for so great a
love, until our spirits soar straight into His bosom, His most Sacred Heart,
where we'll never encounter another trial, never again feel fear, doubt,
hurt,grief,anger, pain. Where never again a tear will fall to our feet,
for they'll all be gathered in a bottle and cast far away, never to be known
again."

doctrine of purgatory/saints

The grace of being forsaken...

Sounds strange, doesn't it? Find out more about this paradox here in another excellent recommended read for Lent. With Ash Wednesday fast approaching (Feb. 6) preparation of our hearts is vital. I seem acutely aware of the importance of this Lenten season this year. For some reason, it seems imperative to drink from the well of God's grace and receive all of the magnanimous moments that come filled with grace, that are showerd on us with throughout our days. Glean all we can from them and pray... for time is short. Our Lady has been saying this for years: "time is short." followed with...

"Pray, Pray, Pray."

We saw this guy in Omaha 10+ years ago...

He's still as funny as I remember him.

TJ...this one's for you :)

To everything turn, turn, turn. We need to turn to our Mother...

Lent is a time of repentance. We pray for a real turning. We ask for a change deeper than any shift on the surface ... we ask for no less than a complete change of heart.

Last week we looked into the icon of "Jesus Christ Redeemer Holy Silence", and Silence has led us to this, Our Lady of Sorrows. This is an icon of infinite com-passion ("suffering with") and it was commissioned with that prayer in mind. In 1993 a friend called with the tragic news that his sister was in the final stages of AIDS, and asked me to "write" an icon as a prayer for her. I plunged into my icon books and finally found this 14th. century image of the Mater Dolorosa from the Monastery of the Transfiguration in Meteora, Greece.

This icon is the left wing of a diptych (two panels) which I later felt compelled to expand into a triptych (three panels) and we will see the other two in the coming weeks.

We see here an image of great solemnity set in a darkness that is deep and wordless. The Mother of God, head bent in obvious exhaustion, pulls her cloak closer to her and leans on that hand. Her eyes are the stricken open eyes of a slaughtered deer. They are half vacant with consuming affliction, half with the shock of having just witnessed the slow torture and murder of her only child. The right hand rises, with or without heart, in a gesture of consent. The Mother who cannot even lift her head lets this hand float up in the dark night of faith. She offers one last "Let it be according to Your will".

The letters to the left of her head MP OY are abbreviations for "Mother of God." The three stars on her blood red maphorion (cloak) always indicate her virginity before, during and after the birth of Christ, one is hidden here behind the left hand.

We believe that Mary is not some symbolic or figurative mother, but in every way, truly our Mother (John 19). She is "there for each of us", inside of each grief, each set-back, each of our toddling steps toward God. A veritable avalanche of real and purported apparitions in this century tell us this over and over again.

Perhaps what makes this so painful to believe is that we see this woman all the time. Not the resplendent Mother of Light, but the Mother of Sorrows. We see her nightly on the television news in Iraq, Bosnia, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Russia, Rwanda, India, New York ... Los Angeles. We feel helpless as we watch her, afraid our prayers as we watch are not enough to touch her grief. We feel like she did beneath the Cross at the time of her child's death and even now as she bears the countless deaths of her other children on earth. We would so love to see her transfigured, healed, as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. But in this icon she comes as every mother, and this is our way to her. This is our way to one another, through the silent and tremendously healing door of compassion.

See the many images Fr. McNichols has written, click "other icons."

William Hart McNichols,SJother icons

Lent is drawing near...time for a reflection

I have come across the most beautiful Lenten Reflection. Our Holy Mother Church has these glorious seasons in her liturgical calendar to help us in our faith life, our growth in holiness to aspire to the heavenly reward enjoyed by our big brothers and sisters in Christ, the Communion of Saints. I'm posting this now, as Lent is just around the corner. I love Lent and the Paschal season so much. I never ever gave it much thought in most of my Evangelical years. Since Jesus had "died once and for all" and did everything, Lent didn't really make much sense, although at our last fellowship, our Pastor did encourage us to fast, either the full 40 days in some way or another, and many participated in the Daniel Fast. At any rate, Lent has been a very meaningful time for me since becoming "fully" Catholic 3 years ago, and not just because of the Friday Fish Fry and beer! Here's the reflection.

Remember, Lent isn't about kicking a bad habit, "sacrifcing" a craving for chocolate, ciggies, or t.v. It's about growth. Growth in holiness. Growth in faith, hope and love the 3 big virtues we all need to grow closer to Jesus and love others as we love ourselves. We need our time in the wilderness, for deep prayer, and fasting. Let us enter our own wilderness, our own desert, and come out more in love with the Lover of our souls, less attached to earthly things, cares and desires and less attached to our 'private sins.'

Holy Vocations...

If you know of a young man being called or discerning a call to the priesthood, or a young woman discerning a call to religious life, please invite them to go to this blog, created by Matthew. God bless our youth as they are flooding the Church with a cleansing tide of Tradition, orthodoxy, and sincere love and desire to spread the Good News of the blessed Catholic Church. The Catholic faith of these zealous souls is washing clean the debris left from those less orthodox or even in schism to the Magisterium from the "sloppy theology" so rampant in the Church from the 60's through the 90's. It's time for a new Springtime in what may be a smaller, but exceedingly more

committed Church, and possibly even a Church having to go underground. For that, we'll need these strong and faithful priests and sisters, true to the Church in everything, to help us survive the darkness and this culture of death as wheat and tares grow alongside each other. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Thanks Matt, for creating this blog for young people like yourself, who are going to be taking a stand for Truth, and not go the way of some of your predecessors, who for selfish gain, and a stronger love for a political agenda than the Church, did much damage to the faith of many. The TIDE HAS TURNED! We love you and will pray for you and your friends. Please pray for my friend, Sarah, as she is now in the discernment process in Panhandle TX at the convent of the School Sisters of St. Francis.

With very orthodox contributors,
HERE IS MATT's BLOG.

PAX

The details are sketchy...but that's the best thing...

Let Onion Boy sketch your favorite thing...dog, cat, person, house, bike, car, boat, shoe, you name it, he'll sketch it. Owen, thanks for your Luminous Miseries blog, that's come to its fruition and its end just a few days ago. The blog was a blessing to countless hundreds, if not thousands, I'm sure, simply because of the author.

God hold you, keep you, and bless you always.

Visit the art of Owen...

Truth Matters...

When you all are perusing the net, please take a peek and visit my friend, Jill. Here is her webpage. Jill is a member of Coming Home Network International forums., as am I. We connected there and almost got to meet last Sept. in Clovis CA, but alas, it wasn't to be. Maybe next time, eh Jill?!? : )

The early Saint got the worm....

Thanks for your prayers everyone. St. Isidore of Sevilla came through for us. Our computer is back working, and all we lost was anything we did post Dec. 20., which happily wasn't a whole lot of stuff. One good thing is we didn't download our pics on the camera from Christmas yet, as that would have been sad...very sad. So thanks to anyone who may have offered up a prayer for our wormy infestation. It seems to be cured!

Fisheaters - Superb website - chock full of info...

Visit here to read about the fundamental differences between Catholics and other Christians.

Seven Dolor...and a prayer request

This is a wonderful and efficacious prayer/meditation to Our Lady of Sorrows. I noticed Fr. Groeschel talking to Fr. Roesch about this chaplet last night on Sunday Night Live. Fr. Roesch was saying how it has been almost forgotten about over the last decades and how there needs to be a resurgence of praying this chaplet. I have one that my friend, Denise, brought to me from Medugorje and it's lovely. It's the prettiest, most pale blue beads, that are like pearls of tears. I've never seen any rosary made with this particular color beads. When we get our other computer working again, I'll post a picture of it.

You can go to EWTN religious catalogue to find out more about it, any number of sites. I found this one and like it. May Mary hold you all close today, and wrap her mantle of motherly protection around you.

Also, I ask your prayers to the patron saint of computers, St. Isidore of Seville, that the nasty worm we've been attacked by will be able to be destroyed, and pray nothing will be lost in the process. Thank you all. Blessings and peace to you.

New Convert to Catholicism...

h/t Tiber Jumper for this wonderful news!

God bless Dr. Hall as he begins his new journey swimming the Tiber after taking the "papist plunge." listen here to Dr. Hall's parting sermon at Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church.
Oh, and he'll be on EWTN, The Journey Home, Monday night, Jan 14, 2008.


David Hall

Senior Pastor - Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church
B.A., Hobe Sound Bible College
M.A., Columbia International University
M.T.S., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
D.Min., Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary

WELCOME HOME, Dr. Hall. Peace be with you.

The Luminous mysteries...as JPII the Great describes

The luminous mysteries seem apropos today, being Epiphany. Our Lord is Light from Light...true God from True God, begotten not made...and His Holy Spirit is enlightening us to become "lights" and the "light of Christ" for others. May we see Christ in others, also, and try to grow in holiness and not be judgmental of them. I request your prayers.

This is the most profound and a wonderful resource for all who love the rosary and for those who might not understand it, or think that it's wrong or not "ecumenical." For it is written by Papa JPII.

Read JPII's apostolic letter here...and like a good 'fisherman/woman' in Christ,. . .

Duc in Altum!

These are my prayers, too, Lord...

Prayers of St. John Chrysostom

(1) O Lord, deprive me not of thy heavenly blessings.

(2) O Lord, deliver me from eternal torments.

(3) O Lord, if I have sinned in mind or thought, in word or deed, forgive me.

(4) O Lord, deliver me from every ignorance and heedlessness, from littleness of soul and stony hardness of heart.

(5) O Lord, deliver me from every temptation.

(6) O Lord, enlighten my heart which evil desire hath darkened.

(7) O Lord, I, being man, have sinned: do thou, being God, in lovingkindness forgive me, for thou knowest the weakness of my soul.

(8) O Lord, send down thy grace to help me, that I may glorify thy holy Name.

(9) O Lord Jesus Christ, enrol me, thy servant, in the book of life, and grant me a blessed end.

(10) O Lord my God, even if I have done nothing good in thy sight, yet grant me, according to thy grace, to make a beginning of good.

(11) O Lord, sprinkle on my heart the dew of thy grace.

(12) O Lord of heaven and earth, remember me, thy sinful servant, cold of heart and impure, in thy Kingdom.

(13) O Lord, receive me in repentance.

(14) O Lord, leave me not.

(15) O Lord, lead me not into temptation.

(16) O Lord, grant me thought of good.

(17) O Lord, grant me tears, a remembrance of death, and a sense of peace.

(18) O Lord, grant me mindfulness to confess my sins.

(19) O Lord, grant me humility, charity, and obedience.

(20) O Lord, grant me endurance, magnanimity, and gentleness.

(21) O Lord, plant in me the root of all blessings, the fear of thee in my heart.

(22) O Lord, vouchsafe that I may love thee with all my heart and soul and in all things obey thy will

(23) O Lord, shield me from evil men and devils and passions and all other unlawful things.

(24) O Lord, who knowest thy creation and what thou hast willed for it; may thy will also be fulfilled in me a sinner; for thou art blessed for evermore.

Amen.

h/t to Dylan at Phos Hilaron

Today is the...

go to mass.

Our Lady of Sorrows tile - let her grace your home...

This is an 8x10 inch tile that my friend, Lt. Col. David Farr (Ret. Air Force) has made. His story is profoundly charming. When his second wife died, he said that "Mary became the love of my life." He's been to Medugorje about 8 or 11 times. He's has these lovely tiles made that are just breathtaking! We have one,and I gave one as a donation to KVSS for our Fall care-a-thon in 2005. I've spoken to Col. Farr a few times on the phone and we email a little. He had a stroke last summer, so keep him in your prayers, please. He's a very dear man and a gracious, humble, holy man. I hope he can come to Nebraska and visit us in Omaha, to visit us at KVSS and see the Holy Family Shrine. He's also made a St. John the Baptist tile that is really amazing. I donated it to the silent auction at the Shrine, so I need to replace that sometime.

His website, I noticed, is under construction right now, but his email is there, and his phone number. He's got an assistant helping him with orders and with his website. He was doing this mostly by himself for a while, but he's one tough guy, still going in his 80's even after a stroke. I hope to get to meet him, maybe this year, God willing. He's in New Cumberland, PA. HEY, TJ...is that near you at all? If so, maybe you could meet him im person sometime and give him all my best.

God bless you Col. Farr. We love you and we're praying for you. I hope my readers will visit your site, and order this striking image of Our Lady of Sorrows. I have a deep devotion to her. She's in the middle of our living room and keeping us in her care and under her watch and protection.

God bless you all and remember, this tile would make a wonderful gift for someone devoted to OLOS and or for Mother's Day...only 4 months away. : )

Servant and Steward...

Visit Fr. Zehnle's blog. Pray for our priests.

Probably the most fun blog I've come across...and I've come across many...

Sister, you take the cake, bake it, and frost it! This is her quote in her header. Need I say more?

"Life is tough. But Nuns are tougher. If you need helpful advice just Ask Sister Mary Martha. She'll help you. Just don't expect any sympathy."

Sister Mary Martha's blog... visit, laugh, learn and smile. We could and should all do more of that!

Heaven Help Us gifts