Want to do something special during this Year of Faith? Want to help bring souls to Christ? Join The Four Men Prayer Groups, also known as God’s Marines. This world is a battlefield between the forces of good and evil and God’s Marines pledge to leave no soul behind on that field. Watch the video below. Get more information and sign up today at The Four Men.
Here there be an update on the novel-writing progress, arrrr. I don’t know why I suddenly starting talking, er, writing like a pirate. I also don’t know how many drafts of this novel I’ll write. I do know that with every draft I’m getting a clearer picture of what I’m doing and where the story is headed. And the world continues to go crazy around us. Which is bad, I know, but provides more fodder for the novel! If only I were through writing this thing and getting it published!
But all in good time. I did reach my 50k-in-30-days goal and early, at that! Now I’m in the process of thinking and rethinking before starting the next draft. Getting clossser, my Preciousss, clossser! Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha! ;)
Dr. Taylor Marshall (Howdy, fellow convert!) wrote a book called The Catholic Perspective on Paul which I devoured when I discovered it. (The ebook was released in Nov 2010 so it was sometime after that but I don’t remember when.) I’ve discovered that the author has a related podcast on his site, Paul is Catholic. I have read the book and listened to the podcast, and I can say without reservation that both of these receive the status of Highly Recommended! Plus I really like the podcast icon. ;) During this Year of Faith treat yourself to an easy and effective way to deepen your knowledge of the Bible and the Church with these excellent resources by Dr. Taylor Marshall. Peace be with you.
Just found this to share with you. Romans: The Gospel According to St. Paul: A Nine Lesson Audio Bible Study Course from the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, SalvationHistory.com.
“An engaging, informative, and thought-provoking nine lecture series by Center President Dr. Scott Hahn, as well as Center Fellows Dr. John Bergsma and Dr. Brant Pitre, they will walk you chapter by chapter through the biblical book that most scholars consider Paul’s greatest theological masterpiece. Along the way, you’ll come to a deeper understanding of the Church’s teachings on justification, faith and works, spiritual fatherhood, the role of Israel in salvation history, baptism, the dignity of the body, the life of charity, and more.”
Read more and download the audio: Romans: The Gospel According to St. Paul.
More free Catholic audio in the Resources pages.
As so many of my compatriots, I speak only English so I’m still in the process of locating, collecting and reading what I can find in translation by and about our new Holy Father, Pope Francis. (And that is Pope Francis, not Pope Francis I, even though he is the first Pope named Francis. No need to distinguish him from any other Popes named Francis since there aren’t any.)
I grew up Methodist and knew absolutely nothing about Catholicism. I didn’t notice popes as they came and went. I didn’t pay attention when Pope John Paul II was elected, though he certainly caught my attention later. I paid some attention when Pope Benedict was elected but mostly I was still grieving the loss of his predecessor for whom I had developed a deep and abiding affection. And when Pope Benedict announced that he had renounced the Chair of Peter, I was truly astonished. When I watched him fly via helicopter away from the Vatican, I actually cried.
Grief morphed into hope as the time of the Conclave approached and I couldn’t stop watching and listening to the coverage provided by EWTN (and secular media when there was nothing else). After I watched the doors of the Sistine Chapel close, signaling the beginning of deliberations in earnest, my excitement began to build. By the time the white smoke was announced, I was ready to jump up and down and grab the nearest person to me for a hug. Which probably explains why the coffee shop I was sitting in, watching coverage on my iPad and listening on my phone–the coffee shop which was full when I got there–was strangely empty shortly after I heard the words, “Habemus Papam!”
Ahem.
I’d like to offer something profound in honor of our new Holy Father but my mind is nothing but a happy, excited mess right now. I can say that watching that humble, gentle man and listening to his soft, tender words, I began to feel a real affection for him. And something deeper than affection. When I realized that he was praying the Lord’s Prayer (even though he was praying in Italian; I’m still learning to say these prayers in Latin but thought I recognized the difference), I felt my heart expand in my chest and more tears came to my eyes. Our new Chief Shepherd was already leading his flock in prayer. (And that prayer was for his predecessor, Benedict XVI. When I heard that, more tears came.) Then before he gave us his blessing, he asked us to pray to the Lord for him.
I’m sure I will love this man more as time goes on. But right now it’s hard to see how this will be possible. I love him very much already. Habemus Papam! Viva il Papa!
I know everybody–and I mean, everybody!–has been talking about the Pope renouncing the Chair of Peter. I don’t have anything profound to offer. But I would like to offer a brief Lenten prayer for the Holy Father. In fact, I did offer it on Valentine’s Day via Twitter. (Most days if you don’t see a post here–and most days you won’t–you might catch me on Twitter if only for a few moments at a time.)
Pope Benedict, Holy Father, I love you and I’ll be praying for you. God bless you now and always. Amen.
You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it. I heard it today in a conversation I had while waiting for tires to be put on my car. To paraphrase: The decision to abort is a difficult one, but it’s better than letting those poor children end up in orphanages. I beg to differ. I am one of those poor children who ended up in an orphanage. Thanks be to God! Who in her right mind would think that death was preferable to having a fighting chance at life? Who in his right mind would think, because something might happen to a child at some point in his or her life, that murdering that child at the outset was the better, the nobler, the Christian choice?!
Boggles my mind. Absolutely boggles my mind. Especially the same person tells me that if something is in the Word of God, then that something is as if written in stone and cannot be changed or ignored. The day of worship cannot be changed. Oh, the calamity if that is changed. But the commandment against killing an innocent (which is what the commandment is actually about in the Hebrew, not just killing, but murder of an innocent)–that is less important than the day of worship?
Seems to me that which day we worship on is a point of discipline and can be changed by the Church which is the Body of Christ and was given authority over such things by Him. But the commandment against murder is not a point of discipline. The blood of Cain’s brother cried out to God from the ground upon which it had been spilled. The blood of so many innocent children who were sacrificed to Moloch caused that land to be cursed. That was the land that was known as the Valley of Gehenna, a place where nothing would grow and no one wanted to live there. The people used it as a trash dump and the fires burned there both day and night.
The blood of our brothers and sisters cries out to God our Father from the abortuaries in our own land now. How can God bless us and our country while we continue to spill the blood of the children He meant to be blessings for us? How can God bless us while we continue to pay millions and millions of dollars to those who shed that innocent blood here and abroad? We even tie our foreign aid to acceptance of our exported genocide! We have slain as many as 55 million children in this country alone since Roe v Wade. About a billion worldwide! How can God bless us when we do such things?
Is it any wonder that the world is in such a mess? Is it any wonder that people treat each other worse and worse every day when they think nothing of killing every day at least as many children as the terrorists killed on 9/11?
Who are the terrorists? We the country who supports and exports the genocide against humanity–we are the terrorists!
Just saw this on EWTN Live: the bishops of the USCCB have called for a simple novena, “Nine Days of Prayer, Penance and Pilgrimage” toward a culture of life. The novena will be from January 19-27, 2013. You can sign up for e-mail or text updates and get more information at the USCCB website. I think it’s a great idea. The battle we are in must be waged at the spiritual level and we need to pray together to defeat our common ancient enemy.
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
God bless you.
Longer ago than I want to admit a reader emailed me a suggestion to add to the resource section of the blog. I didn’t forget about her suggestion, but life got crazy, all my projects have been needing my attention–and mostly not getting any attention at all–and illness of one kind or another got in the way, too. But tonight I finally began the page. Healing, Hope and Encouragement is now live on the site. It’s just a beginning but at least it has begun. My sincere thanks to the reader who sent the suggestion and my sincere apologies for taking so long. May something on the list help you or someone you know somehow somewhere sometime. And may the Lord richly bless you and yours now and always. Amen.
Healing, Hope and Encouragement is a new page in the resource section of the blog. Because we’re living in a fallen world and we’re all in need of healing and hope and no small amount of encouragement. God bless you!
Yes, I know it’s not a new film. Thine Eyes: A Witness to the March for Life was made during the March for Life in 2009 before I got actively involved in the pro-life movement beyond prayer groups, study and blogging, and before I made the trek to D.C. to take part in the March in 2010.* I caught the tail-end of the film on EWTN just now but managed to hit record before it was too late, so I’ll be able to watch the whole thing later. Jennifer O’Neill narrates, the beautiful Irish music is by Kennedy’s Kitchen. And memories of the 2010 March are flooding my mind while I type this. Get two copies of the DVD for free, just pay $2 each for shipping and handling, $4 total. Read an article about the film, pdf format from Celebrate Life magazine.
View Thine Eyes, A Witness to the March for Life, Part 1 of 5 on YouTube.
*I want so much to go to the March again, especially at this historic time. But I’ve been too ill and I’m too worn out to even think about driving up there, much less walking around the city. When I went in 2010, I spent the following two days in bed in the motel, flat on my back exhausted. My dog Abby was not amused, though she had enjoyed having her very own fancy shmancy room at the pet motel while I was giving myself a heart attack trying to keep up with the gigantic crowd at the March. I finally gave up and climbed up on the base of a lamp post, Zaccheus-style, so I could play at taking pictures while I was really waiting for my breathing to calm down and my heart to stop pounding. ;) But I did get some good photos.
After I had semi-recovered, the drive home was leisurely. My little dog Abby and I drove down the coast and took our time (two weeks or so) enjoying the sights. Myrtle Beach became one of my favorite places in the world. Well, I haven’t travelled out of the U.S.–yet–but I’ve travelled all over the lower 48, and Myrtle Beach is up around the top of my list. :)
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I fell in love with the Church in 1995 and the Church led me to Christ soon thereafter, thanks be to God! I want to be faithful to His Church and His teachings and want to help others, in whatever small way I can, to do the same. Other projects include music and fiction, samples of which I hope to share here one day.
