Book Review: The Catholic Worker Movement – Intellectual and Spiritual Origins by Mark and Louise Zwick

(My husband showed me this book in a half-price bookstore a couple of years ago and after reading it my life has never been the same. This book introduced me to the Catholic Worker movement, which I barely knew beforehand. It now stands as the first of many books I have read about the movement [...]

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Fast and Abstinence in Perspective

My friend Soutenus from Catholic Notebook has a wonderful post on where she puts fasting and abstinence in perspective. The post looks at fasting during the Lenten season keeping in mind how our brothers and sisters in Haiti, specifically, suffer from hunger.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I think that Soutenus [...]

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Growing in virtue this Lenten Season

“What are you giving up for Lent?” we are often asked during this time of year. This question usually refers to which specific food or drink we are going to stop eating or drinking during this season. Some go further and want to give up TV shows or the Internet. Although these practices of disciplining [...]

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The Power of an Adjective: “Illegal” Immigrants

Last week was National Migration Week and Michael and I decided to go to the Houston Catholic Worker, also called Casa Juan Diego to drop off some donations for any needs they have at this house of hospitality. At Casa Juan Diego they feed, care, and house the poor, refugees and migrants. Houston, the city [...]

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Grace Before Meals–Doxology needed?

We always say grace before meals no matter where we are, but Michael and I have been wondering if there should be a doxology to the traditional prayer that will include all those who do not have the “grace” that we have been given to enjoy a meal. I know that one of our close [...]

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Sacrifices, Solidarity and Moderation on Thanksgiving Day

I heard this morning on the TODAY Show that an average Thanksgiving meal contains 5,000 calories and I wondered if we have missed the point of the holiday when we just look forward to stuffing ourselves to the point that we can’t walk. Thanksgiving Day is a holiday that my family and I adopted a [...]

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Bangladesh Cyclone

I was traveling whenever this tragedy happened so I was not able to post anything until now.  I’m sure you have heard of the magnitude of this cyclone: the terrible death toll and number of people affected.  I have to admit that I do not know much about the details of this tragedy and why [...]

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Voluntary Poverty and Solidarity

The Case for Utopia The world would be better off if people tried to become better. And people would become better if they stopped trying to become better off. For when everybody tries to become better off, nobody is better off. But when everybody tries to become better, everybody is better off. Everybody would be [...]

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Floods in the Caribbean and Mexico

Please offer your prayers and sacrifices for the victims of Tropical Storm Noel in the Dominican Republic and Haiti as well as those displaced due to the devastating floods in the state of Tabasco, Mexico. The floods in Tabasco are being compared to those caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the worst in [...]

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Iraqi soldiers donate $1000 for California wildfire victims

A humbling sample of solidarity by the Iraqi soldiers (go to CNN for more). This is not the first time the Iraqi soldiers donate money to the U.S. as it is reported that they contributed $680 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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This Week’s Reflection: On Recognizing Our Sins

“Thank goodness I’m not like those people who talk during Mass…” “Thank goodness I’m blessed with so many gifts…” “Thank goodness I’m not like those women who wear immodest clothes…” “Thank goodness I’m a practicing Catholic…” “Thank goodness I’m not like one of those people who are alcoholic or drug addicts…” Have not all of [...]

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The Need for Awareness

In case you haven’t noticed, I have included “awareness” as one of the many ways in which we can build a “civilization of love.” What do I mean by “awareness”? Well, I had not appreciated this point until recently. I am myself an immigrant and you would think that I should have known better when [...]

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Fear and Self-giving

Michael called me yesterday after his philosophy class and told me: “we’re not going to heaven.” When I asked him why, he said that his former Catholic and now atheist professor said that he and his wife go to nursing homes or other places to visit broken people every Sunday just to be with them [...]

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Rain and the Christian Paradox

I used to like it when it rained. Curling up on a comfortable chair and drinking hot tea or hot chocolate by the window while it rained outside. Perhaps even reading a good book. It used to be so enjoyable when it rained. But then I remembered a song that my dad would always play [...]

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Penance on Fridays – Meeting our Lord at the Garden

My Lord, the eternal God for whom there is no time, you bore at the garden the sins and sufferings from the past, present and future of all humanity to take them later to the cross, where your love and justice would be reconciled. My King and my God, My dear and only love, I [...]

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The Greatness of the Little Way

Michael and I went to a Starbucks late last night to celebrate our second “dating” anniversary. The closest Starbucks was one that Michael and I call the “high-maintenance” Starbucks, because of the people that usually go there (of course, we’re not judgmental, right?), but we still went. Michael sprained his ankle last weekend so he [...]

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Gaudium et spes on respect for human dignity

Wishing to come down to topics that are practical and of some urgency, the Council lays stress on respect for the human person: everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as another self, bearing in mind above all his life and the means necessary for living it in a dignified way lest he [...]

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Hurricane Felix and the Miskito Indians

Let us pray for all those who are being affected by the landfall of category 5 Hurricane Felix, especially for the thousands of Miskito Indians stranded along the coast of Nicaragua and Honduras. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch, which followed a similar path as Felix, killed nearly 11,000 people and left 8,000 people missing in Honduras and Nicaragua.

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On Redemptive Suffering and Solidarity

Last summer, I burned the top of my foot with boiling water. It was a second degree burn that I will never forget, because it taught me the meaning of pain, loneliness, and solidarity with members of the mystical Body of Christ. The day of the incident, Michael happened to be in town so he [...]

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You notice them, but do you really see them?

(This post was originally written by my boyfriend, Michael Joseph, at our former blog) You’ve noticed him, but do you really see him? That is, do you see a person? The homeless, the hungry and the forsaken are all around us. Jesus promised us that, but he did not choose it to be so: “The [...]

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In Search of the Simple Life

(I originally wrote this in Evangelical Catholicism, but I will continue these series on this blog)  I graduated Summa Cum Laude from College three years ago. I had a job lined up with one of the top ten Fortune 500 companies a semester before graduation. With relatively low experience in my field, my salary was still higher [...]

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This Week’s Reflection: On Humility and Solidarity

St. Francis de Sales in his Introduction to the Devout Life tells us about the importance of humility over all other virtues: To receive God’s grace into our hearts they must be emptied of of our own vainglory… [A]ll the saints, and particularly the King of Saints and his Mother, have always honored and cherished [...]

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What Gospel Poverty is Not

For quite a while now I have been searching for more direction as to how to live voluntary poverty in the midst of a society immersed in consumerism and individualism in which I found myself being an active and exemplary participant for many years. I have read Sacred Scriptures and the saints’ writings, but I [...]

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So you want to learn crochet?

“Knitting is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while, then take up the sock again.” –Dorothy Day Many parishes and secular organizations have groups of women who either crochet or knit blankets for the homeless during the winter time or booties and baby afghans [...]

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Earthquake in Peru

Let us pray for our brothers and sisters from Perú who are undergoing tough times with the recent 8.0 scale earthquake.  Let us ask for the intercession of our Blessed Mother to protect her children from this area of the world and bring them comfort.  As Radical Catholic Mom pointed out in Vox Nova, you [...]

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