Recommended summer reads for Catholic women (and men too)

Here are some excellent books I have either read or am currently reading this summer and thought of recommending them to our readers: 1. Elisabeth Leseur: Selected Writings–Elisabeth was a lay French woman married to a staunch agnostic living in the late 19th century and first decade of the 20th century. Her husband, Félix, returned [...]

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“Descended into Hell” — Exploring God’s silence

This article of the Apostle’s Creed is certainly by far the most controversial for many Christians, but why? At first, it is hard to believe that the Son of God who is sinless would descend into hell, which we understand it to be a place where there is only pain and suffering. As this can [...]

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Falling in Love

(In honor of St. Valentine’s day and the season of Lent, I thought I would share a quote that my professor of Systematic theology gave us last year at the end of the semester. ) Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in Love in a quite absolute way. What you [...]

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Meditation for Christmas Season

“According to the Preface for Christmas the ultimate goal of the Incarnation is man’s ‘divinization’: ‘You have brought about a wondrous exchange; your divine Word became a mortal man, and in Christ we mortal men receive your divine life.’[...] The Christian ideal of man’s divinization does not indicate a path of self-divinization: it is in [...]

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“Opportunities” for Sanctification

Michael and I finally watched “Evan Almighty” a few weeks ago after many of our friends recommended it and I actually thought it was good for families to watch, because of the many good messages it contained. One of my favorite parts of the movie was when “God” spoke to Evan’s wife about how God [...]

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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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Weekly Reflection: “Be Still and know that I am God”

‘But,’ said Moses to God, ‘when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?’ God replied, ‘I am who am.’ Then he added, ‘This is what you shall tell the [...]

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Encounter with Jesus Christ

I apologize for the blog being slow recently, but I have been working on midterm papers and reading a lot for my two classes. Right now, I’m working on a paper for my Fundamental Theology class on the individual and the community with respect to the Christian faith. I am exploring the reasons why the [...]

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Weekly Meditation: On the Incarnation

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (Jn 1:14) Do we live intentionally every instant of our lives acknowledging that God became man? Do we want to kiss the earth every time we realize that our God walked on it?

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On Silent Retreat this Weekend

I will be out this weekend on a Silent Retreat starting today. It is definitely a time that I’ve been needing for a while now. I think I have recently reached a pinnacle of frustration, because of my strong desire to become a wife and a mother since I have met Michael. I didn’t know [...]

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The Rule of St. Benedict (For Daily Living)

Hat tip to Soutenus from A Catholic Notebook who posted this on her blog from the Rule of St. Benedict! As Soutenus says, this list is also a great aid for examination of conscience: In the first place, to love the Lord God with all one’s heart, all one’s soul and all one’s strength. Then [...]

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This Week’s Meditation: On Necessities and Superfluities

This examen is straight from Fr. Dubay’s book Happy Are You Poor. He says that we all have different needs so we “cannot know whether a need is real or illusory” for certain people, but these set of questions are at least a good start. Some may think this is a bit too rigorous… but [...]

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This Week’s Reflection: On Seeking and Falling in Love

This week, I thought I would let St. Josemaría Escrivá speak for himself. One of the things that has attracted me the most to St. Josemaría has been his practical advice and spiritual practices. I especially liked this reflection on the “stages” to identify ourselves with Christ. The four stages are: 1) Seeking Christ, 2) [...]

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Can a Christian suffer depression?

Marie over at Views from the Pews has a very insightful post on this topic.  My answer to the post’s question is yes.  I remember going through very tough times recently and suffering a somewhat severe depression.  Although I try not to look back too much to them, I think those times were perhaps necessary [...]

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Music leads to God

Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday that [Music] has the power to lead us back … to the Creator of all harmony, creating a resonance within us which is like being in tune with the beauty and truth of God, with the reality which no human knowledge or philosophy can ever express.” This post seems appropriate [...]

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This Week’s Reflection: On Complacency and Distractions

A soul makes room for God by wiping away all the smudges and smears of creatures, by uniting its will perfectly to God’s; for to love is to labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God. When this is done the soul will be illumined by and transformed in [...]

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Growing in Holiness with the Saints in Times of Aridity

As Pope Benedict XVI said on one of his Wednesday’s Audiences when talking about the saints, “Holiness does not consist in not making mistakes or never sinning. Holiness grows with the capacity for conversion, repentance, willingness to begin again, and above all with the capacity for reconciliation and forgiveness.” And who would have thought that [...]

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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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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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Creating our own desert with the Desert Fathers

Antony said, “He who sits alone and is quiet has escaped from three wars: hearing, speaking, seeing: but there is one thing against which he must continually fight: that is, his own heart.” The Desert Fathers are usually considered fanatics by some: they were just literalists who read too much into the Gospel. But perhaps we [...]

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