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The Double-Edged Sword of Infertility

The Double-Edged Sword of Infertility

May 26 17 • 21 comments

The pain of infertility or impaired fertility comes in more than one form. The first is the obvious suffering of the couple who wants so badly to have a child but, for whatever reason, is unable to. The second is the judgment of others in their Catholic community. I’ve experienced this first-hand, despite having three […]

Solemnity of the Ascension

Solemnity of the Ascension

It is fitting to celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  We rejoice to see the holy city roll out the red carpet and hail Jesus as the promised Messiah. The problem is, however, that the only crown they gave their king was a crown of thorns. This week the Church recalls a […]

Abba - Daddy

Abba – Daddy

May 25 17 • 1 comment

Our grandchild was over for the night and she brought her dolls with her. We had no daughter so It was interesting for me to watch from a distance to see how she was caught up in the moment, a fantasy that was transformed into a reality that quickly absorbed all her senses. Before discounting […]

Poem: "Confessional"

Poem: “Confessional”

May 25 17 • 0 comments

Confessional Now that I kneel at the throne, O Queen, Pity and pardon me. Much have I striven to sing the same, Brother of beast and tree; Yet when the stars catch me alone Never a linnet sings- And the blood of a man is a bitter voice And cries for foolish things. Not for […]

Trump Expands Mexico City Policy, Abortion Groups Keep Some Funding

Trump Expands Mexico City Policy, Abortion Groups Keep Some Funding

May 19 17 • 0 comments

The Trump administration announced additional restrictions on abortion funding in foreign aid this week, in effect neutralizing U.S. complicity in the proliferation of global abortion. The State Department announced that effective May 15th, $8.8 billion in global health assistance would fall under Mexico City Policy guidelines, prohibiting most foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) that perform or […]

New Human Trafficking Foundation May Support Abortion and Prostitution

New Human Trafficking Foundation May Support Abortion and Prostitution

May 17 17 • 0 comments

Conservative human rights groups are increasingly alarmed about a new funding proposal to combat human trafficking around the world. They are concerned also about the groups that seem to have gotten the ear of the White House, specifically Ivanka Trump, who appears to be quarterbacking the White House position. The immediate issue is the End […]

Monstrance Close Up

The Eucharist, Mary, and Redemptive Suffering

May 12 17 • 2 comments

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). Redemptive suffering.  It is that mysterious but incredible reality that the suffering God allows into our lives, when accepted and lived with […]

Poem: "My God is King"

Poem: “My God is King”

May 10 17 • 0 comments

My God is King How beautiful upon the mountains      are the feet of the one bringing good news,           Announcing peace, bearing good news,                announcing salvation, saying to Zion,                     “Your God is King!” ‘Neath a sapphire sky window to heaven John guided his Master smoothly up mountain, Peter kicked an ancient stone, Ascending the path zig-zagged. […]

Poem: "I Am Pleased to be in Your Service"

Poem: “I Am Pleased to be in Your Service”

May 4 17 • 0 comments

I Am Pleased to be in Your Service If I am, why am I, God? What is my purpose? What deeds lie ahead of me on this road? Will they be wondrous or cowardly acts? Will they bring praise or condemnation? Could either serve Your purpose? Whatever You have in store, Whatever is Your will […]

Mount Rushmore with American Flag Background

National Day of Prayer 2017

May 3 17 • 0 comments

Thursday, May 4th, 2017.

<i>Praying the Angelus</i> - (Re)Discover an Ancient Prayer

Praying the Angelus – (Re)Discover an Ancient Prayer

My knowledge of the Angelus prayer was minimal at best before reading Praying the Angelus by Jared Dees (Ave Maria Press, 2017). I doubt that I am alone in that regard. Dees, a high school theology teacher, describes his own confusion when first listening to the Angelus in Latin when in Rome and then learning […]

Poem: "May"

Poem: “May”

May 1 17 • 1 comment

May I cannot tell you how it was; But this I know: it came to pass Upon a bright and breezy day When May was young; ah, pleasant May! As yet the poppies were not born Between the blades of tender corn; The last eggs had not hatched as yet, Nor any bird forgone its […]

Including Children With Disabilities in Life

Including Children With Disabilities in Life

Apr 28 17 • 0 comments

It was a beautiful sunny day for a man to be at a playground with his preschool grandchildren. That’s exactly where I was. I took my grandson and grand-daughter to a playground at a nearby elementary school; one child sat on my lap while the other stood on the back of my electric wheelchair as […]

Bl. John Henry Newman, 1880

Newman: The Praise of Men

Apr 26 17 • 0 comments

In the sermon The Praise of Men,1 after indicating that ridicule is a powerful weapon used by the devil, Blessed John Henry Newman describes a case in which it is the cause of much pain: when a person who had shunned religion turns by God’s grace back to the practice of religion and meets the […]

Poem: "The Ballad of God-Makers"

Poem: “The Ballad of God-Makers”

Apr 25 17 • 0 comments

The Ballad of God-Makers A bird flew out at the break of day From the nest where it had curled, And ere the eve the bird had set Fear on the kings of the world. The first tree it lit upon Was green with leaves unshed; The second tree it lit upon Was red with […]

Rivers Yes, Babies No!

Rivers Yes, Babies No!

Apr 24 17 • 1 comment

Recent news articles about two rivers that have been granted the same legal rights as human beings give us pause to stop and think. Or at least, I hope they do! These rivers in New Zealand and India are viewed as “sacred” bodies of water. In India the decision was based on the idea that […]

St. Faustina’s Diary: The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

St. Faustina’s Diary: The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Apr 23 17 • 0 comments

Easter is the momentous culmination of our Christian faith. As the “Feast of feasts” and the “Solemnity of solemnities,” the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection could not be contained to just one day in the liturgical calendar. So, we celebrate the Easter Octave – the eight-day festal period from Easter to the Feast of Divine Mercy. […]

Weapons for Our Time: Divine Mercy and The Blessed Mother

Weapons for Our Time: Divine Mercy and The Blessed Mother

For such a time as this, we have all we need. God has actually increased our spiritual riches during the last century through the messages of Fatima and the Divine Mercy devotion. Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, the director of the Association of Marian Helpers, and Tony Mullen, founder of MyConsecration.org, will explain how we can tap […]

Poem: "A Daughter of Eve"

Poem: “A Daughter of Eve”

Apr 20 17 • 0 comments

A Daughter of Eve A fool I was to sleep at noon, And wake when night is chilly Beneath the comfortless cold moon; A fool to pluck my rose too soon, A fool to snap my lily. My garden-plot I have not kept; Faded and all-forsaken, I weep as I have never wept: Oh it […]

The Real Threat

The Real Threat

Apr 18 17 • 0 comments

At the homily during a recent Sunday Mass, in a parish which I attended some years ago, the priest was in high dudgeon, almost hysterical about the actions of the current president in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Quoting the Protestant minister Dietrich Bonheoffer and Jesuit priest Alfred Delp, both murdered by the Nazis […]

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

The serpent’s bite was a deadly one.  The venom had worked its way deep into the heart of the entire human race, doing its gruesome work.  The anti-venom was unavailable until He appeared.  One drop was all that was needed, so potent was this antidote.  Yet it was not like Him to be stingy.  He […]

A Good Friday Devotion

A Good Friday Devotion

Apr 14 17 • 1 comment

When I was a kid my Mom used to embroider old sayings and decorate them with stitched designs and images. When they were finished she’d frame them and hang them on the walls, so that walking through our house was a little tour through the patrimony of wisdom from the ages, all arrayed in a […]

Poem: "Crushed"

Poem: “Crushed”

Apr 14 17 • 0 comments

Crushed Dragged to the cross, submissive. Broken by boards slung across his back. Violence in every aspect Inflicted by external forces. Holes pierced by nails driven with Violent swings of an iron mallet. Blood flows, precious blood, Which becomes wine. But only after the the grapes are picked, and Crushed. (Based on the Garden of […]

Vatican Previewed <em>The Promise</em>, Film about Armenian Genocide

Vatican Previewed The Promise, Film about Armenian Genocide

The movie, The Promise about the Armenian genocide, was viewed at the Vatican’s 50-seat screening room on April 4 with director Terry George, producer Eric Esrailian and some of the talent. The Pope was not able to attend however senior Vatican officials were in attendance at the screening. According to Variety: “When there was awareness [within the Vatican] […]