I have taken videos and writings from a variety of different Catholic writers.

Some considered too liberal by some.

Some considered too conservative by others.

But all baptised in Christ and redeemed by his blood.

They are thoughts from ordinary Catholics like you and I.

They are our brothers and sisters baptized in the faith.

They are our…

Companions on the Journey

Lent Week 2

Monday February 22, 2021
The Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle

Our life begins with the closed-eyed dark of the womb and the cliff’s edge of that ordeal we call birth. Maybe we all cry for our Father to come and save us, then. Next thing you know we’re tumbling with no control, plummeting to a sudden stop we know is coming but can’t say when. We can’t direct what happens next, not really; we can’t control whether we land on our head or our feet. Our only choice is whether we will cry “My Lord and my God” and leave the whole matter up to Him before it’s too late.

Next thing we know, it’s over, and we wake up before the Throne of Mercy.
My Lord and my God.
– Mary Pezzulo A Plummeting Ghost (October 16, 2017) Steel Magnificat

Tuesday February 23, 2021
Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr

Even if one does not believe the Christian message of salvation, the rich, ancient tradition of remembering death can bring joy, focus, and fruitfulness to anyone’s life. However, for the Christian, it is a practice that extends beyond the reality of earthly life and bodily death. In the power of Jesus Christ, the Christian practice of memento mori reaches past the horizon of this life and into the eternal happiness of heaven. The power of the Cross amplifies the benefits of memento mori because the practice is fueled not merely by personal discipline but by God’s abundant, living grace. As Christians, we remember our death in order to remember our Life: Jesus Christ. We remember our death in order that our lives may be filled with the Life of Christ, both now and when we enter into the joy of eternal life.
Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble FSP, Remember Your Death: Memento Mori Lenten Devotional (2019)

Wednesday February 24, 2021

So, God has “written” two poems: the physical world and the Church.
Go out at night and look at the sky – ponder the masterpiece of God’s creation. Look at the symmetry and beauty of a flower, the power and creatures of the oceans, the majesty of mountains and thunderstorms. Then look at the Church around the world as she redeems sinners. Think of the billions of people that have accepted her embrace and been born into a heavenly family, a culture of love and blessings. Two marvelous, breath-taking creations.
Any you? You are part of God’s two creations, you are written into his poetry and painted on his canvas. He treasures you. You are not a random mass of molecules that happened to appear on lonely planet earth spinning meaninglessly around the sun. No, you are part of God’s glorious poetry that angels admire and God cherishes. Be proud, be thankful! Live worthy of your place in God’s heart.
Steve Ray Crap, Castration & Two Creations (May 28, 2010) catholicconvert.com

Thursday February 25, 2021

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS A LOT LIKE NOAH’S ARK. Immense and capacious, it is also ungainly and lumbering, not built for speed but for endurance. It causes everyone to stop and stare. Some scoff, thinking it bizarre or comical. Others find themselves drawn to it, longing to get on board. It is freighted with an incredibly diverse array of unruly passengers, some of whom do not get along well with one another. It is also very

Try to imagine getting a good night’s sleep on the Ark! Try to imagine what the Ark smelled like inside by the time the Flood waters receded. And yet, if you could go back in time to that fateful day, just as the floodgates opened and the rain really started to come down hard—knowing what you know now about what happened next—you surely would waste no time scrambling aboard, regardless of the noise, stench, messiness, and commotion. This is the Catholic Church I’d like to tell you about.
Patrick Madrid, Why Be Catholic?: Ten Answers to a Very Important Question (2014)

Friday February 26

Also, and this is important for our equilibrium on the heaving deck of Peter’s storm tossed Barque, of all the possible universes God could have created, He created this one and not some other.  He knew every one of us before the creation of the cosmos, and He called us from nothingness into existence in this particular universe at this particular time according to His unfathomable plan.   We have a role to play in God’s economy of salvation.  We have to trust that we are exactly when and where God wants us to be.  If we have been born into troubling times, then we are precisely where we are to play our role.  We are in the right place and the right time.   Trust in God’s divine providence.  He knows what he is doing.
And I will remind you that we weren’t promised a bed of roses when we were baptized.  We who are Christ’s disciples will all drink at least some drops of the chalice He drank on Calvary.   It is our task to be faithful, brave and persevere.
–Fr. John Zuhlsdorf  ASK FATHER: “I’m seriously considering adopting some form of sedevacantism”  (January 7, 2019) Fr. Z’s Blog

Saturday February 27, 2021

In the long span of time we Homo sapiens have been around (roughly 200,000 years by best guesstimates), fully one third of that time has been spent with our entire race asleep eight hours out of each day. For every Caesar, Cleopatra, Napole-on, Thomas Edison, or Attila the Hun who blazes a fiery comet of fame and storied greatness across the firmament of history, there are millions and millions of anonymous people (chances are you and I are among them) who live and die and only God remembers them. A whole forest of leaves falls, and only one or two get saved in the scrapbook? What’s up with that?
– Mark Shea: Empty Space (October 19, 2010) Catholic and Enjoying It! @ Patheos Catholic

Sunday February 28, 2021
Second Sunday of Lent
Mk 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.