Completely forgot in the Sunday links: I’m the author of today’s Gospel reflection at CatholicMom.com: If I’m not getting the right message when God sends his messengers, I’m setting myself up for the holy whapping. I’m on the holy mountain, but I don’t know what to do with myself. My spiritual life in 500 words. Read the whole thing here. Read more
Music for your Sunday, with a slideshow: Rossini’s O Salutaris, recorded live during Eucharistic Adoration. Frank Weathers posts the 1808 “Little Guide to Lent.” Or you can see the original text here, on Google books. Want to understand Church history? Read historic documents. Darwin Catholic posts St. Josemaria quotes on penance. Confirming what I’d long suspected: If you want to be a saint, love God, do your work, and don’t complain. An almsgiving opportunity: St. Augustine set to Rhythm &... Read more
We Patheos Catholics received a letter recently from a distressed catechist: The kids don’t know a thing about the faith, the parents just want the First Communion party, and everyone seems happy to settle for a platter of American Culture with Catholic Dressing on the Side. Christian LeBlanc ably answers the question of how to teach the last few classes of the year. I’d like to back up and answer the question from a different angle. Take a deep... Read more
Teaching tip of the day: If you want your child to improve his proofreading skills, buy a box of these. Then offer a reward for every typo found in a published work. Suddenly a teenage boy will get very, very interested in proper grammar and spelling. *** In addition to teaching an editing class this year (until I went on sick leave, anyhow), I also put together a course in Apologetics for Kids. It didn’t work out quite how I... Read more
What is the Christian response to suffering? This is the second in a series, and the first post is here. People often ask, “How can a good God allow evil?” We can approach the question from a number of directions, and before I continue, let me observe: Sometimes people who ask that question are really saying something else. What they mean is: This hurts. I feel like I am completely alone. I just want this nightmare to end. Help... Read more
A friend shared a link to this post, “I Rented a Car to Protect my Marriage.” I could not agree more. My husband and I don’t use these exact rules, but we have a variation on them that works pretty well for us. Would perfectly chaste love make such rules unnecessary? Sure. And hence the proverb, “Pride goes before the fall.” We who are subject to human weakness and temptation do ourselves a favor when we have the humility to... Read more
Photograph of The Heart of Mary (by Kupelwieser) in the side chapel of St. Antony in in the Peterskirche, Vienna, Austria. Photos of paintings are kind of weird, but I liked the image enough that I went with it. I’ve been doing the Catholic thing and beseeching a patron whose intercession is both powerful and punny, so for all things cardiology, Immaculate Heart of Mary it is. (There are other, better reasons as well.) For those who haven’t followed the... Read more
Rebbecca Hamiliton reports here on the recent CNA interview with Pope Francis, in which he comments on the prospect of same-sex civil unions. Here’s the money quote, from the bottom of her post: Many nations have regulated civil unions. Is it a path that the Church can understand? But up to what point? Marriage is between a man and a woman. Secular states want to justify civil unions to regulate different situations of cohabitation, pushed by the demand to regulate... Read more
Continuing with the discussion of Papal Economics, and no, you don’t have to read the book to follow along. Join us online-only, no problem. My first post in the series is here. Today I’m responding to Theodore Seeber’s comments in his post “Private Property is under a Mortgage on the Poor”. Seeber writes: I’m at a very curious point in my reading of Papal Economics. I’m in the middle of a chapter discussing Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, the social concern of... Read more
For your Sunday listening pleasure, Miserere Mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri. It’s about 8 minutes long, so get yourself nice and contemplative before you hit play. FYI – the St. Pete’s Soundclick playlist is downloadable. So you can make yourself a nice album of suitably-Lenten MP3’s. Enjoy. Read more
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