Ten Catholic Things that Caught My Eye Today (Feb. 9, 2015)

1. Saint Bonaventure makes a case for reading the Bible in the Liturgy of the Hours today:

The outcome or the fruit of reading holy Scripture is by no means negligible: it is the fullness of eternal happiness. For these are the books which tell us of eternal life, which were written not only that we might believe but also that we might have everlasting life. When we do live that life we shall understand fully, we shall love completely, and our desires will be totally satisfied. Then, with all our needs fulfilled, we shall truly know the love that surpasses understanding and so be filled with the fullness of God. The purpose of the Scriptures, which come to us from God, is to lead us to this fullness according to the truths contained in those sayings of the apostles to which I have referred. In order to achieve this, we must study holy Scripture carefully, and teach it and listen to it in the same way.

If we are to attain the ultimate goal of eternal happiness by the path of virtue described in the Scriptures, we have to begin at the very beginning. We must come with a pure faith to the Father of Light and acknowledge him in our hearts. We must ask him to give us, through his Son and in the Holy Spirit, a true knowledge of Jesus Christ, and along with that knowledge a love of him. Knowing and loving him in this way, confirmed in our faith and grounded in our love, we can know the length and breadth and height and depth of his sacred Scripture. Through that knowledge we can come at last to know perfectly and love completely the most blessed Trinity, whom the saints desire to know and love and in whom all that is good and true finds its meaning and fulfillment.

2. On Dominican sisters caring for refugees in Iraq.

3. The pope preached on creation and recreation Monday morning at Mass:

The Father, Son and the person of the Holy Spirit …. all three are involved in this creation, in this re-creation, in this perseverance in re-creation. And to all three of them our response is: to preserve and nurture Creation, let ourselves be reconciled with Jesus, with God in Jesus Christ, every day, and do not be grieved by the Holy Spirit, not drive it away: he is the host of our hearts, he who accompanies us, he who makes us grow.

May the Lord … give us the grace to understand that he is at work and give us the grace to respond appropriately to this labor of love.”

4. “Marriage Isn’t DJs, Chocolate Fountains, and Fancy Dresses. Marriage is Like Chicken Soup.”

5. These from Luke Coppen are all worthwhile.

6. Fr. Raymond de Souza on Pope Francis:

Not unlike a good father in a family, his corrections and admonishments are accepted because his love and kindness are well established.

7. In prepping for Lent, Dynamic Catholic wants you to have the Best Lent Ever; Word on Fire offers daily reflections from Fr. Robert Barron. All free to your inbox.

8.

Nothing is as constant as suffering – Daily Inspiration from St. Faustina's Diary http://t.co/5mj1bSsXoo http://t.co/7sXUqZLGkE

— Divine Mercy (@divinemercyhope) February 9, 2015

9. Hope and rebuilding in Ferguson.

10. Bishop Thomas Olmsted from Phoenix on the first American-born saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, who lived on Wall Street. He writes, in part:

Elizabeth was like the Magi: what defined her was not material poverty, not the loss of friends and family, not even the things that broke her heart. What mattered to Elizabeth was finding the light of Christ and following Him by living the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity.
It is tempting to look on the Nativity scene and get overly sentimental, forgetting how harsh was the reality into which the Child Jesus came. We see, in crib scenes, the Magi dressed lavishly as kings, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh; and can lose sight of the darkness and hardship that had dogged them for years and the longing in their hearts that moved them to follow the star. Elizabeth Seton, with the light of faith, saw beyond what the world sees and listened to the deep desire for God that He planted in her heart. Then, enlightened by God’s word and drawn by hunger for the Eucharist, she entered the Catholic Church. Not content to be a disciple, she set out at once to hand on that faith to others, beginning with her children and other little ones.