feminine-genius: The rest of the story
Helen Keller was a socialist who admired Lenin and was pro-abortion and euthanasia. The irony of that is stunning.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
My Domestic Church Daily Clips 11/01/2009
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
All Saints Day
First posted 10/29/2007
All of my previous posts and pictures about All Saints Day/Halloween can be found via my del.icio.us links here.
Some Christian blogs and even some Catholic forums have been vacillating about whether or not it is right to celebrate Halloween. My answer to that is absolutely it's okay to celebrate! as long as you understand exactly what it is that you are celebrating! There is really no historical connection between the setting of this feast to November 1 (naturally placing the Eve to October 31), and the Pagan Celebration of Samhain other than Pope Boniface moved the feast to the same time of year when Samhain is celebrated. But I like to look at it another way. The change of seasons and the harvest are gifts from God, even if the ancient Celts didn't quite see it that way, and as the scriptures say, "Test everything. Hold on to the good," and Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Christians have long honored the martyrs who have died for the faith and the Christian aspect of this feast day comes from 4th Century on as All Martyrs Day. It use to be observed the first Sunday after Pentecost and then it eventually came to include all of the saints known and unknown and the feast was set for November 1, making the vigil of course All Hallows Even, October 31.
Mary Reed Newland in her book "The Year and Our Children" put it this way:
For the Catholic family I believe preparing children for All Saints Day really is a year-long activity. Our liturgical calendar is full of feast days all year round and it is important to remember and acknowledge these events as they happen throughout the liturgical year. Parents should take the time and the opportunity for just a few minutes each day to educate our children about the holy men and women who have become saints. This year I was inspired by Cottage Blessing's Spoon saints and so we tried to make a spoon saint for each saint that we talked about in depth during the year. Before Halloween I hope to have the children add each of the saints that they are portraying this year to our collection.
I have several tools that help me keep on top of the liturgical year. Of course I use the links from Universalis on my blog, as well as Saint of the Day from American Catholic.
I also use this lovely Catholic Woman's Planner, and have a calendar from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception up on my wall. With these tools I can see and plan for the liturgical year, all of the feasts and commemorations, almost effortlessly.
Most days we read something about the saint for the day and we ask that saint to, "Pray for Us" after our prayer before meals.
During the year, I like to read more about the saints to the children.
I particularly like, 57 Stories of Saints, by the Daughters of St. Paul, the Picture Book of Saints by Father Lovasik.
A new treasure for me last year was is Father Phillip Tells a Ghost Story, from Adoremus Books (HT to the Happy Catholic for writing about this.) This really does a nice job of incorporating the other connection with ghosts and the dead with their proper place in Catholic life with prayers for the dead and purgatory.
Throughout the year I try to encourage my children to choose which saint they would like to be for All Saints Day and then we decide about costumes. work on costumes. I have had a lot of success in the past with Simplicity Pattern 4797 Bible characters are easier to make because you don't require a lot of extra detailing or fitting. Please see my past links for examples of our costumes and how I made them.
Perhaps the easiest costumes we have made were the archangels. I had my boys wear white sweat pants and sweat shirts and just put the wings on their back. Gabriel had a trumpet, the Archangel Raphael carried a plastic fish and St. Michael had a breast plate and a sword! Another favorite was John the Baptist. I took white long johns and died them brown and then made a tunic from fake fur. A wild wig added to John's rustic look and he also carried a honey jar and some fake books (John ate wild honey and locusts. A simple tunic with a set of keys and you have St. Peter! A block of wood with some holes to stick arrows in, hidden under a tunic and you have St. Sebastian! Martyrs are lots of fun and little boys like them because you can use lots of fake blood and that seems to appeal to their sense of gore that goes with Halloween. Calvin once appealed to his sense of comedy by stuffing himself with pillows and a skull cap, which we glued fuzzy hair to, so that he could portray Thomas Aquinas! He carried a big old fashioned Ledger book as his Summa.
I'm to a point now that I have A LOT of boy's costumes in our costume box. Gabriel wears a black medieval frock that I bought for a a buck at our local community center's yard sale . With that he has been Saint Isaac Joques and Father Damien the Leper. This year we added a beard and voila - St. Ignatius Loyola! For Noah we added a beard to our St. Francis robe and we had an instant St. Anthony of Egypt the Hermit. I bought a costume for Isadora last year and we are getting lots of use to it. It too is a medieval costume so we go down the list of medieval female saints and she chooses from that. An addition bonus is that she will get to wear it for the Medieval feast that the community center throws every other year and of course if we take good care of it, Rosie can wear it in the future too!
This year the kids are St. Anthony of Egypt,
Blessed Imelda (before she entered the convent!) and
St. Ignatius Loyola
The kids with Grandma for the Halloween Brunch!
Izzy as an angel, and Rosie as St. Kateri.
I use cards from a collection called Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives. I can't find that available anywhere on the net. Old holy cards or other pictures you can find and save on the net also work very well.
For us I put them on the table cloth and cover them with a plastic covering, that way the kids can talk about them during meals. I also put up some of the children's other holiday art including pumpkins and spiders!
All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day are a wonderful Christian time of the year. With a little thought and creativity it can make wonderful memories for families and provide our children with more education about their Catholic faith and Christian heritage as well as deepening their faith.
Other Links:
Women for Faith and Family.
A great article by Scott Richert here.
Please browse my eBay items!
Visit my new Amazon Store!
All of my previous posts and pictures about All Saints Day/Halloween can be found via my del.icio.us links here.
Some Christian blogs and even some Catholic forums have been vacillating about whether or not it is right to celebrate Halloween. My answer to that is absolutely it's okay to celebrate! as long as you understand exactly what it is that you are celebrating! There is really no historical connection between the setting of this feast to November 1 (naturally placing the Eve to October 31), and the Pagan Celebration of Samhain other than Pope Boniface moved the feast to the same time of year when Samhain is celebrated. But I like to look at it another way. The change of seasons and the harvest are gifts from God, even if the ancient Celts didn't quite see it that way, and as the scriptures say, "Test everything. Hold on to the good," and Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Christians have long honored the martyrs who have died for the faith and the Christian aspect of this feast day comes from 4th Century on as All Martyrs Day. It use to be observed the first Sunday after Pentecost and then it eventually came to include all of the saints known and unknown and the feast was set for November 1, making the vigil of course All Hallows Even, October 31.
Mary Reed Newland in her book "The Year and Our Children" put it this way:
The Feast of All Saints is one of the greatest of all feasts because it celebrates what could have been impossible. The cross is a tree that bears fruit. This is the feast of its harvest. The celebrations of the mysteries in the life of Our Lord are glorious and there is no detracting from them. But he was God. This day we celebrate the perfecting or human nature by grace pouring form the side of Christ on the cross, through His Church and His sacraments, remaking men after their despoiling in the Garden.
Aside from all the lofty things to be said about the saints and to the saints on this day, we want our children to understand in the marrow of their bones what the principal idea is: "We are so glad for you. Now pray, so we'll be there too!" And they must add to this and to every feast and endless: "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for making it possible."
For the Catholic family I believe preparing children for All Saints Day really is a year-long activity. Our liturgical calendar is full of feast days all year round and it is important to remember and acknowledge these events as they happen throughout the liturgical year. Parents should take the time and the opportunity for just a few minutes each day to educate our children about the holy men and women who have become saints. This year I was inspired by Cottage Blessing's Spoon saints and so we tried to make a spoon saint for each saint that we talked about in depth during the year. Before Halloween I hope to have the children add each of the saints that they are portraying this year to our collection.
I have several tools that help me keep on top of the liturgical year. Of course I use the links from Universalis on my blog, as well as Saint of the Day from American Catholic.
I also use this lovely Catholic Woman's Planner, and have a calendar from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception up on my wall. With these tools I can see and plan for the liturgical year, all of the feasts and commemorations, almost effortlessly.
Most days we read something about the saint for the day and we ask that saint to, "Pray for Us" after our prayer before meals.
During the year, I like to read more about the saints to the children.
I particularly like, 57 Stories of Saints, by the Daughters of St. Paul, the Picture Book of Saints by Father Lovasik.
A new treasure for me last year was is Father Phillip Tells a Ghost Story, from Adoremus Books (HT to the Happy Catholic for writing about this.) This really does a nice job of incorporating the other connection with ghosts and the dead with their proper place in Catholic life with prayers for the dead and purgatory.
Throughout the year I try to encourage my children to choose which saint they would like to be for All Saints Day and then we decide about costumes. work on costumes. I have had a lot of success in the past with Simplicity Pattern 4797 Bible characters are easier to make because you don't require a lot of extra detailing or fitting. Please see my past links for examples of our costumes and how I made them.
Perhaps the easiest costumes we have made were the archangels. I had my boys wear white sweat pants and sweat shirts and just put the wings on their back. Gabriel had a trumpet, the Archangel Raphael carried a plastic fish and St. Michael had a breast plate and a sword! Another favorite was John the Baptist. I took white long johns and died them brown and then made a tunic from fake fur. A wild wig added to John's rustic look and he also carried a honey jar and some fake books (John ate wild honey and locusts. A simple tunic with a set of keys and you have St. Peter! A block of wood with some holes to stick arrows in, hidden under a tunic and you have St. Sebastian! Martyrs are lots of fun and little boys like them because you can use lots of fake blood and that seems to appeal to their sense of gore that goes with Halloween. Calvin once appealed to his sense of comedy by stuffing himself with pillows and a skull cap, which we glued fuzzy hair to, so that he could portray Thomas Aquinas! He carried a big old fashioned Ledger book as his Summa.
I'm to a point now that I have A LOT of boy's costumes in our costume box. Gabriel wears a black medieval frock that I bought for a a buck at our local community center's yard sale . With that he has been Saint Isaac Joques and Father Damien the Leper. This year we added a beard and voila - St. Ignatius Loyola! For Noah we added a beard to our St. Francis robe and we had an instant St. Anthony of Egypt the Hermit. I bought a costume for Isadora last year and we are getting lots of use to it. It too is a medieval costume so we go down the list of medieval female saints and she chooses from that. An addition bonus is that she will get to wear it for the Medieval feast that the community center throws every other year and of course if we take good care of it, Rosie can wear it in the future too!
This year the kids are St. Anthony of Egypt,
Blessed Imelda (before she entered the convent!) and
St. Ignatius Loyola
The kids with Grandma for the Halloween Brunch!
Izzy as an angel, and Rosie as St. Kateri.
I use cards from a collection called Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives. I can't find that available anywhere on the net. Old holy cards or other pictures you can find and save on the net also work very well.
For us I put them on the table cloth and cover them with a plastic covering, that way the kids can talk about them during meals. I also put up some of the children's other holiday art including pumpkins and spiders!
All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day are a wonderful Christian time of the year. With a little thought and creativity it can make wonderful memories for families and provide our children with more education about their Catholic faith and Christian heritage as well as deepening their faith.
Other Links:
Women for Faith and Family.
A great article by Scott Richert here.
Please browse my eBay items!
Visit my new Amazon Store!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
McFarlane update
Parents who Lose Custody in No-Fault Divorce Routine | Spero News: "by Martin Barillas Monday, October 26, 2009
For: National Desk
From: Bai McFarlane, Mary's Advocates
Contact: Bai McFarlane
Email: ma.defending@marysadvocates.org
Parents who Lose Custody in No-Fault Divorce Routine
Should Still be Able to Take Care of Children
October 24, 2009 - Cleveland OH
Bai Macfarlane brought to the Ohio 8th District Court of Appeals questions affecting the divorced and child support. Her husband forced the divorce upon her. He used the courts to take the children from her, though she was never found to be an unfit parent. Despite her much lower income, she was ordered to pay her husband child support.
In her oral arguments in the appellate court on Wednesday, October 21, Macfarlane argued that her child support order should be reversed (see argument). She can't afford legal counsel so she served as her own attorney.
Ray Lautenschlager, President of Parents and Children for Equality, says she is correct. He has been following the Macfarlane case for years. 'Parents who lose custody are being ordered to pay to support their children twice: first in their home where when they spend time with the children, and then in the other parent's home.'
Macfarlane cited case law from an appeals court in Columbus, Ohio, that found the non-custodial parent to owe no child support because all the income of the non-custodial parent was used on her own necessities and the custodial parent did not need more money.
In the Ohio Revised Code, there is a conflict of law regarding which parent should pay support, asserted Macfarlane. One part of the law says the parent who loses the children should always pay child support. However, three other sections of the law conflict, and justify support being paid to the parent who lost the children.
Mrs. Macfarlane asked the appeals court to resolve the conflict in Ohio law and follow the example set by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They ruled that it is in the best interest of children for the high-income-earning custodial parent to pay child support to the low-income-earning non-custodial parent. This better provides for the children in both homes when there is a large difference between both parents' income.
Macfarlane was adamant that both parents' voluntary adherence to the Catholic Church's ecclesiastic laws is relevant to the civil court. She asked that the matter be sent to the Catholic Bishop or Tribunal because their Church laws include canon law on separation of spouses and canon law considers obligations of parents toward their children. The lower court denied Macfarlane the chance to question her husband about their shared religion. She asked the appeals court to remand the case back to the trial court so she can establish the fact that both parents are professed canon-law-following Catholics. 'If both parents agree to follow their Church's canon law' said Macfarlane, 'the civil court must let the Church apply its own canon law to our family.'
To strengthen marriage and to eliminate forced no-fault divorce are two objectives of the non-profit organization that Macfarlane founded, Mary's Advocates. They are inviting everyone to pray for the appeals court judges, two who went to local Catholic High schools. Presiding Judge, Sean Gallagher, graduated from St. Edward High School and was named 'Legal Eagle - Man of the Year' for the School in 2005. Judge Frank Celebrezze attended Holy Name High School. The third judge is James Sweeney.
The mission of Mary's Advocates is to strengthen marriage, to eliminate forced no-fault divorce, and to support those who have been unjustly abandoned by their spouse. We emphasize the constitutional rights of those who choose to enter traditional marriage, namely the right to uphold the intentions of both parties in a contract, and the right to freely practice one's religion.
Sources: http://appeals.cuyahogacounty.us/judges/GallagherSeanC.htm
http://appeals.cuyahogacounty.us/judges/Celebrezze.htm
http://appeals.cuyahogacounty.us/judges/JJSweeney.htm
http://www.marysadvocates.org/ohiocase/091021opening.html"
For: National Desk
From: Bai McFarlane, Mary's Advocates
Contact: Bai McFarlane
Email: ma.defending@marysadvocates.org
Parents who Lose Custody in No-Fault Divorce Routine
Should Still be Able to Take Care of Children
October 24, 2009 - Cleveland OH
Bai Macfarlane brought to the Ohio 8th District Court of Appeals questions affecting the divorced and child support. Her husband forced the divorce upon her. He used the courts to take the children from her, though she was never found to be an unfit parent. Despite her much lower income, she was ordered to pay her husband child support.
In her oral arguments in the appellate court on Wednesday, October 21, Macfarlane argued that her child support order should be reversed (see argument). She can't afford legal counsel so she served as her own attorney.
Ray Lautenschlager, President of Parents and Children for Equality, says she is correct. He has been following the Macfarlane case for years. 'Parents who lose custody are being ordered to pay to support their children twice: first in their home where when they spend time with the children, and then in the other parent's home.'
Macfarlane cited case law from an appeals court in Columbus, Ohio, that found the non-custodial parent to owe no child support because all the income of the non-custodial parent was used on her own necessities and the custodial parent did not need more money.
In the Ohio Revised Code, there is a conflict of law regarding which parent should pay support, asserted Macfarlane. One part of the law says the parent who loses the children should always pay child support. However, three other sections of the law conflict, and justify support being paid to the parent who lost the children.
Mrs. Macfarlane asked the appeals court to resolve the conflict in Ohio law and follow the example set by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They ruled that it is in the best interest of children for the high-income-earning custodial parent to pay child support to the low-income-earning non-custodial parent. This better provides for the children in both homes when there is a large difference between both parents' income.
Macfarlane was adamant that both parents' voluntary adherence to the Catholic Church's ecclesiastic laws is relevant to the civil court. She asked that the matter be sent to the Catholic Bishop or Tribunal because their Church laws include canon law on separation of spouses and canon law considers obligations of parents toward their children. The lower court denied Macfarlane the chance to question her husband about their shared religion. She asked the appeals court to remand the case back to the trial court so she can establish the fact that both parents are professed canon-law-following Catholics. 'If both parents agree to follow their Church's canon law' said Macfarlane, 'the civil court must let the Church apply its own canon law to our family.'
To strengthen marriage and to eliminate forced no-fault divorce are two objectives of the non-profit organization that Macfarlane founded, Mary's Advocates. They are inviting everyone to pray for the appeals court judges, two who went to local Catholic High schools. Presiding Judge, Sean Gallagher, graduated from St. Edward High School and was named 'Legal Eagle - Man of the Year' for the School in 2005. Judge Frank Celebrezze attended Holy Name High School. The third judge is James Sweeney.
The mission of Mary's Advocates is to strengthen marriage, to eliminate forced no-fault divorce, and to support those who have been unjustly abandoned by their spouse. We emphasize the constitutional rights of those who choose to enter traditional marriage, namely the right to uphold the intentions of both parties in a contract, and the right to freely practice one's religion.
Sources: http://appeals.cuyahogacounty.us/judges/GallagherSeanC.htm
http://appeals.cuyahogacounty.us/judges/Celebrezze.htm
http://appeals.cuyahogacounty.us/judges/JJSweeney.htm
http://www.marysadvocates.org/ohiocase/091021opening.html"
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Works for Me Wednesday - keeping family lore and history alive!
It wasn't a day after my mother died that it hit me - my main link to my family history and heritage was gone.
Luckily I am finding that although mom didn't keep a diary or a blog, she did save just about every card, note and letter that was ever written to her! I've been posting many of them in my "My Dearest Daughter" series on Tuesdays. So I am able to piece a lot of things together. Plus my family kept tons of photos, some over 100 years old. And I am determined to get this stuff organized and written down so that the next generation will have some idea of what happened before them.
About four years ago, my sister gave my mother a memory book to help with this, much like this one.
I know mom started it, but I haven't found it in her stuff yet and I know she didn't get a lot done. But I'm thinking of getting one for me and starting to write these things down now in my 50s instead of my 80s, when I still feel good enough to do it. That way the answers to some of those historical questions will be readily available to my kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews and all of their kids when they're intested.
Works for me!
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Visit my new Amazon Store!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
My Domestic Church Daily Clips 10/28/2009
Catholic Fire: Swine Flu Vaccine Information
The low down on why it might be a good idea to forgo the H1N1 vaccine.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
My Dearest Daughter
Tuesday, October 14, 1958
DearMaryrose:
Well yesterday I said I would write you a longer letter; so here it is.
First of all, I wonder if you have seen any of the ceremonies on the death and burial of the Pope. They were certainly impressive and beautiful and should make the rest of the sheep outside the fold sit up and take notice. Frank Blair of "Today" is in Rome, and has covered everything so well.
The night that the Pope died we had such a queer electrical storm, I have never seen another like it. There was very little rain. It started about 8 p.m. and by 11 p.. it was something to see. It just seemed that the heavens would crack open from the eastern horizon to the western then it would shift from the northeast to the southwest, the streaks of lightening seemed to sometimes just make almost a circle above. We got the news about 10:30 that Pius XII had just died. The storm lasted until daylight I guess because I'd wake up and could still see the flashes.
No we don't get very many letters from anyone. What we do get are quite startling,, as for example the enclosed one from Aunt Leona. The only reason I think she wrote this one was because she knew Mom was to be home about this time and didn't want the marriage to be too much of a shock. But at that we missed the letter. We left on Wednesday morning and the letter got here on Thursday. What Leona doesn't tell in the letter is that this man has been married before. In fact had lived with his wife for 5 years and she has supposedly died. We don't know the truth of the whole thing, and I won't ask, but someday it will all come out. First Pete (my grandma's brother) said that they didn't even know the man and then Leona in her letter say that they had forbidden Mary to even see him. Don't write to Leona, not about this anyway, as you can see by the letter she just doesn't want to talk about it.
I am enclosing a letter from Aunt Irene too, she evidently hears from Leona once in a while. I know it has hit Leona and Pete very hard but there just isn't anything to do, but pray and pray and if he is a scoundrel, maybe the so-called marriage won't last and someday she may find herself a good man. She had a nice farmer boy from a town nearby, Petersburg, but maybe he wasn't fast enough. Pete should have gotten a tip-off because just before they left here on Monday, I asked her when she would be married, in a kidding way of course, and she laughingly said, "oh, not long!"
Of course all of them down there had talked it over and thought they wouldn't say anything, just let Pete or Leona tell Mom. She called Frances, your Aunt Frances and she told her. Well it about knocked Mom over her feet. Pete came over Thursday night and asked me if I had heard the news. Of course I said no. So he proceeded to tell me about it.
Leona says in her letter that Mary called about 11 PM that night, but Pete said they didn't hear until Sunday night about 11p.m. after he had gone to the police and they found him, that is Mary's husband, after Pete talked with him at the police station, they went to the apartment where they were living and Pete asked them to come home and talk things over. I guess they did the next day, but from the sound of things, Mary just doesn't go home. It's to bad, because she needs her mother now more than she ever did, but she is just 21 and she is going to flaunt her independence regardless. Evidently outside of not telling Pete and Leona, Mary and Mr. Cox weren't too secretive because they got their marriage license right in Springfield, and many people saw the notification in the papers. She is such a queer girl, no one seems to be able to reach her. I thought she was close to Leona but evidently not. Much of all the trouble could rest with Leona, because she covered so many underhanded things that Mary did from Pete. Loretta always blamed Pete for the things that went on there, now she is beginning to wonder maybe she wasn't wrong to place the blame for everything on Pete.
So much for the scandal in the family. Calvin finished filling his silo yesterday; he is happy about that. Now they have to pick the rest of the corn. Dad looked the picker over and found why it wasn't getting every ear, so he fixed it. You know it is quite wonderful that Dad is such a good mechanic. He bought that picker so reasonably, now that it is fixed both of them are very happy about it. They packed the barn with hay and I mean packed. Dad had to put in some supports because chopped hay packs so and if it were loose, they would have only gotten about half of it in the mow. I have canned two bushels of peaches and about 40 quarts of tomatoes. I put about 16 pints of corn in the freezer. Our pears are beautiful this year, so one of these days I shall can pears.
Our weather is nice, of course we got a little frost but at that the frost was later than a lot of years. My flowers are mostly dead, but a few still show their lovely faces. Today, well it is beautiful. I look at our woods and they are a mass of different shades of gold, brown and red. I always wondered why the maple in the front didn't turn pretty colors, well it doesn't have to, because right at the edge of the small woods is a maple that is the most beautiful thing of crimson red, and shading to brilliant gold, so nos I won't care so much that the front lawn tree isn't very pretty, I can look out the kitchen window and see this other one.
Haven't heard from home since I took Mom home. I wonder what the doctor said about her. Hope she is better. I miss her around here so much. She was a great one to make one smil9e when she noticed that you were down. Believe me, she was a gift from heaven after you left home.
Running out of paper, so must close now. God bless you honey, - Mother
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Monday, October 26, 2009
My Domestic Church Daily Clips 10/27/2009
A nice way to keep your blog -print it as a book.
POLITICO CLICK: President Obama ties George W. Bush on golf - Patrick Gavin
I guess when Obama said hope and change - this is what he had in mind.
President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he's already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.
CBS' Mark Knoller — an unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related — wrote on his Twitter feed that, "Today - Obama ties Pres. Bush in the number of rounds of golf played in office: 24.
Took Bush 2 yrs & 10 months."
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
My Domestic Church Daily Clips 10/26/2009
Janette in reference to our current POTUS - you know the most pro-abortion president of all time.
- Isn't it nice to finally have a moral person in charge?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Simple Woman
Outside my window...
Beautiful Indian Summer.
I am thinking...
about something that another blogger wrote and I want to expand upon here. This blogger felt that she had a moment of clarity from the Holy Spirit and knew it was the Holy Spirit because it went "straight to her heart and made her weepy."
I think we have to be very careful about this particularly when we think the Holy Spirit is providing insight into plans for our families.
"The heart is deceitful above all things" (Jer17:9)
God loves life. God loves to bless with life and God is a generous God. Tread with extreme caution towards any "epiphany" that leads to a different conclusion.
I am thankful for...
that a dear friend of mine and her daughter were not injured in a severe car accident this weekend. God is good.
From the learning rooms...
Starting The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
with Noah and Gabe this week. If I can say I have my two middle sons reading authors like C.S. Lewis, I will feel as if I quite accomplished something. From the kitchen...
Ick.
I remember as a little girl hearing my grandma say that one of the good things about dying was that you never had to plan any more menus. I thought that was horrible at the time - but I get where she was coming from now!!
I am wearing...
Black sweat pants, black vest and black stretch shirt.
I am creating...
a Halloween/All Saints Day Party for my kids for next week.
I am going...
to be at church a lot next week.
I am reading...
Dr. Susan Love's Menopause and Hormone Book: Making Informed Choices
An Excellent book so far!
I am hoping...
that Gabe's back stops hurting. He coughed so much last week that he pulled something in it.
I am hearing... Gabe talk about his aching back!
Around the house...
Decorating for halloween/All Saints Day. This year we are making invitations and having a party at our house!
A few plans for the rest of the week:
1. Walk or exercise tape every day.
2. Bible study with Gabe getting ready for confirmation.
3. Get math and reading done with everyone this week and get one library trip in.
4. Keep up with my typing - which might get easier if that client drops me! We'll see.
5. Have to do more legal work on my mom's estate - my new part time job... sigh.
A picture I am sharing:
Rosie in the Pumpkin Patch!
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Sunday Snippetts A Catholic Carnival
Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival is a weekly opportunity to share our best posts with the wider Catholic blogging community. To participate, create a post highlighting posts that would be of interest to Catholics and link to the host blog at This That and the Other Blog. Go to the host blog and leave a comment giving a link to your post.
Several interesting things this week. I highlighted some of the key parts of the Hugh Hewitt interview with atheist Richard Dawkins. That seemed to be quite popular and got a lot of hits.
4Real Learning Forum had a good discussion and lots of links about praying the Liturgy of the Hours.
Dennis Prager's essay about the loss of his mother has been on my mind all week.
In preparation for All Saints Day this week, I'd like to share pictures of some of our old costumes and what the kids were. In this picture Calvin was Saint George and Sam was Noah's bunny. A couple of the people in our very conservative homeschool group raised an eyebrow that Noah was an animal other than a saint, but I figured I'd tied it in to the scriptures and it was a wholesome and cute costume so I didn't let it phase me. I believe Sam is around 3 or 4 in this picture. I used a pattern similar to this one.
Calvin wore a regular gray sweat suit that I got at Wal Mart underneath his play armor.
I used brown felt to cut the skirt to go around his waist to give it a more authentic look. That was pretty easy and just took scissors and I think it fastened with Velcro.
Rosie wore the same bunny costume last year! That's the nice thing about big families- you get a lot of wear out of your stuff.
Check out Aussie Annie for more wonderful ideas for an all saints day celebration!
I am Proud to be a Roman Catholic on Facebook.
always has timely e-mails to go with the liturgical year. This Novena for All Souls is their most recent. It really is worth signing up with them to get these conveniently delivered to your e-mail account.
Subject: Novena in preparation for the Feast of All Souls - Day 1
All Souls Novena - Day 1
St. Jean Vianney, The Cure' of Ars (1786-1859) - "We must say many prayers for the souls of the Faithful Departed, for one must be so pure to enter Heaven!"
Souls in Purgatory are on their way to Heaven but are not yet in heaven, that's why we pray for them.
Purgatory is a step before Heaven where believers are cleaned up for the "wedding banquet" of the Lord in Heaven. Not all believers have to go through Purgatory (some go straight to Heaven - It would be very cool to go straight to Heaven, lets pray for each other for that) but all people in Purgatory eventually make it to Heaven.
The Church believes that Purgatory is a place to clean up the effects of "Venial Sin" (not Mortal Sin which if unrepented, leads to eternal punishment - hell).
In other words, purgatory would be where the backslider would get cleaned up before joining the wedding banquet of the Lord - so he wouldn't be thrown out (Mat 22:12). For nothing unclean can enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27).
Purgatory does not remove sin itself, for Jesus did that on the Cross, but removes the effects of sin. An imperfect way to look at it is to think of a nail hammered into a piece of wood. My father would pull the nail out of the wood (sin) but there would still be a dent in the wood.
Purgatory is the process of straightening out the wood (the effect of sin). Certainly Jesus can and does the clean up. He is a merciful God but he is also a just God.
Reflection: Matthew 5:25; Luke 12:57-59; 1John 5:17
Sin is the one thing that holds back the progress of man's ascent to God. Only sin blocks his path. Vice and crime throw human beings back to animal levels when they should be mounting toward the angels. Death in mortal sin means the complete failure that is hell. It flings a man, who is destined for eternal happiness, into eternal loss and pain.
Death in venial sin or with the punishment due to sin still on the soul means a halt in the progress toward heaven. The poor soul - poor indeed in his eagerness to reach God and the tedious, painful delay that keeps him from God - must linger in God's prison house.
This is the sad land of purgatory. It is a place of anxious, almost impatient waiting. Since there are in purgatory relatives we loved and friends we knew and thousands of others who call to us for help, we pause and say:
O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of thy servants and handmaids departed, the remission of all their sins; that through pious supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired. Who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father and the Prayer for Mercy on the Souls in Purgatory.
Prayer for Mercy on the Souls in Purgatory
My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine agony in the Garden, in Thy scourging and crowning with thorns, in the way to Calvary, in Thy crucifixion and death, have mercy on the souls in purgatory, and especially on those that are most forsaken; do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in paradise.
Please browse my eBay items!
Visit my new Amazon Store!
Several interesting things this week. I highlighted some of the key parts of the Hugh Hewitt interview with atheist Richard Dawkins. That seemed to be quite popular and got a lot of hits.
4Real Learning Forum had a good discussion and lots of links about praying the Liturgy of the Hours.
Dennis Prager's essay about the loss of his mother has been on my mind all week.
In preparation for All Saints Day this week, I'd like to share pictures of some of our old costumes and what the kids were. In this picture Calvin was Saint George and Sam was Noah's bunny. A couple of the people in our very conservative homeschool group raised an eyebrow that Noah was an animal other than a saint, but I figured I'd tied it in to the scriptures and it was a wholesome and cute costume so I didn't let it phase me. I believe Sam is around 3 or 4 in this picture. I used a pattern similar to this one.
Calvin wore a regular gray sweat suit that I got at Wal Mart underneath his play armor.
I used brown felt to cut the skirt to go around his waist to give it a more authentic look. That was pretty easy and just took scissors and I think it fastened with Velcro.
Rosie wore the same bunny costume last year! That's the nice thing about big families- you get a lot of wear out of your stuff.
Check out Aussie Annie for more wonderful ideas for an all saints day celebration!
I am Proud to be a Roman Catholic on Facebook.
always has timely e-mails to go with the liturgical year. This Novena for All Souls is their most recent. It really is worth signing up with them to get these conveniently delivered to your e-mail account.
Subject: Novena in preparation for the Feast of All Souls - Day 1
All Souls Novena - Day 1
St. Jean Vianney, The Cure' of Ars (1786-1859) - "We must say many prayers for the souls of the Faithful Departed, for one must be so pure to enter Heaven!"
Souls in Purgatory are on their way to Heaven but are not yet in heaven, that's why we pray for them.
Purgatory is a step before Heaven where believers are cleaned up for the "wedding banquet" of the Lord in Heaven. Not all believers have to go through Purgatory (some go straight to Heaven - It would be very cool to go straight to Heaven, lets pray for each other for that) but all people in Purgatory eventually make it to Heaven.
The Church believes that Purgatory is a place to clean up the effects of "Venial Sin" (not Mortal Sin which if unrepented, leads to eternal punishment - hell).
In other words, purgatory would be where the backslider would get cleaned up before joining the wedding banquet of the Lord - so he wouldn't be thrown out (Mat 22:12). For nothing unclean can enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27).
Purgatory does not remove sin itself, for Jesus did that on the Cross, but removes the effects of sin. An imperfect way to look at it is to think of a nail hammered into a piece of wood. My father would pull the nail out of the wood (sin) but there would still be a dent in the wood.
Purgatory is the process of straightening out the wood (the effect of sin). Certainly Jesus can and does the clean up. He is a merciful God but he is also a just God.
Reflection: Matthew 5:25; Luke 12:57-59; 1John 5:17
Sin is the one thing that holds back the progress of man's ascent to God. Only sin blocks his path. Vice and crime throw human beings back to animal levels when they should be mounting toward the angels. Death in mortal sin means the complete failure that is hell. It flings a man, who is destined for eternal happiness, into eternal loss and pain.
Death in venial sin or with the punishment due to sin still on the soul means a halt in the progress toward heaven. The poor soul - poor indeed in his eagerness to reach God and the tedious, painful delay that keeps him from God - must linger in God's prison house.
This is the sad land of purgatory. It is a place of anxious, almost impatient waiting. Since there are in purgatory relatives we loved and friends we knew and thousands of others who call to us for help, we pause and say:
O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of thy servants and handmaids departed, the remission of all their sins; that through pious supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired. Who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father and the Prayer for Mercy on the Souls in Purgatory.
Prayer for Mercy on the Souls in Purgatory
My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine agony in the Garden, in Thy scourging and crowning with thorns, in the way to Calvary, in Thy crucifixion and death, have mercy on the souls in purgatory, and especially on those that are most forsaken; do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in paradise.
Please browse my eBay items!
Visit my new Amazon Store!
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