There is a Longing

Luke 4:21-30 This week's Gospel continues where we left off last week. "Today this scripture passage has been fulfilled in your hearing." Amazement! Astonishment! Awe! Disappointment! Defeat! Fury!  SURPRISE! Their interpretation of scripture is not what God intended when inspiring the prophet Isaiah. Jesus is not the rich king they were expecting to  fulfill the proclamations Isaiah made. He's not the powerful ruler they hoped would come & overthrow the Roman Empire, leading them to peace & prosperity. Most of those in the synagogue were not happy. How arrogant & self-righteous they thought Jesus was! How dare He proclaim to be the Messiah! That's blasphemy!   Jesus didn't go to Yale or Harvard. He didn't even go to Nazareth Community College. He was just a trade worker, a carpenter, a son of poor parents from right there in Nazareth. He has no true power or knowledge. How could He save the people?! As the people of Nazareth attempted to drive...

Today’s saint is St. John Bosco, whose feast we celebrate January 31. Born on August 16, 1815, in Becchi, Italy, John lost his father just two years later, leaving him and his brothers to be raised by their mother. They were very poor and worked laborious lives as farmers, but nonetheless, John became very devout, eventually coming to discern a vocation to priesthood. After witnessing a troupe of traveling performers, John decided to learn their tricks in order to hold people's attention. With this technique, he would perform for the children he played with and afterwards, while they were still attentive, repeat the homilies he had heard. In order to be ordained, he would need an education, so he left home at the age of twelve, finding a job at a vineyard. He worked there for a few years before meeting Fr. Joseph Cafass, was willing to help him. He entered seminary and was ordained a priest in 1841, being first assigned to the city of Turin. At the time, there was great poverty i...

Welcome again to Wisdom Wednesday, where we share quotes from saints & other Catholic figures. For January, we have been featuring quotes on beginnings. This week, we couldn't decide between two quotes, so you get both!  ********** The first comes to us from St. Bernadette Soubirous. "If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces...never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. That's the beauty of being alive...We can always start all over again. Enjoy God's amazing opportunities bestowed on us. Have faith in Him always." ********** The second is more of a prayer from St. Gemma Galgani. "During this new year I resolve to begin a new life. I do not know what will happen to me during this year. But I abandon myself entirely to You, my God. And my aspirations and all my affections will be for You. Every time the clock strikes, I will repeat three times -- 'My Jesus, mercy!' Father, do You know the latest idea that has co...

Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 Hallmark love story plots are notorious for having a character going back to their hometown, running into an old flame, falling in love again, & living happily ever after. Often there's a competitive nemesis vying for the old flame's affections & who'll do anything in their power to prevent the other two from reconnecting. Sometimes the reason for the protagonist's return is that the big name company they work for wants to expand & sends them to win over the people of their hometown. They stand in front of the town leaders & say,  "Big Name Business is upon me & has chosen me to present Big Name Business to you. They sent me to proclaim jobs for the jobless & prosperity to this town, & to proclaim growth overall." The protagonist then rolls up their sleeves, takes the first shovel of dirt, & decries, "Today this announcement is fulfilled in your hearing." The citizens of Smalltown, USA are most like...

  This upcoming Thursday, January 27, will be the feast of St. Angela Merici. St. Angela is the founder of the Ursulines, which is the first order of women religious to work outside of a cloister, as well as the first teaching order of women.   Born on March 21, 1474, Angela joined the Third order of St. Francis, having felt the call to give her life to the Lord and in service to the Church at a young age. She was very attentive to the needs of others. When it came to her attention that the young girls of her hometown, Desenzano, Italy, were not receiving proper education or faith formation, she endeavored to help them. Always attentive to the needs of those around her, Angela opened her home to these girls and began to catechize them.  A vision revealed to her that the Lord wanted Angela to found an order of women who would devote their lives to religious training of young girls, which was the start of what would become the Company of St. Ursula, or the Ursulines. It w...

"All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clearer." (St. Vincent de Paul)

John 2:1-11 Running out of wine would have been a tremendous blow to the groom's family (the traditional hosts of a public wedding feast at that time). More than an embarrassment, it would have severely damaged their reputation. John's Gospel doesn't say how Mary & Jesus knew the family. Perhaps She was a close friend of the groom's mother, as She was portrayed in the series, The Chosen? Maybe She was a distant relative of either family? However She came to be a guest at the wedding, She became aware of the wine shortage & knew Her Son could be of assistance. "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." Now, how many of us mothers would allow our children to speak to us in what sounds to be such a disrespectful tone? I can hear my own mother's response if I spoke to her in that manner -- "Your hour will come when I say & that hour is NOW!" So, what "hour" is Jesus talking about here? Time to begin His ...

Just a little note: We decided it would be better to choose a saint from the upcoming week as opposed to the previous, that way their feast day won’t be missed. **************** On January 20, we will celebrate the feast day of St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr (along with St. Sebastian). St. Fabian, a simple farmer and layman, had come to Rome after the death of the previous pope, St. Anterus, as preparations were being made to elect a new pope. In the midst of this, the Church historian Eusebius tells us that a dove descended and rested upon Fabian’s head. This was taken as a sign and Fabian was elected pope. The majority of the fourteen years of his papacy were peaceful, during which he sent seven bishops to preach the Gospel to Gaul, formed Rome’s Christian communities into seven districts, and helped collect the acta of the martyrs. In 250 A.D., Fabian was martyred during the persecution of Decius. St. Fabian, Pray for Us!

Continuing our theme of "Beginnings"... "Through divine grace we are at the beginning of a new year. God alone knows whether we shall reach the end of it, so we should spend it in reparation for the past and in preparing for the future with good resolutions. Good works go hand in hand with good intentions." (St. Padre Pio)

Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." Here in today's Gospel, we see a clear depiction of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus comes to be baptized by John; the Holy Spirit descends as a dove upon Jesus; & God the Father expresses His pleasure in Jesus as His beloved Son. God is also pleased with us! As Matthew Kelly of Dynamic Catholic often says, we are called to become "the best version of ourselves." How do we do that? We acknowledge that we have been called & claimed at our baptism by God as His beloved sons & daughters.  One of my favorite parts from our children's baptisms was the scent of the baptismal oil that lingered on their foreheads afterwards. It was a fragrant reminder of the claim our Lord had just made on them. They were (& still are) His beloved children, chosen specifically for us to lead them to a life pleasing to Him. That chrism oil symbolizes the call to become priest, prophet, & king in ...

Today is our first post for "Saintly Saturday" , where each Saturday, we will tell you about one of the saints The Catholic Church celebrated within the past week. We start with St. Andre Bessette. ************ This past Thursday (January 6), we celebrated the feast of St. Andre Bessette. Born as Alfred Bessette on August 9, 1845, in Quebec he grew up with little formal education and was orphaned by the age of twelve. He began his novitiate into the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1870, after he was encouraged to consider a vocation to religious life by his childhood pastor. Alfred had always had poor health, something he would suffer from throughout his whole life, which prevented him from first being admitted into the Order, however, they finally relented with the help of the Archbishop of Montreal. After his childhood pastor, he took the name Brother Andre and was assigned the job of porter at the Notre Dame College. It was there that his reputation began to spread as pe...

If there is one thing that I have learned from my piano teacher, ( and it is definitely not counting; Lord grant her patience in dealing with my terrible counting! ) it is that playing can become a prayer, and that it can come straight from the heart. I am not exactly sure why I decided to take piano lessons, seeing as it was never an instrument that particularly interested me, at least not until after I started learning it! I think that when I was little, I had an issue of taking things up only because the people I knew and loved were doing those things. Then, after a short time, I would get burnt out on it because it was not something that I actually enjoyed doing. Perhaps this was initially the case when I asked to take piano lessons, but as time went on, it definitely proved otherwise. I think that God, in His infinite mercy, took the result of a fault of mine and reshaped it, so to speak, into something much more beautiful. Unlike all of my other endeavors which had (and still t...

One of our ideas for this blog is to feature various quotes from saints & Catholic figures as an inspiration for all of us. We decided Wednesdays will be our quote day & we're calling it Wisdom Wednesday . Each month, we'll choose a theme, then choose quotes befitting the theme. Since January is the start of a new year & a time when many begin again, we choose "Beginnings" for this month's theme.  "It is right that you should begin again every day.  There is no better way to complete the spiritual life than to be ever beginning it over again."   (St. Francis de Sales)

As the idea to create a blog grew more and more on us, we tried to come up with a name that would encompass all that we wished to include in our posts. That proved to be really difficult, seeing as we want to cover a wide variety of topics! We love music, so Mom came up with the idea of drawing from hymn titles for inspiration. When she came across the song “There Is A Longing" , by Anne Quigley, it really stuck out at us. It seemed to cover not so much the individual aspects of our idea, but the intent of it as a whole. We all have this great hole in the very depth of our being, making us incomplete. No one likes to feel empty and the very emptiness we have in ourselves leaves us restless and dissatisfied. Especially in those moments when we find ourselves in a place of quiet and solitude, these feelings of discontent become more prevalent. Two things can result from this. On the one hand, which is most often the case, we take it upon ourselves to fill this hole. When we go this ...

 Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12 "Wise Men Still Seek Him!" We see the above quote on bumper stickers, signs, decorations, etc. It affirms the deep longing we all have to find & know Jesus. Many people feel that longing, but do not recognize it for what it truly is. In their search for fulfillment, they pursue wealth, power, status, material items. They want the best of the best, the largest, the most. For a while, their acquisitions make them happy, until one day, they sense something else is needed. They're not satisfied, so they seek more. This goes on & on, over & over, because they're not being filled by what their heart truly longs for -- Jesus! He alone can fill that space in their (our) hearts. He is the perfect fit! The wise men knew that. As learned men, they'd studied the prophecies & promises of a Savior for all. As soon as they heard of His birth, they set off on the journey to see Him. In their wisdom, the gifts they presented held special mea...

Hello & Happy New Year! We are Maria & Olivia, mother & daughter, sisters in Christ, & daughters of The King! Several months ago, we had the idea to begin a blog so that we could share our love of & learnings of our Catholic Faith. Our goals are as follows:          * educate ourselves           * encourage & invigorate others to know the Faith          * grow ourselves & live out our call to discipleship          * share our own thoughts on various Catholic topics As we begin, this will be a work in progress. Neither of us has blogged in many years. On Sundays, we plan to share reflections on that weekend's Mass readings. Other posts will include quotes from saints & Catholic figures, recommendations on books, music, & movies, saint information, Catholic topics including history, celebrations, & more. We hope you'll enjoy our posts & learn...