Wisdom Wednesday - Week 2

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)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Bronze Pole & The Crucifix

Image
Numbers 21:4-9 was the first reading from the daily Mass yesterday (4/8/2025). The passage details what happened to the Israelites who grumbled against Moses & the Lord, questioning why they were led to the desert, only to die. God punished them by sending saraph serpents which bit & killed many of them. They went to Moses, imploring him to intercede & ask God to take the serpents away. God, in turn, had Moses make a serpent & attach it to a bronze pole. Anyone bitten was to look upon it & they would live. The translation used for the Mass reading does not say the people would be “healed” , only that they would “live” . Curious about how the passage had been translated in other Bibles, I went to the Bible Gateway website . I looked up at least 25 Bible translations, most of which used the word “live”. Two used “recovered” , & three said “healed” (Douay Rheims 1899, The Voice, & Wycliffe). That got me thinking…why would God want the Israelites to live, but ...
Read more

Book Review - Eucharistic Miracles and Eucharistic Phenomena in the Lives of the Saints by Joan Carroll Cruz

Image
  Joan Carroll Cruz is a favorite Catholic author of ours, so don't be surprised if you see more of her books in future posts! If I remember correctly, I believe Eucharistic Miracles and Eucharistic Phenomena in the Lives of the Saints was the first of hers which I read. Published in 1987, this is a collection of 36 miracles throughout history (as early as the 8th century & as recent as the 20th) which show proof of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The author det ails these miracles, including investigations made into them & even telling where some can still be witnessed today. In the 2nd part of the book, she explains Eucharistic phenomena of saints who lived on the Eucharistic alone, experienced levitations, visions, raptures, & other extraordinary experiences surrounding the Real Presence.  Throughout the book, there are photos of some of the miracles, artistic renderings of the miracles & people who experienced them, & photos of the locati...
Read more

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Image
Well, here we are already...the 4th Sunday of Advent has arrived!  Have you finished your Christmas shopping & wrapped all the presents, baked your holiday delectables, mailed your Christmas greeting cards, decorated your home to rival any display of Martha Stewart's? If you're like most people, you probably answered that you're nowhere near being finished. But you know what? That's perfectly fine because none of those items are important in the grand scheme of things.  The bigger & most important question to be answered is, "Have you prepared your heart to receive Jesus on Christmas Day?" After all, without Jesus' humble birth in a stable over 2000 years ago, none of the other things above would have any significant meaning! Today's Gospel tells us that Mary, upon being told that she would bring our Savior into the world, set off in haste to her cousin, Elizabeth. Advanced in age, Elizabeth was experiencing a miraculous pregnancy, foretold by...
Read more