There is a Longing

                                                7/31/2022     Dear W.H.R.     (Whoever Happens to be Reading)     Praised be Jesus Christ!     Well, dear friend, July has come to an end and the eve of August falls upon us. It seems to me that with every new year, the hand makes its way around the clock just a little faster than before. Time dragged on for me when I was little, especially in October, or December, at the end of which are graced with holidays. But now I can’t quite keep a firm hold of it. It sounds somewhat depressing, but perhaps a little treasure is hidden there.     Doesn’t it go to show how short our lives are? How we so easily get caught up in the transient…All around us, there are living and active reminders of-what I like to put in the simplest term-our nothingness. Many of ...

Luke 12:13-21 Our society is much like the rich man in today's Gospel. We have an abundance of stuff & live outside our means to collect even more stuff. Neighbors compete against one another to see who has the bigger, better, more expensive "toys". Look at the storage rental business -- they're thriving because people need extra space for their possessions.  Passing some large, beautiful homes one day, my oldest son, about four at the time, asked if rich people were bad. I explained that having a lot of money or possessions doesn't make you a bad person, but what you do with them can. Yes, unfortunately there are those who have become greedy & refuse to use their gains on anyone but themselves. I told my son, though, that I would like to believe the majority use their wealth to help others. They donate to charities, help build hospitals & educational institutions, etc. They place their focus outside of their own little world, placing the needs of othe...

Celebrated on August 2nd, St. Eusebius was a Roman clergy member and later became the bishop of Vercelli. During this time the Arian heresy (claiming that Jesus was not God) was in full force, even being professed by powerful people. Pope Liberius sent Eusebius to persuade the emperor to work towards dissolving the troubles between Catholics and Arians. In effect, Constantius called a council in 355, to which Eusebius reluctantly attended. At the council, Eusebius firmly defended St. Athanasius, an opponent of the Ariens who they tried to condemn. The emperor pressured the Saint to comply, but when Eusebius remained steadfast in his answer, Constantius exiled him in Palestine. He was exiled also in Asia Minor and Egypt before being released. He then returned back to Vercelli in 361. Eusebuis attended the council of Alexandria and continued to defend the Church, including his work with St. Hilary of Poitiers against the Ariens. He died on August 1, 371. St. Eusebius of Vercelli, pray fo...

As we come toward the end of July & our quotes on freedom, we share from The Catechism of the Catholic Church. ************ "Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude." (CCC #1731) "The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to 'the slavery of sin.'" (CCC #1733)

Do you ever have a moment when something in a familiar Scripture passage jumps out in a way it never had before? That happened to me with today's Gospel (Matthew 20:20-28) where the mother of James & John approached Jesus, asking for honored seats by Him in His Kingdom. When they replied to Jesus that they can drink of the chalice, He says, " My chalice you will indeed drink...."  He went on to explain to His disciples about being there to serve others, not to be served. I always took His chalice comment to mean that His disciples would indeed follow His example to serve & minister to those they meet. And in a way, He probably did mean that, but there is a deeper meaning. The chalice He spoke of was one of sacrifice & persecution. He knew His path to Calvary was coming. He also knew that His disciples would face the deaths of martyrs. According to  How Did the Apostles Die? , it is believed that each suffered brutal deaths for being followers of Jesus & sp...

Luke 11:1-13 The Lord's Prayer, given by Jesus in today's Gospel, is one of the first prayers we learn as children. When all four of my children were babies, I prayed it aloud while rocking them to sleep at night. As they got older, they learned to pray it by repeating each line until they could recite it along with us, & eventually being able to pray it alone. Olivia told me, while I was writing this, that she can't remember a time when she didn't know The Our Father! There is a downside to our familiarity with this prayer, though. We often become complacent, mechanically saying the words, but not focusing on their meaning. By doing so, we miss the rich conversation between us & God. Each line is full of beauty & depth. Let's take a look... ~Our Father, Who art in Heaven -  our opening, drawing us into communion with God (& each other when prayed with others) & acknowledging His existence ~Hallowed be Thy Name - God's Name IS Holy & to b...

Anno Brandsma was born on February 23, 1881, in Friesland, the second youngest of six children. After finishing school he entered novitiate into the Carmelite Order, taking the name Titus. He was ordained a priest in 1905 and later earned a PhD in philosophy. He helped found the Catholic University of Nigmegen, and even served as Rector Magnificus in 1932. Titus was also interested in journaling, and worked as a spiritual advisor to the Union of Catholic Journalists. His strong opposition to Nazi propaganda quickly drew their attention and he was arrested in 1942, while delivering a letter to Catholic editors. The letter ordered the editors not to print Nazi articles or advertisments, despite the new law that required them to do so.  In June, 1942, after being interned at Scheveningen and Amersfoort, Titus was taken to the Dachau camp in Germany, where he was soon subject to a medical experiment and was killed on July 26th.  Before his execution, Titus had gifted the nurse who...

"It is our solemn duty as Catholics, therefore, to be conscious of our duty to America, and to preserve its freedom by preserving its faith in God. . . ." (Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen)

Luke 10:38-42 "Mary has chosen the better part." Part is the word that stood out to me. There are several aspects of hospitality, a word that means the friendly reception & treatment of guests in a warm & generous way. opening your home & welcoming guests preparing meals &/or snacks  having fresh sheets on the beds & clean towels in the bathroom making sure they are comfortable keeping the house clean sitting attentively to listen & converse Each of those parts are important, but what would happen if we focused only on the first five things, then left our guests alone? That would negate all those efforts. Our guests would most likely feel neglected & ignored, not received warmly & generously. Martha fretted & bustled about, worrying about caring for Jesus & His companions, while Mary sat at His feet, listening attentively. Household tasks would always be there, but Jesus would not. He was there to visit & minister to the two sisters...

Guilio Caesare de Rossi was born on July 22, 1559 in Brindisi, a kingdom of Naples, Italy. He was educated by the Franciscans, but his parents died when he was just 12 years old. His uncle in Venice took him in and continued his education there at St. Mark's. Part of his education included becoming fluent in both spoken & written form of many languages besides his native Italian...Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, French, etc. Caesare joined the Capuchins in Verona when he was 16. There he took the name Lawrence. He was ordained as  a Franciscan priest in 1582, at the age of 23. Following are some of his ventures & accomplishments. In Prague, Vienna, & Gorizia, he & Blessed Benedict of Urbino founded friaries to fight against Lutheranism. He labored to teach the truths of the Catholic Faith to those who'd fallen away from the Church to follow Protestantism. He became know to some as a Counter-Reformation Warrior. In 1601, Emperor Rudolf II asked him to build an army of Ge...

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about angels & I've wanted to do a post for a while now to clear some up. So, I thought a question & answer post would be the best way to go. I may ruffle some feathers with this post, but these are factual answers from Catholic teaching on angels. 1) Do angels actually exist & how do we know? Yes. Angels are mentioned in the Bible (32 out of 46 Old Testament books & over 158 times in the New Testament), appear in teachings of the Church from many saints, & many apparitions of angels have been documented. 2) What are angels? First off, the term "angel" refers to their office (what they do) & "spirit" is the term that refers to their nature. Thus, angels are spiritual beings created by God. They have no physical bodies & are not male or female.  3) What do angels do? There are nine levels of angels divided into three sections called triads.  Triad 1 includes Seraphim, Cherubim, & Thrones....

"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." (St. John Paul II)

  7/10/2022     Dear W.H.R.                                                    (Whoever Happens to be Reading) Praised be Jesus Christ! Blessed Sunday to you! This past week, I’ve been thinking alot about thoughts.I think a Sunday afternoon is a good time to sit down and lay out those thoughts so I can think about them some more, but this time in a collective manner. I hope I do not bore you with my thoughts. I often bore myself with them. But as you are the one receiving this letter, then I guess you are free to read or dispose of it. Either way, enclosed are my thoughts, so here they are. Perhaps they will give you something to think about. Or maybe you only think of them long enough to decide not to read them. That is good too. On we go! Isn’t it funny how m...

  Luke 10:25-37 As a child, I had a handful of Arch Books biblical stories - Three Men Who Walked Through Fire, The Rich Fool, Eight Bags of Gold, but my favorite was The Good Samaritan. It never ceased to amaze me that the priest & Levite went out of their ways to pass the injured man. (None of the priests I've ever known would do such a thing!) The one who stopped was (GASP!!!) a Samaritan - one who was despised & corrupted. He is the one who showed mercy to the injured man by treating his injuries & transporting him to an inn. He even went so far as to leave extra coins with the innkeeper so the man could continue to be cared for in the Samaritan's absence. Despite all the evil the media portrays & the massive divisions they try to create, I refuse to believe there is no good left in the world! The first thing we must do is turn away from those media reports & look for the positive stories. Ask God to open your eyes to the uplifting events & actions h...

Welcome to July! This month, the theme for our quotes is freedom/patriotism. "Just because God created us in His image, we have also received from Him the great gift that is freedom. If it is not used well, freedom can lead us away from God, can make us lose the dignity with which He has clothed is. This requires the guidelines, the guidelines and also the rules, both in society and in the Church, to help us to do the will of God, thus living according to our dignity as human beings and children of God. When it is not shaped by the Gospel, freedom can turn into slavery: slavery of sin."  (Pope Francis)

L uke 10:1-12, 17-20 Today's Gospel is a complete mission statement from Jesus to His disciples. He is sending them to prepare the way for His arrival to the towns. We, too, are sent forth at the end of each Mass to announce the Gospel & glorify the Lord by our lives.  "...behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves." This phrase particularly jumped out at me in this Gospel passage. There is a common idiom taken from that & used even today - "being thrown to the wolves." It means that someone inexperienced has been placed in a tough situation without protection and with a high chance of failure. In today's Gospel, Jesus has sent His disciples out of their comfort zones to face trials, difficulties, contradiction to their belief in Him. The difference is that they are not sent alone, without protection. They have God on their side, guiding them to prepare the way for Jesus. It's becoming more & more difficult for Christians, especially Ca...