What the Catechism teaches about the WORD...

...my latest over at Faith and Family.

Today's Giggle: Silent Monks "singing" Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus"

HT: Mark Shea

PS to Among Women Episode 34

In Among Women 34 I talked to Aldona Lingertat, the director of the Master of Arts in Ministry program at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, MA. And we talked about different ways a person could continue their religious education as an adult.

As a follow-up to that podcast AW listener Erin Aldrich Miller recommends the Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation affiliated with University of Dayton. It looks like a very calendar-friendly and affordable way to learn more about our Catholic faith!

I'm a fan of UDayton and I wanted to pass this along for others.  Thanks to Erin for taking the time to share this valuable resource!

This struck me in today's scripture...

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love

for one another and for all,

just as we have for you,

so as to strengthen your hearts,

to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father

at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.  Amen.

Grateful

Prayer at Harvest and Thanksgiving

O God, source and giver of all things,

You manifest your infinite majesty, power and goodness

In the earth about us:

We give you honor and glory.

For the sun and the rain,

For the manifold fruits of our fields:

For the increase of our herds and flocks,

We thank you.

For the enrichment of our souls with divine grace,

We are grateful.

Supreme Lord of the harvest,

Graciously accept us and the fruits of our toil,

In union with Jesus, your Son,

As atonement for our sins,

For the growth of your Church,

For peace and love in our homes,

And for salvation for all.

We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

From Living God’s Justice: Reflections and Prayers, compiled by The Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors

HT: American Catholic

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AMong Women Podcast #35

Among Women 35 features a look at Christian mysticism and the writing of Julian of Norwich.

This week's episode also features a conversation with Catholic campus minister, Marika Donders.  Marika shares her faith story with Pat Gohn, as they explore the many ways God has led Marika to work in fulltime ministry... from her own first encounters with God at a campus Newman center, where her faith came alive... to her life in the convent, to her life as single woman in the service of God and the church on a New Hampshire college campus.

It Makes Me Think...

Therefore in the Church, everyone...  is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification"....

The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and everyone of His disciples of every condition. He Himself stands as the author and consumator of this holiness of life: "Be you therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect". Indeed He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength and that they might love each other as Christ loves them. The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God's gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received. They are warned by the Apostle to live "as becomes saints", and to put on "as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience", and to possess the fruit of the Spirit in holiness. Since truly we all offend in many things  we all need God's mercies continually and we all must daily pray: "Forgive us our debts".

Thus it is evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such a more human manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history.

---Lumen Gentium, paragraph 39-40, (From the Documents of Vatican II).

Among Women Podcast #34

This week's episode of Among Women takes a look at the young and dynamic life of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

Also, Pat Gohn welcomes Aldona Lingertat, PhD, Director of the Master of Arts in Ministry program in Boston, for a discussion of faith, ministry, and the call of the New Evangelization.

AmongWomenPodcast.com is back online!

AND NOW....

back to our regularly scheduled programming!

AmongWomenPodcast.com is back online with more bandwidth than before!

How Can I Keep from Singing? (A Podcast!)

Thanks to singer-songwriter-podcaster-blogger Susan Bailey for inviting me to be a guest on her podcast How Can I Keep from Singing?

Together we share about the delicate subject of both of our husband's unemployment and "keeping the faith" through it all.

Susan offers this encouraging series of podcasts specifically dealing with the problem of unemployment at this time in our nation's history. And she shares from a faith-filled perspective.

You'll also enjoy her music both on the show's intro and in the song at the end!
Find out more about Susan Bailey's varied gifts and ministry here.  (Be sure to check out here "Sung Rosary" -- Susan's unique offering to rosary lovers all over the world!)

My latest on Today's Catholic Woman... on the Church

Find it here.

We are experiencing technical difficulty, please stand by...

Yup, the Among Women Podcast website is down...  but for good reason...

All our faithful listeners have over-reached our data-transfer limit!

We'll be back in business shortly.

I can feel the luv.

FYI:  All episodes are still downloadable at MY CATHOLIC VOICE.


UPDATE: 11/16/09-- We are back online!

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Two great sites for those of us who need little daily inspiration!

A scripture verse a day

A quote a day from Pope Benedict XVI 

Nominate SQPN on Mashable.com!

Nominate www.sqpn.com as the Best Non-Profit Use of New Media:

Jesus is the Divine Wellspring... my article at Faith and Family Live

My Latest on what Catholics believe about Tradition and Scripture.

Thank a Vet

Some links to share to honor our vets!

Paying Tribute at Fort Hood

Video honoring Vets of WWII

Video Tribute: Proud to Be An American


photo courtesy of US Army

Soundtrack of my life

New tunes in the blue playlist! (Well, new to the sidebar, I mean. Some of these tunes are actually a few years old!)

But this stuff keeps me going... especially during household chores, exercise, and other things I tend to want to avoid...

It Makes Me Think...

Each individual lay[person] must stand before the world as a witness to the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus and a symbol of the living God. All the laity as a community and each one according to his ability must nourish the world with spiritual fruits. They must diffuse in the world that spirit which animates the poor, the meek, the peace makers-whom the Lord in the Gospel proclaimed as blessed. In a word, "Christians must be to the world what the soul is to the body."


----Lumen Gentium, paragraph 38, (From the Documents of Vatican II).

Among Women Podcast #33

Among Women # 33 features a look at the life of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, and also features a faith sharing by Gloria Santangelo, who shares about her desire to be married, and waiting on the Lord's timing for years to bring it about.

On "YET"...

Need hope today?  Click on the link here!

The Bishops' Press Release on 11.09.09 on Health Care policy

Click on the link above and read it in its entirety. Even though abortion funding was removed from the House healthcare bill, there is still much to be concerned about...

Anglican Constitution released

In other news, for those keeping track of these things...  the Vatican has released the Anglican constitution.

Abortion is OUT of the House healthcare bill thanks to US Bishops' brokering

As many know by now, the US House of Representatives passed their health care bill over the weekend. While, personally, I still think there are many problems with the bill, we can see as a direct result of the outcry from Catholics around the nation and the US Catholic Bishops demanding that the House bill abandon abortion as mandatory health care.

This snippet describes this news from this article in the Wall Street Journal.

"We're really disappointed," said Laurie Rubiner, vice president for public policy for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "It does set a new precedent."

Backers of the House measure, which was approved Saturday night by a 240-194 vote, argued that it effectively preserves the status quo for abortion funding. They noted that other federal health programs, such as the Medicaid federal-state program for the poor, don't cover abortion.

"We did not want this legislation to be a vehicle for expanding abortion or for changing federal policy on abortion in the wrong direction," said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the secretariat of pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The abortion issue was at the center of last-minute wrangling in the House. A bloc of Democrats, backed by the Catholic bishops, threatened to scuttle the House health bill if leaders didn't take up the antiabortion measure. In an unusual show of influence, Mr. Doerflinger and other representatives of the bishops on Friday met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to broker an agreement. Ms. Pelosi, who favors abortion rights, reluctantly agreed to bring the measure to the floor, and it became part of the broader bill that passed in the House late Saturday.

Earlier versions of the bill allowed some federally subsidized plans to cover the procedure as long as they restricted payments for abortions to private dollars.

My latest on Today's Catholic Woman

On how what the Bishops' "call to arms" on the healthcare debate means... in terms of what the Catechism teaches... here.

Today's giggle...

came from the products in this shopping catalog*... 

 If the shoe fits… buy it in every color!

When did my wild oats turn into oat bran?

I’ll have a caffe mocha vodka valium latte to go please?

What if the hokey pokey really is what it’s all about?

When you have lots of things to do, get your golf game out of the way first!

We plan, God laughs!

There cannot be a crisis this week… my schedule is already full.

It’s not a hot flash, it’s a little summer vacation you take all by yourself.

You don’t have to be crazy to work here… we’ll train you!

I love cooking with wine… sometimes I even put it in the food!

Age improves with wine.

(and my personal favorite:)

Changing the toilet paper roll does not cause brain damage.

*does not necessarily imply my endorsement. I just like to laugh.

We Salute and Remember Fort Hood!

We pray for the fallen and for the wounded!

"The Army is a resilient forceand not a stranger 

to the pain of tragedy and loss. 

We will get through this together as a family. 

Army Strong!"

- Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr., 

speaking about the tragedy that struck

 at Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 5, 2009

US ARMY Facebook page -- send a note!

By the way, NOVEMBER IS MILITARY FAMILY APPRECIATION MONTH!

If you know one, do something to thank them for their sacrifice!

photo courtesy of the US Army.

Prayers for the Victims of the Fort Hood Massacre

Let us pray for the dead and for the 28 wounded who have been hospitalized after this brutal attack on a US military base.

Tell Congress now -- No abortion in healthcare bills!

Among Women Podcast #32

This week's episode of Among Women continues a discussion with Dr. Maura Hearden, a theology professor from DeSales University about the feminine genius and what that means. (This is part 2 of 2. Part 1 is here.)

Pat also shares about the life and writings of St. Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), and what is applicable about to our spiritual life.

There's a random drawing for the booklet Pure Womanhood.  Send Pat an email this week with your name and request to be in the drawing.

Finally, the USCCB's call to arms for all Americans to petition Congress on health care.  More here.

It Makes Me Think...

In the human nature united to Himself the Son of God, by overcoming death through His own death and resurrection, redeemed man and re-molded him into a new creation....

The Head of this Body is Christ. He is the image of the invisible God and in Him all things came into being. He is before all creatures and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the Body which is the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the first place. By the greatness of His power He rules the things in heaven and the things on earth, and with His all-surpassing perfection and way of acting He fills the whole body with the riches of His glory.

All the members ought to be molded in the likeness of Him, until Christ be formed in them. For this reason we, who have been made to conform with Him, who have died with Him and risen with Him, are taken up into the mysteries of His life, until we will reign together with Him...

Christ loves the Church as His bride, having become the model of a man loving his wife as his body; the Church, indeed, is subject to its Head. "Because in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily", He fills the Church, which is His body and His fullness, with His divine gifts so that it may expand and reach all the fullness of God.

---Lumen Gentium, paragraph 7 (from the Documents of Vatican II).

Today's giggle...

comes courtesy of LOL Saints!

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Just in case you missed them...

Here's a link to the very HOPE-FILLED Scripture readings from today's All Souls Day Mass.

The Soundtrack of My Life...

Kudo's and thanks for Jon Niven's music ministry up here in the Greater Boston area.

Thought you might like to hear a sample of his fine writing.... check out the sidebar "Soundtrack of My Life" and listen to "Here With You." (If you are a woman, keep a tissue handy!)



Jon's music ministry is also the staple at LIFT... a dynamic night of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and teaching geared for high school youth and young adults.  Recommended by 3 out of 3 Gohn kids. (And their parents!)

Nice, short, to-the-point post on prayer

George Weigel writes about the life and times of St. Jeanne Jugan