Among Women ReadHER 5.26.12 Pentecost check in, Catholic lawsuits, Sibs, Silent no more...

Among Women ReadHER

5.25.12

Why We are Fighting (and Filing): Setting the Record Straight
By Emily Stimpson at CatholicVote.org
Reminders about the HHS Mandate fight and the Catholic institutions that are taking up the charge in court.


Cardinal Dolan of NY, Cardinal Wuerl of DC, and 40 Other Catholic Institutions Sue Obama Administration 
Posted at CNSnew.com
This is almost old news, but read it in case you've been out of touch this week.


Surprise! MSM Ignoring Catholic Lawsuits Against the Government
By Elizabeth Scalia, The Anchoress
A more recent take on the subject above.


15 Years and Silent No More
By Kat Fernandez at The Crescat
Powerful, poignant, memoir of another woman who regrets abortion.


The Norm of Co-Habitation
By Bernard Toutounji at Mercator.net
A look at this phenomenon and how not to co-habitate strengthens a relationship prior to marriage.


Sibling Revelry
By Rachel Balducci at Faith and Family
A great perspective on the gift of siblings through the years.


Simcha Fisher this week with a two-part knock-out punch (um, in a good way.)
Over at her blog at National Catholic Register...
Part 1: Is This What Abstinence-Only Education Looks Like?
Part 2: What SHOULD We Tell Our Kids about Sex

Career vs Baby Making
Posted by Julie Robison at A Corner with a View
An 8-min. video on the "window" of having one's own children... The video is not by Julie herself, but another woman. However, if you'd like to hear Julie, check her out on AW 132 and 133 with "The Bright Maidens."

The Great Pentecost Mass Check-In
By Lisa Hendey at Catholic Mom. com
A fun and easy way to talk up Sunday's Mass for Pentecost. And while you're at Catholic Mom, admire the new website upgrade.

This makes me think...

The feast of Shavuot ("Weeks") occurred forty-nine days (seven weeks) after the Feast of Passover. Since it was the fiftieth day after Passover, it acquired the Greek name of Pentecost, meaning "fiftieth." Pentecost marked the end of the grain harvest and designated at time of prosperity and joy.  Moses stipulated that an offering of two loaves of bread be offered to God on this day as a sign of gratitude (Lev 23: 15-21).


Just as Passover symbolized the liberty of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, the Feast of Pentecost symbolized the presentation of the Law to Israel through the prophet Moses. This is paralleled in the Catholic Church by the Christian feast of Pentecost, which is exactly fifty days after Easter. This holy day recalls how Christ poured out the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the Church (Acts 2). Just as the Law was given to Israel on the Feast of Pentecost, so the Spirit was given to the Church on the feast of Pentecost. For Catholics, the Jewish harvest theme is an allegory of the harvest of souls gathered in by the twelve Apostles of Christ.


---Taylor Marshall, The Crucified Rabbi, St John Press, 2009.

Pentecost: The Spirit is all about Jesus and the Church

Happy Pentecost!  Happy Birthday Church!

Do not miss this wonderful epistle from New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan about today.

And, while this video is for folks on a military base, it's got good guts to it.

Let's remember that it's all about Jesus.

Read my column this week on the Sequence Prayer from today's Mass.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus -- A Word in Season

My column, A Word in Season, over at Patheos reflects and prays over the words of the Veni, Sancte Spiritus, (Come, Holy Spirit), a prayer that we'll pray as the Sequence on Pentecost Sunday.

Here's a smattering...

There are days and then there are days. You know the kind I mean. There are the days when we need every ounce of grace just to get through. If one is a praying Christian, those days are saturated with inward groanings directed toward heaven. Why? Because, even under duress, a Christian is aware that something, er, Someone upholds them every day. It is the Lord: “In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).”

In those challenging moments of my life, there is really only one prayer to pray. In fact, it is so simple that that maybe I should pray it every day, so I may be more mindful of the grace He supplies in a personal and direct response to my utterance: “Come, Holy Spirit!”

Come, Holy Spirit, come!

And from your celestial home

Shed a ray of light divine!

Come, Father of the poor!

Come, source of all our store!

Come, within our bosoms shine.

You'll find the rest over at Patheos.