Among Women ReadHER 7.28.12 Aurora, marriage, motherhood, and gutsy bishops

Among Women ReadHER 7.28.12

Some stories outside the headlines on the violent shootings in Aurora:

Learning Who We Lost: The Aurora Victims
Posted at Hot Air
Say a prayer.


Denver's Bishop Conley's Remarks and Invocation at the Prayer Vigil for the Victims in Aurora
Posted as a PDF from the Archdiocese of Denver
Worth reading and praying.


A Miracle Inside the Aurora Story
By Brad Strait at Celtic Straits
Lotsa folks praying for this woman's recovery, and thanking God, perhaps, for the "gift" of her curious medical malady.


The Dark Knight Before the Dawn
By Joseph Susanka at Patheos
Joseph is an insightful film buff and Catholic writer. His column this week reflects on the film The Dark Knight, and the shootings in Aurora. He says: "Heroism and the confrontation of evil—a confrontation most often achieved through suffering—is the only way to truly grapple with the problem. To paraphrase Alfred, we must learn to get back up; to rise again, and press ever forward towards the light."

Other interesting stuff: 

Women say "I Do" to Husband's names
By Carolyn Moynihan at Mercator.net
I always watch what Moynihan is writing about. This is interesting. It was more optimistic that I would have thought.

Before You Get Here
By Lauren Warner at Sipping Lemonade
A mom writers a touching note to her daughter in the womb.

The 'Busy' Trap
By Tim Krieder at the New York Times' Opinionator
A bit long, but worth the read. Insightful, challenging. H/T to Sarah Vabulas.


The Joys of a Wonderfully Imperfect Life
By Meg Meeker, MD from her blog
Very very good advice.


The War on (Little) Women and Other Insanities
By George Weigel at The Catholic Difference
Sex selection abortions, the Supreme Court, and more, in the US.


Chicken-Gate - An Exercise in Media-Induced Hysteria and Fascism...
By Katrina Fernandez at The Crescat
Simply the shortest and most succinct blog post I could find on this story that, I think, originated here in Boston area with it's mayor getting his knickers in a twist about Chick Fil-A's president expressing his personal philosophy. Which leads me to ask: Is Chick Fil-A not serving customers based on their sexual orientation, or firing their employees with same-sex attraction? That would be news. But its not. Instead we have a Christian business owner and his company being smeared because of comments he made to a church organization, a right he has in freedom of speech. Lord have mercy on business leaders everywhere. I'm suddenly in the mood for sweet tea.


And now this sad news about the death of the PR spokesperson at Chick-Fil-A.


Building a Culture of Religious Freedom
Address by Archbishop of Philadelphia, +Charles Chaput, OFM, Cap (as found in the National Catholic Register)
Read this one. Share it. Talk to your children about this. The new evangelization will fail if we fail to be distinctly Catholic and Christian in our thinking, discourse, and finally, love and example.

New Column: "A Word in Season" debuts on Patheos.com

After 2 and 1/2 months writing over at the blog "Summa This, Summa That" I'm being launched into a weekly column over at Patheos, "A Word in Season." 

This new weekly column will celebrate the richness of the times and seasons in the Church. Its purpose is to explore themes related to the liturgical year including prayer and scripture, the lives of the saints, the Catechism, and the deep history of Catholic Tradition. In the coming year, it will also look at the changes coming to the Roman Missal.

The premiere column starts here:

Ever have one of those moments, as you go through life, when someone comes along and says just the right word at the right time? It’s usually when we needed it most!

Or did you ever have a song play the radio, or in the shuffle of the iTunes library, and you just knew that somehow that song was meant just for you?

A moment of inspiration can make all the difference, for it contains a small blessing.

Tucked deep in the Revised Standard Version translation of the Old Testament book of Proverbs, there’s a gem that captures the joy of such a moment:

 …an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is! (Prov 15:23 RSV.)

When I consider this proverb, I understand the goodness of “a word in season”. It can come from God, or through persons, or circumstance. Christians experience this blessing in a very personal way, and a very corporate one.

In my Christian life, I have had many private “God moments” when God reaches out to me through his Word in Sacred Scripture, in prayer, and through the sacraments. But it doesn’t stop there.

I’ve found God’s Holy Spirit acting within my social milieu! I’ve experienced encouraging words from loved ones, from books, from articles I’ve read on-line, and yes, even in random pop songs. Each time, God clearly communicates his joy, hope, comfort, healing, guidance, or peace.  

God works ceaselessly in a variety, and often, surprising ways, to aptly “speak” to me about my own pertinent situation… compelling me to continually seek him in every season of life. 

Though I’ve been slow to admit it, God’s timing is always perfect. And I marvel at the relevancy of the ancient’s prophet’s words describing God’s message to me today: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.” (Is 55: 8-9 RSV.)

What’ more, a spiritual friend once counseled: God’s timing is never late. And it is to this universal sense of “God’s Time” that I wish to explore the corporate experience of “a word in season.”

There’s a dynamic seasonal patterning to Christian life, just as there is seasonal change in nature.

The Good News is never dormant.

Come over to Patheos for the rest!