Oh dear — I’ve gone and done it. I’ve offered myself up to teach CCD. I’m hoping to find myself teaching Hambet and some of his crew, but we’ll have to see how it goes. Prayers and advice appreciated!
Today is a good day to start a Novena to the Holy Spirit:
O Lord Jesus Christ Who, before ascending into heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul, the work of Your grace and Your love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth, the Spirit on Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord with the sign of Your true disciples, and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen.
Read more: http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/pentecost/seven_tx.htm#ixzz1OFQis1Lw
I haven’t heard any from Catholic Online yet. We did heard someone who’s asked Catholic Online similar questions about other articles, with no good answer. And on our Facebook page, another reader shared a couple of links about the company’s founder:
Bakersfield man accused of scamming in God’s name…
…and sues group of disabled nuns
“In praise of the narrow life”:
…”the more experiences, the better” is a philosophy I had to think about a little more. At first, I liked it. It sounded brave…. [But] the more I read this inspiring message in different forms, the more it didn’t sit right.
Risk more, have adventures, amass a collection of life experiences of variety and intensity. Run don’t walk, throw yourself into every new exploit, and at the end of your life, greet feeble old age with a kind of post-coital exhaustion, knowing that you have wrung out of life every drop of excitement you could.
It sounds exhausting. It does not sound peaceful. But more than that, when I think of the people I respect most in life, the people I most want to be like, this describes none of them.
When I think about it, the people I respect most are people who create peace. And they are almost always people who chose one path and followed it to the end, instead of exploring every branch.
Hat tip: Jen
Garden report! I’m tickled that so many people seem to be trying out square-foot gardening; a store around here was even selling kits for building the beds.
This has been our first spring in the new house and I was slow getting started. We don’t really have a good spot for a vegetable garden – at least, not all in one place. I set up a couple of whiskey-barrel planters and have been harvesting our first crop of spring mix. There are some sunny spots amid the flowering shrubs where I plan to stick some basil, rosemary, and a tomato plant. The big thing has been weeding, weeding, weeding – our sellers kind of let things go last year, and when we first moved in we had other projects that needed to come first. I’ve also been doing a lot of pruning, which is doing weird things to my mind; when I take the dog out for the evening walk, I find myself looking at every shrub and tree branch and thinking about where I’d make my first pruning cuts.
I have no idea what I’m going to make for supper tonight.
Would be grateful for your prayers for two intentions – I can’t go into specifics, but they involve healing in two different families.