1) This. THIS. THIS. THIS!!!!
Thank you, dear Pope Francis, for this:
“It is an absurd dichotomy to love Christ without the Church; to listen to Christ but not the Church; to be with Christ at the margins of the Church. One cannot do this. It is an absurd dichotomy."
Yes. An absurd dichotomy.
One cannot do this.
Loving Christ, listening to Christ, without the Church? Impossible.
And it's nothing new. It's been true since the birth of Christianity.
Listen to St. Irenaeus:
"Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace." (Against Heresies 3:24:1 [A.D. 189]) <--- Do you see that date??
And here's St. Cyprian of Carthage:
"He cannot have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother." (The Unity of the Catholic Church 6, 1st ed. [A.D. 251]) <--- And did you see this date??
And it has ever been thus. Thank you, Holy Father, for the reminder that Christ and His Church are one!
2) Sooooo, I've got some really amazing Catholic singles on my private matchmaking blog, folks. If any of you orthodox Catholics are looking for a faithful Catholic spouse, shoot me an email at littlecatholicbubble@gmail.com and tell me about yourself and why you deserve an invitation to my blog. I may even profile you there! Thanks for patience, too. I'm a bit behind on my emails.
3) Sometimes it hits me over the head like a ton of bricks:
They literally kill human beings in there.
They do it as a paid service.
Lord, have mercy.
4) Speaking of beautiful, unrepeatable, infinitely valuable human beings, I have recently learned from my eldest daughter that my first grandbaby is "very squirmy"!! I was so excited to hear that my baby is feeling her baby move now!
I find it crazy that I am as excited and awed about my daughter's experience as I was when it happened to me! I love this baby so much, and we haven't even met yet!
Every unborn child deserves the kind of excitement, awe, and overwhelming love that my grandbaby already has. There really are no unwanted children, after all.
5) You all have been so amazing in supporting Obianuju (Uju) Ekeocha since I first posted her Open Letter to Melinda Gates and since she founded Culture of Life Africa. So, I knew you would want to join in the novena that starts today. Here's the email I got from wonderful Uju, who in her humility is doing such great works for God (I wish I could recount it all) -- she's an example of the feminine genius!
I wanted to let you know that for the 1 year anniversary of Culture of Life Africa, I will be posting starting today (January 31st) brief daily reflections and prayers as a novena to our patron saint - St Josephine Bakhita.
Please join us (if you can) on this wonderful occasion that presents us with the opportunity to pray for the spread of the Gospel of Life.
I will post them daily until the day of the Anniversary when Bishop Badejo of Oyo diocese will be offering Mass to raise our novena prayers and reflections.
Here is the link to the novena: http://www.cultureoflifeafrica.com/I look forward to walking this path of prayer with you.
God bless you!!!
Thank you, Uju!
Friends, be sure to "like" Culture of Life Africa on facebook if you haven't already.
Friends, be sure to "like" Culture of Life Africa on facebook if you haven't already.
6) Isn't this cool?
7) Look at little Demetri! He is only two years old and seems to have some very manageable special needs. Apparently he is blind in one eye and may have a food allergy. He will thrive with the right medical care and the love of a family!
 |
| Click my photo for more info! |
Please prayerfully consider Demetri for your own family, or consider sharing his profile with others.
God bless you all and have a marvelous weekend!
Thanks to Jen for hosting!
NUMBER SIX! AWESOME>>>I am printing that out today....We are teaching evolution and adaptation, and the kids have all the existential questions that they should (but we are not allowed to answer them). I state that I am a person of faith and also believe in evolution, but that there are other interpretations and they should talk to their parents. I think this, at the very least, gives them some bulwark against the wave of angry atheism so fervent in biology today.
ReplyDeleteAmen to #1!
ReplyDeleteEnd of today’s Gospel
ReplyDelete“He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.”
So…What do we really learn from the parable? Not a lot. Very overarching. But rest assured, he speaks to the apostles in private to explain. No onion peeling explanations from Jesus, just a nugget. Almost like maybe he intended to leave a teaching authority. Hmmm. Even the Gospel writer presumes the authority of the church by the omission of more explanation and the inclusion of mentioning the private instruction.
And Leila, you are a mustard seed slinger. The Kingdom of God, I believe, boils down to Life according to His design and simple obedience to that design. That new baby is but another mustard seed that represents untold potential for The Kingdom and will provide a home and shade for much more Life in years to come.
Not to mention Mustard and Miller both start with M.
Planned Parenthood……Boooooo…..man made rocky ground!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/27/family-possessed-seeks-exorcism/4939953/
ReplyDeleteDunno if this is legit or not, but I thought I'd share since it happened only one town away from where I live.
Chris, interesting. It looks like the bishop gave his permission for the exorcism (he hadn't done that for 21 years, if I read it right). There is this article on the same story that I found from the UK press:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2549165/We-lost-lives-Woman-possessed-demons-portal-hell-house-terrified-police-chief-details-familys-terrifying-ordeal.html
Warning to all: Don't get to interested in the demonic. You don't want to open that door.
ReplyDeleteOh THANK YOU for those wonderful quotes from St. Irenaeus and St Cyprian! I can refer to them the next time I'm discussing Church with someone who dismisses the importance of "organized" religion. (What's the alternative to organized religion? Disorganized religion?)
ReplyDeleteI love watching grandparents fall in love with their grandkids! It truly is amazing. With the first granchild in our family, my mom held him and kept saying, "I can't believe he's not MINE???!!" Same thing happened with my mother-in-law... how is this not MY baby??? But all the prayers and support help so much.. I know they have good grandparent figures praying for them, helping us pass on the faith, giving us breaks so we don't turn into monstrous, angry stressed parents etc. And I feel so much safer when they take care of the grandbabies because I know they feel pretty much the way I feel about them and would rather die than allow harm to come to them unlike the stress of vetting babysitters (same with aunts and uncles). I wish I had had more of an opportunity to know my grandparents!
ReplyDelete