The host Doug Keck of EWTN Bookmark interviewed Ellen Edmonds who wrote a book called “Embracing Dementia”. Ellen Edmonds wrote this book after haven taken care of her husband when he had dementia. She wanted to help others who are taking care of mothers, fathers, husbands, wives or grandparents who have dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. I know SR has been helping her dad take care of her mom who has Alzheimer’s Disease. It can be rough or tough to see a parent or spouse going through these diseases, not remembering who you are or their thinking you’re still a child in their minds. When I was in high school my Pop Pop had Alzheimer’s Disease. When we would visit my grandfather he would think my dad was his brother and would call my dad his brother’s name. I could see the how much this hurt my dad. This is an extremely tough disease for everyone, the person that has the disease and the people taking care of those who have this illness. We are called to love, and specifically sacrificial love. Just remember God is with you as you go through this. He will give you the strength to get through this tough time. This was a great interview, well worth the half-hour listening time. Here is the website for the book Embracing Dementia. I hope listening to the interview helps SR and all those who are experiencing the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease. This book sounds like it would be very helpful for those who are taking care of loved ones with either dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. My thoughts and prayers are with SR, her family, everyone who has dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease, and all those taking care of family members who have dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. God Bless.
Archive for the ‘Christian’ Category
EWTN Bookmark — Embracing Dementia
Posted in Books, Catholic, Christian, faith, God, health, Health Care, Morality, Theology, tagged Alzheimer's Disease, book, dementia, Ellen Edmonds, Embracing Dementia, EWTN, EWTN Bookmark, God, illness, love, sacrificial love, sick, suffering, tough on May 20, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Prayers for all those in accidents
Posted in Catholic, Christian, God, News, Prayers, scripture, tagged accidents, healing, injured, need, parade, people, persons, prayers, train collision, Virginia on May 19, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Today there were 50 to 60 people injured when a car drove into hikers in a parade in Virginia. Yesterday evening there were two trains in Conn. that collided with one another during evening rush hour. There were dozens injured in the train collision. The victims and their families are in my prayers. May God’s healing touch come upon them. Here is a prayer for those injured in the two accidents and all those who need healing. God Bless.
O Lord our God and Savior, You rule over all things; You are our physician and comfort in sickness; You deliver us from pain. You stretched forth your hand to save your apostle Peter as he was sinking in water. Grant now your merciful aid to all those in need of healing. We trustingly call on You, to restore health in your loving kindness. O long-suffering Lord, show us your compassion and mercy that I may glorify your divine power and bless your holy Name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.
Isaiah 58:8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Luke 9:11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him; and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those who had need of healing.
Letting God into our deepest depths
Posted in Catholic, Christian, Christianity, faith, God, Jesus, prayer, Saint Faustina's Diary, Theology, tagged boat, deep water, depths, Diary, faith, God, Jesus, LORD, shallow water, Sister Faustina Kowalska, soul, St Faustina, trust on May 15, 2013 | 6 Comments »
In #55 of Sister Faustina Kowalska’s Diary she received spiritual counsel from Father Adrasz, S.J. This is one of Father’s instructions for St. Faustina:
“Let God push your boat out into the deep waters, toward the unfathomable depths of the interior life.”
shallow water
deep water
Are we afraid to let Jesus into the deep depths of our interior life? Do we allow God into our lives enough so He can change us? So the Lord is able to transform each of us into better beings? Do we stop our boat from entering into deep waters? Do we put limits on what we will allow God to do in each of our lives? Do we put a shield up because we are afraid to change?
I pray, talk to God, trust in the Lord’s will for me more than I used to but. . . I find myself asking whether I allow God into the deep waters of my soul. Do I only allow God to enter the shallow depths of my interior self? Do I stop God from pushing my boat into deep waters? I am guarded to a certain degree because of past events which happened in my life. While I trust in God more than I used to I know that I need to allow Him enter the deepest depths of my soul. I need to not push back and stop my boat from entering deeper waters. God Bless.
H/T for images: amustard.com
3-year-old play ‘celebrating’ Mass — awesome and adorable!
Posted in Catholic, Catholicism, Christian, faith, God, Jesus, Mass, prayer, Religion, religious vocations, tagged boy, Catholic, celebrate, Colombia, faith, God, humility, liturgy, love, Mass, play, pretend priest, priesthood, religious vocations, Samuel Jaramillo, video on May 13, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
This video has become an online hit – 300,000 hits in about a week. Samuel wears priestly garments as he ‘celebrates Mass. He is adorable!! It is totally awesome to see the tremendous faith of this little one. Samuel lives in Colombia. He is an orphan who lives with his grandmother and an aunt.
From CNA:
His relatives told reporters that last Christmas, Jaramillo did not ask for toys like most kids his age. Instead, he wanted “priest’s clothes” and the objects necessary to “celebrate” Mass.
He has learned to recite the Mass from memory with the corresponding pauses, intonations and gestures of an experienced priest.
In a reflection published by El Colombiano, Father Daniel Monsalve noted Jaramillo’s “passion for what he says and the tenderness that inspires him” in the videos.
“Amid a changing world that is at times indifferent to religious matters, this child appears as a testimony of love for God and fascination for sacred celebrations, most certainly fostered by those who care for him and by the priest of his parish,” Fr. Monsalve wrote.
Cases like that of Jaramillo “should not only awaken religious fervor but also serve as an example for the promotion of priestly and religious vocations, supported always by the encouragement of parishes, seminaries and houses of formation,” he added.
Jaramillo’s aunt, Elizabeth Rojas Arango, said, “This isn’t something we taught him, and we don’t even attend church,” but Jaramillo goes to Mass every Sunday and on Tuesdays with his grandmother, Rosa Eva Arango. CONTINUED
Matthew 18:3
And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Misc. News Links
Posted in Bible, Catholic, Catholic Church, Christian, Christianity, Christians, Conservatism, Constitution, Culture Clash, faith, God, homosexuality, Links, military, News, Persecution, United States, tagged Chris Broussard, Christians, Constitution, courage, domestic terrorism, ESPN, Family Research Council, Fr. Sean Sheridan, Fr. Terence Henry, Franciscan University, intolerance, Israel, Mikey Weinstein, military, persecute, Pope Francis, President, President Shimon, religious liberty, Southern Poverty Law Center, tolerance on May 12, 2013 | 2 Comments »
The trustees have chosen a new president to succeed Fr. Terence Henry at Franciscan University of Steubenville. His name is Father Sean Sheridan. He has a strong legal background which will help in the fight against the unjust HHS mandate which does not respect conscience rights or citizens’ religious liberty.
“I am honored to serve as the next president of Franciscan University,” Father Sheridan said in a statement. “It is inspiring and truly humbling for me to be here at Franciscan University with the students who are pouring their hearts into their education and their prayer life, falling in love with God and the Church and striving to become saints.”
Here is a little bit about Father Sheridan’s credentials:
Father Sheridan entered the Franciscan Third Order Regular in 2000, leaving behind a career as an attorney focused on health-care litigation. He made his solemn profession of vows in 2005 and was ordained to the priesthood the following year. Father Sheridan continued his legal education in the Church, earning a doctorate in canon law from Catholic University of America in 2009. He wrote his dissertation addressing seven challenges — and potential solutions — to implementing Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church), Pope John Paul II’s 1992 apostolic constitution for Catholic higher education.
Father Sheridan served as an assistant professor of canon law at CUA from 2009 until last fall, when he became a professor in Franciscan University’s theology department.
“He’s got the right mix of academic, pastoral and professional experience,” Hernon said. “He’s got the mission of the university in his heart, and he wears it on his sleeve. We know he’s going to continue to see how the university can respond to the call St. Francis received from Christ, to ‘Go, rebuild my Church.’”
We have a story of authentic courage of someone who has stuck by their beliefs even among pressure in these ever changing times of what our culture deems as acceptable. Chris Broussard is the ESPN analyst who was asked to comment on on the NBA basketball player Jason Collins who announced that he is gay for all the world to hear. Broussard said that homosexuality is a sin. He went onto say:
“If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever that may be,” including heterosexual sex outside of marriage, you are “walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ.”
Instead of being respectful and tolerant of his point of view some people have taken to twitter to call for ESPN to fire Chris Broussard.
It looks like the Southern Poverty Law Center has some explaining to do. It appears that the SPLC influenced a domestic terrorist attack by labeling the Family Research Council as a “hate” group. Seeing this information on the SPLC’s website spurred Floyd Lee Corkins to shoot at innocent workers at the Washington-based Family Research Center. Corkins has pleaded guilty to a charge of domestic terrorism and will be charged in June. Lives were spared as a result of the heroic actions of Leonardo Johnson, the security guard/building manager.
Apparently religious freedom for Christians in the military will not be tolerated. Here our military men and women are fighting to protect our freedoms which are outlined in the Constitution and yet their rights won’t be protected while serving. Geesh! This is disgraceful. Totally unconscionable!
From ChristianPost:
President Obama’s new “religious tolerance” consultant to the Pentagon, Mikey Weinstein, wants Christian military service members who openly talk about their faith in uniform to be charged with treason, which is a crime punishable by death according to military law.
By employing his consulting services, and as Commander-in-Chief, President Obama is effectively endorsing Weinstein’s recently voiced and written views such as: “Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized [sic] and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.”
President Obama is someone who claims that he is a Christian. If he is a Christian why would he employ a “religious tolerant” consultant that calls Christians “monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans”? By “fundamentalist” does Weinstein mean, actually follows the Bible and adheres to timeless biblical truths? So I guess he thinks modernism and moral relativism “true Christianity”? This administration has been the most hostile to Christians (traditional Christians) in recent modern history. This is not only intolerance but is persecutory in nature. And some people wonder why we a number of say that Obama is shredding the Constitution. It is obvious that he has no respect for the Constitution or citizens’ rights. He acts as if he were king. I do pray for his conversion of heart and soul.
Israeli President Shimon Perez has invited Pope Francis to visit Israel. Pope Francis has accepted the invitation “with willingness and joy” . No date has been set for the visit.
A Vatican statement said they discussed prospects for a resumption of negotiations for a solution that would respect “the legitimate aspirations of the two Peoples, thus decisively contributing to the peace and stability of the region.”
Trying to forget sickness so you are able to heal
Posted in Catholic, Christian, faith, God, health, Jesus, Prayers, tagged aging, God, heal, healing, illness, older, sick, sickness, slow down, Song of the Sparrow on May 10, 2013 | 1 Comment »
This is from the book Song of the Sparrow by Fr. Murray Bodo O.F.M.
To slow down and let the healing happen. How hard that is when the very sickness is a fear of slowing down, of not being able to function as well as we could, of paralysis of will. Healing is most impossible when we cannot forget the sickness long enough for healing to start.
How does one forget their sickness when they are enduring extreme pain? How does one forget their illness when the shaking in their hands and arms has gotten worse? I certainly am unable to forget this but I am able to cope the best I can by knowing that God is with me, and by uniting my pain with Jesus on the Cross. I can give my pain over to God and ask for His help as I go through all the various symptoms while doctors figure out what’s causing them. I could be frustrated or angry since my health has taken a turn for the worse since my hysterectomy but I’m not. I trust in God. I trust that Christ has a plan for me. I am going through these health issues for a reason but am waiting to find out for what purpose and where God is leading me.
I’m sure it is hard for people who have been active most of their lives to slow down as they get older. How hard it must be to accept the symptoms associated with the developmental process of aging. May God comfort those persons who are dealing with illness and symptoms due to aging.
Is it possible to forget your illness? Maybe during certain moments I can but after that I feel the symptoms related to my illness. Do you really have to be able to forget your illness to be able to heal? Or is it impossible to heal when you remember your illness and feel symptoms caused by the sickness? I believe that persons can pray to God for healing and try to forget their illness as much as possible, go about living life the best they can but I doubt that persons can completely forget the symptoms they are going through which are caused by their illness. I believe that God is the Ultimate Healer and with Him all things are possible. God is able to heal us even of we do remember our sickness.
May, Virgin Mary’s Month
Posted in Catholic, Christian, faith, Mother of Jesus, Theology, Virgin Mary, tagged Archbishop Gomez, Blessed Virgin Mary, Catholic, Christian, dedicated, Hail Mary Gentle Woman, May, Month, Pope Francis, song on May 6, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Pope Francis and Archbishop Gomez speak about Mary’s Month
H/T XT3
From CatholicCulture:
The month of May (Overview - Calendar) is the “month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady,” and it is the occasion for a “moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen of Heaven. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God’s mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance” (Paul VI: Encyclical on the Month of May, no. 1).
This Christian custom of dedicating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin arose at the end of the 13th century. In this way, the Church was able to Christianize the secular feasts which were wont to take place at that time. In the 16th century, books appeared and fostered this devotion.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church and therefore the example, as well as the guide and inspiration, of everyone who, in and through the Church, seeks to be the servant of God and man and the obedient agent of the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, as Pope Leo XIII reminded us, is the soul of the Church: All the activity and service of the members of the Church, beginning with the supreme participation of the Blessed Mother in the work of the Church, is vivified by the Holy Spirit as the body, in all its activities, is vivified by its soul. The Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, Advocate, and Comforter which Christ Himself sent to be our consolation in the sorrowful mysteries of life, our source of moderation in the joyful mysteries of life, our added principle of exaltation in the glorious mysteries of life.
So He was for the Blessed Mother; so also He is for the least of us; so also He is for the rest of the Church, even for those who are its unconscious but conscientious members.
Wherever there is faith there is the example of Mary, because she lived by faith as the Scriptures remind us….
If, then, piety is the virtue which binds us to the sources of all life, to God, to our parents, to the Church, to Christ, certainly Christian piety binds us, in grateful love, to Mary — or our acceptance of Christ and of the mystery of our kinship with Him is imperfect, partial, and unfulfilled.
— Cardinal John Wright
Feast Day of St. Joseph the Worker: Why was it Created?
Posted in Catholic, Christian, faith, feast day, Popes, tagged Christianze, feast day, God Incarnate, illuminati, labor, May 1, Pope Pius XII, response to Communism, St Joseph the Worker, st. Joseph, worker, Workers Day on May 1, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Today is the feast day of St. Joseph, the Worker.
“Saint Joseph is a man of great spirit. He is great in faith, not because he speaks his own words, but above all because he listens to the words of the Living God. He listens in silence. And his heart ceaselessly perseveres in the readiness to accept the Truth contained in the word of the Living God,” Pope John Paul II had once said.
There is very little about the life of Joseph in Scripture but still, we know that he was the chaste husband of Mary, the foster father of Jesus, a carpenter and a man who was not wealthy. We also know that he came from the royal lineage of King David.
We can see from his actions in scripture that Joseph was a compassionate man, and obedient to the will of God. He also loved Mary and Jesus and wanted to protect and provide for them.
From CatholicCulture:
The feast of St. Joseph the Worker was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in order to Christianize the concept of labor and give to all workmen a model and a protector. By the daily labor in his shop, offered to God with patience and joy, St. Joseph provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God, and thus became an example to all laborers. “Workmen and all those laboring in conditions of poverty will have reasons to rejoice rather than grieve, since they have in common with the Holy Family daily preoccupations and cares”(Leo XIII).
Here is a sermon on Pope Pius XII’s institution of St. Joseph the Worker’s feast day on May 1.
Holy Reading and Thoughts — Monday April 29
Posted in Books, Catholic, Christian, faith, God, Jesus, Saints, Theology, tagged faith, God, Host, Jesus, love, picture, Saint Faustina, salvation, sheep, strayed, theology, unbelievable, vision, weak on April 29, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Saint Faustina in her Diary described hearing Jesus say that He would leave the house because there were things that displeased Him. Faustina had a vision where she saw the Host coming out of the tabernacle and landed in her hand. The, she placed the Host back in the tabernacle. This happened two more times her describing the third time how the Host transformed into the living Lord Jesus. Jesus said “I will stay here no longer!” A powerful love rose up in Faustina’s soul and she said to Jesus that she wouldn’t let Jesus leave this house. Jesus disappeared. Faustina put the Host back into the tabernacle. Jesus stayed there and Saint Faustina did three days of adoration for the reparation of sins.
To be honest I’m not feeling the greatest today and am having a hard time thinking so please bear with my scattered thoughts.
I find it surprising that St. Faustina would hear Jesus say that He would leave a place because of there having been things that displeased Him. Wouldn’t He stay there to try to guide persons to change that which displeased Him? Jesus doesn’t give us any clues as to what displeased our Lord. Was it something St. Faustina and the other Sisters did or failed to do? Could that have been an empty threat to wake up St. Faustina, that Jesus never really intended to leave the house? It just baffles my mind that since a few in His flock had gone astray, going by Jesus’ words, why would He have left them?
The imagery of what St. Faustina visioned has me wondering what we could have seen if a camera had been there to take pictures. Would we have seen Jesus? Or an outline of Him? There have been witnesses that have seen outlines and figures of ghosts so I don’t think it is far-fetched to think and hope that we could have seen our Lord in a photo. I have seen different pictures depicting our Lord but do you have an image in your mind of what you think Jesus looks like?
In “Song of the Sparrow” Fr. Bodo talks about the love of God and how many people find it hard to believe that they are loved and lovable. Yet God sent His only Son to die for us in the ultimate act of love. An unbelievable act of love. Since Jesus died on the Cross for each of us in an unbelievable act of love is it so It seems logical to me that the weak persons of little faith have trouble believing the “unbelievable.” It takes great faith to believe the “unbelievable” so we should encourage those of little faith and try to understand why the person has trouble believing certain things. I would ask, why wouldn’t God love us this much? Why do you doubt that God would have sent His only Son to die that we may be saved? God loves us and is waiting for each of us to know, feel, and show Him love in return. God is Love.
Women, the Catholic Church, and the Therapeutic Use of the “Pill”
Posted in Catholic Church, Catholic Church Doctrine, Catholicism, Christian, Christianity, encyclical, Ethics, Health Care, Morality, Pro-Life, Theology, tagged conditions, contraception, endometriosis, female health problems, health issues, helps, Humanae Vitae, the pill, therapeutic use, treatment, treats, women on April 27, 2013 | 6 Comments »
I feel a bit of umbrage when someone who hasn’t experienced problems with female health issues makes the assertion that the pill, ”contraception for women were NEVER designed to improve their health.” This gives the implication that the pill can never be used to help with more severe female health issues when that isn’t the case. As a female who has severe endometriosis I have experienced the good of the “pill”, it helping with me severe pain. Maybe I’m being a little touchy on this subject but it is so disappointing when men or women who have had no experience in this area, as far as experiencing major female problems, insinuate or claim that the “pill” can never improve your health. Obviously the intention of the creator of the “pill” and other contraceptives was to prevent conception. The pill was designed particularly for this purpose. With the exception of the above issue which ruffled my feathers Fr. Jason Smith at Biltrix wrote a great post called What Every Married Couple Should Know About the Truth of Sex and the Lie of Contraception which I encourage everyone to read.
Last year when I struggled in making a decision of whether it was licit to take birth control pills if it was for a severe health condition I wrote a post called Women’s Health, Conscience, and Humanae Vitae asking for people’s’ opinions and advice on the matter. Unfortunately, in the end “the pill” didn’t help and I needed a hysterectomy. When taking the “pill” for a medical condition the woman needs to weigh the risks of the side effects with the need to take the pill for the medical condition. There are some serious side effects that can occur when taking the ” pill” – blood clots in legs and brains and breast cancer – but then again, every medicine has side effects so women just need to make informed decisions. Now, there may be better health care options to treat certain female conditions which are more aligned with Catholic teaching but I’m not sure whether there is or not.
I will leave you with a quote from the encyclical Humanae Vitae:
15. On the other hand, the Church does not consider at all illicit the use of those therapeutic means necessary to cure bodily diseases, even if a foreseeable impediment to procreation should result there from—provided such impediment is not directly intended for any motive whatsoever. (19)
So taking the “pill” for therapeutic reasons is NOT illicit and is in line with teachings of the Catholic Church.
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