Catholic Fire

1. Spiritual Renewa l -- This year, we are celebrating 30 years of Eucharistic Adoration in our parish, so for our parish mission, we had the sons and daughters of our parish who have entered into the consecrated life return to their home parish to talk about their religious vocations and how Eucharistic Adoration shaped their vocations and impacted their lives. Here I am with the beautiful Sister Sophia Grace, who entered the Franciscan Sisters, TOR of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother. They are a contemplative-active order who "make known God's merciful love" by dedication to prayer and intercession, service to the poor and the sick, and the evangelization at parishes and college campuses. You can learn more about them at their website Franciscans@Torsisters.org or connect with them on Facebook, Youtube, Linked-In or Blogger. Sr. Sophia gives a brief summary of her call on their website.  Here is an even more beautiful photo of Sr. Sophia Grace making her perpetual pr...

1. Valentine's Day -- Here are the cards we shared with one another. Bill's is on the left and mine is on the right. 2. We decided rather than go out to eat in.  Here is what I prepared for our Valentine's Day meal: shrimp cocktail,  keta salmon with a tasty rub, asparagus, and baked potatoes. It is so easy to prepare and super healthy as well as delicious. 3.  Here is my Valentine's Day gift from Bill -- a diffuser which is so relaxing at bedtime. I combine lavender essential oils with absolute rose and it produces a heavenly scent! 4. What have you been reading this Lent? Here is what has been on my night stand: The Autobiography of Dina Belanger (a French-Canadian Blessed), The Lenten Magnificat, Magnificat Year of Mercy Companion, and The Word Among Us -- Lent 2016. I am really enjoying reading about Blessed Dina, but am taking my time reading this volume, as there is much to savor here. 5. Lenten music -- For Lent, I tend ...

Image Source Lent is a season of  drawing  into a deeper intimacy with Jesus. Watching sacred films during Lent is one method I use to draw closer to Christ. Here are seven films I recommend watching this Lent: 1. Risen (2016) It opens in theaters on February 19, 2016. While I have yet to see this film, the reviews are wonderful! Catholic World Report reviews it as does Our Sunday Visitor and Lisa Hendey gives her endorsement.  2. Restless Heart: The Confessions of Augustine (2012) Filmed in Europe, the first full-length feature movie on Augustine uses a historic backdrop to tell the true story of one of the Church's most beloved and well-known Saints. Its message of sin, conversion, redemption is as timely today as it was in the 5th century of Augustine. It is the story of a gifted man who pursues fame and fortune without a moral compass - and the dramatic changes that occur in his soul when challenging events lead him to see the light of truth. It al...

Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. (Joel 2: 12-13) It's that time of year again -- the time of both internal and external recollection that we are setting out on a journey. On Ash Wednesday, the ashes placed on our forehead invite us to begin a new journey of repentance. They invite us to turn back to God and to receive new life. Once again, we are called to let God penetrate deeper into our lives, for indeed, turning back to Him with our whole hearts is a submission to His holy will. Lent is a time when we permit God to purify our hearts allow Him to unite our wills with His. Lent is a time of interior spring cleaning and obtaining new strength and great graces from God. This is the time of year to take a good look inside of ourse...

With Lent beginning tomorrow, February 9, on Ash Wednesday, it's time to take a look at some inspiring reading material to help us grow in holiness. Here are some suggestions: 1. The Kiss of Jesus: How Mother Teresa and the Saints Helped Me to Discover the Beauty of the Cross by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle This book is ideal for Lent as it teaches us about suffering, God’s grace, and living a holy life. It also touches on God’s great love and mercy in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. In this candid, astonishing autobiographical account, this soft-spoken, delicate, and devout Catholic media celebrity reveals the shocking struggles she has tackled in life. She became engaged to a drug addict who held her against her will, threatening harm to her family. She faced miscarriages, abuse, serious illness, divorce, financial difficulties, custody battles, and single motherhood – all with great inner strength and tremendous courage. Through God’s providence, she met Mother Teresa,...

Sometimes it can feel like there isn't much to eat without meat in it these days. But a new application helps remind Catholics just how many options they still during Lent. Lentsanity is a practical application for Lent created by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students in Atchison, Kansas. It is designed with the young and old in mind. It includes prayers and suggestions for making small sacrifices during Lent. And it's all presented with good humor. It also includes a function called "Meat Police" that reminds the user to refrain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent. The application is free and can be downloaded for both iOS and Android.

1. The saint of the day for March 13 is St. Euphrasia. Saint Euphrasia (382-412), born in Constantinople, was the daughter of Antigonus, senator of Constantinople and related to Roman Emperor Theodosius I.  Her parents were pious people who gave generously to the poor. After her father died, she and her mother became wards of Emperor Theodosius. When Euphrasia was only five years old, the emperor arranged a marriage for her to the son of a senator. Two years later, she and her mother moved to their estate in Egypt. There, at the age of seven, Euphrasia decided to enter a monastery. Her mother died soon afterward of natural causes, leaving her an orphan. At the age of twelve, Euphrasia was ordered by the Emperor Aracdius, successor to Theodosius, to marry the senator’s son as arranged. Euphrasia requested that she be relieved of the marriage arrangement, that the emperor sell off her family property, and that he use the money to feed the poor and buy the freedom of slaves. A...

The saints of the day for March 7 are Sts. Perpetua and Felicity. Perpetua was a convert to Christianity who was born to a noble pagan family. She was martyred along with her maid and friend, Felicity, in Carthage in 203 A.D. Both women were mothers. The two women were arrested and imprisoned, along with three other Christians. Perpetua was 22-years-old, with a son a few months old; Felicity was pregnant at the time of the arrest. Their only crime was converting to Christianity. The account of their martyrdom and courage, The Suffering of Perpetua and Felicity, is one of the earliest historical accounts of Christianity. It is one of the great treasures of martyr literature, an authentic document preserved for us in the actual words of the martyrs and their friends. Perpetua wrote a vivid account of what happened. "While I was still with my companions, and my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and so weaken my faith, 'Fat...

I. What I am currently reading for Lent: 1. Thirsting for Prayer -- Jacques Philippe 2. The Magnificat Lenten Companion 3. The Word Among Us II. Best Catholic Books for Lent 2015 III. Best Catholic Films for Lent 2015 IV . Lenten Activities 2015 VI. St. Paula Montal Fornés: A Saint to Emulate this Lent  VII. Lenten Reflection -- Fr. James Kubicki Have a wonderful weekend! Jean For more Quick Takes, go here.            

Today is the feast of St. Paula Montal Fornés (1799 - 1889), foundress of the Daughters of Mary, Sisters of Pious Schools. Paula was born in a small seaside village near Barcelona, Spain in 1799 to Ramon and Vicenta Fornes Montal. She was the oldest of five daughters and was only ten when her father died. To help support the family, Paula went to work as a seamstress and lace-maker and helped her mother raise her younger sisters. She also taught catechism in her parish and, in doing so, discovered her gift for teaching. Denied an education herself, Paula promised God that she would devote her life to the Christian education of girls and young women. Paula believed that women needed an education to prepare them for life. Women in society at that time were treated as subordinate to men, which Paula and her followers perceived as a factor in the breakdown of the family unit and other social maladies. They were determined to advance women and their status in society through educati...

Dr. Jem Sullivan explores Lenten themes in sacred art:

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets , where we share posts from the previous week. Here are my posts from this past week: St. Peter Damian: Monk, Bishop, Cardinal, Reformer, and Doctor of the Church Seven Quick Takes St. Conrad of Piacenza, Holy Hermit and Healer Ash Wednesday Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites Book Review: From the Hub to the Heart St. Gilbert of Sempringham: Man of Charity, Humility, and Piety What are you doing for Lent? Lenten Activities 2015

1. Ash Wednesday -- I went to Mass this Wednesday and got my ashes, despite the fact that I had been ill with chronic pain for two days. My husband took this picture of me, which I am offering up for the souls in purgatory, as Mother Teresa did.She made a contract with heaven that every time her photo was taken a soul would be released from purgatory. I am sure that purgatory will be empty after I publish this photo. ;-) 2. Lent -- That beautiful season of renewal is here again.  Need ideas for Lent? Check out my Lenten activities for 2015. 3. New Book -- I just have started writing a new book this Lent. It is very rough at this point in time, but I feel called by the Holy Spirit to write it. "This would make a great Lenten read or a gift for a recently converted Catholic, a seminarian or religious postulant, or anyone seeking to grow in their knowledge of the saints and a life of virtue." ~ Erika Marie at Simple Mama  in her review of Seven Saints f...

Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. (Joel 2: 12-13) It's that time of year again -- the time of both internal and external recollection that we are setting out on a journey. On Ash Wednesday, the ashes placed on our forehead invite us to begin a new journey of repentance. They invite us to turn back to God and to receive new life. Once again, we are called to let God penetrate deeper into our lives, for indeed, turning back to Him with our whole hearts is a submission to His holy will. Lent is a time when we permit God to purify our hearts allow Him to unite our wills with His. Lent is a time of interior spring cleaning and obtaining new strength and great graces from God. This is the time of year to take a good look inside of ours...

WHAT IS LENT? "Lent is a retreat that the Church gives us in order to re-focus on what should be first in our lives. The purpose of Jesus' life was to glorify the Father and save the world. ..Lent is not first a time of giving up but a time to re-choose to be the victim of Christ, the Lamb. It is a time to live the Beatitudes.” - Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe, OP Lent is a 40-day period of preparation for Easter Sunday and one of the major liturgical seasons of the Catholic Church. Signifying the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert after His baptism, it is a penitential season marked by prayer, fasting and abstinence, and almsgiving. Lent is not necessarily about “giving something up” for 40 days only to return to it on day 41 or afterward, but is a period of ongoing conversion so that we may draw closer to Jesus. When we repent for our sins and then make a permanent--rather than temporary--change in our lifestyle, a spiritual transformation can take place. At ...

1 .  This week, Father Jacques Philippe was the speaker at our three-day parish mission. He spoke on the topic of Spiritual Poverty.  Each day, I went to Mass and Communion and then returned in the evening for his 1 -- 1 and 1/2 hour talk and Eucharistic Adoration followed. It was so spiritually enriching and inspiring! I have read three of his books now and am starting on the fourth -- his newest book -- Thirsting for Prayer . (I am on the right in the photo above.) 2. This week we also celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes , which was the 12th anniversary of my Marian Consecration, or more accurately my Consecration to Jesus through Mary via the St. Louis de Montfort method. This is a special Marian feast day for me. 3. Another speaker, I was privilleged to hear recently was Dr. Ralph Martin . He was wonderful, as usual. His topic was the New Evangelization. I am eager to read his book on the New Evangelization, The Urgency of the New Evangeli...