tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64938578367393057132026-10-16T17:15:09.265-05:00Seeing the soul of society with these eyesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-5725328318767176662026-10-14T09:23:22.071-05:002026-10-14T09:23:25.635-05:00

Recently a young person approached me complaining about the pain in his mouth. He recently got braces. I, never having experienced this all too common adolescent experience, conveyed to him my sympathy, which initially is all I thought I could offer.He persisted in his pursuit of pontificating about his pain. He proceeded to inform me that the pain must be punishment from God the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-74051182531249378072026-10-09T08:31:15.077-05:002026-10-09T08:31:19.092-05:00

We have now fully engaged the Enemy, and the enemy is looking at us in the mirror of our souls."Seeking the ruin of souls" are the last words prayed when asking Saint Michael the Archangel to protect us in our spiritual battle. This is exactly what is occurring among too many of our brothers and sisters.The Enemy has altered strategy since Christ conquered Death on the Cross. The

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-14182003161857005362026-02-18T11:32:00.000-06:002026-02-18T11:32:36.581-06:00

Emptiness is not nothing. Emptiness is a void, the fullness of loss. We know this to be true when we experience any loss, the greater the loss, the deeper the absence.Emptiness is not a quantity but a quality. Emptiness is more like the impact of volume, that is, the "weight of" something missing not the "accumulation of" something lost. Emptiness is something more than we can handle

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-52563684742329572722026-02-18T11:23:00.000-06:002026-02-18T11:23:31.286-06:00

Until recently,  I never truly understood the heart-wrenching scene at the Garden of Gathesemane. And perhaps I still don't, yet I believe I do understand a bit more because of recent events.Jesus enters the garden with three prominent disciples of his, Peter, James, and John. Jesus goes off to be in prayer and we learn from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the following:Then [Jesus]

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-21616498667068608042025-11-13T13:29:00.000-06:002025-11-13T13:29:20.692-06:00

God has always been clear on what this life is for and how to live it. You are to be the servant He calls you to be, else be damned to an everlasting life without Him.If you find these words too harsh, then your heart is hardened to authentic love and you are deaf to His Word. Our modern-day, self-identify, twisted form of love is not true love. Authentic love is what each of us so

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-46160400252232069652025-11-05T12:43:00.000-06:002025-11-05T12:43:40.920-06:00

The song "Feel It All" by Chance Pena was unlikely written about his relationship with God, however, it was written about mine. The key lyrical line is "You're my ceiling and I've grown too tall." So what am I feeling? All of what?I am feeling all the weight of Goodness. This is for me what spiritual gravity is--the weight of goodness that allows me to stand tall, yet is often

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-63612474447140183842025-10-22T07:36:00.001-05:002025-10-22T07:47:04.969-05:00

Psychologists call it "negative bias." That is, we tend to focus on the negatives in life or our attention finds easiest to dwell on the negative. This is clear evidence to me that we have a fallen nature in need of redemption. We know we need the good but we tend to focus on the negative. And many of us take a lifetime working on doing good and avoiding evil. Life is indeed difficult

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-5580795555273018212025-07-02T13:46:00.002-05:002025-07-02T13:48:21.585-05:00

In the Wrath of Kahn, perhaps the greatest Star Trek film of the franchise, James T. Kirk (now Admiral Kirk) enters the new Enterprise for the first time. Kirk is greeted by Captain Spock and responds with a notable quip, "Yes, we've been through death and life together." This reference to the movie's opening scene of the Kobyashi Maru test has been for me a kergymatic inspiration of

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-82164335741763798362025-06-13T10:16:00.000-05:002025-06-13T10:16:02.816-05:00

A reflection upon John 3:1-15Just as a child of flesh enters into this world through the womb of Woman, so too a child of spirit enters into the Church through the womb of the Spirit. The child of flesh and the child of spirit is the one same child of God, a person of body and soul, birthed and baptized. This is why every baptismal font must remind us of the womb of Woman AND the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-86588084326804422242025-04-29T07:48:00.005-05:002025-06-13T10:02:49.072-05:00

We are all probably familiar with the maxim, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I do believe that the evil in the world is often the good left undone. This is of our own doing, of course. We should never blame some twisted serpent tempting us to do what we know is wrong or don't do what we know is right. We do know the difference

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-46136028462612931472025-01-13T07:53:00.000-06:002025-01-13T07:53:36.526-06:00

January is cold.Why must I wake up?The air is dry.The wind cuts thru to my bones.I am blinded by the diffused light.Why must I wake up?January is cold.Why must I wake up?The warmth of this bed keeps me lying where I am.My stiff body doesn't want to move.Why must I wake up?January is cold.Why must I wake up?I want to stay here, dreaming of Summers past.Here remembering you with me,

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-45687070854249521802024-12-04T16:59:00.001-06:002024-12-04T16:59:53.860-06:00

Our dog, Wonka, who is predominantly Jack Russell is notorious for bolting out the front door if left open. Too many times, someone left the door opened or wasn't paying attention when leaving. Wonka dashes out and next thing I know I am looking for my lost dog.This got me wondering what is he chasing out there. I don't think Wonka even knows what or why he chases. Some might say it is

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-58123748335485239822024-12-04T16:51:00.003-06:002025-06-13T09:32:37.001-05:00

When you realize how precious this life really is, you live differently. You understand time is precious and all earthly things are fleeting. Yet life in the flesh does not stop there. God became Man.What is most important is feeling it all in the flesh because that is the fullness of this earthly existence. This has little to do with carnal knowledge (because that is fleeting) and

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-13096276367172542932024-10-03T07:55:00.002-05:002025-06-13T09:52:27.616-05:00

To see with a sacramental view is an essential and basic aspect of being Catholic, not just living but being. But too often we do not see as we ought, as God intended us to see.Sin blinds us. Grace clears our vision.To see with sacramental eyes leads naturally to wonder and awe because you see mystery not to be solved but to be embraced.To see the world thru a sacramental perspective

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-85105270493555495942023-10-13T17:09:00.001-05:002023-10-13T17:09:11.957-05:00

The more I concentrate on God forging me by the fire of His Love the stronger I feel internally.My desire is not to be just heated metal. Yes, hardened by hammering molten metal but not so much where eventually light reflects off some shiney surface to blind others. The metal forged within me by divine fire is to frame something great.My deeper desire is to be like glass blown by the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-3691562671159613852023-08-25T16:21:00.002-05:002023-08-25T16:37:10.831-05:00

I am crossing the bridge between surviving and thriving. Over the past year I have been living the life of a surviving spouse. I never had given that label much thought prior to the passing of my wife. When I first came across this label applied to me, I resisted it and resented it, understandably so. I felt like I had not survived anything. I was devasted by the loss of my wife. Not until the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-21265157891354936872023-07-28T07:40:00.002-05:002023-07-28T07:44:01.392-05:00

God reveals to us that children are a great blessing to a married couple. They are also a great blessing to the world. This there is no doubt.What of those married couples who are unable to conceive children? What of those married couples who struggle to conceive and in that painful struggle were unable to remain married?What of those married couples who so desired to have children

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-91327732479089377132023-07-17T09:30:00.002-05:002023-07-17T09:33:54.946-05:00

If grief is the price of love and God is love, how God must grieve! Is this not the essence of the Cross of Christ?When you see the blood and water flow forth from the side of Christ, know that the blood comes from every broken heart and the water from all the crying eyes in the world. If we seek unconditional love and eternal life, then we need to say yes Lord to His Love. We need to

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-39290871228096569572023-07-14T22:16:00.002-05:002023-07-28T05:23:26.155-05:00

Then [Jesus] said to his disciples,"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;so ask the master of the harvestto send out laborers for his harvest."--Matthew 9:37-38Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,"Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-4407550994005797992023-07-09T15:44:00.001-05:002023-07-09T15:44:34.447-05:00

Life is simple.This doesn't mean life is easy.Life is difficult,But the choices are clear.And timing is key.Venerable Fulton J. Sheen once said:"Patience is not an absence of action;rather it is "timing." It waits on the right time to act, for the right principles, and in the right way."Patience is a struggle, at least for me, because patience is all about timing. And my timing has

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-71299113605260056792023-07-08T23:22:00.001-05:002023-07-09T07:01:10.641-05:00

"Remember death." Memento Mori.This Stoic motto has found a renewed interest in today's culture. The interest comes from a place less about death and more about seeking a more meaningful life.The following most likely will come across as ramblings, but that is the best I can offer on the connected topics of life, death, love, and grief.Personally over the last year, Death and I have faced each

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-8895026326318907462023-07-08T22:35:00.001-05:002023-07-08T23:25:40.889-05:00

This was written originally for a series I wrote called, God's Game Plan for Men.Allow me to speak briefly one more time, about the virtuous living of the husband. Note that the sign of his nobility, a reminder of his commitment, is his wedding ring.The wedding ring is made of at least one of the noble metals: silver, gold, and platinum. These metals are referred to as noble because they are well

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-23736310293333151952023-07-08T22:31:00.001-05:002023-07-08T22:31:31.368-05:00

Brandi Christine (Baker) Spurgin, born October 4, 1973 in New London, CT, passed away unexpectedly on May 22, 2022 at Houston Methodist Hospital, The Woodlands, TX.The Funeral Mass will be held at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 7801 Bay Branch Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77382. There will also be a Memorial Service held at 6:00 PM, Friday,

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-71850551423687196302023-04-01T21:04:00.001-05:002023-04-01T21:04:39.717-05:00

That which is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible reveals much to us. Yet we struggle with that because our hearts are hardened and our minds confused.The more we seek detailed explication in written words about the Word of God, the greater the legalistic our minds become. We are easily confused by all the words, yet we keep seeking more words when words fail us; thus our confusion. When

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13916449736870334939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6493857836739305713.post-3852059814031532272023-02-16T09:57:00.001-06:002023-02-18T13:26:34.958-06:00

All of creation is brought forth by the love of God, both the heavens and the earth. We see beauty in creation because we experience love. Yet when we gaze into the vastness ofspace, we realize there is an inescapable void. A void that exists because of the moments in which we neglect one another, neglect ourselves, neglect love. When we turn away from

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