My friend Roman Vaynshtok, a Reiki practitioner and teacher, wrote a thought-provoking article with advice for having true self-concepts and becoming the person God meant us to be. He allowed me to share it with you on my blog . . .

How Beliefs Form

Our beliefs and preconceptions often form quietly. They are shaped by our upbringing, culture, experiences, and our need to make sense of the world. Over time, they become so familiar that we stop noticing them. They move into the background of our awareness, influencing how we interpret situations, respond to others, and even see ourselves. In this way, they can become invisible chains that keep us in a predetermined box, limiting our world.

These mental patterns are not inherently negative. They help us navigate life, offering structure and sense in a complex and ever-changing reality. But when we begin to mistake them for absolute truth, they close us off. Curiosity fades. We stop exploring and start filtering everything through what we already established as “truth.” The world becomes smaller, more predictable, and less flexible. Our limiting beliefs are creations of our mind to protect us from “unnecessary risk”, from “possibility of failure,” from the “judgment of others.”

Dealing with Limiting Beliefs

Everything in our lives can be changed only after we try to look with compassion and try to understand the causes. The same applies to limiting beliefs. When we stop fighting or dismissing them as something negative and accept them as a protective mechanism, everything changes. This approach changes our mindset. We move from the place of fear to the world of unlimited possibilities. In the world, we can win and also lose, but losing is not failure – it’s a learning experience. A world where the desire for success is much stronger than the fear of failure.

Before we address our limiting beliefs, we need to recognize them. It is the quiet voice that whispers “this is who I am,” “I’m not good at…,” “it always happens to me,” etc. These beliefs are not necessary truths; they are the chain that holds you back. There are a few steps that can help you challenge them:

• ·       Be aware of the power of self-talk. Ideas you repeatedly bring about yourself could become a self-fulfilling prophecy or a self-sabotaging tactic, so question them.
• ·       If they say, “I’m not good at public speaking,” try reminding yourself that you speak in front of a group of people, even if they are friends or family gathering.
• ·       Create a new narrative. Gather evidence that contradicts your beliefs. Anything in your daily interactions or at work that disputes your limiting beliefs, if you notice them, will weaken your self-limitation.

False Concepts vs. Experience

Your previous experiences from childhood or early years created these beliefs. They cannot be dismissed or easily ignored. What we can do is question their truth by collecting evidence that challenges them. Our brain does not respond to wishful thinking; this is why positive affirmations very rarely work, but it will accept real experiences. This is why it is important to collect/recognize evidence of even the smallest successes that will question old beliefs. By doing that, we eventually can replace old beliefs with new ones. The number one obstacle to this is when our brain tells us that our success is pure luck. This is why consistency in collecting and presenting evidence is so important. Our job is to show ourselves the evidence that our brains have trained us to ignore. Our approach is not to confront but to give our brains alternatives with evidence attached.

The moment we recognize that our perspective is just one interpretation among many, something changes. A space opens between us and our beliefs. In that space lies the freedom to ask questions and to challenge our beliefs. So, after your presentation, you can tell yourself, “I did it. Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but it was better than the previous one. People were listening. I became better at this.”

It is very important to understand that our brain updates beliefs through experience far more readily than through logic, and that identifying and changing self-limiting beliefs takes work and time.

A Funny Example

In the fifth grade both of my best friends were redheads, while I thought I was a dull brown. One day I even washed my hair with vinegar because I read that it would bring out red highlights. It didn’t. Decades later, a friend who had black hair and I were cutting each other’s hair. When I mentioned my brown hair, she picked up two cuttings from the floor, mine and hers. “Look, your hair isn’t brown. It’s as black as mine,” she said. She was right.

A Commercial

Roman’s wrote the book Reiki: Energy of Love, which I edited for him. If you are curious about Reiki, purchase a copy.

Limiting beliefs have held many people back…. But Reiki practice and Reiki precepts provide additional tools to address them.

Have you ever had a false concept about yourself changed? How? Did an experience correct it? Or someone’s words?

The post False Self-Concepts, Be Gone! appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

I chose an apartment on the third floor so I would be on a level with birds. One day while I was standing on my balcony, a hummingbird flew right by my nose. That was probably because of the hummingbird feeders on my neighbors’ balconies. My feeder was not a success. Ants loved it. However, a friend who does stained-glass windows, gave me this glass hummingbird to hang in my window:

We are lucky to have these fascinating birds in North America. I did some research and discovered that they are amazing in many ways. Like a helicopter, they can fly in any direction and hover.  Unlike other birds, they have blade-like wings connected only from the shoulder. This enables them to fly straight up and down, sideways, and backwards. Their top speed is 34 miles per hour.

Another thing that sets hummingbirds apart is that they do not walk or hop like other birds. They shuffle sidesways.

Some Facts

The wings of small hummingbirds can flap 99 times a second! They create a humming sound. Hence, their name. They do make various chirping and tweeting sounds, as you can hear in the video below, which also shows a variety of these birds.

There are 375 species of hummingbirds, but like some other creatures, they are declining. One species migrates between Alaska and Mexico, a journey of about 3,900 miles!

Two 30-million-year-old hummingbird fossils have been discovered. They are the smallest, living relative of dinosaurs. The little ones are three to five inches. The bee hummingbird weighs less than .07 ounces. The largest hummingbird is 1.09 ounces.

Hummingbirds can detect ultraviolet light. Their favorite color is red.

The lifespan of ruby-throated hummingbirds is three to five years.

Their Menu

Hummingbirds feed while hovering, not perching as other birds do. They have long beaks, either straight or curved, to feed on nectar. Their long tongues are forked along the sides to take in the nectar. Hummingbirds spend most of their days sitting and digesting.

Besides nectar, hummingbirds eat small insects like fruit flies and small spiders. Their favorite insects are midges, which should please those people near Lake Erie who are plagued annually by those bugs. Hummingbirds can use up 150,000 calories a day. To preserve energy, they enter a torpor, a deep sleep state.

Courtship and Children

Male hummingbirds have the most diverse colors of all birds. In fact, many have are iridescent throat feathers. Their plumage makes them attractive to the females.

During courtship the males show off. They fluff out their throat feathers and do aerial feats. They fly in loops, dive bomb, and ascend rapidly.  Anna’s hummingbird rises about 115 ft. above a female and dives at 89 feet per second, twice the speed of peregrine falcons pursuing prey. In addition the males sing complex songs to court their chosen one. They might also chase the females or fly back and forth in a wide arc in front of her.

Females build the family nest, a small cup about an inch and a half in diameter. She builds up the walls to fit her body, using silk from spiderwebs, lichen, bark, and moss. Wisely, the nest is under branches to shield from rain. The woman is also solely responsible for the young ones.

About two weeks after mating, she lays two eggs the size of a pea. She incubates them for two or three weeks until they hatch. For three of four weeks she feeds them and then the young birds can fly.

Both male and female birds are promiscuous.

By the Way

Interestingly, Aztecs believed that fallen warriors are reincarnated as hummingbirds.

Hummingbird cake is made with crushed pineapple and bananas with cream cheese frosting. Supposedly it originated in Jamaica, whose national bird is a hummingbird. The name fits the cake, which is a sweet dessert. It is rather simple to make. Here is a recipe.

Creation, the work of God’s hands, reveals him to us. The hummingbird shows God’s ingenuity, tenderness, and love of beauty.

Have you ever eaten or made hummingbird cake?

Do you see hummingbirds where you live?

The post Hummingbirds: God’s Intricate Creation appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

Our freedoms have always lured others to become American citizens, including my grandparents. Sadly, today, people who are fleeing oppression and seeking freedom in America are finding the opposite. They are being turned away and even imprisoned. We forget or ignore the invitation offered on the Statue of Liberty:

 “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

On July 4 we also remember those who suffered or even gave their lives to protect our free country. The Korean War Memorial reminds us that freedom isn’t free. Still today it requires sacrifice, not only by men and women in our armed forces, but by us. It takes courage, time, and passion to speak up and act to safeguard and defend our precious freedoms.

God and Freedom

God is in favor of freedom.  After all, far from a tyrant, he created us with a free will. We are free to oppose him. Then when Satan had held our human race captive, God freed us by the sacrifice of Jesus. God wishes that we live freely and happily. Someone defined freedom as “the ability to swing your arm up to the point where the other person’s nose starts.”

As we enjoy fireworks, picnics, and patriotic music this July 4, let’s hope and pray that freedom will ring out throughout our land and for everyone. This is what we sing in the song America:  “From every mountainside, let freedom ring.”  Freedom here is compared to a bell—like the Liberty Bell.

The American Flag

On June 14, 1777 the Continental Congress passed the Flag resolution. The flag was to be thirteen red and white stripes with thirteen stars in a blue field, representing a new constellation. (The colonies’ flag had similar stripes, but in the corner was the British Union flag.)

According to legend, Betsy Ross, an upholsterer in Philadelphia who made uniforms, tents, and flags for the Continental army, made the first American flag. She created five-pointed stars instead of the six-pointed ones Washington envisioned. This legend was fueled by the Charles Weisgerber’s 1893 painting “Birth of Our Nation’s Flag.”

A 17-year-old designed the flag we fly today. In 1958, Ohio high schooler Robert G. Heft created the 50-star design for a class project, anticipating that Alaska and Hawaii would soon join the Union. His teacher gave him a B minus. When Congress chose Heft’s design two years later, the grade was changed to an A!

This latter fact and 10 interesting facts about are flag are on the National Flag Foundation‘s website. It offers even more information about the flag such as how to fly it.

“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”

Samuel F. Smith, a Baptist minister who composed more than 150 hymns, wrote “America” while he was a seminarian. In just a half hour on a rainy day, he produced this famous national hymn. The first three verses inspire pride in our nation, and the last verse asks God to favor and protect it.

Here is one version with lyrics:

What is your favorite patriotic song?

Which freedom of ours do you particularly cherish?

How will you celebrate the Fourth of July?

The post Freedom Isn’t Free appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the focus of our devotion in the month of June. (Each month has a particular focus. For example, May is devoted to Mary.)  Appropriately the United States Bishops consecrated the United States to the Sacred Heart on June 11 this year (2026). Why the Sacred Heart?

A heart symbolizes life, love, one’s whole being. “I love you with my whole heart,” means “with all that I am.” Jesus’s heart represents his immense love for us. One reason God became human was to love us with a human heart. He performed the supreme act of love: dying for the beloved. As he died for us, a lance pierced his heart.

Once while standing in line in the library, I glimpsed a Sacred Heart badge in the wallet of the man ahead of me. Some people consider this devotion passé or sentimental; children may think the art of Jesus’s heart out of the body morbid. Yet, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical on the Sacred Heart, Dilexit nos (He Loved Us).

Sacred Heart in Art

In art, the Sacred Heart is surmounted by a cross and encircled by thorns, symbols of how he loved you to death. The heart bears a wound from a lance. Flames shoot forth from the top of the heart, representing the burning love Jesus has for you. In some pictures, Jesus holds out his heart for you to accept.

This Devotion’s Origin

Saint Gertrude the Great, a mystic, already had great devotion to the Sacred Heart in the 13^th century. She prayed: “O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal life, Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary.”

The devotion flourished in the 17^th century after Jesus asked Saint Margaret Mary to promote it, saying he wanted everyone to know the depths of his love. He said: “Behold this heart, which has so loved men [and women], but which is so little loved in return.” Unrequited love is sad. Unrequited divine love is tragic.

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal advised, “Sometimes put yourself very simply before God, certain of his presence everywhere, and without any effort, whisper very softly to his Sacred Heart whatever your own heart prompts you to say.”

Saint Bonaventure wrote: “Who is there who would not love this wounded heart? Who would not love in return Him, who loves so much?”

Jesus requested frequent Communion, especially on the first Friday of each month; holy hours; and a feast iin honor of his Sacred Heart. Jesus also made twelve promises.

Now people own Sacred Heart scapulars or badges, observe nine first Fridays, and celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday 19 days after Pentecost. Families are consecrated to the Sacred Heart and enthrone his image.

A True Story about the Sacred Heart

A Sister’s family was devoted to the Sacred Heart. Left with an empty nest, her parents wished to adopt a baby, but had no luck. Before making vows, Sister gave Jesus an ultimatum: “You don’t get me if my parents don’t get a baby.” At a conference in Canada, another Sister chanced to meet an orphanage’s administrators and talked about the parents longing for a child. On the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, the parents received a letter from Montreal’s bishop inviting them to choose a child. They adopted a boy, and Sister made her vows.

Jesus welcomes and answers your prayers, too, if they’re for the good.

You and Jesus

How might you stoke your love for Jesus? Read the Gospels and hear him speak to your heart. Spend time aware of his presence and bask in his love. Participate more fully and often in the Eucharist.

Honoring Jesus under the title of the Sacred Heart shows love in return. Celebrate an enthronement to the Sacred Heart, consecrating your home and heart to him. Pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart. Go to Mass on First Fridays. Your love for Jesus may spark love in other people.

We thirst for something more. Our heart is like a jigsaw puzzle with a piece missing. Only God completes it. Conversely, the heart of Jesus may also want a missing piece: You!

Here is a short prayer you might adopt:

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I implore

 that I may ever love you more and more.

For Reflection

What do you or have you done to honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus?

Was anything in this post a surprise to you? If so, what?

Here is a prayer with peaceful music:

The post Sacred Heart, Symbol of Love appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

An Amazing Gift

I think this is the third and last post that did not reach subscribers.

On Holy Thursday we heard the story of how Jesus instituted the Eucharist. And lately the Mass readings have to do with this sacrament. Jesus took some bread and said, “This is my body,” and then he held a cup of wine and claimed, “This is my blood.” Some faith traditions hold that these words were merely symbolic. For some two thousand years, Catholics have taken the words of Jesus at face value. Still, how easily we let our Communions become routine and stale, forgetting what an astounding miracle they are. We might even fail to take advantage of this gift. As St. Augustine wistfully noted, “Christ is the bread, awaiting hunger.”

Because of the Eucharist, Jesus remains with us on earth, we’re able to share in his redeeming sacrifice, and we are united as his mystical body. Beyond that, we are able to actually consume God in the form of bread and wine! At Mass we feast on God. Jesus becomes one with us, divinizing our humanity.

In the words attributed to Saint Teresa of the Andes:

“I eat Jesus. He is my nourishment. I am assimilated by him. What greater happiness is there than this: to hold tightly to our heart the God who is our God! Receive Communion as well and be deeply aware of the One who visits you, infinite love, divine madness; of One who not only became man like ourselves, but who became bread. After you receive Communion, ask Jesus, the God you hold prisoner in your soul, to stay with you throughout the day so that you may love him and give him thanks.”

Prayers to Participate

When the priest raises the paten with the host, we can mentally place ourselves on it too, offering our lives to God the Father.

At the Consecration, when the priest holds up the sacred host, I was taught to say, “My Lord and my God.” These were the words of the apostle Thomas when he acknowledged the true presence of the risen Jesus.

And when the priest holds up the chalice of wine, I was taught to say, “My Jesus, mercy!” For that was the blood that was shed for my sins.

Facts about the Eucharist

Here is a Eucharist IQ Quiz that I use in my workshops on the liturgy. You simply have to tell whether each statement is true or false. The answers are at the end. Don’t peek!

1. The Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life.
2. The Mass is our highest form of worship.
3. The word Eucharist means “thanksgiving.”
4. Jesus gave us the Eucharist at the Last Supper. He told us to do it in remembrance of him. At Mass we remember his death and resurrection.
5. At Mass the sacrifice Jesus offered at the Last Supper and on Calvary is re-presented.
6. At Mass salvation goes on. Sin is atoned for, and the graces won are poured out on us.
7. At the sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus is both the priest and the offering.
8. At Mass we offer Jesus to the Father with him.
9. At Mass we also offer ourselves to the Father.
10. The sacred bread and wine are truly Jesus. This is called the Real Presence.
11. Jesus is totally present in both the bread and the wine and in every part of each.
12. The change of the bread and wine into Jesus (called transubstantiation) is brought about by the Holy Spirit through the words and actions of the priest.
13. By consuming the food and drink that is Jesus, we become more like him.
14. Jesus is present as long as the substances remain bread and wine.
15. At Communion we are also united with the Mystical Body of Jesus: the Church.
16. At the Eucharist we participate in heaven’s liturgy; angels and saints are present.
17. The Eucharist is a sacrament of initiation. Only Church members can receive it.
18. Bread and wine signify all God’s gifts of creation for which we give thanks.
19. Bread and wine recall the Passover when God saved the chosen people from death by the blood of the lamb.
20. The altar signifies that the Eucharist is a sacrifice and a meal.
21. At Mass we feast at the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist. It anticipates the heavenly feast.
22. When we receive the Eucharist, our sins are forgiven.
23. We prepare for Mass by being free from grave sin and by fasting for an hour
24. We bow before receiving the Eucharist and respond Amen.
25. The Eucharist is a gift of love from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Hopefully you persevered through all twenty-five statements and you eventually realized that all of them were true. Yes, this is a trick quiz. The Eucharist, though, is no trick. Jesus really meant it when he said, “This is my body,” and “I will be with you always.” Isn’t his love for us outrageous? And aren’t we fortunate that we live in this century when we can receive Communion every day if we wish and not just with special permission as in former times!

The first hymn here is quite lovely. If you have a half hour, you might listen to the entire video.

What do you recall about your First Communion?

Which is the most awesome Mass you have attended?

What do you say to Jesus after receiving him in Communion?

What is your favorite Eucharistic hymn?

The post Eucharist, Our Sacred Meal-Replay appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

Mary Can Identify with Moms Today

I believe this is another post that did not reach subscribers. So here it is again.

Recently I spoke to a group of moms and grandmothers. They requested that I talk about how Mary was a model for mothers. This prompted me to review the Blessed Mother’s life noticing how it resembled what current moms might be going through. Because it is May, Mary’s month, it’s fitting that I share points with you.

We first meet Mary when she is about 14 and the angel Gabriel comes to her. Because she is engaged to Jospeh, I imagine she daydreamed about him often, maybe even when Garbriel visited. God turned her world upside down by impregnating her. Mary’s life takes a shocking turn, something other mothers might experience.

Mary as a Pregnant Woman

As any pregnant woman, Mary is thrilled to be carrying new life. But she is also apprehensive. What will the baby be like? Do I have the wisdom, skills, and patience to be a good mom? Can I bring this baby to full term? Will it survive infancy? As an unwed mother, Mary wonders what Joseph will say, her parents, the neighbors. Besides, in Mary’s culture unwed mothers were stoned to death.

Mary experiences the physical aspects of pregnancy. Her body changes, she’s tired, goes to the bathroom more often, has morning sickness, she waddles. She prepares baby clothes. Maybe her mom St. Anne and her mother-in-law give her advice. Mary travels to help elderly Elizabeth who is pregnant. No doubt the two talk about the inconveniences of being pregnant, their hopes and dreams for their sons. They support each other.

Mary as a Wife

After Mary and Joseph are wed, Mary learns how to live with a man, a partner. She has to share her life, listen to Joseph’s advice, accept his help. She no longer lives just for herself but must take him into account. She might think, What food does he like?  Is my hummus too spicy for him? How can I make him happy? Is he sore from working in the carpenter shop? I’ll give him a backrub.

Mary as Mother

When Rome calls for a census, Mary must travel to Bethlehem. That means a five-day, 90-mile hike. She must wonder, “How can this be? I’m nine months pregnant. I might give birth on the side of the road. Is this really God’s plan?” No doubt today’s moms wonder things like, how could I have this car accident now? Why are gas prices rising so I must sacrifice health care?  Why is the government making my life more difficult?

Then in a stable, Mary goes into labor and has her baby, a real baby. She must nurse him, burp him, change his diapers, clean up his baby spit. She also knows the joy of having him cuddle against her and watching him sleep.

King Herod is intent on killing Jesus. So Mary knows what it’s like to have a baby in danger. She would do anything to protect him. She would die for him. So she becomes a refugee in Egypt to save his life.

Mary as Keeper of the Household

Safe back at home, Mary knows a mother’s pride in watching her boy grow. She helps him crawl and walk, teaches him to talk and how to eat. Like most mothers, her life is consumed with daily tasks: cooking, sewing, shopping, cleaning, doing laundry, getting water from the well every day. She has no maid. She maintains a relationship with her mom and a mother-in-law who may be critical of her.

Mother of a God-Man

When Jesus is 12, he goes missing in Jerusalem. Children do outrageous things. For three days, Mary and Joseph search for him. Imagine their nights, their panic, their dread. After they find Jesus in the temple, Mary scolds: “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety. ”  She probably shakes him and hugs him. Jesus’s response verges on being sassy. He says, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Sometimes you just don’t understand your children.

When Jesus is thirty, he is still at home (like some young adults today), and Mary is caring for him, supporting him in his carpentry business: consoling him when customers complain or the price of wood goes up.

We see the two of them at the wedding at Cana. Jesus is Mary’s only child. Looks like he’s not going to be married. That means she’ll have no grandchildren. Like most mothers, Mary is quick to notice a problem: wine is running out. Instinctively Mary acts to help. She knows her son could fix things. She takes charge and tells the waiters to do whatever Jesus tells them.

Mary as Widow

One day Joseph dies—we don’t know when or how. Maybe Mary has the shock of having him killed suddenly in a construction accident. Maybe Joseph is ill for a long time and Mary nurses him. In either case, Mary loses her life partner and goes through his funeral heartsick. She also lives through the deaths of her mother and father. Our Blessed Mother knows grief.

The day Jesus leaves to carry out his ministry, Mary had to be sad, like mothers are when their child leaves for kindergarten, college, or marriage. Then rumors come back to Nazareth that her son is crazy and possessed by the devil. Certainly she worries about him like mothers you suffer when their child is bullied or misunderstood. Things get worse when he returns home and Mary’s neighbor and relatives don’t like what he says and try to throw him off a cliff. There is a mountain in Nazareth with a chapel called Our Lady of Fright. Presumably that is where Mary watched as people tried to kill her son. Then she had to deal with those people afterward. She would meet the women at the well. That had to be awkward.

Later when Jesus is preaching and people tell him his mother and brother want to see him. He says, “Rather my mother and brother are those who hear the world of God and keep it.” Now that looks like a slight that hurts Mary. She might think, “All I did for you and that’s how you treat me?” However, Mary more than anyone heard the word of God and kept it. Sometimes moms are hurt by their children.

Childless

One station of the cross is Jesus meets his mother. She stands with him during his painful suffering. Although all but one apostle desert him, she is there on Calvary watching her child die, her only child. She once kissed that head that is crowned with thorns. She heard his first word, mama, and now hears his last. She watched him draw his first breath, and now she sees his last. This is the cruelest pain a mother can suffer, to see a child die.

From the cross, Jesus gave her John as a son. This apostle represented all of us.  At Pentecost Mary is with the apostles praying with them. She forgave those who deserted her son. She is their mother now too. Living with John, she had to adjust to a new situation: a different home, country, lifestyle. Change is hard. No one likes it but a baby with a wet diaper.

Right now Mary is Queen of Heaven, but she remembers what it was like to be a mom. She’s been there. She eager to help moms carry out their difficult but all-important vocation. They can look to her as a model.  Besides asking WWJD mom can say WWMD?

When St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta faced a difficulty, she prayed, “Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.”  She advised, “When distressed, call on Our Lady. Say this simple prayer. I admit this prayer has never failed me.”

A Favorite Marian Christmas Song

Here is a version of “Mary, Did You Know?” that I think you will like:

What about Mary had you not thought of before?

What feature of Mary’s life do you think was the most difficult for her besides Jesus’s death?

The post Mary, a Mother for Moms Replay appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

Through some glitch in the system, three of my posts did not reach subscribers. So I am sending them out again! (This also gives me some extra time as I prepare to go to Africa next month!)

Recently a friend who returned from South Africa told me this story. She met a woman, who had a lovely voice and composed her own songs but used to sing only for herself, family, and friends.  One day someone commented to her that she ought to share her gift with others by becoming a professional. The woman is now a popular singer with recordings. All it took for her musical success was a verbal nudge.

Encouragement is powerful and intimate. The etymology of the word shows this: “cour” is heart.” To encourage someone is to put heart into them, to give them courage, to lift their spirits. We do this by showing confidence in someone, affirming them, giving them hope.

No doubt, you mastered the feat of walking when someone urged, “Come on. Come on. You can do it.” Maybe now a therapist says to you, “You’re doing great. Keep going.”

Encouragement requires identifying a talent in someone and persuading them to develop it. This takes empathy. It means assuring someone that you are with them. You’ve got their back.

My Encouragers

I recall that when we children looking for something lost, a neighbor woman said to me, “Kathy, you’re always so good at finding things.”  I don’t think she really knew that, but it goaded me to search for the item even harder and persevere.

After I played a Chopin prelude, my piano teacher said, “That was beautiful. Ask your parents if they would send you to the Cleveland Institute of Music.” What a vote of confidence! But we decided I wouldn’t go. It was just as well because my teacher never brought it up again.

At the end of the school year, my eighth-grade teacher, Sister John Francis, asked me to write compositions during the summer and send them to her at Xavier University, where she was studying. With her support and encouragement my writing skills were honed.  

Years later I was asked to speak at a national convention. At the time I had never addressed a group larger than about 35—my students. During the days I was given to reply, I asked a friend, Sister Melannie, if she thought I could do it. She remarked, “If you can teach, you can talk.” Her words emboldened me. Ever since then I’ve been giving talks, or as she put it, “making money with my mouth.”

The Virtue of Encouragement

Scripture encourages encouragement. (See what I did there?) St. Paul wrote, “Encourage one another and build each other up. (1 Thessalonians 5:11) He lists encouragement as one of the spiritual gifts bestowed on believers. (Romans 12:8) In Hebrews 10:24–25, Paul advised how to be holy: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

To encourage others is to bless them. And in blessing them, we ourselves are blessed.

God is the ideal encourager. He is known as the God of encouragement. In Isaiah 41:10 God says,, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.”

Today’s World

In the song “Home on the Range,” the range is a pleasant place where “Never is heard a discouraging word.” The world now is quite the opposite. The atmosphere is rife with criticisms and putdowns. Attacking other people instead of building them up is the modus operandi for too many. Success is then squelched. People who encourage others are more needed than ever.

Look how Helen Keller blossomed with Anne Sullivan’s encouragement.

Pythagoras encouraged Plato.

Bruce Lee encouraged several other actors.

A physical education teacher encouraged Rihanna to pursue music.

Some Encouraging Words:

“You’ve got this!”

“I believe in you.”

“Don’t give up.”

“Trust yourself.”

“One step at a time.”

“I’m here for you.”

“You’re stronger (better) than you think.”

Besides speaking words to boost people’s confidence, we can also write notes or send emails that do that.

By the way, indulge in a little self-encouragement occasionally: “I can do this. I am strong. I’ve done this before, etc.”

Goethe noted, “Instruction does much, but encouragement everything.”

For Reflection and Comment

When have you benefited from someone’s encouragement?

How can you encourage someone now?

What Scripture verse gives you confidence and hope?

See what a little encouragement can do:

Here is a hilarious video that clearly demonstrates the power of encouragement. I first saw it on America’s Funniest Videos. Click the link and make sure you have the sound on by clicking “unmute.”

https://9gag.com/gag/an7VLbb?utm_source=copy_link&utm_medium=post_share

The post Encouragement vs. Discouragement Replay appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

We’ve just celebrated the great feast of Pentecost. Did you wear red for it? Do you remember when we referred to the Holy Ghost? Spirit and ghost (from Old English gast) are synonyms, but as time passed, ghost came to mean a dead person and was frightening to children and somewhat creepy. So the Church and Bible translators substituted Spirit for the Third Person of the Trinity.

This Person has been dubbed the Cinderella of the Trinity because he (or she) is overlooked. One reason people tend to neglect the Holy Spirit in prayer is that a spirit can’t be visualized. We picture the Father as an old man, and the Son as his incarnated form, Jesus. But artists depict the Spirit as a dove, as he appeared at the baptism of Jesus. So that’s how we think of him. But praying to a bird isn’t appealing. (A newspaper once carried a story about a speeding driver in Germany captured by a police camera. In the photo a large white dove with wings spread over the driver’s face saved him from a ticket!)

My Experience with the Holy Spirit

When a spiritual director asked me, “Do you pray to the Holy Spirit?” I said, “No, not specifically.” He was surprised and replied,  “You, a writer, and you don’t pray to the Holy Spirit!” Since then I’ve addressed prayers to all three persons in the Trinity: the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  I’ve learned from personal experience that this Spirit is all that Jesus promised: a powerful helper. Jesus called him a Paraclete, that is, someone who stands with someone in need, a lawyer, an advocate, a friend. I call the Holy Spirit my co-author. Without his inspiration, how could I ever have written so many books and textbook series?

On Pentecost the Spirit of Jesus swooped down is the forms of strong wind flames of fire. He filled the disciples so that miraculously they spoke in languages foreigners could understand. They also were filled with courage to emerge from their hiding place. This same Spirit inspires me with ideas and words when I have writer’s block. But more than that…

A Teacher Aide

In my first year teaching high school religion, I had a very intelligent class. Every day the students challenged me, wrecking my carefully worked out lesson plan. Feeling like a failure, I confided in my friend, a fellow teacher. She assured me that the Holy Spirit was my hidden partner in teaching religion. Somehow he would use my words to touch the students’ hearts in ways I may never know. So I went on in sheer faith, day after day. Then one night as I was correcting the test of the most exasperating student, I discovered she had written these words: “You probably won’t believe this, but I go to Mass every day. Many people don’t realize how important faith is, but because of things you said, I do now.”

Incredible Help

From baptism the Trinity has lived within us. From time to time we have a inkling that the Holy Spirit is at work within us and with us. A sole writer for a textbook series, I once was to complete a major revision in three years. (That was grades one to 8 and Confirmation; student books, manuals, and blackline masters.) Part way through the task, the publisher cut my allotted time by ten months! I was in shock. It would be impossible to meet the new deadline. Pacing back and forth, I wondered how I would ever accomplish that. Oh, God, what should I do? Suddenly I heard, “Go for it. I’ll be with you.” Was the the Spirit speaking…in slang? Immediately peace came over me. The books were finished on time, dioceses that hadn’t approved them before accepted them, and sales soared.

Other Rescues

I’ve learned to call on the Holy Spirit and ask for the gift of saying the right words in stressful situations: when making an important phone call, giving a new talk, going to an uncomfortable meeting, finding a piece of information quickly, or counseling a person. This gives me confidence.

St. Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?” (1 Cor. 6:19) Through the sacraments the Spirit in some mysterious way lives in us—and along with the Spirit the Father and the Son because they are inseparable. This means we are never alone and have easy access to divine aid. One thing we can ask the Holy Spirit’s help with is becoming a better pray-er!

The Holy Spirit’s special job description includes making people holy, guiding the writing and reading of Scripture, bringing about the Eucharist, and watching over the Church. Theologically speaking, God the Father generates the Son, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from them as the bond of love between them. When we love, we are like God, in other words, holy. Someone said that we ought to be taken along by the Holy Spirit as a feather is taken by the wind.

My community used to pray the Litany to the Holy Spirit every Monday. I should take that up again!

My Book about the Holy Spirit

A parishioner at St. Dominic asked me to write a book about the Holy Spirit. He said he didn’t understand this Person of the Trinity. The result of his request was my book the Holy Spirit: Font of Love, Life, and Power. It’s available on Amazon for $10.00.  Or you can order from me. 

A Lovely Hymn about the Holy Spirit

When do you turn to the Holy Spirit for help?

Have you ever felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?

The post The Holy Spirit, Our Invisible Advocate appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

Creation Speaks of God

The other day after a storm, I saw a brilliant double rainbow in the sky above our property. You can see it in my photo above. It made me think that if that rainbow is so beautiful, how much more beautiful God must be and how good he was to give us rainbows.

Coincidentally, this week is Laudate Si’ week, the 11th anniversary of Pope Francis’s encyclical on caring for creation.

I love this quotation:  I said to the almond tree, “Sister, speak to me of God.” And the almond tree blossomed.  ~ Nikos Kazantzakis   The tree spoke of God’s beauty and tendency to be life-giving.

Creations mirror their creators. A song reflects the composer; a painting, the artist; a book, the author. In the same way, the universe, the masterpiece of the supreme Creator, reveals God. It has variety, (over 11,000 kinds of birds). It is intricate (bees know how to make honey and wax)’ It is immense. (We went to the moon but don’t know where the universe ends.) It has power like sun flares and crashing ocean waves.

All these qualities show that God is good and has great wisdom and power. Pope Francis notes in his encyclical Laudato Si’ that St. Francis of Assisi “invites us to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness” (par. 12).

Every created thing is an epiphany, (a manifestation of God), echoing some aspect of God. Examples:  To behold a massive snow-topped mountain is to know God’s majesty. To watch a waterfall’s refreshing water cascade into a deep, clear pool is to see God’s purity. To stroll through woods of lovely ferns, mosses, and lofty trees is to be enveloped with the peace and serenity of God. The fragile daisy with its velvety white petals and bright yellow center tells of the Creator’s gentleness, while the rainbow arched across purple-gray clouds speaks of his beauty. A newborn baby is evidence of God’s tenderness. Fire reminds us of the energy of God’s love. A monkey shows God’s sense of humor, and a giraffe, his unpredictability.

Three Hymns of Creation

The psalmist is attuned to the speechless voices of the universe. He sings of the sun, moon, and stars this way:

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.

There is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard;

yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Psalm 19:1–4

St. Gregory Nazianzen, a fourth-century Archbishop of Constantinople as well as a Doctor of the Church, echoes this concept in a hymn:

All things proclaim you—
things that can speak, and those that can not. . . . All things breathe you a prayer,
a silent hymn of your own composing.

In the same tradition, St. Francis of Assisi, who loved nature, expresses the following prayer in his joyous paean “Canticle of the Sun”:

Praise be to Thee, my Lord, with all Thy creatures especially to my Brother Sun,

Who brings us the day and through him Thou dost brightness give.

And beautiful is he and radiant with splendor great. Of Thee, Most High, he speaks.

Creation and Us

Theologian and philosopher Teilhard Chardin wrote that all creation manifests the Creator: “[T]he great mystery of Christianity is not exactly the appearance, but the transparence, of God in the universe.”  In other words we see God through things like through a glass window.

Physical things are important to us. We are part spiritual, part material. We live and work out our destiny in the realm of matter. How we use it and how we abuse it determine our eternity. We are free to exploit the material universe for our own power and pleasure, or we can share it. Either we can let it go to ruin or show concern for it. We can regard the world as just the lucky result of a coincidental combination of chemicals eons ago, or we can cherish it as the love-gift of a personal God who cares about us. The latter point of view opens for us the possibility of finding material objects a source of prayer.

You too are God’s creation.  You show his wisdom, ingenuity, and love.  How fast your skin heals after it’s cut!  Reflect on how food turns into your body—miraculous!  Look how your eyes perceive many different colors.

Jesus’s Love for Creation

The Son of God took on flesh and lived with us among color, hardness, roughness, scent, wetness, and warmth. Jesus reveled in the things of Earth, his Father’s handiwork. Jesus saw that they were good—so good that he redeemed them along with all of us at the price of his life. He redeemed all of creation.

Jesus enjoyed the aroma and taste of his mother’s freshly baked bread. He liked putting on a clean robe. In addition, he appreciated his human body that allowed him to wrestle with other boys, dance at weddings, and walk for miles. With his eyes and sense of touch he constructed things in the carpenter shop. He thrilled to the strong winds coming off the Sea of Galilee and liked the smell and feel of a gentle spring rain. He also liked strolling through fields of barley and running his hands through the grains.

By the way, you don’t need to feel bad if you never go the Holy Land.  A bishop pointed out that because Jesus lived on earth, he breathed our air, drank our water, ate our food, and trod on our ground. He sanctified it. The whole earth is holy land.

Jesus often incorporated concrete objects in his teaching. His audiovisuals were the birds of the air, lilies, the bread women baked, the Temple in Jerusalem, a Roman coin, and the roadside fig tree. Today, from the dimension where he dwells, Jesus reaches out to us in the sacraments and touches us with things: water, bread, wine, and oil. Matter has been christened by his presence.

God fills the universe completely. So there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face. The ideal is not only to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things. Saint Bonaventure teaches us that “contemplation deepens (the more we feel the workings of God’s grace within our hearts)  and the better we learn to encounter God in creatures outside ourselves.”

For Reflection:

1. On beholding the starry night sky, the composer of Psalm 8 was awestruck. The sight lifted his mind and heart to the Creator. What especially in God’s creation prompts you to think of him and pray?

2. Where is your favorite place to pray—where you can ponder God and listen to him speak to your heart? Where on Earth did Jesus pray?

3. What feature of your body are you grateful for?

This lovely recording includes the lyrics of the song:

The post Creation: God’s Masterpiece appeared first on Catholic Faith Corner.

No doubt everyone recognizes the Rosary as a Catholic devotion. Presumably, most Catholics own at least one rosary. Chances are, they pray it while traveling or trying to fall asleep, finding it more comforting than lavender oil. Rosaries hang from rear view mirrors and are in hands of those in coffins. As I research the Rosary, I’m discovering some little known facts about it that are intriguing. Today I’ll share some with you.

History of the Rosary

Long ago people who couldn’t pray the 150 psalms prayed the Our Father on beads called paternosters. Later when the Hail Mary prayer took shape, it replaced the Our Father prayers. In the beginning, only the first half of the Hail Mary was prayed!

Lady Godiva bequeathed her paternoster of gems to a monastery.

St. Dominic and his Dominicans promoted the rosary. However, people were praying the prayers before he lived, and the mysteries arose after he lived. Therefore the idea that Mary gave him the rosary seems to be a legend that a fellow Dominican who lived much later spread.

When Mary appeared at Fatima in 1917, she recommended praying the Fatima Prayer after each decade:     O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.

Originally the Assumption and Coronation of Mary were the fourth glorious mystery, and the Second Coming of Christ was the fifth one.

Mary Queen of Scots took her gold rosary with her to her execution in 1587. It had a gold filigree crucifix with an image of Mary on the reverse side. Three drop pearls were attached directly from the circle of fifty beads. Unfortunately, someone stole it from Arundel Castle in 2021.

Chaucer, who wrote the Canterbury Tales, appears in a frontispiece with a rosary in his hand.

Unique Rosaries

The world’s largest rosary is behind Christ King Cathedral in the City of Tagum in the Philippines. It measures 280 feet. Each bead of Magcono wood weighs a little over 77 pounds, and the entire Rosary weighs 6,206 pounds.

The world’s most expensive rosary was sold at auction for $842,500. It was passed down through the Germanic Saxon royal family from the 17th century. It is made of 70 emerald beads spaced by gold rondelles with diamonds embedded. Five emeralds and diamonds set in gold form the cross.

Donald Brown started collecting rosaries in 1917. Before dying in 1975, he had amassed about 4,000 of them from thimble-size to 16 feet long. Some of his rosaries are associated with famous people like President John F. Kennedy, Sister Lúcia, and St. Padre Pio.

Unique Beads

In Windsor, Ohio, foot-high lamps, large, white globes, form a giant rosary. It encircles a fifty-foot-high statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the tallest one of her in the world. A whopping 450,00 one-inch mosaic tiles cover the statue.

A unique rosary sold at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and elsewhere has beads like ladybugs. The reason is a legend. In the Middle Ages when insects plagued crops in Europe, people prayed to Mary. Bugs with orange-red wings arrived and devoured the pests. People called their saviors Our Lady’s Bugs, which became ladybugs. Common ladybugs have seven black spots on their wings, said to represent Mary’s seven joys and sorrows.

Sister Angela Salazar made a rosary from baked cotton balls, providing me with a photo for my book about art activities for parents and teachers.

Rosary Facts

In Mary’s apparitions—especially at Fatima—she stressed the importance of praying the rosary for world peace.

In 1949 Brother Sylvan Mattingly, C.F.X. founded Our Lady’s Rosary Makers based in Louisville, Kentucky. Its 17,000 members make and distribute about seven million rosaries a year for Catholic missions, both chain and cord rosaries. See their website.

Pope Leo XIII wrote no less than twelve encyclicals on the Rosary.

An atomic bomb detonated in Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, killed or injured 140,000 people. Eight blocks from the bomb was a house for Jesuits. Surprisingly, although the bomb destroyed the church attached to the house as well as everything around it, the house survived and so did the Jesuits who lived in it. The men suffered only minor injuries. They credited their remarkable survival to the fact that they prayed the Rosary daily in that house.

For some religious communities, like the Rosary Sisters from Jerusalem, the rosary was part of the habit. We Notre Dame Sisters wore ours hanging from a hook at the right side of our waist.

Other Prayer Beads

Islam prayer beads (tasbih) have 99 beads for the 99 names of God. Supposedly Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter made the first set in the seventh century. A smaller version has 33 beads in sets of 11. Muslims use it to count praises of God. For example, on the first set people pray “Glory be to Allah,” on the second set “All praise is due to Allah,” and on the third set, “Allah is the Greatest.” Here is the tasbih that I purchased when I was in the United Arab Emirates:

The Seven Sorrows Rosary comprises seven sets of seven beads. During each set, people pray an Our Father and seven Hail Marys in honor of one of Our Lady’s sorrows. A complement to this rosary is the Seven Joys of Mary Rosary. It has seven decades plus two Hail Marys. This totals 72, the number of years Mary presumably lived on earth.

A novena is praying a prayer for nine days. Therefore the 54 Day Novena is praying three novenas of the rosary (27 days) in petition and three novenas in thanksgiving for a total of 54 days. Special prayers for this are on the Hallow website .

Anglicans and Lutherans have developed their own forms of prayer beads. The Lutheran one is known as the Wreath of Christ.

Annually in London a Rosary Crusade of Reparation occurs. The fortieth one took place on October 13, 2025. More than two thousand people walked two miles, praying the Rosary and singing hymns.

A man in Florida conceived the idea of Hopeful Mysteries of the Rosary to foster hope in people who live in a world in turmoil. Fr. Chris Winklejohn developed the mysteries. Then in 2025, Bishop William Wack gave these mysteries an imprimatur and declared them worthy of devotion. The five Hopeful Mysteries are Creation, the Great Flood, the Exodus, Abraham’s sacrifice, and the Immaculate Conception of Mary.  

For Reflection

Do you have a rosary that has special meaning for you?

When do you pray the Rosary?

Have you ever prayed original mysteries, such as joys you had or Jesus’ miracles?

Here is the Hail Mary prayed in Aramaic, the language of Mary and her Son.

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