Window Shopping - On ETSY!!

On days that I decide to walk on the treadmill I usually goof off on the computer, and sometimes I manage to some get blogging done. You can actually tell how much exercising I get done by how often I post, and as you can see it's been a while...

Online window shopping is one of my favorite ways to kill time, especially on Etsy. I love sharing great finds, and below you'll find a quite a few recent favorites. I have to admit, I did not share everything because some things were added to my cart. :)

Just click on the photos and you will be taken to where you can purchase that item.

Vintage Crucifix 

Vintage 70's Oxford Pumps

Indian Sari Skirt

Mother Teresa Quote 

Cross Stitch Bookmark

Icon Bracelet 

The Practice of the Presence of God

Rosebud Belt

Our Lady of Grace

Gypsy Skirt

Immaculate Heart of Mary - wooden toy

 Thai Fishermen Pants

 Antique Sterling First Holy Communion Medal

Antique Virgin Mary Brooch

From the Missal

This spoke to me so much today at Mass, that I had to share it.

I can't even count how many times I've read over these lines, but for whatever reason they really jumped out at me today.

These words should be spoken daily.

I hope everyone had a blessed weekend!!

Holy Week - CONFESSION TIMES!!!

We received this Holy Week Schedule (pic below) in the mail yesterday, and I couldn't help but smile after reading it. 

Notice the list of CONFESSION times!!!

This schedule is from San Secondo d'Asti Catholic Church.  It is the Church where we were married, and attended frequently until the TLM was available close by (it's a 45 min drive for us), but I wish we were able to get there more often.

The Church itself is 150 years old and it has the ambiance you would expect from a Church that old. But that is not the main reason we wanted to be married there...

The Pastor, Fr. Marx (yes that's his last name, people actually call him by his last name), Is very Traditional in his teaching and administering the Sacraments (as you can tell). Now I'm sure some would think "if he's that traditional he must be rather stern", or something along those lines, but that's so far from the truth, Fr. Marx is the kindest, most soft-hearted man I know, during his sermons he refers to the congregation as "my dear ones". 

When I see something like this schedule for Confessions I know he "gets it", he gets what's really important. I know that because this schedule is not unexpected. His Parish offers Confession every day of the week, and before every Sunday Mass.

This post is not meant to say no other Priest takes the Sacraments seriously, especially one as important as Confession is, but this morning I went online to the websites of our near by parishes and most have already had their Penance services and will not have any other scheduled Confessions before Easter.

I hope you will join me in praying that in years to come (sooner would be great!!) we see more Holy Week schedules like the one from San Secondo d'Asti...

A Night Prayer

Jesus Christ, my God,

I adore Thee and I thank Thee

for all the graces Thou hast

bestowed on me this day.

I offer Thee my sleep

and every moment of this night,

and I beseech Thee

to keep me free from sin.

Therefore I place myself

in Thy most sacred side and

under the protecting mantle of

our Lady, my mother.

May Thy holy angels help me

and keep me in peace,

and may Thy blessings be upon me.

~St. Alphonsus Liguori

Tips on Confession

I have a link to this on my sidebar, and I posted it a long time ago, but since we're in the season of Lent I think it's appropriate to post again.

Fr. Z's Tips on Confession

We should...

1) …examine our consciences regularly and thoroughly;

2) …wait our turn in line patiently;

3) …come at the time confessions are scheduled, not a few minutes before they are to end;

4) …speak distinctly but never so loudly that we might be overheard;

5) …state our sins clearly and briefly without rambling;

6) …confess all mortal sins in number and kind;

7) …listen carefully to the advice the priest gives;

8) …confess our own sins and not someone else’s;

9) …carefully listen to and remember the penance and be sure to understand it;

10) …use a regular formula for confession so that it is familiar and comfortable;

11) …never be afraid to say something “embarrassing”… just say it;

12) …never worry that the priest thinks we are jerks…. he is usually impressed by our courage;

13) …never fear that the priest will not keep our confession secret… he is bound by the Seal;

14) …never confess “tendencies” or “struggles”… just sins;

15) …never leave the confessional before the priest has finished giving absolution;

16) …memorize an Act of Contrition;

17) …answer the priest’s questions briefly if he asks for a clarification;

18) …ask questions if we can’t understand what he means when he tells us something;

19) …keep in mind that sometimes priests can have bad days just like we do;

20) …remember that priests must go to confession too … they know what we are going through.

Third Sunday After Epiphany

GOSPEL (Matthew 8:1-13)

At that time, when Jesus had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him: And behold a leper came and adored him, saying: "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." And Jesus stretching forth his hand, touched him, saying: "I will, be thou made clean." And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith to him: "See thou tell no man: but go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them."

And when he had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him,

and saying, "Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grievously tormented." And Jesus saith to him: "I will come and heal him." And the centurion, making answer, said: "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth, and to another Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it."

And Jesus hearing this, marvelled; and said to them that followed him. "Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven: But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And Jesus said to the centurion: "Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee." And the servant was healed at the same hour.

Meat On Fridays

I'd like to ask my Catholic followers some questions.

Do you eat meat on Fridays?

If you do, do you make any other sacrifice instead?

Do you know that abstaining from eating meat on Fridays was never truly done away with?

Canon 1251
Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Before I converted it was explained to me like this: if you do not want to give up meat than you can give up something else that qualifies as a sacrifice.

Now the way I see it is, unless you have some sort of addiction, like smoking (all I can think of), then what could possibly replace abstaining from eating meat, and would you remember the alternate sacrifice every week? I believe you would have to pick ONE thing and do it every Friday, no changing week to week out of convenience, otherwise what's the point?

Some may think it's not that hard having meatless Fridays, and maybe once upon a time it wasn't, but nowadays it gets a little tricky, but that's where the word sacrifice comes in.

The act of not eating meat one day a week shows a great level of discipline and control, and I think even gratitude.

What is so wrong with making a small sacrifice for the BIG sacrifice HE made on Good Friday?

I would like to hear some feedback on this...

Why Wear Your Scapular?

Here's a post made by The Last Papist Standing about Purgatory and why you should wear your Brown Scapular, that everyone should read and pass along. It is a long post, so I'm just going to give you the link.

Please, please, click on the link & read it.


http://lastpapist.blogspot.com/2010/11/real-truth-about-purgatory.html

Q & A

From This Rock.

Q: "In a discussion with a non-Catholic, I pointed out that his beliefs were incorrect or unfounded according to Catholic Church teaching. He accused me of being judgmental. But failure or refusal to accept the truth could have eternal consequences. What constitutes being judgmental?"

A: "First, pointing out the truth is not judgmental. Here are a few more examples of what does not constitute being judgmental:

*It is not judgmental to make a moral appraisal of whether a person’s actions are sinful or whether the person is likely culpable for them.

*It is not judgmental to have a negative emotional reaction to what is objectively evil.

*It is not judgmental to bear in mind that a person you have forgiven has committed harmful actions in the past and may commit them again in the future.

One way to avoid being judgmental is to avoid making rash judgments.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way: "Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved" (CCC 2478, cf. St. Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises 22).

10 REASONS WHY...

Paul found this list on The Last Papist Standing, a blog he recently discovered. I knew I wanted to post it after I read #1, this is a topic we've dicussed a lot lately, and I totally agree...



10 REASONS WHY LIBERAL CATHOLICS ARE DOOMED

1. YOUR BASE OF SUPPORT IS DISAPPEARING

Those who welcomed and enforced the heresy and rupture foisted on the Church in the name of Vatican II are the very people who should have known better (and should have resisted). Catholics knew their faith much better two generations ago than they do today. Instead, the faithful in the pews surrendered because the “new church” told them whatever they wanted to hear. The trouble is, when you don’t have scripture and Sacred Tradition as backup, your agenda never lasts. How ironic that it is the young Catholics who are restoring what you have trashed.

2. YOUR BASE OF POWER IS DISAPPEARING

The bishops and cardinals who tolerated (and sometimes promoted) liturgical abuse, clerical abuse, “seamless garment” arguments for voting for pro-aborts, homosexual rights and other such rot are retiring, dying and getting out of the way. The Holy Father and his new prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Ouellet, are showing a marked preference for bishops who put truth and fidelity before politics. Then again, when your agenda is political and not God-centered, concepts like "power" and "authority" become much more important.

3. YOUR IDEAS ARE BAD

The portfolios of priests like Fr. Hans Kung, Fr. Richard Rohr, former Fr. Matthew Fox, former Fr. Leonardo Boff and others of their ilk have no credibility among educated Catholics (meaning Catholics educated in their faith). Their books don't sell and more and more bishops are showing them the door.

4. NO ONE IS INTERESTED IN YOUR CAUSES ANYMORE

Just come to any diocesan “social justice” forum or “stewardship retreat”, or better yet, look at the declining circulation of U.S. Catholic or the National Catholic Reporter. The majority of Catholics who need to see women ordained or long for a liberal pope who will bless homosexual unions have either died or had enough integrity to join the Episcopal church (or their local coven). These ideas don’t sell and young people find the whole thing to be a huge turn-off.

5. YOU HAVE SQUANDERED YOUR AUTHORITY

Instead of showing compassion to the people in the pews who had enough sense to read the Vatican II documents and question the huge ruptures you have pushed upon us, you’ve supported the wolves who have fleeced the sheep. Too many priests who were abusing young boys or pilfering the parish coffers were repeatedly transferred. Too many faithful Catholics who blew the whistle on the heresy taught in their parish have been demonized, and, in some cases, even punished with canonical sanctions. You hid behind your attorneys when devastated Catholics took you to court for letting your priests do horrible things to their sons. The authority of priests and bishops comes through the apostolic succession, yet many of your “shepherds” have despised the very source of their authority, all the while demanding blind, unquestioning submission to their own agenda of disobedience.

6. YOUR VERSION OF THE CHURCH HAS PRODUCED NO FRUIT

Where are your liberal saints? Where are your liberal vocations? Who has been a martyr or canonized for defying the Magisterium? The most liberal dioceses such as Honolulu, Los Angeles, Rochester and Rockville Centre have been almost vocationless for years. There is a proven method for drawing in vocations, but the liberals running the show would rather watch their local churches die than implement it, which leads us to number 7:

7. THE VERY CHURCH YOU HATE IS GROWING WHILE YOU WITHER

The fastest growing religious order in the world is the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, which ordains young men to exclusively offer the Traditional Latin Mass. The once-vilified Society of St. Pius X is not only back in the Catholic fold, but far outdrawing liberal parishes for Mass attendance in France. The fastest growing convent of women religious is Tennessee’s Nashville Dominicans, a very traditional group of young women who (gasp!) wear habits! The traditionally-minded bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Robert Finn, is Opus Dei, and so is Cardinal Mahony’s successor in Los Angeles, Archbishop Gomez. Summorum Pontificum has unleashed an explosion of Traditional Latin Masses worldwide. Most major dioceses now have at least one Latin Mass Parish. Meanwhile, we take collections every year to foot the bill for the dying liberals in retirement who abandoned their vows (but not their orders) to become social workers.

8. YOUR LEGACY IS A JOKE

Take a look at just about any church building built in the late 60’s or early 70’s: It’s like looking at a pet rock or a film about roller disco. Chances are, the leaders of the folk group at your parish who sway as they strum every Sunday are rotund and over 50 (minimum). Read the words to some of the “hymns” in the Glory and Praise songbooks, like “Anthem” ,“Sing a New Church” or “Gather Us In”. Pure drivel. Catholics can look back on any period of Church history with awe, except for the rupture period between 1970 and today. Many of us feel embarrassment at this whole mess and future generations are guaranteed to be laughing at you for your foolishness and hubris in believing that you could somehow create a “New Church” while attempting to destroy the one Jesus left us. No one else has been able to do it and you have already failed.

9. THE 70’S ARE OVER

They are so over. Deo Gratias.

10. YOUR SOULS ARE IN PERIL
FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE AND WHAT YOU’VE TRIED TO SELL US

You’ve ignored, slandered and mocked the last several popes. You have violated canon law. You've permitted and propagated liturgical abuses. You have enabled or looked the other way at horrendous abuses of authority by your bishops, priests, nuns, pastors and bureaucrats. You’ve lied to us that Catholics can support "choice" (abortion) while misleading us about social justice. Yet, you don’t believe in the sacrament of Confession. The proof is in your churches every Saturday afternoon, because almost no one is there, and you sure aren’t. Do you think attending a “Communal Penance Service” once or twice a year is enough to protect you? Especially when you have no intention of repenting?

No, no one is judging your soul, we're only taking a cold look at the odds. Proverbs 24:16 tells us that “a just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again; but the wicked shall fall down into evil.” If the faithful among us who are concerned about obeying God and the laws of His Church fall at least seven times a day, what do you think the odds are of you dying in a state of grace when you never darken the door of a confessional?

Let us pray that I am wrong about #10.

Then again, are you willing to bet your soul on it?