Please Pray for Jonah's Mom
Posted by Danielle Bean in Faith on Monday, October 24, 2011
In today’s Coffee Talk discussion, a mom named Ashley shared a link to her heartbreaking story of the unexpected death of her infant son Jonah last week.
I know the faithful community of moms here will not fail to hold this family—and especially his mom Ashley—in prayer during this time of mourning. Jonah is in good hands, but his grieving family needs our love and support.
“I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord.”
—Psalm 121
Eternal Rest
Posted by Robyn Lee in Faith on Thursday, September 01, 2011
Recently my family received some very shocking news. My younger cousin died suddenly at the age of 22. I can’t tell you the amount of sadness that we all felt at such a young death.
It is tragedies like this, that make one question whether our God is good.
Why God? Why so young? Is there anything I could have done? Why didn’t you take my life instead? Are you in control?
But it is tragedies like... READ MORE
The Quality Of Mercy
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Friday, May 20, 2011
A neighbor passed along a prayer request from a college classmate.
That’s not so unusual, except that this request is from a mom on behalf of the gang members who killed her son while on a cocaine bender.
Read this: I think you’ll be moved.
On May 14th three years ago, this young woman endured a mom’s nightmare:
I was walking to the store pulling my two and a half year old son in a wagon, carrying... READ MORE
Have You Pre-Planned?
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Just me on Friday, March 25, 2011
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Yesterday, we said goodbye to my grandfather at his funeral mass and burial. Today, my Daddy and I took a “driving tour” of my parents’ hometown (and my birthplace), Fort Wayne, Indiana.
We drove past my both my mom and dad’s childhood homes, their elementary schools and parishes, and also visited my maternal grandparents’ grave sites. Our final stop was at my grandpa’s grave, where his body now rests... READ MORE
Saying Goodbye to Our Bishop
Posted by Lisa Hendey in News on Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Rebecca kindly requested your prayers last week for my bishop, Bishop John T. Steinbock of the Diocese of Fresno. Bishop Steinbock passed away early Sunday morning, surrounded by family and friends. In his final months, he continued to fulfill his role as spiritual shepherd to all of us in the diocese, even as he battled terminal lung cancer.
I’m sharing my favorite photo of Bishop here, taken last... READ MORE
Think Happy, Live Longer
Posted by Arwen Mosher in News on Thursday, November 18, 2010
Do optimists live longer?
According to some very preliminary research, it appears they might. This article has the details.
The team that did the study made it clear that this could be a correlative rather than a causal relationship: “Pessimistic people may be more prone to developing habits and problems that cut life short, such as smoking, obesity and hypertension.”
I know very little about medicine... READ MORE
Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them
Posted by Danielle Bean in Faith on Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Today is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day). And it is also the beginning of a particularly fruitful time of year to gain a plenary indulgence for souls in purgatory.
“An indulgence, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. The indulgence is plenary each day from... READ MORE
An Easy Church To Die In
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Wednesday, October 06, 2010
I attended the funeral of an old friend yesterday.
He died with the sacraments, and by all accounts seems to have found in the approach of death a peace and joy that eluded him in life, which is great consolation.
But I wasn’t envying the priest who would have to give a homily at such a funeral.
My friend’s survivors seem to have difficult relations with the Church, some of them almost certainly... READ MORE
Mr. Molla Passes
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Pietro Molla, husband of St. Gianna Beretta, passed away Holy Saturday.
His pastor expects that Pietro, too, will soon have his cause for canonization introduced.
Holiness is meant to be the ordinary condition of Christians.
St. Gianna’s canonization is a sign for us of that, since in a certain respect she was just like any of us: a working wife and mother, muddling through her days, and finally having to bear a heavy cross, but trying to be a faithful disciple through it all.
It should be normal, yet somehow this tangible reminder of a saint who isn’t out of the distant past but a contemporary—her husband just passed away!—catches me by surprise.
Do you have the same reaction?
The Passion on Good Friday
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Every Good Friday after the liturgy, my dad watches Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ. Some of my family members always watch it with him.
I am never one of them. I saw the movie in the theater during Holy Week the year it came out, and I’m glad I did, but I haven’t watched it since then.
There are a couple reasons for this. First of all, I’m a very visual person and I have a near-photographic... READ MORE
