Teach your kids mental prayer

What is your goal for your children's education? Academic prowess? Love of learning? Knowledge of Church doctrine? All these are good, but a contemplative homeschool seeks something more. My goal is to help my children have a deep prayer life, which leads them to union with God. You too can teach your children to practice mental prayer, whether you homeschool or send your kids to a Catholic, or even public, school.

Read more.

Some Are Still Gestating a Respect for Personhood

Sign from a March for Life demonstrator

 This week marked the 40th Anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade which open the floodgates across America for abortion on demand. Associate Justice Harry Blackman mooted some state anti-abortion laws in his 1973 majority opinion under the guise of an unwritten “right to privacy” that was contained in penumbras and emanations of the bill of rights as applied to states via the Fourteenth Amendment. This vague and confusing “logic” was the legal modus operandi for the judicial branch to legislate from the bench by imposing progressive moral sensibilities as "choices".

Nellie Gray

 Pro-Life protesters have demonstrated in our Nation’s Capitol every year around that January 22nd anniversary to protest this perceived injustice to the unborn.  This is the first year that the March for Life has been held without Nellie Gray, who died last August at the age of 88.  Gray was an accomplished attorney for the Federal Government who was so appalled by the Roe v. Wade decision that she walked away from her career (and took a small pension) to dedicate her life to standing for life by organizing the Marches for Life.




Although scheduling conflicts precluded my participation in this year's March for Life, organizers estimated at least 500,000 people participated despite the bitter cold and the afternoon onset of snow which makes District of Calamity denizens deranged.

View of crowd from the 40th March for Life, Washington, DC January 25, 2013

Yet you would never know it by the elite liberal media reports (a.k.a. the Lamestream Media).  The sea of humanity marching for the sanctity of human life, from conception to natural death, is minimized while the dozen of counter-protesters insisting that abortion is not murder are given equal time. And the media is quick to cite an outlier poll which "proves" their point that people do not think that abortion is murder.





  READ MORE reflections on the March for Life at at DCBarroco.com

10 reasons Catholics should read the Bible

 

1. The Bible is the Church's book.

The Bible was written by men of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church, by the same Spirit, determined which books to include in the official Canon. The Bible tells our family story, from Creation through the early Church, with some previews of what's to come.

2. The Church urges us to read the Bible.

Really. The stereotype of the Catholic Church suppressing Bible reading is false, a misreading of history. Vatican II included an entire constitution, Dei Verbum, on the Bible. "The Church 'forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn "the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ," by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #133, quoting Dei Verbum and Philippians 3:8).

Continue reading.


I'm Connie Rossini, and I'm a homeschool mom, writer, and blogger. I believe the best way to keep our kids Catholic and to educate them in the faith is modeling prayer and virtue for them. I write a lot (about half my posts) about how you can grow closer to Christ. As a former member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS), I write from a Carmelite
perspective.

Pro-life fiction for every age group

Do you need new ideas for immersing yourself in the culture of life? You and your family can enjoy fiction that promotes the value of every human being. Here are four books  I particularly recommend. Two focus on the beginning of life, two on the sick and disabled.

All ages: Angel in the Waters by Regina Doman

I used this book to announce my last 2 pregnancies to our boys.

Beautiful illustrations by Ben Hatke accompany Doman's lyrical text about a baby in utero and his guardian angel. Echoes of the creation story and John's Gospel delight the ear. "In the beginning, I was," the story starts. And later, "Sometimes it was dark, and sometimes it was less dark." (See the parallel with Genesis 1?)

The story details a conversation between the baby and the angel that continues into infancy. The baby complains that the world outside the womb is too big and cold. His angel replies, "It is very big, but you will grow big. It will feel better and warmer when you are bigger. But there is another, bigger world outside this one. Someday I will take you there." This nearly repeats the words he spoke before the child's birth. The message: the child in the womb is on a journey to another world, like the rest of us.

If your children read this often enough, they may not need any other instruction to see the beauty of an unborn baby.

Read about my other 3 picks.

I'm Connie Rossini, and I'm a homeschool mom, writer, and blogger. I believe the best way to keep our kids Catholic and to educate them in the faith is modeling prayer and virtue for them. I write a lot (about half my posts) about how you can grow closer to Christ. As a former member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS), I write from a Carmelite perspective.

                                         HOMOPHOBIC

Voice any negative opinion about the homosexual agenda and you will be labeled as being homophobic and  you hate gays.

Practicing Catholics do not fear or hate homosexuals.  Our faith holds we are all children of the same God and called to love one another.

However we believe in a final judgment, resulting in either an eternity of joy or one of suffering.  Holding these beliefs, what should our response be when someone we care about is engaging in conduct that could endanger  his or her soul?  The question is not limited to homosexuals.  It is a challenge to people of faith when those they love are engaged in cohabiting, adultery, dishonesty, abortion or stopping the practice of their faith.  Do we try to dissuade him or her from what they are doing or ignore it to avoid confrontation? By ignoring it and allowing it to continue are we not offering a silent approval?  Then our own conscience is challenged, are we condoning sinful conduct and perhaps putting the soul of someone we love at risk of eternal punishment.

We can hate the sin and love the sinner, fear what the sin can cause, not the person. We can judge an act as being  sinful but never that a person is culpable or guilty of sin in the eyes of God.  Only God determines guilt or innocence and  reward or punishment.

Yours in Christ   John Moreno   www.thelaypreacher.com 

                                              The Power of the Sacrament of Confession

I had a solid education in the teaching of the Catholic Church by the Sisters in my grammar school.  Still, in my late teens I left the practice of my faith and stayed away for over twenty years.  The account of my return and how my life was changed in a Confessional is evidence of the power of the Sacrament.

Read about my journey back at  www.thelaypreacher.com
Yours in Christ
John Moreno

Start your prayer with this image

Are you tired of your prayer being a shopping list read to God? Are you yearning for something more meaningful?

Read how this image can help you at Contemplative Homeschool.

I'm Connie Rossini, and I'm a homeschool mom, writer, and blogger. I believe the best way to keep our kids Catholic and to educate them in the faith is modeling prayer and virtue for them. I write a lot (about half my posts) about how you can grow closer to Christ. As a former member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS), I write from a Carmelite perspective.

Evangelization

                                               THE CREED OF THE ATHEIST

At each Sunday Mass Catholics recite the Creed, it is our statement of what we believe.  I wondered what kind of creed would an atheist recite,  It might sound something like this.
                                            I believe there was and is no creator or God
                                            All that we see and are happened by chance.
                                            There is no heaven or hell.
                                             No eternal reward for being good or punishment for being bad.
                                             Death ends all consciousness forever
                                             Our loved ones who have died have been annihilated.
                                             Our hope, joy, love and goodness are for this world only,
                                             for whatever time we have.

Imagine going through life believing the creed of the atheist.  I saw a young man wearing a T shirt that had written on the back.  "It is not that life is so short, it is that we are dead for so long."  What kind of person does that produce. 

Our faith makes this life better.

Yours in Christ
John Moreno

Visit me on my website  www.thelaypreacher.com   or blog site  www.lay-apostle.com

Domestic monastery: living by the bell

 

I had never heard the term "domestic monastery" until Jennifer Fulwiler recently blogged about it.We already strive to have a contemplative home, focused on mental prayer and meditating on the Scriptures. Now I am trying to bring home the rhythm and discipline a domestic monastery connotes.Our first step is to imitate the monastery bell's call to prayer throughout the day.

Read the specifics at http://contemplativehomeschool.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/domestic-monastery-living-by-the-bell/.

I'm Connie Rossini, and I'm a homeschool mom, writer, and blogger. I believe the best way to keep our kids Catholic and to educate them in the faith is modeling prayer and virtue for them. I write a lot (about half my posts) about how you can grow closer to Christ. As a former member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS), I write from a Carmelite perspective.

This is my first blog under this program.  I am a retired New York City Police Lieutenant, married for 61 years, I have three daughters, five grandchildren and recently blessed with my first great grandchild.  While in the police department I attended St, John's University earning a B.A. in theology and an M.A. in Catholic Doctrine.  Upon retiring from the department I joined the staff of the Bishop Molloy Retreat House, run by the Passionist Community.  I served there for 13 years.  I have written two books, "A Spirituality for Police Officers," and "Evolution Atheism Culture."   I founded and still run,  Catholic Lay Preachers.

My focus now is in the need for all Catholics to get involved in evangelization. My blogs will, hopefully, address the need and offer helpful suggestions.  I wrote an eight page guide under the mantle of becoming a lay preacher, reaching out to one soul at a time.  I offer it free with an E/Mail request at laypreach@optimum.net

Yours in Christ
John Moreno     

Some Reflections from the Epiphany

Three Kings came riding from far away,

Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar;

Three Wise Men out of the East were they,

And they travelled by night and they slept by day,

For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.

The star was so beautiful, large and clear,

That all the other stars of the sky

Became a white mist in the atmosphere,

And by this they knew that the coming was near

Of the Prince foretold in the prophecy.

Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows,

Three caskets of gold with golden keys;

Their robes were of crimson silk with rows

Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows,

Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees.

And so the Three Kings rode into the West,

Through the dusk of the night, over hill and dell,

And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast,

And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,

With the people they met at some wayside well.

"Of the child that is born," said Baltasar,

"Good people, I pray you, tell us the news;

For we in the East have seen his star,

And have ridden fast, and have ridden far,

To find and worship the King of the Jews."

And the people answered, "You ask in vain;

We know of no King but Herod the Great!"

They thought the Wise Men were men insane,

As they spurred their horses across the plain,

Like riders in haste, who cannot wait.

And when they came to Jerusalem,

Herod the Great, who had heard this thing,

Sent for the Wise Men and questioned them;

And said, "Go down unto Bethlehem,

And bring me tidings of this new king."

So they rode away; and the star stood still,

The only one in the grey of morn;

Yes, it stopped --it stood still of its own free will,

Right over Bethlehem on the hill,

The city of David, where Christ was born.

And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the guard,

Through the silent street, till their horses turned

And neighed as they entered the great inn-yard;

But the windows were closed, and the doors were barred,

And only a light in the stable burned.

And cradled there in the scented hay,

In the air made sweet by the breath of kine,

The little child in the manger lay,

The child, that would be king one day

Of a kingdom not human, but divine.

His mother Mary of Nazareth

Sat watching beside his place of rest,

Watching the even flow of his breath,

For the joy of life and the terror of death

Were mingled together in her breast.

They laid their offerings at his feet:

The gold was their tribute to a King,

The frankincense, with its odor sweet,

Was for the Priest, the Paraclete,

The myrrh for the body's burying.

And the mother wondered and bowed her head,

And sat as still as a statue of stone,

Her heart was troubled yet comforted,

Remembering what the Angel had said

Of an endless reign and of David's throne.

Then the Kings rode out of the city gate,

With a clatter of hoofs in proud array;

But they went not back to Herod the Great,

For they knew his malice and feared his hate,

And returned to their homes by another way.

    ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

h/t:  Randy Bish