I Was Glad

to hear our pastor speak about sexuality, the Church's teachings, the catechism, and scripture in Sunday's homily. I'm glad he had the backbone to stand up for the truth.

The church doesn't make up things just for the fun of it. Teachings are based on scripture and reflection.

No human life is an accident. It's God's will that each and every one of us was conceived. It's not funny, Father G. said, when parents say a child was an accident or an oops. The child doesn't think it's funny to be referred to as an accident.

Our sexuality was created so we may create life in a loving commitment (marriage). That's what the priest said.

I got to thinking that there is something in Catholic marriage vows about lovingly and accepting any children. So why do people think they can carefully plan their family just so?

I see my pastor's role as one who shepherds us through that narrow gate. Other people complain about him for nitpicky reasons. He can't please everyone in a parish of thousands of people. He can be and is a spiritual leader.

I hope he speaks The Truth more often than not because truth is important than winning a popularity contest.

Settled. Learning the Hard Way, Holy Spirit

Legal/Financial Update: After much prayer and negotiations between lawyers, we came to an agreement. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I am grateful that it was settled. Without a settlement, things could be much, much worse for me.  Thank you, God. Thank you to those who prayed for me.

DON'T EVER, EVER, EVER USE A CHARGE CARD FOR CONSUMERS GOODS YOU ARE BUYING TO FILL THE EMPTY HOLE INSIDE YOUR SOUL OR TO RAISE YOUR SELF ESTEEM OR BECAUSE YOU ARE ANGRY AT THE WORLD OR ANGRY AT GOD. THAT IS A MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR MISTAKE I MADE OVER A DECADE AGO AND AM LITERALLY PAYING FOR NOW. I don't use charge cards anymore. And I'm unemployed. Believe me, I learned my lesson is a very difficult way. Debt will enslave you. It will follow you around. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I see the way out. And I'll have a lawyer bill to pay.

Anybody want to share a lesson you learned the very hard way?

Angry Liberal Lady in Bible Study does not want to listen or read logic or reason or me. I think she has deep seated anger from something in the past, probably something I don't know about. I think deep underneath that anger towards me, towards those of us who are more conservative leaning, towards the Church, towards the Bishops is a BIG HURT. Hmm. maybe something related to her divorce from long ago? I don't know. I am just speculating. Something draws her to Mass, to her ministries, to the Church, to Bible Study. Guess this is a big job for the Holy Spirit (I'm very into the Holy Spirit at the moment). I must have received graces because I'm not really angry at her even though she was very rude to me.

If I need to do or say something to help make this situation better, then I trust God will reveal it to me in someway. If I did something wrong, then sooner or later, God will let me know somehow. He always has in the past.

Our Bible Study needs peace. We need St. Paul to write us a letter. "A Reading from the Letter to the Midwesterners." Well, we can just continue to read the Bible. Notice how human conditions and behaviors stay the same over the centuries? Only the names have changed.

I think I'm into the Holy Spirit because I had to go to that Confirmation Mass. Isn't that how it always works: you go to serve and end up receiving? I was reminded of the Holy Spirit, and how He has our back.

I was unable to go to Freedom Rally in the Big City yesterday because I had to meet with the lawyer.

Yawn. Time to end this post.

I Said Yes, Now I'm Making Stew

Right now a healthy stew is simmering on my stove top. It may not seem odd to you, but it is to me because I rarely cook. One blessing of being single is that I don't have to cook if I don't feel like it. Being a single adult means that if I want a hot fudge sundae for dinner, I can have one. This not cooking may also be why I'm single. Anyway, I'm not the best cook. Bad things have happened in my kitchen and to my stomach. Sometimes things come out okay. I'm hoping that's the case with the stew.

I'm making it for a family in crisis. They belong to my parish, and another parish member lines up people to care and cook for them. How could I say no? The wife/mom has cancer, and the family eats a "cancer diet." So after an internet search, I found an easy to make stew from some kind of cancer food website. Hopefully, it meets all the requirements. Hopefully it will taste good when it's done cooking. 


Dear Lord, please add any ingredients that I may have missed even though I read the recipe. Dear Lord, please let this stew be tasty, comforting, and nourishing for this family especially for the patient. Dear Lord, you know cooking is not my speciality so I hope you are in the kitchen right now. Please God, this is an important mission, and I want to do well. Amen.

The Next Big Day - Part II, MLK, Jr., Daily Devotional

Valentine's Day is named after St. Valentine.
Read about it here: St. Valentine

Boy, I am getting lazy by just adding links and making you go to them instead of summarizing the information in my blog. Maybe it's because I recently learned how to add links.

Yesterday was the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. My take-away from the MLK, Jr. holiday is to look inside a person's heart. Remember God loves every single one of us, no matter where our ancestors came from.

Well, I don't have any deep thoughts today. You may be thinking I never have any deep thoughts.

I am happy that today I found my little daily devotional book that I rec'd free from my parish because I'm a communion minister. The little book is Living Faith.

I'd love to read your comments. Hint, hint.

Baptism

Attended Mass at a different parish today due to logistics with the baptism. The church is round and the interior is brick with every third brick or so being a colored glass brick. The colored glass bricks were lit from behind, so it had the look of stain glass, but it wasn't. Well, after a while I expected the church to start spinning around and then lift off for its home planet.

There were four babies and one little girl being baptized, and all the
little siblings and cousins were very well behaved. Families and their children remained quiet in their pews when another baby and family were up at the Baptism fount. Everyone was actually respectful and clapped after each family completed the baptismal rite. This multi-children baptismal was refreshing because I’ve attended many baptisms where children ran around like crazy dogs and the adults chattered among their selves with no regard to the holiness of the event. I was impressed.