The Hour Is Late

This article at CatholicExchange.com is food for thought. I've seen similar writings that confirm what is said here.

The Hour Is Late

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Happy New Year

Reading this blog was a great way to begin 2009:

The Raving Atheist Becomes The Raving Theist

Apparently he plans to tell his conversion story at a later day. I can hardly wait!

Christmas Gifts For Catholic Shoppers

I'm on a search to make Christmas shopping and gift-giving special, to never forget why we, as Catholics, celebrate December 25. As I come up with ideas I will blog about them.

A gift I will be giving this year is the gift of rosaries, though they are not just any rosary. I make them myself. In the process of making a rosary, I pray for the person who will be receiving it. Generally I pray twice on each bead. Then, when the rosary is finished, I say a complete rosary for the person.

It's hard to know who benefits the most. The person receiving it has been prayed for, and I benefit greatly from the additional prayer time.

There are two companies that I do most of my ordering from, though I am open to suggestions for other companies. For now, I often use The Rosary Shop. They have a site that is easy to navigate, and as you add parts you can see what the rosary will look like. They also offer other items for sale, such as prayer kneelers, books, and scapulars. You can, of course, buy pre-made rosaries from this site, too.

If it's your first time, this is one of the better sites for walking you through everything you need. The directions are easy to follow, and shipment is prompt.

Another site I order from is Lewis and Company. They have a couple of centerpieces and crucifixes that are just so beautiful I can't resist them. They also offer quality products, reasonably prices, and prompt shipment. The website offers a nice section for those who want to make a business out of making rosaries.

I highly recommend either site for rosary-making supplies and instruction.

Rosaries can be highly personalized because of the assortment of beads, crosses, and centerpieces. For example, when I made my dad's rosary (my first one!) I used blue beads because that was my Mom's favorite color, and he is still grieving. I used a centerpiece that depicted the Sorrowful Mother because Mom's name is Dolores. I used a triple crucifix as a symbol of his grief.

I pray that the rosary takes him from grief to acceptance.

For myself, I used a centerpiece of Jesus carrying the cross and a pardon crucifix. My priest has taught me just how special the crucifix is, so this was appropriate for me.

If any of you have other good sources of supplies, let me know. For myself, I find that making a rosary for others is one more way to spend more time in prayer.

Gratitude

Today my priest talked about the link between gratitude and happiness. Later today I found similar sentiments at Catholic.org.

This year I have a lot to be grateful for. On the top of my gratitude list (not counting God, of course) is the people in my life. Some are family and friends; some are people who don't really know me, but have been in some aspect of my life and have made a difference.

I am most grateful, though, for the ability to attend Mass each day. I started doing this during Lent. At first I was going to go one weekday per week, but then I remembered I had a similar plan in 2007. It didn't work because I kept forgetting to go. I knew that to make it a habit, I'd have to go every day.

I didn't stop after Lent. Mass is now an essential part of my life. The best part is that it's changed me. I have so much to improve in so many areas of my life, yet life is different now.

It's too difficult tonight to detail all the changes. If you've read other writings of mine you know I have had struggles with disbelief, and that is still a part of my life. Yet even with this, there have been numerous blessings. One of the side effects of daily Mass has been my ability to see the blessings that have come with my doubts.

Maybe one day I will discuss this more thoroughly. For now, it's late and I'm tired, and if I take much longer to finish this blog, it will no longer be Thanksgiving Day.

I hope that you know the delights of gratitude. For those who don't know the difference daily Mass can make, I encourage you to find out by your own personal experience. It's been life-changing for me.

Philip Johnson

I haven't posted for awhile for a variety of reasons. I hope that I'm back more regularly now.

Tonight I came across a blog that stays in my mind. It's written by a young man, Lt. Philip Gerard Johnson, who has recently been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

His faith humbles me. It's also something I strive for.

I found his blog through InsideCatholic.com. This is a man destined to inspire all of us and hopefully persuade us to more fully walk with Jesus. If you only have time for one blog, this is the one to follow.

You can read it at In Caritate Non Ficta.

I'll be cross-referencing this at my other blog, Can I Change A Life? because this is a man who will likely bring a lot of us closer to God.

I can't think of any greater way to live.

For Unhappy Doubters

If you have read earlier posts, you know that the last decade has been filled with life-changing doubts for me. At the time the downward spiral began I thought there were good reasons for my lack of faith, but I was wrong and those reasons no longer exist. The best I can say is that I seem to have lost the ability to believe in the supernatural. Despite the best Lent of my life, I battle these doubts every single day.

Yet the blessings that have come from it are enormous.

I frequently pray to be what God wants me to be. As I mentioned in a previous post, I can be a little slow at times. I was talking to a friend a couple of nights ago when I realized that maybe these doubts are an answer to that prayer. Maybe I am exactly where God wants me to be.

Within an hour of discussing that with him, I found this at InsideCatholic.com. While it doesn't address doubts, it's a great article about the blessings of certain journeys. Much of it resonated with me. It felt like a confirmation of the conversation my friend and I had shared.

The following evening I was at Mass. The Gospel was the famous one about Jesus walking on water. Father took the opportunity to give a homily on doubts. I wish I had recorded it. Everything he said made an impact.

I need to remember that the important thing is to continue to be as obedient to God as I can, even through my darkest times. It gives me great comfort to realize that Peter was lacking even as he watched his Lord walking on water.

If he found it difficult even in the best of situations and could still become the man he did, I have hope...lots of hope.

Who Mourns?

While we were in Chicago last week, we had the opportunity to attend the musical Wicked. My daughter has seen it before and loved it so much she wanted to see it with us. She was right. It was well worth seeing.

The opening song is No One Mourns the Wicked. Here are some of the lyrics:

No one mourns the Wicked!
Now at last, she's dead and gone!
Now at last, there's joy throughout the land
And Goodness knows
We know what Goodness is
Goodness knows
The Wicked die alone

My immediate thought on hearing those words was, "but Someone mourns the wicked!" I could not help but think of God's grief over those who deliberately turn away from Him. I think of those I love, especially my daughter, and how completely devastating it would be to lose their love.

Yet God loves in a way we can't even comprehend. Does He also grieve in a way we can't comprehend?