News

While working on a teacher's guide for The Haunting (Ebram's Story: 1), I've restrained myself from placing a lot of emphasis on its religiosity due to the separation of church and state found in public schools. But now that the book has been awarded the Catholic Writers' Guild Seal of Approval, I'm revising it to emphasize its Catholicism and Christianity after all. Exhilarating...and humbling! :o)

May

May is the month of Mary, and a website with lots of information about the history and meaning of this special dedication and tribute to Our Lady is: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/months/05_1.cfm.  

Mary Gardens are a special way to honor Our Lady, and I found a picture of such a garden on this website: http://www.sjtbcc-vt.org/Mary's%20Garden.html.

Gospel Reading

In an excerpt from yesterday's gospel reading of Luke 24:13-35, two of Jesus' disciples invited him to stay with them and "...while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight."

A thought for reflection from Fr. Phillips' homily that followed the gospel reading is that "Jesus can walk through walls but not through hearts that are closed to him."

In our daily lives it's often difficult to focus on spiritual things due to other demands. But the more we let our spiritual life get pushed aside, the easier it becomes to ignore it altogether. Before long, serving ourselves becomes more important than serving God, sometimes with disastrous results in this life!

Let's always keep our hearts open to the Lord in praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and petition....It's simply a matter of the will.