Single Catholics don’t walk Lent alone
ATLANTA, GA (March 1, 2012) – More than just preparation for Holy Week and Easter Sunday, the 40 days of Lent also recall the period Jesus spent in the desert – alone and tempted by Satan – before He suffered, died and rose from the dead.
For various reasons, Catholics of all ages find themselves now making their own Lenten journey alone. They are widows/widowers, or divorced, or maybe they never married. The popular website CatholicMatch.com has published a Lenten guide that will enrich the season for anyone.
The Catholic Playbook: Lenten Reflections for Singles is available now from Amazon.com and from Catholic Word. It includes 40 reflections for Lent written by single Catholics, and each concludes with a prayer written by Fr. Gary Caster, a college chaplain who contributes to EWTN and Magnificat.
In one of those prayers, Fr. Caster writes, “Teach me your desert wisdom so that I can move through these 40 days more closely united to You and Your Father’s will.” All of the prayers provide meaningful insights into the reflections they accompany.
“This Lent, I encourage you who are single to focus on the stunning fact that the yearning you feel in your heart to find a human spouse is precisely the yearning which the Lord feels for you,” writes Most Rev. Kevin Rhoades, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Fort-Wayne-South Bend in Indiana.
“Lent is an ideal time for single Catholics to focus on growing closer to Christ,” said author/speaker Mary Beth Bonacci, “and this collection of meditations focused on our single state of life is an ideal way to do that.”
The Catholic Playbook is edited by CatholicMatch.com Editorial Director Christina Ries. In addition to Bishop Rhoades’ foreword, the reflections by single Catholics and Fr. Caster’s prayers, it also includes an epilogue by Theresa Notare of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for the Laity, Marriage, Family Life & Youth.
“We used the concept of a ‘playbook’ because we wanted this book to be quick, practical and relevant to your life,” said Ries. “This book is a road map for Catholic singles to use in experiencing the most powerful Lenten journey ever.”
She added that this is the inaugural edition of a series of Catholic Playbooks. “Our next one will focus on healing from divorce,” she explained. “We are making it super practical. It will deal with problems Catholic face, and offer solutions to those problems. Our goal is to finely tune all of the Catholic Playbooks to address issues that single Catholics wrestle with.”
After the playbook on healing from divorce, Ries says other volumes in the series will focus on online dating for Catholics; discerning a vocation; dating and relationships; and being a single parent.
Fr. Malachi Martin: Possession and Exorcism are Real
Ted Adamson, author of the newly released addiction memoir "Up From Down" (Westbow Press), says possession and exorcism are real.
"Part of the reason I wrote this book was to help people wake up to what we are dealing with," said Adamson, a member of AA and NA for 35 years.
The book contains a never before released letter from Father Malachi Martin, a Catholic exorcist and advisor to three Popes. In the letter Father Martin says, "Possession can occur as a result of alcoholism and drug addiction. It opens a doorway to the soul." Link: www.upfromdown.info/evil.htm
"It's about time we as a society acknowledge the existence of evil," said Adamson.
The book contains an awakening where Adamson realizes he had become possessed. "You don't necessarily need an exorcist to get rid of a demon, although there are cases where they can be helpful," says Adamson. "God can and does extend grace thru prayer and meditation. That is what my book is all about. And something that most of the drug and alcohol counselors don't even understand."
Adamson suffered from a 14 year addiction to drugs and has been clean for 35 years.
"This (Up From Down) is a transparent revelation of the jail and rehab and court system abuses as well and an examination of all the aspects of treatment for addiction. And this information is worth knowing and certainly worth reading about in the words of Ted Adamson"-- Grady Harp, top 10 reviewer at Amazon.com
Up From Down is available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and most major outlets. Also from the author's website:www.upfromdown.info
This book will appeal to anyone with an addict or alcoholic in their family who are looking for real answers and not the usual pablum. Ted Adamson is available for print or radio interviews.
More books on this topic.
This treasury of prayers, now released on Kindle, will help you go to the Lord with courage and pray to receive God's grace.
Sometimes, the Pope said of prayers and devotions, one goes to the Lord "to ask something for someone;" one asks for a favor and then goes away. "But that," he warned, "is not prayer," because if "you want the Lord to bestow a grace, you have to go with courage and do what Abraham did, with that sort of tenacity."
This comprehensive treasury of Catholic prayer includes everyday prayers, devotionals, how to pray the rosary, litanies, the Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic prayers, prayers to prepare for confession, prayers to the saints, Marian prayers, family prayers, and more.
More books on this topic.
This treasury of prayers, now released on Kindle, will help you go to the Lord with courage and pray to receive God's grace.
Sometimes, the Pope said of prayers and devotions, one goes to the Lord "to ask something for someone;" one asks for a favor and then goes away. "But that," he warned, "is not prayer," because if "you want the Lord to bestow a grace, you have to go with courage and do what Abraham did, with that sort of tenacity."
This comprehensive treasury of Catholic prayer includes everyday prayers, devotionals, how to pray the rosary, litanies, the Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic prayers, prayers to prepare for confession, prayers to the saints, Marian prayers, family prayers, and more.
Must-Have Apps for Catholics
Read books. Watch a movie. Play games. Compose music. What you can do with your iPad is almost limitless. According to the iPad’s official page, there are now more 65,000 apps for the 9.7-inch iOS device. As if that’s not enough, developers from all over the world submit more apps every single day. The more apps I install on my iPad, the more I am convinced that there is indeed an app for almost anything. More from Fr. Stephen.
iMissal Catholic Bible App (approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB): iMissal offers a full liturgical calendar, daily Mass readings, the Order of the Mass, Mass videos from CatholicTV.com, unique Bible verses for every day of the year . . . and more.
Prayer 2000+ Catholic Prayers by DivineOffice.org: 2000+ Catholic prayers in English, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, French. Multilanguage Christian Prayers database. The ultimate reference to Catholic Prayers for your iPhone and iPod Touch!
iRosary This app makes it easier to find that difficult time to pray during your busy day.
Short Prayers - Helping you pray throughout the day with these short prayers.
This treasury of prayers, now released on Kindle, will help you go to the Lord with courage and pray to receive God's grace.
Sometimes, the Pope said of prayers and devotions, one goes to the Lord "to ask something for someone;" one asks for a favor and then goes away. "But that," he warned, "is not prayer," because if "you want the Lord to bestow a grace, you have to go with courage and do what Abraham did, with that sort of tenacity."
This comprehensive treasury of Catholic prayer includes everyday prayers, devotionals, how to pray the rosary, litanies, the Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic prayers, prayers to prepare for confession, prayers to the saints, Marian prayers, family prayers, and more.
More Great Apps
Divine Office - Audio Prayer - Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Catholic Church: Described as "an audio and text version of the official set of daily prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Catholic Church (Breviary). It wirelessly downloads several days of prayers at a time, without the need for iTunes synchronization or access to a computer."iMissal Catholic Bible App (approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB): iMissal offers a full liturgical calendar, daily Mass readings, the Order of the Mass, Mass videos from CatholicTV.com, unique Bible verses for every day of the year . . . and more.
Prayer 2000+ Catholic Prayers by DivineOffice.org: 2000+ Catholic prayers in English, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, French. Multilanguage Christian Prayers database. The ultimate reference to Catholic Prayers for your iPhone and iPod Touch!
iRosary This app makes it easier to find that difficult time to pray during your busy day.
Short Prayers - Helping you pray throughout the day with these short prayers.
Even More Great Apps
The most popular and most comprehensive free Catholic App . Daily Mass Readings (with Saint of the Day and Reflections). Liturgy of Hours, New American Bible, interactive Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Latin Rosary, Stations of the Cross, searchable prayers and latin prayers with English translation.This treasury of prayers, now released on Kindle, will help you go to the Lord with courage and pray to receive God's grace.
Sometimes, the Pope said of prayers and devotions, one goes to the Lord "to ask something for someone;" one asks for a favor and then goes away. "But that," he warned, "is not prayer," because if "you want the Lord to bestow a grace, you have to go with courage and do what Abraham did, with that sort of tenacity."
This comprehensive treasury of Catholic prayer includes everyday prayers, devotionals, how to pray the rosary, litanies, the Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic prayers, prayers to prepare for confession, prayers to the saints, Marian prayers, family prayers, and more.
Kreeft Captures Crowd at Franciscan University
Dr. Peter Kreeft stood before an audience so large it threatened to
cause Franciscan University’s Christ the King Chapel to burst at the
seams.
Kreeft’s November 17 lecture, “How to Win the Culture War: A Christian Battle Plan for a Society in Crisis,” drew hundreds of Franciscan students, faculty, and guests to hear the Boston College philosophy professor—who has published over 63 books—speak on the fate of the Church.
Kreeft used a seven-letter acronym, PHONEYS, to highlight society’s biggest problems—Politicization, Happy talk, Organizationalism, Neoworship, Egalitarianism, Yuppiedom, and Spirituality. With deadpan humor and a collection of “Kreeft-isms,” he explained the challenges they present to the Church.
Beginning with politicization, Kreeft described the tendency Americans have to confuse politics for religion. He drew awareness to the trend of defining oneself by politics instead of religion, saying, “We have persuaded many of them to judge their faith by the standard of ‘political correctness’ rather than vice versa.”
Kreeft’s principle of happy talk raised the ante on the average ignorance-is-bliss mentality. He pointed out that Catholics must first return to being Catholic, and correct their own practices before projecting to non-Catholics. “Catholics abort, contracept, sodomize, fornicate, divorce, and sexually abuse,” he said, “at almost exactly the same rate as non-Catholics. Amid this devastation, keep them happy talking. Keep them saying ‘Peace, Peace,’ when there is no peace." He wants Catholics to take responsibility for their behavior, make a conscious effort to change it, and to acknowledge that blame can't be placed entirely on the secular world.
Kreeft also stated that Catholics suffer from organizationalism, causing them to regard everything—including the Church—as business ventures. This is especially bad, he noted, because people have lost sight of the role of the Church, and instead focused on the goals of business. “They must worship success, not sanctity," he said, "and fear failure, not sin."
Describing society's misguided translation of egalitarianism, Kreeft pointed out that “sexism” has persuaded men and women to perceive each other as equal, when they should instead be considered beautifully inferior to each other. He believes in the importance of regarding men and women as separate and unequal, and in acknowledging the positive impact of the differences that define each. According to Kreeft, society's deterioration of egalitarianism fosters “the difference between the beauty of black and the beauty of white reduced to a boring grey.”
Regarding his final topic—yuppiedom—Kreeft described a generation that prides itself on not being prideful, saying, “Let them feel superior about not feeling superior, judgmental about not being judgmental.”
During the question-and-answer portion of the evening, Kreeft told of the time he took a Muslim student to Mass; the student later asked Kreeft questions about what he had seen. A discussion about the Eucharist—a concept the Catholic educator assumed his Muslim pupil wouldn’t comprehend—became an eye-opening situation when the student’s repeated question, "Do you really believe that the wafer is the body of your God?" led Kreeft to say, “Yes, I really believe that I am consuming the body of Christ. Do you find that impossible to understand?”
Kreeft was left in awe by the Muslim’s response: His struggle was not in comprehending that Catholics thought they were ingesting God. An understanding of how they didn’t fall to their knees, unable to return to their feet after receiving communion, however, eluded him.
Ending his lecture with a short phrase that holds the potential to defeat the culture war, Kreeft said, “Simply put, be real. Don’t be a PHONEY. Be a saint.”
Kreeft’s November 17 lecture, “How to Win the Culture War: A Christian Battle Plan for a Society in Crisis,” drew hundreds of Franciscan students, faculty, and guests to hear the Boston College philosophy professor—who has published over 63 books—speak on the fate of the Church.
Kreeft used a seven-letter acronym, PHONEYS, to highlight society’s biggest problems—Politicization, Happy talk, Organizationalism, Neoworship, Egalitarianism, Yuppiedom, and Spirituality. With deadpan humor and a collection of “Kreeft-isms,” he explained the challenges they present to the Church.
Beginning with politicization, Kreeft described the tendency Americans have to confuse politics for religion. He drew awareness to the trend of defining oneself by politics instead of religion, saying, “We have persuaded many of them to judge their faith by the standard of ‘political correctness’ rather than vice versa.”
Kreeft’s principle of happy talk raised the ante on the average ignorance-is-bliss mentality. He pointed out that Catholics must first return to being Catholic, and correct their own practices before projecting to non-Catholics. “Catholics abort, contracept, sodomize, fornicate, divorce, and sexually abuse,” he said, “at almost exactly the same rate as non-Catholics. Amid this devastation, keep them happy talking. Keep them saying ‘Peace, Peace,’ when there is no peace." He wants Catholics to take responsibility for their behavior, make a conscious effort to change it, and to acknowledge that blame can't be placed entirely on the secular world.
Kreeft also stated that Catholics suffer from organizationalism, causing them to regard everything—including the Church—as business ventures. This is especially bad, he noted, because people have lost sight of the role of the Church, and instead focused on the goals of business. “They must worship success, not sanctity," he said, "and fear failure, not sin."
Describing society's misguided translation of egalitarianism, Kreeft pointed out that “sexism” has persuaded men and women to perceive each other as equal, when they should instead be considered beautifully inferior to each other. He believes in the importance of regarding men and women as separate and unequal, and in acknowledging the positive impact of the differences that define each. According to Kreeft, society's deterioration of egalitarianism fosters “the difference between the beauty of black and the beauty of white reduced to a boring grey.”
Regarding his final topic—yuppiedom—Kreeft described a generation that prides itself on not being prideful, saying, “Let them feel superior about not feeling superior, judgmental about not being judgmental.”
During the question-and-answer portion of the evening, Kreeft told of the time he took a Muslim student to Mass; the student later asked Kreeft questions about what he had seen. A discussion about the Eucharist—a concept the Catholic educator assumed his Muslim pupil wouldn’t comprehend—became an eye-opening situation when the student’s repeated question, "Do you really believe that the wafer is the body of your God?" led Kreeft to say, “Yes, I really believe that I am consuming the body of Christ. Do you find that impossible to understand?”
Kreeft was left in awe by the Muslim’s response: His struggle was not in comprehending that Catholics thought they were ingesting God. An understanding of how they didn’t fall to their knees, unable to return to their feet after receiving communion, however, eluded him.
Ending his lecture with a short phrase that holds the potential to defeat the culture war, Kreeft said, “Simply put, be real. Don’t be a PHONEY. Be a saint.”
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