Musings

Oct. 22 is the Feast of Blessed JPII. Let’s make a prayer to him and ask his help to encourage our youth to become more involved with their faith, for he had a strong connection with the youth while he was with us.

“Without God, man ultimately chooses selfishness over solidarity and love, material things over values, having over being.” Pope Benedict XVI, at the Marian shrine of Loreto. How very true.

From Our Sunday Visitor: “Praise for Noble Prize – The awarding of this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka, two pioneers of adult stem-cell research, has been praised by Catholics. The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community said the award should encourage institutions to switch funding from embryonic stem-cell research to adult stem-cell research.” Yes, let’s leave the little ones alone, they need not give up their lives to harvest their stem-cells for research.

Movie recommendation: October Baby. Loved it. A baby having survived an abortion attempt is adopted. As a teenager, when she learns the truth and that she is adopted she searches for her natural mother. I won’t say anything else about it. Hope you will watch it. Good story, well done.

Book recommendation: Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly. I thought it was great. So much so I bought several copies to hand out to friends. I still have a few left. Let me know if you would like one. My parish, St. Stephens passed our CDs on the same subject awhile back which led me to get the book. You can learn more at DynamicCatholic.com.

Year of Faith: Have you thought about doing anything for the Year of Faith? We are affected by the secular society and godlessness all around us, don’t think we are not. Have you sat down and thought about you faith and your relationship with the Lord? I would like to make one suggestion here. For a little while put aside the black and white printed words and the memorized prayers and have a little conversation with Jesus, not as Lord, but as friend. Tell Him what is on your mind, what is troubling you. Perhaps, take a little walk doing this, see Jesus walking next to you and just talk to him. No, people won’t think you’re crazy talking to yourself – they can’t tell the difference anyway with so many people talking on the phone using blue tooth or ear phones. Even better, sit for some time, face to face, with Jesus before the Blessed Sacrament.

Lastly, I’m sure we have all decided by now who we are going to vote for. This election is so very important to us as Catholics. So first do vote. That is our responsibility as a citizens and now more so as Catholics. Try to find out who it is you are voting for. Do they reflect our morals and values?

Blessings to all!