Rachel Weeping for Her Children

The Joyful Mysteries of the rosary and the horrible experience of a bad marriage and an abortion detailed in the life of Jennifer here. Amy had blogged earlier last week a link to Jennifer's other experiences on her way back to her Catholic Faith.

Fr. Benedict with the Trappists

In Genesee, NY...

From the CFR Homepage:

I recently spent a beautiful week at Our Lady of the Genesee Abbey in Piffard, New York giving a retreat to the Trappist Community there. It was a beautiful experience. The chanting of the office, the silence of the monastery and the good cheer of the monks were all a shot in the arm, which I very much needed.



Of course this particular monastery was known for years for producing Monk’s bread. This used to be sold in the New York area, but the demand was so great in their own area that it’s no longer available in ours. One morning we were given a tour of the baking plant, which is clearly quite remarkable. It produces almost fifty thousand loaves of bread every week, all of them sealed in a beautiful plastic bag. There were complicated machines and huge caldrons of dough rising all over the place. Both the retired Abbott and the present Abbott could be seen working in the bakery. It is very encouraging to know that the Trappist life, which we all admire from a distance, is really going on and being lived in these difficult times. I asked the monks to pray fervently for the church, the bishops, the priests, deacons and seminarians and for religious orders. Some of the monks are on in years and are obviously great prayers. One of the monks, Father Thomas, is just approaching his hundredth year.

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The Daytona 505

Somehow this race is getting screwier and screwier!

Where exactly is the finish line now?

1. The race ending under caution use to revert back to the last completed lap, now we have to wait while scoring loops and video are reviewed to match exactly when the caution flag is thrown--which ultimately is up to NASCAR. If fans thought in the past certian drivers were being favored, this may ultimately prove to be a disaster for the sport.
2. Why throw the caution flag when the accident is on the back stretch or anywhere in the last five hundred feet of the race? Just let the drivers come to the finish line and finish the race. The Busch race yesterday was a total disaster on this count. Today wasn't much better. The flag was thrown when the car spinning was all by itself.
3. Good thing Tony Stewart thought aloud last week that someone might get killed, little did anyone suspect that he was the one who planned on doing the killing. I like Stewart, but I agree with Matt Kenseth that putting a driver to the back of the back on a restrictor plate race isn't punishment enough. Tony's drive below the yellow line to put Kenseth off the track should have got him parked for the day.
   
4. I've watched football games played in the fog, first time I've watched a NASCAR race on television that was almost impossible to see at times. Reminded me of the early 60's when a snowy picture set was the norm. Wonder what this looked like in high definition?
5. I used to like restrictor plate racing but it has gotten to the point with the endless rule changes that what you have now is not racing at all...they had that at one point and they lost it. Hopefully they'll go back to it at some point.
   
6. So in the end the car that cheated and had the crew chief suspended won the race. Why not suspend the car--who cares if the crew chief isn't there. Obviously didn't hurt them none, they went from last to first. Hope they were able to get the window fixed before it goes back through post race tech.
   

Fallen State of Man Requres a Savior

Pope Benedict's Angelus today...

From AsiaNews.it :

"Sin prevents humanity from “advancing swiftly” in brotherhood, justice, peace and holistic development. Even if all these values are upheld in “solemn statements”, there is something which “blocks the… journey”. In today’s Angelus, taking his queue from the gospel of today’s Mass (VII Sunday of Year B), which narrates how a paralytic was healed by Jesus, Benedict XVI said “only Jesus can truly heal” the sick man. “Man, paralysed by sin, needs God’s mercy, which Christ came to give him, so that healed in the heart, his entire existence can blossom once again,” said the pontiff.

“The paralytic is an image of each human being who is prevented by sin from moving freely, from walking in the path of righteousness, from giving his best. In effect, evil, nestling in the heart, ties man with straps of deceit, anger, envy and other sins, and little by little, paralyses him.”"

Good Day for Amy and Moi on Amazon's Top 100 Catholic Bestsellers

As of Saturday Evening (2/18/2006):

#5 The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You

#21 The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life

#41 Here. Now. A Catholic Guide to the Good Life.

#65 Loyola Kids Book of Saints (Loyola Kids)

#66 How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist


By the way #21 The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life is a Lenten Devotional (you can search inside the book, for a sample read "Day 14", Ash Wednesday is only a week and a half away!

Cardinal Karl Lehmann

From Yahoo News:

Cardinal Karl Lehmann delivers a speech during the traditional carnival award ceremony 'Wider den tierischen Ernst' (Against Deadly Seriousness) in the western German city of Aachen February 11, 2006. Friedrich Merz, former financial spokesman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), received this year's decoration 'Wider den tierischen Ernst', which is awarded every year to persons in public life showing humanity and a good sense of humour.

On 6/6/06-The Beast is Released?

Movie called The Beast is being released with great hoopla on 666...the premise of which is that a Christian high school student investigates the disappearance of her scripture scholar father who has "discovered" that Jesus never existed--no small feat, I might add. Christian fundamentalists are the enemy in this film. As someone has said it is the antitheseis of The Passion of the Christ.

You might want to arm your people with Amy's Prove It! Jesus (Prove It!).

For others I would suggest opening your Bible to John 6:66 and reading and reflecting on who the beast might really be.

On a side note, I remember a scripture scholar saying some years ago that the shroud of Turin couldn't be the true shroud of Jesus because (and I think you'll enjoy this) it matched the Gospel accounts to closely--anyone who has studied the bible at the graduate level will appreciate that and anyone who maintained their faith through the process won't agree with it.