Was Mary really an unwed mother?

By Barbara A. Schoeneberger

Espousal of Mary by Rafael

This past Sunday, we attended Mass at a nearby parish rather than driving a half hour to the Extraordinary Form Mass we normally attend because we were exhausted from the nine hour trip home on Saturday. The liturgical calendar called for the feast of the Holy Family and I was looking forward to hearing another great sermon by the pastor, but such was not to be.

Early on in his discussion of the Gospel he said, “Jesus was conceived outside of wedlock.” Then he proceeded to say that people looked down on Jesus and ridiculed Him because of this. The pastor could not have shocked me more if he had cast a bolt of lightening on my head. “Ay-yi-yi! Ach du lieber! Mama Mia! Merdre! Eheu! Aigoo! Good Grief!” If I knew the words for dismay in any more languages I’d write them here. Where do people get these cockamamie ideas? Especially a priest who was supposedly well-trained in Sacred Scripture in the seminary?

This is the second time in the past several months I’ve come across the “Mary was an unwed mother theme.” The first was when reading a supposedly Catholic book on families. What to do? When we got home I decided to research the subject so that I could write an informative and correct post and found an excellent article by Father Michael Griffin, O.C.D., in the EWTN library. St. Joseph: A Theological Introduction contained exactly what I was looking for, and could not have been a better source of meditation to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. If any of you have come across this particular error, I hope this post will help clear the confusion.


Finish reading at Barb's blog Suffering With Joy.

Ordinary Time... not so ordinary

By Robert Batch

Baptism of Jesus Stained glass by Willement
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Well, I have returned back to Steubenville, Ohio, and I must admit knowing that it is my last semester, makes everything seem very special in a way.  Even the ordinary things that one may not take as very “special”  I guess when you come to the last few months of being in a place that you have spent so much time in, and you see the end in sight you treasure those moments, hours, and days.

Today being the Baptism of The Lord, we not only celebrate the Lord’s Baptism, but as Catholics we also know that this will conclude the Christmas Season.  As we enter into the Ordinary Season, we must remember it is not a time where we become “lazy” in our faith, or complacent.  Rather it is through the ordinary days, and ordinary moments in our faith journey that we trust in the Lord more, and grow deeper in our faith.

A challenge that comes with being human, is dwelling on our faults and failures, especially when we don’t have festivities of Christmas season to distract us.  Let us remember on this this day of the Baptism of the Lord, Jesus walked into the waters not knowing sin, but bearing the weight of our sin.  He walked in the water not knowing death, but overcoming our spiritual death.  The Baptism of the Lord is a time to Rejoice in the Lord’s Mercy, love, and Truth.  As a body of Christ let us remember we create the Universal Church, who welcomes all sinners (even ourselves) to love, mercy, and truth.  



Continue reading at Robert's blog Love is Calling.

Finding the light at Epiphany

By Robert Batch

Adoration of the Magi by Bloemaert (photo: Wikimedia Commons)

On this day of the Epiphany we recognize the divinity, and the majesty of the Lord and Savior born unto us.  We all well know the story of the three kings-man, who come from the east to adore this new born king that  will forgive sins, and bring new life to all.  They followed a light of a shining star, through hundreds of miles of desert, not to mention – the conditions were not the best.

In the faith today, particularly in the Church there are two lights that we must seek out daily in our lives.  One would be the central light that is typically located above the Tabernacle.  This being a great reminder that Our Lord is truly present in the tabernacle.   It is a reminder that Christ is the way, and will guide us closer to our King who comes to us in the Eucharist, just like the wise man uses the star to guide them to the new born king.

Another light, that is often a tougher light to find, and in most parishes, there is a light above the confessional. The Lord desires mercy upon us.  He desires us to have life to the fullest.  (Jn 10:10)  The encounter one has in the confessional is one that is truly personal, and truly fulfilling.


Robert blogs at  Love is Calling.

Come and worship Christ, the newborn King!

By Heidi

The Wilton Dyptich (photo credit:
Wikimedia Commons).

This past November an Episcopalian priest was expressing his hesitation to celebrate the feast of Christ the King in an Omaha World Herald feature called “From the Pulpit”.  This priest felt that king was too much of a political term with too great a connection with oppression and exclusion.  To his mind this title obscured Christ more than it revealed Him.  He had alternative titles that he thought more relevant and worthy of a feast day; one being ( I kid you not) “Christ the Includer”.  Yes indeed, I can  feel the banality of that title suck the passion out of every deep yearning of my soul.  In one fell phrase this man reduced the great Christian narrative of the return of the King to restore His good creation to a platitude of inclusiveness. What small hopes we have, our hearts' desire is to be part of the crowd. 

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Don’t let your desires be reduced to platitudes, don’t let your hopes be tethered to worldly ideals.  Read the Infancy Narratives! Read of how God subverts the worldly narrative of Pax Romana under Caesar Augustus by sending the true King, who comes in quiet obscurity, without an army of men – but with a “multitude of heavenly hosts” .  Remember that throughout all history great worldly political leaders come and go, but the representative of the true King, the successor of Peter, is still here in the flesh.  And know that this King is not a distant impersonal King, he is the King who came to rescue me – ME -- Daydreamer and nobody that I am, and He is, in fact, what all my hopes and dreams are ultimately directed to!  And He came for you in the same way!  Ask Him to show you, trust that He will.

Continue reading at Journey to Wisdom.

I met Jesus, Mary, and Joseph yesterday

By Caroline

Joseph and Mary at the Inn by Rahl (photo credit:
Wikimedia Commons).

Homeless and Pregnant.

That was the sign she held in her hands; her blond hair blowing in the wind as if waving to me from the sidewalk of the busy neighborhood crossroad. Maybe I didn’t read it right, I thought..Maybe she’s advertising for the fast food place behind her. However, a second look as I waited at the light, confirmed what I’d first read.  The light turned green, but as I drove off I asked the Lord,

Now what? What do you want me to do?

Instantly, the grace came; probably fueled from thoughts of what I knew could happen to her if the wrong person stopped to help. As I changed lanes to make the U turn and head back around, I had two thoughts: if a report came on the news that night of a young pregnant girl kidnapped and harmed, I would be devastated and ..my law enforcement son is going to have a fit if he finds out.

My arrow prayer as I drove was,

Lord, if she’s still there, please help me to help her in Your name,

Taking only my phone, I parked the car behind the restaurant and walked over to where she stood.

Do you have a minute to chat? 
Sure, she answered.

Continue reading at Caroline's blog Bell of the Wanderer.

Are you listening to the white noise of life?

By Robert Batch

RCA 621TS Television Receiver (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

I was down at my cousins' house for the evening to celebrate their grandma’s 90th birthday!  I have to say that whenever the cousins get together it is always an…interesting time to say the least.  I say that with a very, very positive attitude!

As I was driving back home it was quite the ride.  For one, the weather is absolutely dreadful outside!  It has been raining all day, so it made it quite difficult to see what was going on, on the roads.  Plus, with the rain, it was interfering with the radio signal.  There are a few good stations around where I live – but one of my favorite ones is Star 99.1 – a Christian Radio Station.  Anyway, as I was scanning through the frequencies, I kept hitting the famous static “white noise”.  So now we have static white noise, and bad weather, it’s really not going so well!

You are probably thinking to yourself – wow, Robert is really on a tangent today.  Patience!!!

When I finally made it home I realized, there is something to be learned from the “white noise”, besides being patient.  There is something to be learned when we have “white noise” in our lives, on the radio, or the television or our cell phones when we have bad reception.  Distractions, media, the news, music, relationships. See, we get frustrated when we hear the white noise on the radio because we want to hear more noise!  I feel as though this can relate to our lives as Catholics as well.


Continue reading at Robert's blog  Love is Calling.

The glorious interruption of Christmas

By Nancy Shuman

The Ancient of Days by William Blake
(Wikimedia Commons).

This time of year can bring both blessing and hassle.  Holy meditations, carols, the contagious wonder of wide-eyed children...  these unwrap great blessings and usually great fun. 

For some of us, however, the activities of Christmas can feel like an intrusion.  Day to day life is more or less put on hold by an urgent need to shop and wrap and plan.  Chairs and tables are displaced by, of all things, a tree in the middle of our house. There is no time to do ordinary things, as everyday life is seriously disrupted for weeks on end.  It can seem like a major interruption.

A few years ago, the truth of it hit me.  This is what Christmas has been since the instant of the Incarnation: an interruption.  Please stay with me here, because our first reaction to the word “interruption” could be negative.  But interruptions are often quite positive, and this Interruption was the most positive of them all.

Think of it.  Mary was living a quiet, hidden life.   She was betrothed.   Then one day an angel appeared to her, and with that Holy Interruption Mary’s life was changed forever.  As was Joseph’s, as was yours, as was mine. 


Continue reading at Nancy's blog The Cloistered Heart.

Don't Stop Believin'--the magic of Christmas

By Lara

Christmas Comes But Once a Year by Charles Greene (Wikimedia Commons).

 


We all know Christmas is about an innocent baby born in a manger. But for me, what embodies the spirit of the season this year has to do with a 49-year-old man who will be getting out of prison this week.

I know that doesn’t make you all warm and fuzzy the way your footed pajamas and hot cocoa by the fire does.

I get that.

The birth of our Savior is the greatest story ever told, not to mention it has baby lambs in it too.  There’s no way I can compete with that.

Certainly, the man in prison is no Christ-child.

He is an addict.

He is an ordinary Joe.  Well, kind of anyway.

What I mean by ordinary is he made a mistake, and how much more ordinary can you get than making mistakes – it seems to be at the essence of our humanity.

I guess what is unique about his mistake, unlike so many of mine, is it landed him in prison.

Thirteen years ago Joe was arrested for buying cocaine for personal use, and was charged and sentenced as a trafficker.  His punishment was 20 years with no chance of parole.

Kind of harsh.
 
The world is full of addicts though. It seems everyone’s addicted to something — drugs, fame, possessions, power and oh, how I could go on.  So, Joe is kind of ordinary that way.

Joe is one of six boys whose family grew up next door to a dear friend of mine.  Their moms were best friends for 40 years.  Even the way my friend described her childhood, that Joe was so much a part of, was kind of ordinary.  They carpooled together, teased each other, and played with all the other kids until way past dark.


Read the rest at Lara' blog Mercy Me! I've got work to do.