“Love is never something ready made, something merely ‘given’ to man and woman, it is always at the same time a ‘task’ which they are set. Love should be seen as something which in a sense never ‘is’ but is always only ‘becoming’, and what it becomes depends up on the contribution of both persons and the depth of their commitment.”
- Blessed John Paul II, Love and Responsibility

Catholicism is the promise of love, of God on bended knee wedding humanity and binding himself to us now and forever “beyond the walls of this world.” This is the only story where love, real crazy “I give you everything I have, imperfectly but forever till death do us part” makes sense.

 This Means War

G.K. Chesterton once responded to the question “what is wrong with the world” with the simple answer “I am.”

The single greatest problem in the Christian religion is me. It’s my sin. The public scandals are terrible, don’t get me wrong. Every public scandal, however, begins somewhere with personal, often times private, sins...

If you're going to roll as an atheist, roll old school. This is also known as "Living Out Your Premise to Their Logical Conclusions", or "Bertrand Russell Was Wrong, Empty, andDepressing, but Definitely Not Lame."
-If not for the end, let's pray for the return of atheism with teeth and sharp edges. Take a hint Richard Dawkins.

"That man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins -- all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built."
- Bertrand Russell, 18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970

-Jeff Cavins

Let's put a little different "pop" into your step today!

We must make a distinction between fasting and dieting. Archbishop Fulton Sheen pointed out that "materially, there is no difference, for a person can lose twenty pounds one way as well as the other. The difference is in the intention. The Christian fasts not for the sake of the body, but for the sake of the soul; the pagan fasts not for the sake of the soul, but for the sake of the body." 

We do not fast from food or drink because we think it is evil, but to make the body pliable in the hands of the soul. Today, rather than drink pop (for Minnesotans) or soda (for the rest of y'all), yearn for the Spirit of God in your life. Jesus said, "Whosever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him shall not thirst forever" (John 4:13-14).

Today, give up pop, like Mt. Dew, and Dew the Sermon on the Mt. It's a Lent Thing! Twitter #Lent4JC

  Tired of inconsistent fires and strange textures? Can't seem to make just the right smudge mark on your forehead? Still trying to live down the fire of '08? Don't spend another year with the inconvenience of "doing it yourself" ashes! Come to Mass at 7pm at St Mary's Swartz Creek and get your pre-made ashes! Our priests guarantee their enunciation of "remember of man, that you are dust..." and artistic quality crosses! As a bonus, if you arrive today, we'll throw in Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist! A priceless gift for your soul as it journey's through Lent! Act Now!

A Great Article and response to the pro-choice argument of  "well, it's a women's body..."

"Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who said that a woman has a right to have an abortion because it’s her body? This is one of the most common ‘defenses’ of the pro-choice position; so more than likely, you’ve heard it.

- Read the full article at lifeteen.com