One Catholic Life Blog

Introduction the Devout Life

Prayer

St. Francis de Sales Video Meditation

St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life is one of my favorite spiritual classics.  If you’re looking for a good read this Lent, I highly recommend it, especially the ten meditations St. Francis provides.  At one time, I thought I would try adapting those ten meditations for today’s junior high students (age 10-15).  I even had the thought to turn them into videos for the iPod generation.  I’ve since had to put that idea on hold indefinitely, but here’s the first video I made, for what...

Return of the Prodigal Son

Prayer / Spirituality

A Prayer for the Beginning of Lent

O my all-merciful God and Lord, Jesus Christ, full of pity: Through Your great love You came down and became incarnate in order to save everyone. O Savior, I ask You to save me by Your grace! If You save anyone because of their works, that would not be grace but only reward of duty, but You are compassionate and full of mercy! You said, O my Christ, “Whoever believes in Me shall live and never die.” If then, faith in You saves the lost, then save me,...

Jesus

Spirituality

101 Practical Fasting Ideas for Lent Redux

[Note: This is an update of an article I wrote last year for Catholic School Chronicle] Fasting, praying and almsgiving are the three penitential practices that we are asked to engage in during Lent. In addition to fasting and abstaining with the rest of the Church on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, we are also challenged to make individual sacrifices appropriate to our own spiritual condition. However, before we choose something to give up for Lent, it’s important to assess our current spiritual state: What habits...

Fire

Theology

Understanding Hell in 7 Minutes

Like most people, my eighth graders struggle with trying to understand what hell is and how to avoid it. In the following video, Fr. Barron offers a clear and succinct explanation: Tip of the hat to Fr. Christensen of the White Around the Collar blog.

Uncle Charlie

Music

Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy

Today I rediscovered one of my favorite albums, Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy, by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.  I’ve loved NGDB since I was in my teens. One of my best high school memories is seeing them in concert at the Fox Theater in Billings, Montana in the early 1980s. It was a small venue, and I’ll never forget when two of my friends stood up on the theater seats to surf as the band played a Beach Boys tune. I haven’t heard the music on...

Father and Daughter

Family

Of Earrings and Aging

When my eleven-year-old daughter left the house yesterday to go to the mall she was still a little girl, but she came back a teenager. The lobes of her ears were pierced by ruby earrings. This is a new parenting landmark for me. I don’t think I like it. I liked it when she and her brothers and sister each learned to walk on their own; it meant my arms could start functioning normally again. I loved it when they all moved past the diaper stage; it meant...

Seat Belt PSA

Service

Powerful Seatbelt PSA

As I try out the site’s new look, I wanted to see what embedding a video looked like.  Here’s a great public service announcement:

Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft

Teaching

For Teachers of Students Who Don’t Ask Questions

While reading Peter Kreeft’s book, Socratic Logic, I came across this anecdote that all teachers will appreciate: There is a story that Aristotle, after one of his lectures, was disappointed that his students had no questions afterwards, so he said, “My lecture was about levels of intelligence in the universe, and I distinguished three such levels: gods, men, and brutes.  Men are distinguished from both gods and brutes by questioning, for the gods know too much to ask questions and the brutes know too little.  So if you...

Abandonment to Divine Providence

Books and Reading

My Favorite Reads of 2009

In reverse order, here are the best 10 books I read this year: Quest for the Living God by Elizabeth Johnson – an intelligently written survey of where modern theology is heading, for good or ill; I can tell that one reading of this book is not enough His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik – great mixture of history and fantasy Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza – hard to believe a genocide like this took place in my lifetime; with all its tragedy, still an uplifting testament...

Healing the Culture by Robert Spitzer, SJ

Books and Reading

The Top 10 Books I Read in 2008

These are the best books I read this year: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz – Fantastic thriller Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick – Great for junior high students Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life by Fr. Robert Spitzer – Grow spiritually in the midst of a busy life What’s So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D’Souza – Explains Christianity to modern skeptics Praying the Word: An Introduction to Lectio Divina by Enzo Bianchi – Learn how to pray with the Bible using this small but powerful book...

American Flag

Prayer / Spirituality

Veteran’s Day Prayer

I just received this Veteran’s Day Prayer in an email from Autom and thought it was worth sharing: Dear Heavenly Father, In every age, You call certain persons to defend the human family from oppression, tyranny, and evil. Since our founding as a nation “conceived in liberty,” countless American men and women have stepped forward to defend our country and many others from aggressors, and to liberate those held captive. Today we revere all our veterans: those who rest in honored glory, those who still suffer from the...

Rosary in hands

Prayer / Spirituality

The Perpetual Web Rosary

Pray the rosary with others around the world via the Perpetual Web Rosary from Catholics United for Life. When you visit the page, start praying the rosary wherever the last person left off, then click the rosary as you finish each prayer. Your prayers are added to the prayers of others.