Sunday, Dec 31 - Love and Family

1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28
Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son, and called him Samuel, “since”, she said, “I asked the Lord for him.”
When a year had gone by, the husband Elkanah went up again with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow. Hannah, [...]

Snap!

Catholic Writings is happy to be included in the 10 percent of WordPress blogs to have the Snap function for testing. Simply hover your mouse cursor over a link in the blog (I don’t think I have that many… anywhere in this blog, to see a preview of what the link points to.

Saturday, Dec 30 - Love vs Lust

1 John 2:12-17
I am writing to you, my own children,
whose sins have already been forgiven through his name;
I am writing to you, fathers,
who have come to know the one
who has existed since the beginning;
I am writing to you, young men,
who have already overcome the Evil One;
I have written to you children,
because you already know [...]

Friday, Dec 29 - Light and Darkness

29 Dec - Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas
Night and Day
Anonymous

Late one night the Teacher sat around a blazing fire with a small number of disciples. Their conversation was broken by periods of silence when they gazed at the stars or stared into the glowing embers. Suddenly the Teacher posed a question: [...]

In memory of those who have been killed…

Pornography leads to masturbation…
Masturbation leads to contraception…
Contraception leads to abortion…
Abortion leads to euthanasia… (and breast cancer)
Euthanasia leads to infanticide…

Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocents, and we remember the many aborted babies whose lives have been sacrificed to preserve the material status quo of their parents, societies, and governments. Let us continue to [...]

Thursday, Dec 28 - Knowledge of sinfulness

1 John 1:5 - 2:2
This is what we have heard from Jesus Christ,
and the message that we are announcing to you:
God is light; there is no darkness in him at all.
If we say that we are in union with God
while we are living in darkness,
we are lying because we are not living the truth.
But if [...]

How do you know when morning is coming?

Many years ago Bertrand Russell, the English philosopher and mathematician, was imprisoned for opposing World War I. “When I reported to the warder,” Russell said, “he asked me the customary questions - name, age, place of residence. Then he inquired, “Religious affiliation?”
Russell replied, “Agnostic.”
The poor man looked up. “How do you spell that?” [...]

Refiner and purifier

Malachi 3:3 says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”
 
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
 
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group [...]

Wednesday, Dec 27 - Seeing God in the ordinary

1 John 1:1-4
Something which has existed since the beginning,
that we have heard,
and we have seen with our own eyes;
that we have watched
and touched with our hands:
the Word, who is life -
this is our subject.
That life was made visible:
we saw it and we are giving our testimony,
telling you of the eternal life
which was with the Father [...]

Tuesday, Dec 26 - Reality of Christianity

Acts of the Apostles 6:8-10, 7:54-59
Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and [...]