To the editor:
One of our most precious gifts is the gift of love, which we give to people and animals. We want all to enjoy life on earth.
We can go to jail or pay a fine for torturing and killing animals, even before they are born or hatched, like an eagle egg.
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In John 3:16 it says, “For God so loved the world that God gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but have might have eternal life.”
Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote, “Out of love for us, the mighty hands that created the sun, moon, and stars became so tiny that they could not reach up to touch the noses of the oxen who tried to warm him with their hayed breath.”
Deeply moved by the infant Jesus, St. Thérèse of Lisieux asked, “Why should we fear God who became a tiny baby?”
During this holiday season, St. Mary’s Hospital is inviting community members to remember and honor their loved ones, friends, and neighbors through the St. Mary’s Lights of Love Program.
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| Andy Galvin |
In conjunction with the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia this past September, the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis of the Diocese of Madison is providing a monthly series on a particular theme on marriage and family. Each theme is a chapter in the preparatory catechesis developed for the event entitled Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive, available in paperback from www.osvparish.com or for free online at www.worldmeeting2015.org
Q I am concerned about my mother. She is in her early 80s and has enjoyed relatively good health.
She has a little arthritis but does not let that stop her from doing most everything she wants to do.
Since my father died several years ago, she has been living in an apartment complex for older adults. She has friends and seems to enjoy many of the social activities offered by the apartment management.
My concern is that lately when I visit she seems sad. For lack of a better term, she seems to have lost her “spark.”
I tried to talk to her about the upcoming holidays and she said we could discuss it later. This is a woman who used to begin Christmas shopping in July! I ask her what is going on but she dismisses the question.
I don’t know how to help her. Do you have any ideas? (From a daughter in Dodgeville)
Q I am concerned about my mother. She is in her early 80s and has enjoyed relatively good health.
She has a little arthritis but does not let that stop her from doing most everything she wants to do.
Since my father died several years ago, she has been living in an apartment complex for older adults. She has friends and seems to enjoy many of the social activities offered by the apartment management.
My concern is that lately when I visit she seems sad. For lack of a better term, she seems to have lost her “spark.”
I tried to talk to her about the upcoming holidays and she said we could discuss it later. This is a woman who used to begin Christmas shopping in July! I ask her what is going on but she dismisses the question.
I don’t know how to help her. Do you have any ideas? (From a daughter in Dodgeville)
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| Morgan Smith |
I am reflecting now about how I felt on a weekend when I was facilitating a retreat that I had crafted from scratch (if you could imagine the stress this might cause). I feel like what happened to me sounds a bit crazy, the opposite of what “should” have happened.
I left the weekend at a physical deficit after I put in countless hours of work. What’s crazy is that I am more spiritually fulfilled than ever before. I left the weekend a changed person.
Editor’s note: During this Year of Consecrated Life, this is the eighth in a series based on the Second Vatican Council’s document, Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life) written by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, former abbot primate of the Benedictine order who now resides in Madison.
In this commentary on the Decree of the Second Vatican Council, On the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life (Perfectae Caritatis), we have been reflecting on how the council fathers envisioned a deep renewal of what the Church calls “the Consecrated Life.”
Number 12 of the decree speaks of one of the evangelical counsels, chastity, as at the core of that life.
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| Beth Ulaszek |
In response to the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia this past September, the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis of the Diocese of Madison is providing a monthly series on a particular theme on marriage and family. Each theme is a chapter in the preparatory catechesis developed for the event entitled Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive, available in paperback from www.osvparish.com or for free online at www.worldmeeting2015.org
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Having just returned from a week covering Pope Francis’ triumphant journey to the United States, I can confidently tell you that the news media are in love with the Vicar of Christ.
Time and again, commentators, pundits, anchorpersons, and editorialists opined that Pope Francis is the bomb.
