Update

This is just a quick note to say that we are all still here and trying to keep up with the rapidly dwindling summer.  Work has been oppressingly busy for me which is why this blog is presently so neglected.  Once I come up for air, I will update with some recent summer pictures and other tidbits.  St. Therese Parish sermons should begin receiving regular postings as well come September.

Until then, God Bless you and enjoy the weather!

Saint Lawrence of Brindisi

He was Italian and a Capuchin with great teaching, writing, and leadership abilities. His writings include a commentary on Genesis, several treatises against Luther, and nine volumes of sermons. He preached in many regions of Europe and died in Lisbon.

-Joseph Hickman

Saint Margret of Antioch

"Saint Michael, when he came to me, told me that Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret would come to me and that I should act by their advice, that they were bidden to lead me in what I had to do and that I should
believe in what they would say to me and that it was by God's order." Saint Joan of Arc speaking at her trial

-Joseph Hickman

Saint Vincent de Paul

Well done, good and faithful servant; because you have been faithful over a few things, I will place you over many things, enter into the joy of the Lord.

-Joseph Hickman

Too Many Notes

One of my favorite scenes from the film Amadeus (a film loosely based on Mozart's life with quite a few liberties). Have you ever been involved in a conversation where the air, thick with fatuous words, sprung a thought like "too many notes"?

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Feast of St. Bonaventure

St. Bonaventure asks men of every age to recognize the presence of God in his own earthly existence, because only from this vantage point can the temptations of hedonism, desacralization and secularism be conquered.

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Without God the words “liberty and progress” remain but dreams.

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St. Bonaventure, like St. Francis, understood the unique value of God, who loves His creatures and in loving them created them In their turn, creatures, recognizing the life they have received from Him, are put in motion towards an exchange of love with Him that shall never end. The more one knows God, the more one can love Him. For this St. Bonaventure studied God in His creatures, in the Scriptures, on the Cross, in the life of St. Francis and in his own; and he did this not for love of knowledge, but to put into practice into his own life, his motto: “I do not wish to know Thee, except to love Thee:” and “I shall study Thee solely to love Thee!” - courtesy in illo tempore

The Life and Places of Our Beloved St. Therese

Catching Up on Pictures - Sophia's Birthday

Catching Up on Pictures - Coq Au Vin

For the Feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus, Leslie made a classic Coq Au Vin (Chicken with Wine) ala Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking.  The dish is quite a production and just about everyone got into the act.  The results were magnificent!

The Sign of the Cross - Our Glory

A single gesture [distinguishes] the Catholic, it is the sign of the Cross: in a single gesture, all of what theologians call the principal mysteries.  Press two fingers on the thumb--three Persons in one nature of God; fold the other two fingers into the palm--two natures in one Person of Christ; then trace upon yourself, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Christ's sacrifice, which is the sign because it says: I commit myself to that death.  Catholics do not trace the decent of the Dove upon themselves, or the Star of Hope, or any other sign.  As St. Paul said,

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world. *

And then he adds these mysterious words to which not very much attention is paid except by saints--by St. Francis of Assisi, for example- who understood them.

From henceforth let no man be troublesome to me for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body.*

*Gal 6:14-17
Text: Dr. John Senior from the death of Christian Culture

Happy Birthday, Sophia (Pia) Alma

The Petite Firecracker from God

May God grant mercy and peace to the soul of David Martin, a 10-year-old mennonite boy tragically killed in an ATV accident a few days ago. He comes from a beautiful family whose local store we patronize. Please pray for them.

Peter Is Here

Happy Feast of Junipero Serra

Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

Devotion to the Precious Blood is not a spiritual option, it is a spiritual obligation, and that not only for priests, but for every follower of Christ. I really believe that one of the symptoms of modern society (and I would even include, sadly, modern Catholic society) one of the symptoms of a growing, gnawing secularism is the lessening and the weakening of devotion to the Precious Blood. Devotion, as we know, is a composite of three elements: It is first- veneration, it is secondly- invocation, and it is thirdly- imitation. In other words, devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain, is first of all to be veneration on our part, which is a composite of knowledge, love and adoration. We are to study to come to a deeper understanding of what those two casual words, Precious Blood, really mean.


I found this passage in the oldest document, outside of sacred scripture, from the first century of the Christian era – to be exact, from Pope St. Clement I, dated about 96 A.D. Says Pope Clement: "Let us fix our gaze on the Blood of Christ and realize how truly precious It is, seeing that it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of conversion to the whole world."

To understand the meaning of the Precious Blood we must get some comprehension of the gravity of sin, of the awfulness of offending God, because it required the Blood of the Son of God to forgive that sin. We are living in an age in which to sin has become fashionable.

This veneration of the Precious Blood, which is the first element in our devotion to the Precious Blood means that we have a deep sensitivity to the awfulness of sin. Sin must be terrible. It must be awful. It must be the most dreadful thing in the universe. Why? Because it cost the living God in human form the shedding of His Blood.

Lord Jesus, You became Man in order by your Passion and Death and the draining of your Blood on the Cross, might prove to us how much You, our God, love us. Protect us, dear Jesus, from ever running away from the sight of blood. Strengthen our weak human wills so that we will not only not run away from the cross, but welcome every opportunity to shed our blood in spirit in union with your Precious Blood, so that, dying to ourselves in time we might live with You in Eternity. Amen

Excerpted from The Precious Blood of Christ, Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.