Monday, November 15, 2010

Awakening, A review.

"Awakening" is a book by Claudia Cangilla McAdam. The book is published by Imagio/Catholic Fiction, which is the fiction division of Sophia Institute Press. Sophia Institute Press publishes quality Catholic books. Calaudia Cangilla McAdam writes children's books. I would not have purchased this book if I had seen it in a bookstore. The cover reminds of those Christian almost romance novels for young girls that I see in bookstores. This book is probably written for teen and pre-teen groups of young people. It is not the type of book I read. Sophia Institute sent me a free copy to review. I thought, "why not", I have yet to be disappointed with one of their books. I started the book Saturday morning, it was a rainy day, and finished it Sunday evening. It was not a long read. I enjoyed the book. A young person, Ronni, is transported to Jerusalem, the Wednesday after Palm Sunday. Her friends and relatives are followers of Jesus. She is able to see historic events unfolding before her eyes. It is a very interesting book. It made me think of those events and to wonder how I would have reacted if I were able to go back in time. It is a good read and I would recommend the book.Sophia Institute Press sent me a complimentary copy of this book for me to review.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

A review of "Bleeder"

I recently read "Bleeder", a mystery novel by John Desjarlais. It is Catholic fiction. It was published by Imagio, which is a fiction division of Sophia Institute Press. In the past I have always been well pleased with any of the books I have purchased from Sophia Institute Press. "Bleeder" was not an exception to this rule. The author is John Desjarlais. This is his third book. The first two were "Relics" and "The Throne of Tara". "Bleeder" is a murder mystery with a mostly Catholic setting. Most of the characters were Catholic, except the main character, Reed Stubblefield. Reed is recovering from a shooting at a college, where he is a professor, and uses MAO inhibitors for depression, which cause him to have a restricted diet. He moves to his brother's cabin in the woods near a small town to write a book while he is recovering from the shooting, and the death of his wife by cancer. The local town has a priest with a reputation for being a healer and a stigmatist. The priest is murdered and Reed is the prime suspect, the story is his investigation of the murder to try to clear his name. "Bleeder" is a good book. I do not write reviews with spoilers. I am glad I read it. I will watch for his future works. Aristotle is quoted many times, and I am now interested in reading Aristotle's works. Sophia Institute Press sent me a complimentary copy of this book for me to review.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Journey of Faith

I recently read "The Journey of Faith" by Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R., (Franiscan Friars of the Renewal. I have been inspired by every book, I have read by Fr. Groeschel, and "The Journey of Faith" is no exception. I think it is a good book. I especially liked Appendix B, Credo of the People of God, Proclaimed by His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, on June 30, 1968. It is like a mini-catechism of the Catholic Church. I plan to print it and keep it in my bible for frequent reference.

The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are a fine example for any Christian, Catholic or not, and are doing a great work in the service of our Lord. This is spam, pure and simple, but please send them a donation of any amount, because you can be sure the money will be going towards forwarding the Lord's work in this vale of tears.

Send your donation to:

Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R.
Box 55
Larchmont, NY 10538

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Peace be with you.

Marquis

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The Journey of Faith - How to Deepen Your Faith in and be sure to check out their great selection of baptism gifts while you are there.

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Saturday, August 7, 2010

Tonight I finished reading "Hitler, the War, and the Pope" by Ronald J. Rychlak. Since World War II, there are claims that Pope Pius XII worked with or helped the Nazis. I doubted this the first time I heard it. Now after reading the book, I am very certain, that those who claim Pius XII was a Nazi sympathizer are liars. Mr. Rychlak has written a very good book with solid evidence that Pius XII was a good and holy man. This book should be in every Catholic library, public or private. When I was reading the book, I was amazed at the attention to detail. "Hitler, the War, and the Pope" is a very good history of those dark and evil days. Pius XII was a very impressive human who when faced with evil stepped forward, and has given everyone an example of good, right, and holy behavior. Pius XII was indeed worthy of the title, "Holy Father".

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Hitler, the War, and Pope, Revised and Expanded and be sure to check out their great selection of Mary statues while you are there.

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http://www.catholiccompany.com/Hitler-War-Pope-Revised-Expanded-p1111435/

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Memorial Day

Taking a lazy day off. It was fifth Sunday at Siloam Baptist Church, there was an excellent potluck. My selections were pinto beans, spaghetti, baked potatoes with cheese, a chocolate brownie, and two chocolate chip cookies. All were cooked by people who knew what they were doing. You cannot buy food that good in a restaurant.
The new study guide came in, it will be for 1, 2 Corinthians. I have two sets of commentaries, one is the Daily Study Bible by Barclay and the other is the Navarre Bible Commentary, I hope to immerse in all things Corinthian. June will start next Tuesday. Time to reflect on my resolutions for June. Earlier this week because of my very sinful nature, as a penance, I have chosen to not read any secular books. I dearly love to read Science Fiction and Alternate History. I hope to read mainly the Holy Scriptures, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and holy books, but mainly concentrating on the Bible and the Catechism.
All Veterans need to be respected and honored. Thank someone for having served or for serving.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Friday before Pentecost

Sunday evening I will change Easter to Ordinary time. This Easter season, I was able to pray Morning prayer more than ever before. Usually I let the Liturgy of the Hours lag, and then when Easter comes, I dust that book off, and begin to pray. After a few weeks of flipping, my personal laziness and confusion about the order of the prayers, I quit. I have been blessed with more helps than I have had in the past. I use three sources, http://www.stfrancisdesales.com/, http://www.liturgyofthehours.org/, and http://www.classicalliberalarts.com/. The first has a weekly guide you may print. The second has a monthly guide for Morning and Evening prayer. Classical Liberal Arts offers an opportunity to sign up for a weekly email with a printable guide for all the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours for a week. Another handy site is http://divineoffice.org/. They offer many helps for the Divine Office. There is a site I really like, www.ebreviary.com. If you can afford their modest fee, their subscription is worth every cent. I used to download a weeks worth of prayers and load it on my bebook book reader, it worked great, but I dropped it, and it will be a while before I can send it back for repairs. I highly reccomend the four volume set, buy it even if you have to hock something to get it. If the four volume set is beyond your means, at least buy Christian Prayer, it has Morning and Evening Prayer. I think all Catholics should start praying the Liturgy of the Hours. It won't be easy but it will be worth it.

Peace

Marquis

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Saturday May 15, 2010

I plan to start reading the Introduction to the Devout Life with others at this site, http://thedevoutlife.blogspot.com/, there is a study guide to download. I look forward to the reading and studying. I read the first chapter earlier this week and I have major room for improvement. I try very hard to be holy and pious, then I look back and reflect and realize that I have been headblind. Hopefully this reading will help that flaw.
The Catawba trees are blooming here. When I was young my grandfather Fate would pick the caterpillars from the Catawba trees to use as fish bait. He would put them in fruit jars with leaves and keep them in the icebox. The worms in the cool would go dormant. I remember many times opening the icebox for a glass of tea, and seeing a jar full of worms. The trees in my yard do not have the "Catawba worms". A neighbor a few miles from here, was selling Catawba worms for bait. I was tempted to buy some to put on my trees, but decided not to, that would be messing with the natural way of things, and I wouldn't want to start a mini-ecological disaster. I am not certain, but I think the Catawba trees are named for an Indian tribe that was wiped out by the diseases the Europeans brought to America. The good Lord willing, I hope to take a few photos of the blossoms and post them.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Reading The Introduction to the Devout Life

Ok, trying again, let us see if it works this time.


I plan to try to read the Introduction to the Devout Life.

I am so new at this link posting and blogging.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter Resolutions

Here are my Easter resolutions:

1. Pray the Divine Office more often.
2. Pray the Rosary daily.
3. Start praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet.
4. Try to sanctify work. ("Friends of God" by St. Josemaria Escriva)
5. Learn more about love.

Peace Marquis

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Musings

I was reading a real blog, the blogger was a young lady, she is in a remote area of Haiti, a volunteer, working with the Sisters of Charity. I have a confession to make. I admire her. Instead of just thinking, she is doing. May the Lord richly bless her.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Reflections

Since Ash Wednesday, I have been trying to pray the Morning and Evening prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. It comes as a surprise to me. This Lent, I decided to not make any grand intentions, I thought I would find something small and not significant to do. It is like coming home. I find a joy in it, that I never knew before. I have had a copy of the four volume set for quite a few years. Once every year, I will dust it off, and try the prayers. This time, I started without any pressure to perform. Could it mean I am maturing in my golden years? The good Lord only knows. If you have ever thought about praying the Divine Office, I say do so. Even one prayer a day, but start somewhere. You will be glad you did.

Peace

Marquis

Sunday, January 31, 2010

A nice sunny day.


It is a nice sunny day. The temperature is about 40 deg f. I am still happy that the big storm of last week passed to the north. There is plenty of water on the ground, we need a few days of sun to dry everything out, I am beginning to get antsy about starting yardwork. Our worst winter days are yet to come, in February and March. I saw one of our cats, Bijou, looking out the window, meowing quietly. When I looked into the yard there were crows. When I was a child crows would get in your garden and try to eat newly planted seeds. When a pasture was mowed they would show up to eat the insects and lizards. Now days crows have become mini-buzzards, eating carrion from from roadkill. Crows are tribal, they fly in flocks, and the flocks will have scouts in the front, to the sides, and in the rear, in true Rogers Rangers tradition. It is hard for me to take photos of crows, because they are very wary of humans. I would have taken more photos, but a squirrel came down out of a tree and scared them off. This is one of the things I love about living in a rural area, the fact that I get to see wildlife.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Lazy Winter Day

The temperature is about 30 deg f, there was a little sleet on our cars as I looked out this morning, I am so glad we have been spared the ice and snow that have shut down Oklahoma City and Little Rock.
I have spent most of the morning suscribing on iTunes to spiritual classics by Librivox. I have no idea when I will have the time to listen to them. Hmmm, maybe instead of reading secular things for diversion at work, during my lunch, thank you, I should listen to the words of Chesterton or Belloc?
One of the blogs of note was about a young woman, Amy, age sixteen, who is sailing by herself around the world, she is from California. This amazes me to no end. When I was sixteen, I was working part time, going to highschool, and ready to leave home for the world. What also amazed me is that there is another young woman, Jessica, from Australia, who is also sailing around the world alone. So now, I have two people to add to my prayer list. I pray the good Lord watches over them.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Telford In The Morning

When driving down 98 near the Telford Unit, you always have to be
careful, because the employees will almost always run the stop sign
and pull in front of you. There is no predicting when this will
happen. The speed limit at that spot is 65 mph at night, and 70 mph
during the day. No matter, day or night it is hard to shut down when
they pull out in front of you doing 30 mph after they have run the
stop sign. Are Telford Unit Employees given a special dispensation to
enable them to run stop signs?
New vehicles come equipped with fog lights, it is annoying to meet
vehicles with their fog lights on, when there is no fog. I do wish
there were fog light police.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Non nobis

Non nobis, non nobis, Domine
Sed nomini tuo da gloriam.
Not to us, not to us, o Lord,
But to your name give glory.

Sunday Morning

It is a sunny day. Rain has been forecast for Thursday. The driveway is still wet from the rain yesterday. I have been having bouts with depression in the mornings. I am fine when I get up but by about 9 to 10 a.m., I am in full depression mode. After lunch I am usually fine for the rest of the day. I wonder if it is dietary? What am I eating or failing to eat that may be causing this?
Today is the Sunday for my wife to cook sausage and biscuits for Cowboy Church. There was drama again with the coffee machine. Last week the old coffee machine quit working, this week the new coffee machine did not work properly. I am sure it will be fixed by next Sunday, which is the fifth Sunday of the month. I like Fifth Sunday, because I love to eat and on Fifth Sunday there is a potluck dinner after the regular church service. (For people not from the rural south, dinner = lunch, supper = dinner, we dine at noon, and sup at dusk.)

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Various things

I had a nice day. We went into Texarkana and bought a couple of tires for my wifes car. We ate dinner at the Asian Buffet, I like this resturant very much. Then we went to Target for a few baby clothes and a little bit of groceries, cheese and milk. Then on to Home Depot, where I bought a new limb trimmer. It was made by Fiskars. I am very pleased with everything Fiskars makes, I hope to add more of their tools to my small collection as I am able to afford them. One day I hope to retire to full time yardwork, in my own yard. For supper we had saltinas, a bolivian dish, like a pot pie, but in no way like a pot pie, it is a totally bolivian dish. I am learning that I like bolivian food. Also we had handmade tamales from Mt. Pleasant.
Tomorrow is Sunday, and I am thinking of my resolutions for the week. My yearly resolutions rarely last more than a week if that long, so I am trying weekly resolutions. I keep reading about spiritual growth involving a personal rule of life. This is something I need to look into. Some of my weekly resolutions are:
1. Pray the morning offering when I put on my scapular each morning.
2. Pray the rosary at least once a day.
3. Spend time blogging or journaling once each day.
4. Take one photo of something each day and post it somewhere.
5. Read the bible and the catechism each day.
6. Pray the prayer of St. Jude many times each day.
7. Pray constantly, especially if I catch myself thinking unkind thoughts about anyone, I plan to turn those thoughts into prayer about that person.
8. Eat like a grown up, not a human waste disposal.
9. Look into starting the Liturgy of the hours again.
10. Donate my soda pop allowance to something worthwhile.
11. When I wake up in the still of the early morning, pray until I fall back to sleep.
12. Limit my time on the internet, and what time spent there only for positive things. Facebook is a new facination for me, I have rules for that:
A. Have as friends only those who are kinfolk and friends or people who will enhance my spiritual growth, for example, priests, Catholic authors or bloggers.
B. Never add someone as a friend just to meet requirements for the games on facebook.
C. To never mindlessly add people because they request it.

Enough for now.

Please pray for me.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Shotgun House

I wonder if anyone knows or has lived in a shotgun house. When I was young, my father, my brother, and I lived in a shotgun house. It is called that because the rooms in the house are in a straight line and if you were at one end of the house and shot a shotgun, the pellets would go through all the rooms of the house and hit the other end of the house. This house had a kitchen at one end, the bedroom was in the middle room, and I can't remember what was in the third room. The bedroom had two full size beds that were about 2-1/2 or 3 feet apart. I do not remember anything else in the room. It was in the rural south and people visited and spent the night. The house had no television or porch.
The house was about 50 feet from an Assembly of God church, back then we called it the holiness church. I remember we used to sit outside and watch the church services. Unlike our church, the holiness church had music, they had a piano, and someone usually brought a guitar. To this day, one of my favorite hymns is "I'll Fly Away".
The next house in line from ours was an old aluminum trailer house that had a shed over it and a small porch in front of it. I was never inside but I am willing to bet that it was smaller than our house. I remember the night it burnt to the ground. The next house had two rooms. We lived in that house also. Oh, neither house had plumbing, we carried all the water we used, it came from a well in front of the store. I don't remember the toilet for the shotgun house, but I do remember the two-holer for the two room house. It was near a plum thicket. It was not an orchard, it was a thicket. There was a garden in the pasture, it had a fence around it to keep out the livestock. I do not ever remember eating anything from that garden.
I do not know why I had this memory in my mind. In the last two days, I finished the two secular books I was reading, and now is time for me to start reading books that promote spiritual growth, are written by a saint, or are either the bible or the catechism.
Haiti has had a terrible earthquake. Haiti is a terrible country. It would probably be better, if we went there and rebuilt the whole country, from the ground up. The people there are suffering, and with the earthquake they are suffering even more. I will pray for them when I pray. I feel bad that I have not already been praying for them.
For me growing old has not caused an increase in wisdom, it makes me realize that I have been and still am a fool. As a person matures, they should put away foolish and prideful things. I didn't do that, now it seems as if I have jumped off the cliff of maturity and all at once, I have to suck it up, and be an adult and a Christian. It would have been a lot easier if I had, had the sense enough to do this in a gradual process, instead of the spiritual roller coaster I feel I am on now. I thank God that I have been realizing that there are numerous areas that I need to improve. So now with the grace of God, let the work begin.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

I can now blog using my cell phone

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Tigers vs Pirates

I came home after work, fed the dogs, counted the cats and headed to Mt Pleasant to watch the Lady Tigers play basketball. After a nice supper at Burger King, I met my beautiful wife at the highschool gym and watched the Lady Tigers play the Lady Pirates from Pine Tree. The final score was the Lady Tigers 48 and the Lady Pirates 34, it was a good game.
Cold weather is predicted for the rest of the week, I hope the predictions are wrong. I don't drive well on ice and snow. O well tis all in God's hands. I was able to pray the Rosary two times today, on the way to and from work. I often think the reason my drive to work is so long, is to give me the chance to pray.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Winter Weather

This morning there was ice on the overpass over I-30 at New Boston, Texas. Scared me to no end. Near the roadside park on Highway 8 there was also a patch of ice. The bridge over Red River had been sanded by Arkansas' highway department, I think there was a little gravel in their mix. Oh well, it was better than no sand at all.

First Work Day of 2010

Today was not that bad. Thank you, Lord, for a good day at work. My goal for this week is to exchange worry for prayer. When I catch myself worrying about something, I am going to stop, say a Hail Mary, or another warm up prayer, and then pray about the thing that is worrying me.