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September 15, 2021
Note from the Managing Editor
This week, we are featuring the video of "A Harvard Professor's Conversion to Catholicism" on our site.

In the video, you will meet and hear the incredible conversion story of Roy Schoeman.  "I saw that my two greatest regrets after I died would be, number one, all of the time and energy I had wasted worrying about not being loved when, every moment of my existence, I was held in an ocean of love greater than I ever imagined could exist coming from this all-knowing, all-loving God.  And the other great regret would be every hour I had wasted doing nothing of value in the eyes of heaven."

Our reflection this week ponders this ocean of love.  Saint Bernard of Clairvaux writes that God first "gave me to myself; and [then] he gave himself to me.  And when he gave himself, he gave me back myself that I had lost."  We owe ourselves, doubly, to God; and for the gift of Himself we owe God "love that has no measure."

I have found both of these pieces comforting in a moment where I am beset by worries, with our new baby in the hospital about to have surgery, with the new demands of motherhood, with the challenge of going back to work, with friends and family who are ill and suffering, with feeling like there is not enough time to do what needs to be done and what I'd like to do.

But these pieces teach me how to be like Mary instead of Martha — and not just through relying on my own effort of scheduling, and staying on task, and working Herculean hours — but simply through relying on God.

If I might ask for prayers once again, our little six-week-old son Joseph will be having surgery on his lymphatic malformation this Thursday.

Jesus, we trust in You! - Meaghen Gonzalez
 
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  "God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us." - Ven. Fulton Sheen  
 
New Resources
 
Why We Love
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Bernard: On The Love of God
God deserves exceeding love from us, a love that has no measure.
 
Why Not Have a Bunch of Kids?
Antony Davies, The Public Discourse
Humans are, hands down, the single most fascinating set of creatures on the planet. If you want to understand how humans work, just make a few, sit back, and watch them do their thing.
 
Survivor Creep
Theodore Dalrymple, The use of words tells us much about the temper of the times...
 
Cinderella’s Genderless Godmother
Anne Hendershott, Crisis Magazine
For the child — and the adult who knows there is still a child in all of us — fairy tales reveal truths about ourselves and the world.
 
Diary of an American Exorcist: Diary 1
Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, Diary of an American Exorcist
The journey started with a powerful spiritual experience when I was a seminarian.
 
Diary of an American Exorcist: Diary 3
Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, Diary of an American Exorcist
Strong versus weak possession.
 
Hard Sayings
Fr. Paul Scalia, The Catholic Thing
Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
 
The Mighty Pen of Father Paul Mankowski, S.J.
George Weigel, We had been speaking by phone and volleying by e-mail with the regularity that marked our friendship for three decades...
 
 
Editorials of Interest
 
Why Mother Teresa insisted on a daily Eucharistic holy hour
Aleteia
Mother Teresa's heroic service to the poor was made possible through her devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist.
 
20 Years Later, a Priest Remembers 9/11 at the Pentagon
NC Register
Father Stephen McGraw was a newly ordained priest when the deadly attacks took place.
 
The Mass of Vatican II
CWR
What the Second Vatican Council said about liturgy, what it didn't say about liturgy, and the central intent of the Council concerning the liturgy.
 
George Weigel: The Vatican's sounds of silence
Catholic Weekly
Vatican authorities should take heed of past lessons.
 
Vatican City has a new governor. What does he actually govern?
The Pillar
Pope Francis on Wednesday appointed Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, L.C. to serve as the president of the Governorate of Vatican City State.
 
Hell — and Vocations
The Catholic Thing
The best vocations poster I have seen, without doubt, features a black-and-white photograph of a fallen soldier.
 
Jordan Peterson and the Search for a Meaningful Life
The Catholic Thing
Jordan Peterson's work has not only provoked powerful reactions from defenders of woke orthodoxy, but also reconsiderations by atheists, agnostics, and religious "Nones" about the wisdom of Biblical stories.
 
Meet the woodworker who's bringing beauty back to our churches
Aleteia
The family behind Contrasts Woodcarving is part of a movement to restore and revive beauty in the Church.
 
Atomized Moms
First Things
On my study bookshelf stands a stretch of pastel-colored books: my library of "parenting" literature.
 
Time to Return to Medieval Courtesy Books
The Imaginative Conservative
To the "woke" crowd, teaching civility and manners favors artificial concepts that reinforce power structures and control behavior.
 
Roe Will Go
First Things
Let me offer a prediction, free of any face-saving hedge: Next year, the Supreme Court will hold that there is no constitutional right to elective abortions.
 
Cultivating Chastity's Positive Side With Reason
NC Register
Defining peace as the absence of war omits what peace is. Chastity is not simply one long "No."
 
NFP from a Priest's Perspective
Catholic East Texas
It was 5:12am, the first morning of vacation, and I thought I was about to spend  a peaceful morning  praying, reading, and watching the sun rise.
 
The sweet and sour of NFP
Catholic Link
It doesn't take long when first discovering the world of natural family planning to realize that most couples have a love/hate relationship with NFP.
 
The Morality of Bitcoin
Eric Sammons
Catholics have long had an uneasy relationship with money.
 
The Pillar stories do raise questions — but not about journalistic ethics
Catholic Culture
Journalistic ethics: That’s not a topic often discussed by Catholic media outlets, and for two good reasons.
 
St. John Henry Cardinal Newman
and St. Justin Martyr, pray for us.
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