Suffering With Joy

Sabbath Moments

February 4, 2011

Awareness of God

This post is linked to Colleen’s Thoughts on Grace where Catholic bloggers share their Sabbath Moments of the week.

Wedding rings

This week my husband and I quit making excuses ($$, time, etc.) and went to a jewelry store to get our wedding rings re-sized.  His needed downsizing and mine needed upsizing. Neither of us had been able to wear our rings for years because his would fly off doing ordinary tasks and I couldn’t get mine over the knuckle.  All the while I was thanking God for marriage and a good relationship.

A bonus in the process was discovering that the mystery ring I inherited from my mother was actually my grandmother’s wedding ring.  The engraving even had the date of their marriage.

Spiritual Reading

This week at adoration I brought Pope Benedict XVI’s 1984 book, Behold the Pierced One -The Theological Basis for Spiritual Christology. It’s a short book, only 128 pages, worth reading because it presents clear thinking in a world where who Christ is has been grossly distorted by people with agendas other than eternal life.  This passage on page 33 is one I highlighted:

For the whole argument about Christ revolves around man’s “liberation”, his “salvation”.  But what can liberate man?  Who liberates him, and to what?  Put even more simply: What is “human freedom”?  Can man become free without truth, i.e., in falsehood?  Liberation without truth would be a lie; it would not be freedom but deception and thus man’s enslavement, man’s ruin. Freedom without truth cannot be true freedom, so, without truth, freedom is not even freedom.

Let us take up another line of thought.  If man is to be free, he must be “like God”.  Wanting to be like God is the inner motive of all mankind’s programs of liberation.  Since the yearning for freedom is rooted in man’s being, right from the outset he is trying to become “like God”.  Indeed, anything less is ultimately too little for him. We see this very clearly in our own time, with its passionate and strident demands for anarchic, total freedom, dissatisfied as it is with all the bourgeois freedoms and libertinisms, be they ever so great.  If it is to do justice to its own aims, therefore, an anthropology of liberation will have to face the question: what is meant by “becoming like God”, “becoming God”?

I’ll leave it to readers to get their own copy and finish the book.  For me, sitting in front of Truth Itself and contemplating these words gave me the feeling of being totally grounded; of everything fitting; everything being perfectly ordered in peace.

Rule of St. Benedict

From the prologue which happens to be today’s reading:

Our hearts and our bodies must be prepared to fight under holy obedience to His commands.

In writing his meditation on this one sentence, Father Placidus Kempf, O.S.B. (RIP) enlightens us on the crucifix.  Parents might like to use his words in the spiritual formation of their children:

In order that we may find out how to do this, Jesus, the Son of God, became Man.  He demonstrated practically how to lead a life of perfect obedience to His Heavenly Father, even to the death on the Cross.

The crucifix is our flag, our standard, under which we must fight.  Just as we honor the flag of our country, so we also show respect to the crucifix.  Our Lord Himself revealed to St. Gertrude: “It is very pleasing to see the crucifix honored.  It is always divine grace that draws the eye of man to meet the image of the Cross and they do not gaze on it a single moment without the soul receiving salutary impressions from it.” One day, when the saint was gazing with affection at her crucifix, Our Lord said to her: “Each time that man does this, or even looks upon a crucifix with devotion, the mercy of God is turned towards him. If it were necessary to save you, I would willingly undergo for you again, for you alone, all I was able to suffer for the whole world.”

When we march under the crucifix we march in the way of holy obedience.  We don’t break rank and go off on our own.  We stick together in battle and when it comes to hand-to-hand combat with the demons of hell, in hoc signo, vinces.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.

Sabbath Moments

October 8, 2011

Awareness of God

Welcome to our Saturday meme hosted by Colleen Spiro at Thoughts on Grace.  Visit her to share with all of us your Sabbath Moments of this week.

Yay!  My attack of hives abruptly disappeared Tuesday and I’ve been free of the monsters ever since.  Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and especially to the Good Lord for answering them.  Of course, I’m off prednisone and no longer feel 15 years younger, but what the heck.  “…[T]he Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21).

All week we’ve had a man helping us with the yard.  I’ve had to work along side him as he dug and we divided iris, Shasta daisies, and day lilies and transplanted blueberry bushes.  Work as in sit on my little tractor and pull apart iris clumps, stand around and give directions, and approve the new bed for the blueberries.

Jeff is a single father with a 19 year old autistic son who requires special care.  His 10 year old daughter was born without an upper palate and finished her 8^th and final operation this year.  He’s an inspiration to me with his total trust in God’s providence.  He’s works harder than most people I’ve ever seen and is totally devoted to his kids.

My whole week was full of Sabbath Moments getting my hands in the dirt, pruning, and dividing in the cool, sunny fall weather alongside this man of simple faith.  The thought occurs to me that no matter how difficult our circumstances are, we can always see someone else whose shoes we wouldn’t want to have to step in, and whose trust in God puts us to shame.

One day, while still under the influence of prednisone, I got up early and went to the grocery store to get ingredients to make Jeff and his kids a zucchini chocolate chip snack cake.  He told me it disappeared in one sitting.  Now that my prednisone zip has been zapped, though, and the yard work almost finished, I’ll be back to more prayer and blogging time – and parceling out daily projects according to available energy and muscle condition.

Please pray for Jeff to keep his health and strength to care for his kids.  Also please pray for rain for Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.  Dallas, as of November 1, will restrict watering to once a week.  The Catholic Church needs to restore the Rogation Days practice in all dioceses.  We need God’s help with the weather to care for crops, livestock, and our health.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Sabbath Moments – Spiritual Progress

October 1, 2011

Awareness of God

Welcome to Sabbath Moments, a meme hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace.  Please visit her to read other Catholic bloggers moments of awareness of God.

Extra time with God

It must be the prednisone.  I’m waking up at 5:30 in the morning, giving me quite a bit of extra time with the Lord.  Prednisone = bad.  Extra time with the Lord = good Sabbath Moments.  This must be the idea behind turning lemons into lemonade.

Puttering

Beautiful weather Friday morning allowed me to putter in the garden and yard and get plenty of sunshine.  I always feel God’s presence when I’m digging, weeding, pruning and harvesting.  God bless my friend Steve, the physical therapist who works out in the therapy pool when I do.  He told me about a small tractor we decrepit people can sit on and roll wherever we need to go to get those pesky weeds out, and do other close to the ground chores.  Hubby and I bought it on sale over a year ago and it’s made doing outside work so much easier and fun.

Spiritual Progress

One of my meditations for this week from Divine Intimacy gave me much to think about throughout the following days.

It’s tempting to try to gauge our spiritual progress by ourselves.  The minute we start focusing on ourselves and worrying about being holy, our eye is off the ball, the ball being God.  The opposite of sin is virtue.  We are either practicing sin or we are practicing virtue.  Real spiritual progress comes with the practice of virtue.

Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, OCD has good news for us:

Infant Baptism - Catholic

In fact, although God has infused the virtues into us at Baptism without any merit on our part, He does not make them grow without our collaboration; it remains for us, always with the help of grace, to put into practice the virtuous principles He has given us.  Only in this way shall we acquire good habits of virtue and facility in practicing them.

Therefore, if we desire to cooperate with the action of God who wishes to make us like to Himself, we should apply ourselves with great zeal to the practice of the virtues.

…”the obligation to advance in the love of God – and therefore, in all the other virtues as well – lasts even unto death” (St. Francis de Sales).  No one, however advanced in the spiritual life, can consider himself dispensed from the practice of the virtues.

In certain Catholic circles there seems to be an over emphasis equating holiness or spiritual progress with spiritual consolations and contemplation alone.  The incursion of transcendental meditation (a New Age practice) and its off-shoots pushed by well-meaning but misled people has deceived more than a few.  On the other hand, there are Catholics that really believe that if you cannot engage in charismatic prayer the Holy Spirit is not working in you and you are not holy.  I’ve met both types.

I think we have no greater expert on spiritual progress in prayer and living than the Doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila.   She alerts us to pitfalls and shows us how to avoid them.

Father Gabriel continues:

St. Teresa of Jesus in describing the high states of the life of union with God, often digresses to urge the practice of virtue.  “You must not build,” she wrote to her daughters, “upon the foundation of prayer and contemplation alone, for unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs” (Interior Castle VII, 4); and elsewhere she expressly says that, by means of the virtues, “even though not greatly given to contemplation, people who have them can advance a long way in the Lord’s service, while, unless they have them, they cannot possibly be great contemplatives” (Way, 4).

It is not essential that God should lead us by the path of high contemplation in order to make us saints; [note: We do not make ourselves saints.  It is not in our power to do this.  Only God can make us holy.] besides, this does not depend upon our will. What does depend upon us, and is essential, is that we maintain the practice of virtue.  Whether God wills for us a family life or one dedicated to the duties of a professional life, whether He calls us to the apostolate or to the contemplative life, in each case we shall become saints only in the measure in which we practice virtue.

…However, we shall never reach perfect, much less heroic, virtue unaided by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the end of which is precisely to perfect the virtues.  Although the task of practicing the virtues is ours, it is only God who can actuate the gifts, and ordinarily He does this in proportion to our zeal in practicing virtue. The assiduous practice of the virtues opens our soul wide to God’s action, rendering it apt to receive and follow the motions of the Holy Spirit.

Thinking on this, I see how important it is

• to ask God’s help in identifying a key virtue to develop,
  
• to recognize the opportunities God gives us to practice this virtue, and
• to examine our conscience daily for our omissions when we let the chance go by, as well as our commission of sins opposed to the virtue.
  

If we’ve blown it, we simply tell God we’re sorry – and really mean it – and ask Him to wize us up.  A little penance or mortification in both repentance and thanksgiving for His generosity to us in the many graces He gives us daily keeps us in the right frame of mind to persevere.

This simple approach keeps our eyes on the prize: eternal union with God starting now.  If we don’t have some degree of this union before we die, we aren’t going to find it after death.

Spiritual progress can’t be accomplished by prayer alone St. Teresa says.  We shouldn’t get hung up on whether we can actually engage in contemplative prayer even though the writings of St. Teresa, St. John of the Cross and other contemplatives make it very attractive. Who doesn’t want to experience what they did?  The same goes for getting hung up on whether or not we can pray in tongues. Both instances makes the prize a particular satisfaction with ourselves in prayer – an end in itself.  It sets up a false measure of something only God can truly assess and leads to pride and vainglory, the opposite of several virtues including humility.

We have to be careful about making assumptions about our own holiness based on any other person and what he or she experiences in prayer or even what we experience in prayer.  We can be sure God is always calling us to union with Him every minute of every day. His call is always individual.  Co-operating with God’s action in our souls is the main thing, and what Sabbath Moments are all about.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Tags: gardening, health, virtue

Sabbath Moments: Daisies, Recipes, and Simplicity

September 17, 2011

Awareness of God

Welcome to Sabbath Moments, a weekly meme hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace.  We invite you to join her and share your moments when you “rested in the Lord” or were especially conscious of finding Him in the ordinary things of life.

Daisies and recipes

A couple of days ago I went over to visit the home schooling mom across the street to discuss my sharing of the Shasta daisies we’ll be digging and dividing in the next few weeks.  While I was there we got to talking about recipes and she showed me a cookbook a friend of hers published that had one of her recipes in it.  We traded some of our favorites.  Good neighbors are a priceless treasure and gift from God as is the fun we have sharing with them.

Simplicity of soul

Yesterday the meditation from Divine Intimacy was on simplicity.  Whenever I think about simplicity I see the little children crowding around Jesus and His delight in them.  The simplicity of little children is always a joy to behold and a lesson to me not to over think or complicate things in any way.  It goes hand in hand with purity of heart which Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount.  Father Gabriel writes:

A simple soul leans on God at every moment, at every step of its life, seeking in Him its sole support and strength. In whatever difficulty it finds itself, it immediately looks to God for help, and with complete confidence, convinced that only in Him will it find the strength necessary to sustain its weakness, and that this strength will never be refused.  It is not prevented, however, from seeking the help of wise, prudent persons, but it does so with detachment, and does not become troubled or disturbed when God permits it to be deprived of this help.

I take it from this that if we are deprived of help it is because the Holy Spirit is working in us to make firm our trust in God, prudence and patience in waiting, purity of heart, humility, and a number of other virtues that we need the opportunity to practice.

This next part on purity of intention calls to mind the pollution of our motives, something difficult to avoid since we are always in some state of relative blindness to our faults and inclinations.  The more intelligent and capable we are, the greater the danger of pride and self-seeking in dealing with problems in life. Here Father Gabriel brings us back to simplicity of focus:

In everything, a simple soul considers but one end, God, and has but one intention, to serve God and to please Him.  Therefore, it watches very carefully lest any secondary intention arising from self-love ever insinuate itself into its actions, as, for example, a desire of making a good appearance, of procuring the esteem of others, or of satisfying its own curiosity or love of ease.

These secondary intentions are like the little foxes of which the Canticle of Canticles speaks; they stealthily penetrate into the blossoming vine of the soul and destroy the flowers and fruits of our good works.  How many good actions begun out of love for God lose at least half their value because, before they are completed, they are contaminated by some secondary intention not sufficiently suppressed or rectified!  And how many others which also began well are transformed into evil by lack of rectitude in the intention.

…free from all cares and useless preoccupations, the simple soul goes straight to God, as rapidly and directly as an arrow. The one light, the one strength, the one end of its life is God, and because of this, its whole life attains a purity, a strength, and an enchanting unity — a pale reflection of the divine perfections.

Our lives are way too complicated.  Inventions that were supposed to make life easier have instead made more demands on us.  Today multi-tasking is considered high virtue.  It, in reality, I believe it is a trap that interferes with the virtue of simplicity. I am convinced that the inflated expectations placed on workers based on multi-tasking is responsible for bad stress and the monumental physical and mental health problems that result.

One of the great attractions of monasteries and contemplative life is its simplicity. Whether it is sweeping the floors, plowing the garden, herding the sheep, studying or reading, chanting the Divine Office or recreating with fellow religious, only one thing is done at a time, and that thing is totally dedicated to God.  Perhaps we should take a lesson from them and before we start anything, dedicate the task or project to God, and secondly, trim all extraneous and competing activities from our lives that would get in the way of doing it with complete focus on God.

Bird with broken wing - Jim Fenton photo

Questions I ask myself are:

• Do I really need to be doing all this?

• Is what I’m doing and how I’m going about it leading me into a closer relationship with God or is it feeding my ego and concupiscence?

• Am I making a habit of taking all my worries, concerns, and difficulties straight to God and making enough quiet time to let Him help me or am I flapping about uselessly like a bird with a broken wing?

Lord, grant me simplicity of soul, purity of heart, and calmness of spirit in the storm of life.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Tags: flowers, simplicity, virtue

Mass of Rogation Days

June 1, 2011

On the three Rogation Days we pray the same Mass every day.  I don’t know what the Mass propers are for the Novus Ordo, but here are the ones from the 1962 Roman Missal.  As you can see, they are perfectly aligned with the two main purposes of the Rogation Days.

On days when I can’t get to Mass, I like to read and meditate on the propers to help keep my mind and heart aligned with the sacred liturgy and unified with the universal Church.  Since most Catholics probably lack easy access to these, I’m putting the entire propers here.

Introit: Ps. 17, 7,2-3

He heard my voice from His holy temple, alleluia: and my cry before Him came into His ears, alleluia, alleluia.  (Psalm) I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength: the Lord is my firmament, my refuge and my deliverer.  Glory be to the Father… He heard…

Collect

Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we, who in our affliction put our trust in Thy mercy, may ever be defended by Thy protection against all adversity.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

Elijah in the Desert of Horeb - William Brassey Hole

Epistle: Jas. 5:16-20

Dearly beloved, confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be saved: for the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.

Elias was a man passible like unto us: and with prayer he prayed that it might not rain upon earth, and it rained not for three years and six months.  And he prayed again: and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

My brethren, if any of you err from the truth and one convert him, he must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.

Gradual: Ps. 43:8-9

Thou hast saved us, O Lord, from them that afflict us and hast put them to shame that hate us.  In God shall we glory all the day long: and in Thy name we will give praise forever.

Paschal Alleluia: Ps. 78:9-10; 30:8

Alleluia, alleluia.  Forgive us our sins, O Lord: lest the Gentiles should ever say: Where is their God?

Alleluia, I will be glad and rejoice in Thy mercy: for Thou hast regarded my humility: Thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.  Alleluia.

Gospel: Lk. 11:5-13

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him; and he from within should answer and say: Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?

Offertory: Ps. 108: 30-31

I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth, and in the midst of many I will praise Him, because He standeth at the right hand of the poor: to save my soul from them that persecute me, alleluia.

Secret

May these oblations, O Lord, we beseech Thee, loosen the bonds of our wickedness, and obtain for us the gifts of Thy mercy.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

Communion: Lk. 11:9-10

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened to you.  For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened, alleluia.

Postcommunion

Favorably receive our prayers, O Lord, we beseech Thee; may we in our distress be consoled by Thy gifts and grow in love accordingly.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

March 13, 2011

Welcome to Sunday Snippets, hosted by RAnn at This That and the other Thing, where Catholic bloggers share their posts for the week.  Be sure to visit her and read what others have written.

Two of mine for Lent are: A Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel and Lenten Fasting – St. Thomas Aquinas.

Also, I wrote of a few Sabbath Moments and some thoughts at Praying the Psalms – Psalm 61.

My heart is with the Japanese people this weekend as they cope with a severe earthquake and a devastating tsunami.  You dear ones are not forgotten.  Let us all pray for them.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

October 31, 2010

Happy Vigil of All Saints and Christ the King Sunday (extraordinary form of the Latin Mass calendar) to all my readers.  Join me and other bloggers at RAnn’s This That and the Other Thing to share posts for the week and leave comments if you are so moved.

This week I posted a recipe for Beef Pot Roast in Barbecue Sauce for those who hate to leave the barbecue season behind.

At Saints Crispin and Crispinian and the Virtue of Kindness I wrote a few thoughts on what seems to be a lost virtue these days.

It’s not too late to say the novena prayer to Christ the King to ask that He rule the elections on Tuesday.

At Laughing Therapy I posted a link to one site I find hilarious and at Sabbath Moments I posted a picture of my new rosary which I’ve had my eye on for months at the parish book store.

Friends, please keep me in your prayers.  I’ve been feeling barfy and icky for weeks – a general malaise from allergies and fibromyalgia, I think, and it seems to be without end.  I need a new body.  The bright spot for me is visiting your sites from time to time so keep writing.

God bless all my visitors.

V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Viruses and Trojans

August 4, 2010

On Monday evening my computer became infected with a virus even though I have a high quality anti-virus program.  After trying to fix it myself unsuccessfully, I shut the machine off and took it to my computer guy Tuesday morning. They found the virus and six trojans which they cleared at the cost of $104.00 which I could ill afford. When I asked what and who was behind these attacks I learned:

1. Most of these virus programmers are from Russia, South Korea, and China;
2. The viruses are coming mainly through My Space, Facebook, and YouTube; and
   
3. They want your bank account and credit card information so they can take everything you have.

The design of the virus is sophisticated.  They con you into thinking you need virus protection while they prevent you from accessing your existing virus programs.  You are taken to a screen that looks like an anti-virus vendor’s software and they hope you will follow through and “buy” their non-existent product, giving them personal information so they can steal from you.

My computer guy installed Threatfire on my computer because it has proven to be fairly successful in intercepting these viruses, but there is no guarantee that they will catch every one. It is used in connection with your existing virus protection software.  He also said that if I can’t stop the virus, just shut the power off like I did when it hit, and bring the computer in. A cousin told me that if I get another virus attack at I should go to the task manager and try to close it down through this utility, but that may not work every time because programmers are getting more and more clever at stopping your interference with them.

I’m posting this because I hope to warn others about the latest in cyber attacks.  Too many people have no conscience and are just plain malicious these days.  Here’s a prayer approved by Pope Leo XIII which ends his “Prayers Against Satan and the Rebellious Angels” you can use before using the internet:

God of heaven, God of earth, God of Angels, God of Archangels, God of Patriarchs, God of Prophets, God of Apostles, God of Martyrs, God of confessors, God of virgins, God Who has power to give life after death and rest after work, because there is no other God than Thee and there can be no other, for Thou art the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, of Whose reign there shall be no end, we humbly prostrate ourselves before Thy glorious majesty, and we beseech Thee to deliver us by Thy power from all the tyranny of the infernal spirits, from their snares, their lies, and their furious wickedness, deign, O Lord, to grant us Thy powerful protection and to keep us safe and sound.  We beseech Thee through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

From the snares of the devil, deliver us, O Lord.

That thy Church may serve Thee in peace and liberty, we beseech Thee to hear us.

That Thou may crush down all enemies of Thy Church, we beseech Thee to hear us.

I’m all for asking God’s help in everything, and  it seems reasonable to invoke His help against the demons behind cyberattacks.  It’s too bad these guys can’t be afflicted with the Biblical plagues of Egypt.  They deserve a lot worse.

Tags: cybercrime

Phytoestrogens and Estrogen Dominance

July 14, 2010

In yesterday’s article Estrogen Dominance: Causes and Cures I discussed some of the causes of estrogen dominance.  Today I want to briefly cover another way of being overexposed to estrogens.  If you are estrogen dominant, in addition to avoiding things I mentioned in the above article, you need to be careful of overexposure to phytoestrogens.

Phytoestrogens (phyto = plant) are naturally occurring estrogenic compounds.  They are in herbs, spices, and some plant foods, among which is soy, which I will discuss lower down in this article. These compounds are weaker than the xenoestrogens or natural estrogen produced by the body, but if you are already experiencing estrogen dominance, it is best not to consume even these.  As the site Energetic Nutrition says:

Some of the strongest phytoestrogen containing substances are soy, the lignans found in flax seed products, red clover, black cohosh, chasteberry, and dong quai. Soy includes soybeans, soy milk, tofu, tempeh, textured vegetable protein, roasted soybeans, soy granules, soy protein powders, miso, and edamames.

Over consumption of phytoestrogenic foods or herbs on a long term basis may actually increase the risk of estrogen dominance significantly. Furthermore, phytoestrogens have been shown to inhibit the conversion of T4 to the active T3 thyroid hormone, and can trigger hypothyroidism. It is suggested that those with a history of thyroid imbalance, or suffering from estrogen dominance, should consume a minimum amount of phytoestrogens.

The very serious soy problem

Dr. Mercola has numerous articles on soy and the health problems its consumption causes.  In addition to its role in causing or exacerbating estrogen dominance, in certain forms it is one of the most harmful foods we can consume and it is ubiquitous on grocery store shelves. He writes:

Dow Chemical and DuPont, the same corporations that brought misery and death to millions around the world through Agent Orange, are now the driving forces behind the promotion of soy as a food for humans. They are financing anti-meat and anti-milk campaigns aimed largely at those concerned about animal welfare and the environment, trying to convince them that imitations such as “soymilk” are not only healthier than the real thing, but better for the earth too…

Unlike the Asian culture, where people eat small amounts of whole soybean products, western food processors separate the soybean into two golden commodities–protein and oil. And there is nothing natural or safe about these products.

Says Dr. Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story,

“Today’s high-tech processing methods not only fail to remove the anti-nutrients and toxins that are naturally present in soybeans but leave toxic and carcinogenic residues created by the high temperatures, high pressure, alkali and acid baths and petroleum solvents.” [Yesterday I wrote about xenoestrogens in solvents and plastics which are derived from petroleum.  Exposure to these stresses the body and processed soy products can pack a double whammy of not only intake of phytoestrogens but xenoestrogens - two for the price of one.]

Dr. Daniel also points out the findings of numerous studies reviewed by her and other colleagues — that soy does not reliably lower cholesterol, and in fact raises homocysteine levels in many people, which has been found to increase your risk of stroke, birth defects, and yes: heart disease.

Other common health problems linked to a high-soy diet include:

• Thyroid problems, including weight gain, lethargy, malaise, fatigue, hair loss, and loss of libido
• Premature puberty and other developmental problems in babies, children and adolescents
• Cancer
• Brain damage
• Reproductive disorders
• Kidney stones
• Weakened immune system
• Severe, potentially fatal food allergies

The danger of genetically modified soy

Most soy, perhaps about 80 percent or more, is also genetically modified, which adds its own batch of health concerns.

The last thing a person suffering from fibromyalgia, estrogen dominance, insulin resistance, chronic fatigue and other related systemic health issues is exposure to genetically modified food.  This added burden on the body to process chemical structures it does not recognize can lead to allergic reactions and other side effects. A sick person is made even sicker. Dr. Mercola writes in his article Genetically Modified Foods – What to Know Before You Eat Them:

Sections of the protein produced in GM soy are identical to known allergens, but the soybean was introduced before the WHO criteria were established, and the recommended additional tests were not conducted.

If this protein in GM soybeans is causing allergies, then the situation may be made much worse by something called horizontal gene transfer (HGT). That‘s when genes spontaneously transfer from one species‘ DNA to another. While this happens often among bacteria, it is rare in plants and mammals.

But the method used to construct and insert foreign genes into GM crops eliminates many of the natural barriers that stop HGT from occurring. The only published human feeding study on GM foods ever conducted on GM foods showed that

parts of the gene inserted into GM soy ended up transferring into the DNA of human gut bacteria.

Furthermore, the gene was stably integrated and it appeared to be producing its potentially allergenic protein. So, years after people stop eating GM soy, they may still be exposed to its risky protein, which is being continuously produced within their own intestines.

None of this is good for anybody, let alone people suffering autoimmune conditions and hormonal imbalances.  Our bodies are complex chemical factories and temples of the Holy Spirit.  To care for them as God intends us to do we cannot simply go to the store and take what we want off the shelf. In today’s age with government corruption at such deep levels the FDA approves many things it should not, and does it without enough testing for bad effects.  It is up to us as individuals to take charge of our health and do the best we can to feel good as we go about our daily business.  Moreover, we need to stop eating ourselves sick and start eating ourselves well.

I encourage readers to sign up for Dr. Mercola’s newsletters ( they are free).  I have learned a great deal from them and hope you will benefit, too.

Tags: wellness

The Pope of Hope

June 8, 2010

Many Catholics were happy to see the great attraction so many young people had to Pope John Paul II – an encouraging sign for the future of the Church.  I will never forget the large, grieving crowds spilling out of St. Peter’s Square when he died, and the joy of so many young seminarians and other young people when Cardinal Ratzinger was elected a couple of days later. Now Papa Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI draws larger crowds of young people than Pope John Paul II.  What is it about this Pope that is so attractive to the young?

Perhaps it is his ability to connect with people in simplicity and humility, or it is that he so capably and strongly becomes not only the alter Christus but also the bridge (pontiff) to the Wholly Other our hearts yearn for when he celebrates the sacred liturgy. Then again, it may be that he speaks the hard truths of the Faith with such gentleness, like the loving father he is to all of humanity.

On his recent visit to Malta Pope Benedict addressed a crowd of 10,000 young people at the Port of Valletta speaking of the moral law, not ordinarily a popular subject.  He calls them to conversion, to make the hard choices in this world:

Maybe some of you will say to me, St. Paul is often severe in his writings.  How can I say that he was spreading a message of love?  My answer is this.  God loves every one of us with a depth and intensity that we can hardly begin to imagine. And He knows us intimately, He knows all our strengths and all our faults.  Because He loves us so much, He wants to purify us of our faults and build up our virtues so that we can have life in abundance. When He challenges us because something in our lives is displeasing to Him, He is not rejecting us, but He is asking us to change and become more perfect. That is what He asked of St. Paul on the road to Damascus.  God rejects no one.  Yet in His great love, God challenges all of us to change and to become more perfect…

Here in Malta, you live in a society that is steeped in Christian faith and values.  You should be proud that your country both defends the unborn and promotes stable family life by saying no to abortion and divorce.  I urge you to maintain this courageous witness to the sanctity of life and the centrality of marriage and family life for a healthy society. In Malta and Gozo, families know how to value and care for their elderly and infirm members, and they welcome children as gifts from God.  Other nations can learn from your Christian example.

The country of Malta is now under siege by the European Union which wants this island nation to allow divorce, abortion, and homosexual “marriage”. Thus the Pope’s words to the young are especially important.  Western materialism is slowly chipping away at the Christian foundations of Malta, which can be viewed as one of the few nations left maintaining a viable Catholic culture.

So much of Pope Benedict’s talks address the issues of life vs. death, of living open to God’s will, of accepting the purification God chooses for each of us to build on what He has given us in our talents and personalities.  One cannot hear him without becoming completely conscious of the value of every human being, no matter their circumstances.  He is the Pope of Hope.

Tags: conversion

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 20

May 29, 2010

Jenny at Just a Minute hosts a meme called “Praying the Psalms” on Saturdays.  Since Colleen is taking a break from hosting “Sabbath Moments” today, and since this is Memorial Day weekend when we remember our fallen soldiers, I joined Jenny to consider Psalm 20.

1.  The Lord answer you in the day of trouble!  The name of the God of Jacob protect you!

7.  Some boast of chariots, and some of horses; but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.

8.  They will collapse and fall; but we shall rise and stand upright.

9.  Give victory to the king, O Lord;  answer us when we call.

Adoration of the Name of Jesus, 1578-79, El Greco (b. 1541, Candia, d. 1614, Toledo), Oil on canvas, Chapter House, Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial

This psalm was sung as part of the Israelite ritual before battle, vocalizing the spiritual unity of king and people bonded to God in the Old Covenant.  It is a prayer of worship and warfare all in one.

The enemies of Israel had more modern weapons than she, but Israel had the greatest weapon of all, the Name of the Lord. How many times Israel was miraculously victorious over much stronger forces as God prepared His people for the coming of the Messiah!

Today earthly war in all its  forms is still the age-old war for our souls. We battle in the public place both literally and figuratively – the battle of the Church Militant – and our most powerful weapon is the holy name of Jesus, before Whom every knee shall bend.  We will always triumph over temptation and fulfill our earthly duties well with the name of Jesus on our lips, and if we ask God for the grace to always remember to call upon His name when we are afflicted, He will grant it.

This psalm is eschatological, too.  By asking God for victory for the King, Who first obtained victory by rising from the dead, we are also asking for the victory of His Second Coming. The great Adversary will “collapse and fall” while those who in humility know that victory is impossible without God will “rise and stand upright” on the last day.

This weekend is a good time to ask God to protect our living troops, grant them victory amidst the evil they combat, and gather the fallen who are in purgatory to His heart… In the Name of Jesus.  Amen.

Tags: trust in God

A Soup for Summer

May 27, 2010

Going gluten-free is an opportunity to experiment with interesting ways to eat in a healthy way.  In other words, don’t think about what you can’t have, think about how to make tasty what you can have.

When I visited my aunt this past week, she gave me her old copies of  Vegetarian Times and Living Without magazines where I found a gluten-free soup recipe that sounded good, but I wanted to make changes to suit us. I made so many changes that it’s actually a new recipe. The great thing about this soup is that you can eat it hot or cold. As regular readers already know, I just throw ingredients together according to what I think will taste good.  This recipe serves about 8 and is a delicious leftover.  It passed the husband test, too.

Barb’s Spicy Vegetable and Garbanzo Bean Soup

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 cloves of garlic – or get a small jar of minced garlic and decide how much you want to put in the soup

2 medium carrots, sliced

2 ribs of celery, chopped

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

3 ribs of bok choy, chopped

1/2 bag of fresh spinach or clip it from the plants in your garden

1 zucchini, chopped into bite-size pieces

2 cups of low sodium beef broth (you can use vegetable or chicken broth if you want – just make sure it’s gluten-free and be aware that changing the broth type changes the taste of the soup)

1 large can of crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)

1 can of garbanzo beans (if you don’t want to use these, go for another kind your family will like)

1 or 2 dollops of red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

1 cup torn fresh basil

1.  Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Throw in the garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté until the garlic is fragrant.

2.  Add broth, crushed tomatoes, garbanzos and vinegar.

3.  Add rosemary, thyme, and basil

4.  Add all the veggies you chopped and sliced  and stir.

5.  If you want to thicken the mix, scoop 1 cup of the mixture into a blender or food processor and purée until smooth.  Stir it into the soup and season with salt and pepper if you like.

6.  Add the spinach leaves and stir.  Then simmer covered for about 40 minutes until the veggies are tender.

If you don’t like the spiciness of red pepper, skip it.  The soup tastes good anyway.  And if you are too tired after chopping all the veggies, skip the blender step.  It will still taste good. The bok choy gives a nice crunchiness to the soup and the garbanzos add protein.  You can also add 1 medium onion, chopped, to the sauté mix at the beginning if you like.

One thing that makes this soup particularly good are the 3 spices.  I keep fresh thyme, oregano, basil and rosemary growing in pots so I can snip what I want when necessary.  The puny dill plant I had in a pot and put in the garden last year sowed itself into the ground so this year I have volunteer dill and plenty of it!  Fresh herbs add a lot to dishes.

Tags: gluten-free, wellness

Requesting Prayers for My Mom

March 25, 2010

Cross of Life, c. 1118, mosaic artist, Italian, San Clemente, Rome

This morning my brother called and said Mom had passed away last night.  She was 87 and had been married to my Dad, who passed away last September, for 67 years.  She was a great mother and was devoted to Our Lady.  In recent years her memory was fading but she was always cheerful.  Please pray for the repose of her soul.

Stations of the Cross

March 8, 2010

Crucifixion c. 1648, Giulio Carpioni, oil on canvas, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

One of my favorite Stations of the Cross, the old 1957 copyright by the Order of St. Benedict in Collegeville, MN, has a much more elegant English translation than their current version. I mourn the fact that today’s young Catholics have been deprived of something so very beautiful and meaningful to me as a child and so I am going to type them into the blog between now and the end of Lent.  If you like them, take them from this blog at your pleasure.   All the liturgy references are from the Traditional Latin Mass.

Entrance Song – Stabat Mater

At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword had passed.

Prepatory Prayer

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

In a spirit of humility and with a contrite heart, we offer unto Thee, eternal Father, this tribute of our worship, that it may redound to Thy honor and glory, and may avail us and all faithful Christians, both living and dead, unto the forgiveness of sins and the attainment of life everlasting.¹

V.  It behooves us to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

R.  In whom is our salvation, life and resurrection.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who in the passion of Thy Son/ didst show us the path to eternal glory by the way of the cross: / graciously grant that as by our prayers we now follow Him to the place of Calvary,/ so we may also share His triumph with Him for all eternity. / Who liveth and reigneth with Thee forever and ever. Amen.³

Oh how sad and sore distressed was that mother highly blessed, of the sole-begotten one.

Christ above in torment hangs, she beneath beholds the pangs of her dying glorious Son.

¹ Compiled from offertory prayers of the Traditional Latin Mass. ² Introit of Holy Thursday. ³ Rite of the erection of the Stations of the Cross.

Tags: liturgy

St. Jane of Valois

February 4, 2010

St. Jane of Valois

Today we honor St. Jane of Valois, surely an example of humility, persistence in prayer and also great charity. She was born in 1464 and died in 1505. A daughter of King Louis XI and Charlotte of Savoy, she was hated by her father from birth because he wanted a boy. Not only did he not get a boy, Jane was sickly and had some physical handicap. The king banished her to a country place where she was raised in a condition of grave neglect. But God had plans for His spurned and despised creature.  She developed a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother, especially in the mystery of the Incarnation.  The Angelus was her favorite prayer.  One day Our Lady revealed to her that she would found a religious community dedicated to her.

St. Jane could not escape being a pawn in the hands of her father.  Although he despised her, in a political scheme he betrothed her to his second cousin, Louis, Duke of Orleans, at the age of two months. They were married when Jane was nine.  She remained his loyal and devoted wife for twenty-two years.  Unfortunately, the Duke did not return her devotion.  He had not wanted the marriage and hated her even though she was instrumental in obtaining his release from prison for treason. Upon taking the throne as Louis XII, he publicly humiliated her by treating her ill in front of the court, repudiating her and seeking an annulment of his marriage from Rome. He got the annulment on the grounds that the marriage had not been consummated and that he had not consented to it. St. Jane saw this as a great blessing and used her situation to found the Order of the Annunciation.

The charism of her order is to practice the ten virtues of Our Lady as found in the Gospels.  They are:

• Most Pure (Mt 1:18, 20, 23; Lk 1:27,34)
• Most Prudent (Lk 2:19, 51)
• Most Humble (Lk 1:48)
• Most Faithful (Lk 1:45; Jn 2:5)
• Most Devout (Lk 1:46-7; Acts 1:14)
• Most Obedient (Lk 1:38; 2:21-2, 27)
• Most Poor (Lk 2:7)
• Most Patient (Jn 19:25)
• Most Merciful (Lk 1:39, 56)
• Most Sorrowful (Lk 2:35)

St. Jane also charged her community to pray for her husband, her father, and her brother as her legacy.  Such forgiveness after the cruel treatment she received is awe-inspiring.  St. Jane would be a great patron to ask for help in mastering the virtue of forgiveness. When she died, she was buried with the royal purple and a crown under her habit.

The Angelus, 1857, oil on canvas, Jean-Francois Millet

During St. Jane’s lifetime the Angelus prayer spread throughout France, helped by Pope Sixtus IV who was the first to attach an indulgence to it in 1475.  Devotion to this prayer continues today, and is enshrined in the great Impressionist painting of  Jean-Francois Millet (1814-1875) of the Barbizon school of landscape painting. 

It is interesting that almost  two-hundred years after Pope Sixtus encouraged the praying of the Angelus a painter named Jean-Francois created a work expressing the devotion to Our Lady that St. Jane (Jeanne) of Valois, whose spiritual directors were Franciscans, practiced.

We cannot escape suffering in this world so we might as well profit from it spiritually as did St. Jane, who though queen, was humiliated repeatedly by the very people who should have loved and cherished her.  She is a great example of suffering with joy.

If you would like to know how to pray the chaplet of the Ten Virtues of the Blessed Mother, go here.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, joy, suffering