Category: Passionately Catholic

Ponder this, I’m not much of a cook, but I have noticed on occasion, a bay leaf floating in my stew. In all my years of life, I’ve never really given much thought to bay leaves until now. I have to wonder if bay leaves are really necessary. Do they really make a difference in any given recipe and would they be missed if they were no longer available? My hunch is that most of us would never miss bay leaves if they were left out of a stew. Unlike bay leaves, salt is one seasoning that certainly would be missed if not part of a super stew.

We’ve all heard about the Ten Commandments, so let’s talk about those pesky little often-inconvenient truths. And let’s face it, we don’t like anyone telling us what we can, and especially what we cannot do, not even God. So do these commandments still apply to us today? You betcha. God knew everything when He gave them to us.

Let’s look at the commandment number one: “You shall love the Lord your God with your entire heart and put no other gods before him.”

The pandemic has brought with it many mandates on how we are to live, work, and play. And well, there’s not much playing right now. We must keep our distance, put on our mask, and avoid most gatherings. This is for our own safety and the safety of others, as we are continually reminded.

Let’s take a look at the mandates on our constitutional right to exercise our religion. The mandates on our churches started with total closure. Churches are now open with limited capacity, but we must wear a mask and not sing. Holy water has been banned from Catholic churches, even though swimming in public pools is permitted. As scripture tells us, “We must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God.”

One of the most frightening things I remember as a child was I thought that I might accidentally remove a tag from my pillow. Remember the warning Do not remove under penalty of law? The thought of being put in jail for removing the tag would keep me up at night. This begs the question, what keeps you up at night? Losing sleep because of our worries takes valuable time away from good sleep needed to function on all cylinders in the next day. How do you stop your thought induced insomnia? Here’s a recipe you might try.

Most of us live our lives not thinking all that much about where we are going to spend eternity. I think I can safely say that many believe they will be in a better place when they die.

After all, at nearly every funeral we attend, we hear that our dearly departed loved one is no longer in pain and they’re in a better place. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, the Lord has something else to say.

We’ve all heard about the 10 commandments. So let’s talk about those pesky little often inconvenient truths, and let’s face it. We don’t like anyone telling us what we can, especially what we cannot do. Not even God. So do these commandments still apply to us today? You betcha. God knew everything when he gave them to us.

Let’s look at the commandment number one. You shall love the Lord, your God with your entire heart and put no other gods before him. If we want to love God, we must first get to know him.

by Suzy Kelly   Ponder this… Did you know that Catholics don’t go to church services on Sundays? We crazy Catholics actually do something called assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If you don’t understand this, don’t feel bad. Many Catholics don’t understand what the Mass is all…