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S5.10 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Are you saying a sacrament that helps people better handle failure is a bad thing? No biblical basis? I don’t know how you’ve come to that conclusion. It’s a way for the Church to enforce power over people; well, yeah, the Church has been given authority by Christ Himself to judge, so its common sense the Church will exercise authority over its members. After all, it is Christ Himself working through His Church who exercises that power. Are you saying Christ the King should have no authority?

S5.9 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez poour nous, pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

S5.8 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

S5.7 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

S5.6 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Do you guys know who Jen Fulwiler is? She and her husband were raised as atheists, but after they got married, they converted to Catholicism. They now have six children. She's had a weekly blog about being a mom, and being Catholic, and that sort of stuff, for a while. She also does stand-up comedy these days. Five weeks ago, her 19-year-old daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and it's bad. Fulwiler is blogging about that, too. She doesn't focus only on the daughter, she talks about how she and her husband are reacting to it, and dealing with it, and how she uses humor to get through, and where God is in all of this. Below, I post a link to her YouTube channel (she has outlets in other formats, but I don't know anything about those). Scroll down to the third row of thumbnails; that's the weekly blog. The last four blogs have been on this topic. I think the blogs are insightful and will be helpful for parents who have children in similar situations, or if you know someone in a similar situation. And it's just good testimony, too. She's not losing her faith or anything like that, and she really seems to understand the Church's teaching about God's will, and when bad things happen to good people, and so forth. And if you have some extra time, you put in a few prayers for the daughter and the family. https://www.youtube.com/@JenFulwiler (This URL cannot be embedded because there is no video at that location. It's her YouTube channel's location.

This week’s readings are referred to as apocalyptic. Like all biblical references to the future, apocalyptic descriptions are symbolic in nature. They are meant to inspire believers to find whatever good they can from life’s inevitable suffering. They are meant to urge us on with perseverance and fidelity. “The day is coming now, burning like a furnace;” Malachi warns in today’s First Reading. The prophets taught Israel to look for the Day of the Lord, when He would gather the nations for judgment and so, the Gospel before us today features Luke narrating Jesus’ description of the end of days, complete with earthquakes, famines, wars, plagues, and persecution of the faithful. Jesus is standing in the Temple! Luke tells us that the disciples were marvelling at the beauty of the Temple—its enormous stone walls and fine metal fixtures and wealthy worshippers who came to make their gifts. People couldn’t help but notice the Temple and its fineries. The disciples noticed; everyone noticed! And Jesus noticed them noticing. So, he says, “ All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.” We can almost hear the disciples whispering to one another. “How can this be? This place is indestructible! It’s a fortress! It’ll last thousands of years!” And yet, although the disciples didn’t know it at the time, Luke knew just how true Jesus’ words were. By the year 70, all that would be left of Herod’s Temple was a pile of rubble. Wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues, the destruction of the very places that enrich our lives, all these things, Jesus says, will come to pass in the last days. And just when we think it can’t possibly get any worse than that, Jesus gets personal: You will be arrested; you will be persecuted; you will be thrown into prison and hauled before the court. Then notice what he says next: Just when everything is shrouded in darkness; when lies have taken the place of truth; when war seems inevitable and eternal; when the earth trembles beneath you—then you will have the opportunity to testify! But Jesus says, “ I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. .” He then goes on to say this: “ Not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.” We must live God’s Kingdom now, not just as something that will happen at some future date. While God’s Kingdom is not fully established, it does have a solid foothold in our world. Jesus is offering us the vision of an ending and a new beginning; a vision of God’s Kingdom and a different kind of temple where Jesus is the cornerstone. Jesus understands that every temple is temporary, every system we create will collapse, every cause, every framework that we construct will disappear and disappoint, except His! When all hell is breaking loose in the world around us, Jesus calls us to speak up! Tell the truth! Proclaim Christ crucified and risen! Amidst all the apocalyptic language we hear in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching us something essential about what it means to be his followers. When things get hard; when people try to silence and malign and ridicule you, keep on speaking! Keep on telling the world about Jesus! Keep on telling the truth! And we should take the Apostles as our “models,” as today’s Second Reading counsels. Like them we must persevere in the face of unbelieving relatives, friends, forces, and authorities hostile to God. This is the essential vocation of the Church: to stand tall in the middle of the chaos and confusion of the world and keep hitting the same pitch so we can tune our ears: This is who we are. This is what we’re about. Over and over again. God is faithful even when everything around us is falling apart. Our job is to keep telling that truth—to keep living that truth—because when all is said and done, it’s the only truth that matters.

S5.5 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

S5.4 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entre toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles et beni., Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Young Adult Catholic Women in Southern California, you are invited! November 15th, Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside California, A Day of Discernment and Discovery at Mission San Luis Rey https://fscc-calledtobe.org/vocation-discernment-events/

Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Mary Teresa Bettag reflects on Scripture selected for the feast of St. Leo the Great (Wisdom 1:1-7 and Luke 17:1-6) encouraging us to give God credit. https://fscc-calledtobe.org/2025/11/10/franciscan-sister-mary-teresa-bettag-reflection-give-god-credit/

Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sister Mary Ann Spanjers and Sister Julie Ann Sheahan share the last leg of their recent discernment sojourn from St. Louis, Missouri to Manitowoc, Wisconsin.... https://fscc-calledtobe.org/2025/11/08/franciscan-sisters-discernment-sojourn-part-four-from-missouri-to-wisconsin/

Today we celebrate the feast of The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica because it is the head and mother church in the world. This feast helps us to better understand more about the value of church, community and us as members of the Body of Christ. Most of us think of St. Peter’s as the official church of the pope, but we are wrong. Since St. John Lateran is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome where the Bishop of Rome presides, it is his church. The basilica has large columns that support the structure of the church. There are large figures of the apostles which demonstrate the role the apostles played in the foundation of the church through their witness to Christ’s life and His teachings. When Constantine converted to Christianity and issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD Christians were allowed to practice their faith publicly. He later donated the Lateran Palace and its property to the Pope, and it became the Basilica. The Church was consecrated in 324 by Pope Sylvester. As the first basilica to be built, it has been called "the mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world." The feast was originally celebrated only in Rome; after 1565, all the churches in the Roman Rite began to observe this celebration. In the Old Testament, God's Spirit dwelled in the heart of the Temple building, in a room called the Holy of Holies. No human could enter it except the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement when a blood offering was made for the sins of all. You are God's building, says today's second reading, because Jesus Christ is your foundation. You are God's temple, because the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Jesus, the ultimate High Priest, transformed the Day of Atonement into Good Friday (see today's Gospel reading). Then, he placed his Holy Spirit into the hearts of his followers. Sadly, the door to the holy of holies within our hearts is not always open. Whatever we do that blocks the Holy Spirit's work in us, Jesus wants to overturn it like the moneychangers' tables. Is your life in upheaval? Perhaps that's Jesus overturning some tables! We are reminded that we are important. We are God’s gift to others. Each of us has been called by our baptism to be disciples of Christ. As disciples of Christ, we have a responsibility to live out our “calling” to the best of our ability. In Confirmation we are reminded of our responsibilities as we grow and mature in our faith. We learn the importance of serving others in various ways. Through our chosen vocation we live out the responsibilities to God and to others. Hopefully, we come to know the priorities in our lives. It is important that we realize that God, who created us, who gave us life and who called us, must be first in our lives – only then will everything fall into place. As a temple of God, you hold the answers to the prayers of others. Jesus wants to minister to them through you. However, we cannot be Christ's hands and feet and voice unless we first let Christ fill us with his Spirit, which comes through prayer and through the Sacraments of the Church St. Francis is sometimes credited with the following saying: Preach the Gospel always – use words when necessary. Our actions speak louder than words. Thus, our actions are the most important examples of what we believe. Today's feast is a reminder to clean out the dust and dirt from the cathedral of our hearts. As temples of God, if our hearts are open to the Holy Spirit, we will soon become a blessing to others. This is why today, throughout the entire world, one billion Catholics are celebrating the dedication of an old church building, because it is much more than an old building with fuzzy sentimental value: it is the mother of all church buildings. it is the tangible evidence of the trustworthiness of Christ's promise that by his grace the Catholic Church is indestructible. Today when we recite the Creed, the living faith of the divine family that all of us are members of, let's recite it from the heart, remembering this great story that we are a part of, that we have a chance each day to contribute to, the story of salvation. And as we receive the living Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion, the bond that transcends time and space, let's ask our Lord for the grace to make our lives into living basilicas, so as to be living signs of God's power and love in this world that is so desperately looking for something, or someone, to hope in.

The observance of All Souls’ Day has origins in early Christian traditions, where prayers and offerings were made for the dead. The formal practice was popularised in the 10th century by St Odilo of Cluny, a Benedictine abbot, who established November 2 as a day of universal prayer for the departed. On this day, Masses and prayers are offered for our loved ones. People commemorate in different ways. Some attend Mass, visit cemeteries, light candles, or place flowers, as symbols of remembrance and eternal life. Candles represent the light of Christ guiding souls to eternal rest, while prayers are acts of love that unite the living and the dead in spiritual communion. All Souls’ Day falls on a Sunday this year and serves as a touching reminder of life’s brevity and the enduring power of faith, love, and remembrance. As God told Adam, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Book of Genesis 3:19). How wonderful it is to be remembered, and especially remembered by those who know us and understand us, and who hold us in their heart, whether these people actually be alive on this earth or whether they have died and are, in some way, still “alive in Jesus Christ.” Somehow their remembrance of us bridges the gap between this life and the next, helping in some way pave the way for us into eternity where we will be welcomed and reunited with those whom we actually know who have died before us. And when it’s done and said, I suspect that many of us will be glad to trade some of the images of heaven – pearly gates and gold-paved streets and the like – simply for a reunion with those who have formed us into the women and men that are Somehow that memory is kept alive, not just by you but by this precious one who has passed from this life to the next, and who remembers you. The other real grace in the church’s remembrance of the faithful departed is in the kindly remembrance of sinners. This day could as easily be called All Sinners Day. By “sin” I mean here a deep brokenness that has deformed who a person truly is or who the person was intended by God to be. Some of life’s brokenness comes from our own actions – things done and left undone, said and unsaid – which have may have had lifelong consequences. Some of this experience of the brokenness of “sin” comes from what has been “done unto us,” or “not done,” “said” or “not said.” And the scarring may be lifelong. Many people depart this life quite broken, not just in body but in spirit. Some people depart this life with no conscious awareness of God’s love for them. Some people depart this life leaving a residue of carnage among their survivors, generation to generation. Everything does not come round right in this life. In the Apostles’ Creed, one phrase in this ancient creed is deeply fraught with hope. We affirm that God the Son “descended to the dead.” An earlier English version says he “descended into hell.” You may find deep comfort in this belief that Jesus will seek him or her out, not unlike a shepherd in search of a lost sheep. And so this may invite prayer from “our” side of eternity: praying for someone who departed this life less than whole, or unreconciled, or deeply damaged in some way. This may be our whispering in Jesus’ ears about someone whom both you and Jesus know. Jesus may even be to you a kind of eternal ombudsperson to listen to your cares or distress or anger or sighing about a departed person, things which could not have been communicated in this life, for whatever reason. You may welcome Jesus to be your mediator between you and another person. Someone asked me recently, “How long should I pray for someone who has died?” And I said, “I don’t know. But you will know. Something will change. You will know.” I think that is so for all of us… as we anticipate a larger life beyond this mortal life, “ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4 So, with this celebration we come to the Lord in faith, praying that the souls of the dead, through God’s mercy, may rest in peace. Amen

The two days, All Saints and All Souls this week, weave together beautifully. All Saints’ Day inspires us with the lives of the saints, while All Souls’ Day grounds us in the reality of our own mortality and the importance of treasuring our earthly connections. Together, they remind us of the Catholic teaching that we are part of a larger spiritual family—a communion of saints and souls striving to become the best versions of ourselves. As we commemorate these days, we draw strength from the examples set by the saints, and we find comfort in the cherished memories of our departed loved ones. Firstly, on the Feast of All Saints, we come together to remember and honour those women and men who have gone before us, whose lives serve as examples of faith and devotion. The Feast of All Saints is a time when we commemorate not only the canonized saints of the Church but also all who have found their eternal rest in the loving arms of our Lord. The word “saint” often conjures images of extraordinary individuals who performed miraculous acts, endured great suffering, or led lives of extraordinary virtue. While these remarkable saints are indeed an inspiration to us all, the Feast of All Saints is a reminder that holiness is not limited to the extraordinary. Holiness is a call for each and every one of us, and it is within our reach. It is a calling to live a life of love, compassion, and unwavering faith in God. The saints we honour today came from different backgrounds, experienced diverse challenges, and lived in various times and places. Some were martyrs who faced persecution and death for their faith, while others were humble individuals living quiet lives of service. What unites them all is their unwavering commitment to God and their dedication to living out the teachings of Jesus Christ. The lives of these saints teach valuable lessons. They remind us that holiness can be found in the everyday moments of our lives. Holiness can be found in the kindness we show to others, in the forgiveness we extend to those who have wronged us, and in the love, we share with our neighbours. It can be found in our commitment to justice and in our efforts to alleviate suffering in the world. The saints we commemorate today also remind us that holiness requires perseverance. They faced obstacles, temptations, and doubts, just as we do. But through it all, they held fast to their faith and continued to seek God’s will. They teach us that it is possible to overcome the challenges of life, no matter how daunting they may seem, with the help of God’s grace. “In the morning of life, and at noon, and at evening, he called them away from our worship below, but not till his love, at the font and the altar, had clothed them with grace for the way they should go.” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). The saints, through their purity of heart, have seen God, and now they enjoy His presence for all eternity. As we commemorate their lives today, we strive to purify our own hearts, to seek God with sincerity and dedication, and to live in a way that reflects the teachings of Jesus. We may not all be called to perform miracles or to endure martyrdom, but we are all called to be saints in our own way. We are called to be the best versions of ourselves, to love and serve God and our neighbours, and to strive for holiness in the ordinary moments of our lives. In conclusion, the Feast of All Saints reminds us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, showing us the way. We follow their example, persevere in our faith, and strive to be the saints God has called us to be. In doing so, we too will one day join that great communion of saints in the presence of our Lord. “In our day of thanksgiving one psalm let us offer for the saints who before us have found their reward; when the shadow of death fell upon them, we sorrowed, but now we rejoice that they rest in the Lord.” Author: William H. Draper (1916)

Oh sorry I didnt see the above post!

Glencairn Abbey in Ireland has a new postulant. Cistercians of the strict observance.

Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sister Mary Ann Spanjers and Sister Julie Ann Sheahan began an October vocation discernment journey traveling by car beginning in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Part of our purpose was to meet young women for conversations along the way. Of course, we did. https://fscc-calledtobe.org/2025/10/28/franciscan-sisters-discernment-sojourn-from-wi-to-ks-to-nm-to-az-to-tx-to-ok-to-mo/ and meet us near Frisco Texas or Oklahoma in the next few days if you like

S5.3 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

During the Easter vigil on April, 3rd 2021, I, along with my parish of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, celebrated my baptism, first holy communion, and confirmation. This was my first step of answering God’s call to Religious life. https://fscc-calledtobe.org/2025/10/21/austin-parish-traveling-vocation-shrine-rebuilds-gods-church/

S1.2 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

How many parents here are Grandparents and how many?? children - Grandchildren - I myself have three children and five grandchildren

That's debatable.

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