33 Days to Merciful Love

This fall our Solid Grounds group will break from our usual Bible study and instead take up Fr. Michael Gaitley's retreat, 33 Days to Merciful Love.

If you like Fr. Gaitley's other works, you're going to love this one.  This time the focus is on St. Therese of Lisieux and what she has taught us about the great mercy that God pours out upon us. Fr. Gaitley himself has shared that among all his books, this is his personal favorite.

Registration is open from now until August 31, 2017.  The fee for this six session retreat is $35 and includes the book, the retreat companion, and a consecration certificate. Registration forms are available at the church or online at, 33 Days to Merciful Love,
where you may also view a short promotional video for more information about this retreat. Even if you've done the retreat before, it's a wonderful idea to repeat the experience to delve even deeper into the mystery of the graces of merciful love.

Sessions begin on September 7, and the group meets every other week from 9-11a.m. through November 16.

Please join us for this special experience to share an opportunity to prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for Consecration to Divine Mercy.

Jude...and We're Out!

Great job everyone!  Another session of Bible study behind us. And three letters of the New Testament!  I enjoy the reading, preparing for our meetings, and hearing what everyone brings to the table in our discussions. I hope that you do as well.

Here are my notes for the last class:

Lesson 9 Jude

I am also posting my list of Catholic book recommendations so that you can have a resource when you are trying to decide which book to read to prepare for our first meeting in September for our study of John's letters.  We will do our traditional short book reviews at that first meeting.  You have a long, a very long break to make time to read a good Catholic book by then, so don't waste any time.

Catholic Book Recommendations

Finally, I thought I would give you some incentive to read that book this summer, to sign up for another class, to continue to study the faith.  The link below will bring you to the Busted Halo site where you can listen to an interview with Bishop Robert Baron at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress back in February.  Bishop Baron is interviewed by Father Dave Dwyer, whom you may remember spoke at our Archdiocesan gathering a couple years ago.  They talk about the importance of defending out faith among the startling number of "nones" in our country--those who respond "None" when asked for a religious affiliation. Give it a listen.  I think you'll enjoy it.

Bishop Robert Baron Interview on Busted Halo

Watch the bulletin in August for registration information for our Fall/Winter session.
Have a great summer!

2 Peter Lesson 8

Thanks for putting up with a groggy group leader today!  We did finish early today, so maybe I should be sleep deprived more often.

In addition to my notes, I will also add the article that I mentioned that I had found on the EWTN site about the Last Days.  I found it interesting and thought that you might as well.

Lesson 8 Notes

Lesson 8: The Second Coming of the Lord and the Last Judgment

I had also mentioned a helpful video that I watched on the FORMED website.  It's hard to put a link to the site, since it requires sign in to access the material, but if you look under the materials on the "Video" tab, it's called "The Three Secrets to Sharing the Faith."  The host gives some great advice on how to discuss our faith without sounding all holier than thou or without things getting heated.  I recommend it.

Finally, I spoke briefly about a podcast that I enjoy that's called "Catholic Stuff You Should Know."  This link will take you to their website.  If you have an iTunes account, you can subscribe there to have new episodes load automatically.  They also have a Facebook page, if you're into that.  There's actually a Minnesota link with a couple of the priests although they do not record here.  They are also members of the Companions of Christ, which may sound familiar because of the connection with our former pastor.  Give it a try.

Believe it or not, next week concludes our study for the first part of the year.  We are finishing up with the Letter of Jude, sometimes called Judah.  After our discussion, we are going out to lunch.  It was a close vote, but lunch beat out breakfast the week after.  I'll send out an email with the details.

See you Thursday!

Catching Up!

Sorry.  I've really fallen behind on posting things for our group.  Meeting weekly keeps me on my toes, but I'm afraid that I'm not a very good ballerina!  One week after another flies by, and I neglect my duties.

So, on this post, I will put up my notes from Lessons 5-7, which conclude 1 Peter and include the first two chapters of 2 Peter.  I don't think these get many downloads, but I like to make them available, especially for anyone who is unable to make it to a meeting.  It helps give some idea of the direction our discussion has gone--although often we may head off to another path depending on the input of the group.

Notes for...
Lesson 5 Stand Firm
Lesson 6 Confirming Your Call
Lesson 7 False Prophets

Before I go, I thought I'd also pass on a recommendation for one of the programs on the FORMED website.  This week, while I was on the treadmill, I watched the video "The Three Secrets to Sharing the Faith." We often talk about ways to share our Catholic faith with friends and family who may have differences of opinion about our faith or questions about our beliefs and practices.  The methods shared in this video give some excellent suggestions on how to do this and keep the conversation civil and productive. Very well done!

See you next week.  Oh, and if you were unable to make it this week, come to our next meeting prepared to vote on whether you would prefer to go out to lunch after our last meeting on March 30 or meet for breakfast the Thursday afterwards, April 6.  I'd also welcome restaurant suggestions if you have any ideas.

1 Peter, Lesson 3 and Lesson 4

This week's posting includes notes and links from our last two sessions during which we discussed 1 Peter, chapters 3 and 4, Lessons 3 and 4.  Now that we're all caught up, we're ready to move on to Lesson 5, which covers the final chapter of Peter's first letter.

In addition to the notes for each lesson, I am also including a couple of links that I had promised...

The first is a book recently made available on the FORMED website in preparation of the Lenten season. The file is available for download in several formats.




Meditations for Lent







The second is a link I had provided once before, but the subject came up in conversation again, and I wanted to make it easy for everyone who hasn't had the opportunity to watch this program to do so.  It is a recording of the program, Faith and Reason, out of Franciscan University.  The episode is called "Islam and ISIS" and features Robert Spencer, the director of the organization Jihad Watch. This panel discussion is extremely informative, and I promise will be an eye-opening experience to the very real threat we face and yet seem, as a country, to be unable to speak truthfully about out of a fear of seeming intolerant, I guess.  If you watch it, please let us know what you think.

"Islam and ISIS"

And finally, here are my notes from Lessons 3 and 4.  I am also including some extra notes that I had taken from various sources for Lesson 3 regarding the meaning of the word "submissive."  I knew that the discussion about 1 Peter 3 would focus on the opening passage about the relationship between husbands and wives, and I wanted to be prepared!

Lesson 3
Lesson 3-Notes on "Submissive"
Lesson 3 Conclusion and Lesson 4
See everyone next week as we conclude 1 Peter!

1 Peter 2:4-25

We all seemed to agree that this was a difficult lesson.  Maybe it was the lesson.  Maybe we all have those mid-winter blahs that can make it hard to concentrate!  After our discussion, I think that we all have a better idea about what Peter is trying to convey to his readers in this early chapter.

We concluded by agreeing on two things:
1. As part of a spiritual and literal house of God, we truly must be living stones!  (Of course, we can only be like living stones, as we fall far short of the Living Stone!)  If we are part of a structure where one building block leans upon the next to make a strong whole, we must do our best not to be the weak link.  And we must be forever reliant on the strong foundation of that cornerstone--the real Living Stone, Jesus Christ.  That means that we have a real relationship with Jesus, that we are active members of the community of God--in worship and prayer, and that we be continuously present for the rest!
2. As citizens of a country where we are free to practice our faith--to worship freely--we must do so!  The sad truth is that there are people in the world who still face arrest, torture, even death for their Christian faith.  The inspiring truth is that there are many people in the world who believe it is worth it to take that risk.  It's such a common thing for humans to take for granted their freedoms.  Let's not be those people who take for granted the freedom we still have to live as Christians.  Will we be ridiculed?  Perhaps.  Will we be mocked, thought fools, perhaps even verbally or physically attacked? Maybe.  Most likely, however, the only stumbling blocks to our fully living the faith will come from within.  Let's not let those voices win.

In case you missed class or are simple interested in having them, here are the notes I made for this week's lesson:
Lesson 2, 1 Peter 2:4-25.

Don't forget, we have next week off.  We will be back together on February 16 to discuss 1 Peter 3.  See you then!

1 Peter 1:2-2-3

Excellent! We had so much to cover this week, and yet we managed to get through all of it--and did so with few distractions and a feeling of a good grasp of the history of 1 Peter, Peter himself, and the first chapter (and a bit of the 2nd) of this letter. Great job everybody!

As promised, here is a link to the Franciscan University program, "Islam and Isis," that was recommended to us by Kathy F. At posting I have yet to view the program myself, but I feel confident to post it with good recommendations. I will do my best to watch it this week.

Here too is a link to the discussion I mentioned that is part of the Lectio: Eucharist series available on the FORMED website that is presented by Dr. Brant Pitre on the Lamb of God, which we discussed for 1 Peter 1:19. (By the way, I highly recommend this Lectio series.  It's very well done!)

In case you missed our meeting or would simply like to look over the notes I made for our discussion, I will always try to include them in the post for each meeting.
Lesson 1, Ransomed By Grace, 1 Peter 1:1-2:3

See you this Thursday, February 2 to discuss Lesson 2 on 1 Peter 2:4-25.

First Meeting: Introductions and Book Reviews

As is our custom, we started our first meeting with a bit of business: distributing materials, discussing the class schedule, and reviewing the rules of our group study. If you were unable to attend, you may pick up your packet in the office, so that you're prepared to discuss our first lesson, or get your materials at Thursday's meeting. Also, if you would like to participate but didn't get around to registering by the deadline, I believe there are extra copies of our study guide. Stop by or call the office and speak to Linda, and she'll get you set up. Don't wait too long. It's too easy to fall behind in a weekly study. 

It is also our custom to have our members give a brief book review of a book that has been read over our break, or a favorite Catholic book that they would like to share. There was a good mix. Fiction. Non-fiction. Inspirational works. And prayer guides. There was quite a bit of discussion about a book of private revelation by a woman who goes by the moniker of Anne the Lay Apostle. When I got home, I did a little reasearch about Anne and found a blog post on the "Women of Grace site that I thought you might find interesting. It's called "The Controversy Surrounding Anne, the Lay Apostle."   The article was written in 2011, but since the Church takes its time regarding the approval of private revelation, I doubt much has changed in the meantime. The article is fair and well researched. I was surprised to find out that "Anne" is only in her mid-fifties and an American citizen living in Ireland. It's good to remember that, as members of the body of the Church, we are never required to believe private revelation. And while there may be little harm, and even great comfort and spiritual help in reading materials from these private revelations, one might be well advised to consider reading from the vast library of materials that has already been approved by the Church, most especially as one who might be just beginning their journey of mature faith formation. 

On Thursday, January 28 we'll be covering the introductory materials and Lesson 1 that covers 1Peter 1:1-2:3. See you then!