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A new book co-authored by a psychiatrist and a priest offers faithful wisdom and learned guidance in dealing with depression and anxiety.Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, MD, is the author, with Msgr. John Cihak, STD, of the book, The Catholic Guide to Depression: How the Saints, the Sacraments, and Psychiatry Can Help You Break Its Grip and Find Happiness Again (Sophia Institute Press, 2012). Dr. Kheriaty is the Director of Residency Training and Medical Education in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, Irvine. He co-directs the Program in Medical Ethics in the School of Medicine, and serves as chairman...

Here I will tell a story that I suppose is rather personal but what the heck, today’s not a bad day for the personal. Yesterday I went to St. Patrick’s for confession and mass, to start the year off on the right foot. Walking through the cathedral—it was jammed with tourists taking pictures of statues and architecture and also, and with some startling excitement, of the regular New Yorkers in the pews taking part in the noon mass—I remembered something I experienced there last summer, at confession. I add here that I like going to confession; I always find it...

On the Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God, ten sisters from the Community of Saint Mary the Virgin at Wantage were received into full communion with the Catholic Church, and twelve sisters in total formed the first Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, within the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. The Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, received the sisters' profession of faith and conferred on them the sacrament of Confirmation Fr Daniel's Sermon: "My dear Mother, my dear Sisters, Welcome home! I say this even though you do not have at present a physical home, because for all...

Look Straight Ahead Today's Scripture “Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.” (Proverbs 4:25, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria What are you looking at today? Not in the natural, but with your spiritual eyes. In other words, what is in the forefront of your mind and in your heart? Are you constantly dwelling on your problems or things that have happened in your past? In the natural, you will move in the direction that your eyes are looking. In the spiritual, it works the same way. Whatever you focus your mind and...

Clouds and Darkness "Clouds and darkness surround Him . . ." —Psalm 97:2 A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him . . . .” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem A New Journey…The Names of God in The Scriptures The One....LovingkindnessPsalm 144:1-3 (and Others) 1.[A Psalm] of David. Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle-- 2. My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. 3. LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Psalm 144:1-3 1.[A Psalm] of David. Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle-- 2. My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. 3. LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him? God Bless America!

On the Identity of Jesus "The Incarnation is the Beginning of the New Creation" VATICAN CITY, January 2, 2013 (Zenit.org). Here is the translation of the Holy Father's weekly general audience address. Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Nativity of the Lord once again illuminates the darkness that often surrounds our world and our hearts with His light, bringing hope and joy. Where does this light come from? From the stable in Bethlehem, where the shepherds found "Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger" (Lk 2:16). Before this Holy Family, another and deeper question arises: how can the...

Enoch is a direct descendant of the Noah bloodline (Genesis 5, verses 18-19.), and one of only 2 prophets directly ascended into heaven without experiencing death. The book of Enoch was not included in the scriptures when The First Council of Nicaea took place. Chapter 18 9-16 9. And I saw a flaming fire. And beyond these mountains 10. is a region the end of the great earth: there the heavens were completed. 11. And I saw a deep abyss, with columns ⌈⌈of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns⌉⌉ of fire fall, which were beyond measure alike towards...

January 3, 2013   Christmas Weekday   Reading 1 1 Jn 2:29–3:61 If you consider that God is righteous,you also know that everyone who acts in righteousnessis begotten by him. See what love the Father has bestowed on usthat we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.Beloved, we are God’s children now;what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,for we shall see him as he is.Everyone who...

So you know how we often talk about our “Christian walk”, and “living as God commands”? We here at the Casa de Scribbler have decided that the best way to do that is to practice performing Works of Mercy whenever possible– hopefully every day! We’re very concerned about setting up the right examples for the Little Scribbler– especially at her age (3) where kids tend to go through that phase of “Everything I Touch Is MINE!” I know a lot of kids who have been indulged in their magpie like tendencies, and consequently have grown into older kids who are...

Our readers may recall an article from a few days back about a new set of vestments commissioned for the parish priest of the ordinariate community of Bl. John Henry Newman Catholic Church in Santa Ana, California. Fr. Bartus was kind enough to share some photos of this year's Christmas Midnight Mass, where the vestments got their first public use. We are always eager to share news of the ordinariates across the world, so, interested readers, please feel free to send us updates. I share these images not only as an example of the liturgical praxis and development of the...

The solemnity of the Epiphany typically gets short shrift in Latin-rite Catholicism, for while Eastern Christianity lifts up the Epiphany as the apex of the Christmas season, Epiphany in the Western Church tends to get overwhelmed by the tsunami of Christmas, both liturgically and (especially) culturally. When the Epiphany fell in the middle of the week and was a holy day of obligation, its importance as the commemoration of the “manifestation” of the Messiah was underscored; transferred to a Sunday, it tends to become one Sunday among others. The pre-1970 liturgical calendar recognized the significance of the Epiphany by designating...

It occurs that our capacity to converse and to set forth arguments for the truth are often hindered today on account of many factors. One of those factors is a paradoxical relationship between a kind of skepticism and and exaggerated insistence on absolute proof that results. The fact is, absolute certitude in our human condition is rare, and to insist on it is usually unreasonable. This of course does not mean that firm certitude cannot be had in many matters as well as lesser degrees that remain a firm confidence as to the facts in a matter.On Monday there was...

Saints     Real Audio Lessons on this Topic Communion Of Saints Saints Saints II Saints III  First a definition: "To pray," as a verb, has two very distinct meanings: 1 : to make a request in a humble manner 2 : to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving It is only in this first sense that Catholics "pray" to saints. "To pray" is simply to ask, and it is a common English word as these examples will show: "Comes now Petitioner and, having filed his Motion in Limine, prays this Honorable Court to grant..."...

Following Pope Benedict XVI's repeated messages denouncing same-sex marriage, more Dutch Catholics are seeking ways to leave the Catholic Church. And one website is helping people to "de-baptize" themselves. According to Reuters, the website ontdopen.nl ("de-baptize.nl") has gained significant traffic this month after the pope took the time in his Christmas speech to the Vatican bureaucracy to condemn gay marriage. "They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves," he said. "The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man's...

On the first day of 2013, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George issued a letter to priests state-wide, urging Catholics to inform their state legislators of their opposition to same-sex marriage, the legalization of which is to be introduced in the coming days. "Civil laws that establish 'same sex marriage' create a legal fiction," George wrote in a letter sent to priests on Jan. 1, according to the Chicago Tribune. "The State has no power to create something that nature itself tells us is impossible," George continued. "Good pastoral practice encourages families to accept all their children and not break relationships with...

A saint for the year It’s that time of year again! I just used my little Saint’s Name Generator program to have a saint chosen at random to be my patron for the year. So, umm, should I be concerned that this is who I got?St. Michael the Archangel Patron of (among other things): people in danger at sea, ambulance drivers, bankers, dying people, the sick, swordsmiths(What on earth does God have in store for me this year?)Click here if you’d like the generator to choose a saint for you! Note that you have to click twice to get your...

Featured Term (selected at random):DIES IRAE The sequence beginning "That Day of Wrath" used at Requiem Masses. It was written in the thirteenth century by Thomas of Celano, biographer of St. Francis of Assisi; there have been hundreds of translations in all the major languages. There is no record of the authorship or origin of the old ecclesiastical melody. Among others who set it to music were Cherubini, Verdi, Bruneau, Gounod, Berlioz, and Mozart. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.