Tuesday January 5, 2010
Happy New Year! What's that? It's January 5? I'm running behind already? It's a good thing, then, that I've chosen this Novena to Saint Expeditus as our novena of the week.
This novena is the perfect way to start the New Year, because Saint Expeditus is, among other things, the patron saint of procrastinators! And avoiding procrastination is one of the most common New Year's resolutions. In fact, it's been one of my resolutions every year since I can remember. Except for 1996, when I decided to make it one of my resolutions for 1997 instead.
There's more to Saint Expeditus, though, than simply help for us hopeless—err, I mean, procrastinators. You can read about his conversion story in the Introduction to the Novena to Saint Expeditus.
To make this week's novena a little harder to avoid (a good thing for those of us who procrastinate), I've set up a nine-day course of e-mails to help remind you (and me!) to pray the novena each day. Simply sign up for the course, and you will receive an e-mail each day with the prayers for that day, as well as links to related articles.
Related Links:
Tuesday January 5, 2010
All good things must end, and we say our final goodbyes to 2009 today with a look at the most popular stories of December. Two were installments of Forum Friday, featuring posts by our forum moderator, Steven Hepburn, and longtime forum member Karen. And two examined important December feasts: the feasts of Saint Nicholas (yes, he was real, and no, his feast isn't December 25) and the Immaculate Conception. My post asking for stories of readers' return to the Catholic Church garnered a lot of interest and many responses.
And finally, "The Heart Has Reasons That Reason Cannot Know" is one of the stories nearest and dearest to my heart, not only of December but of the entire year, and readers seem to agree.
Thanks to all who have participated in the 12 Days of Christmas, About.com Style. I look forward to an even more exciting year in 2010!
Click on the links in the poll to read the stories, then return to this page to cast your vote.
You can also check out the entire archive of posts for December 2009. If your favorite post wasn't listed in the poll, leave a comment and tell us which one it was!
More of the Best of Last Year:
Monday January 4, 2010
November was marked by the anti-Catholic comments of Britain's most public atheist, Richard Dawkins, and four of our top stories dealt directly or indirectly (in the case of "O Sacrament Most Holy" and "Forum Friday: How Do You Know Catholicism Is True?") with his remarks. Dawkins' attack on Pope Benedict XVI was occasioned by the Holy Father's overtures in October to disaffected Anglicans, and in November the apostolic constitution for returning Anglicans was released. As thousands of Anglicans worldwide prepared to reunite with Rome, here in the United States, a prominent Catholic politician from a prominent Irish Catholic family departed so strongly from Church teaching that his own bishop questioned whether Patrick Kennedy can be considered Catholic.
Click on the links in the poll to read the stories, then return to this page to cast your vote.
You can also check out the entire archive of posts for November 2009. If your favorite post wasn't listed in the poll, leave a comment and tell us which one it was!
(Wondering what this post is about? See "The 12 Days of Christmas Are Back!")
More of the Best of Last Year:
Sunday January 3, 2010
The most unexpected and exciting news of October was Pope Benedict's overture to disaffected Anglicans, and six of our nine top stories dealt with some aspect of it. Another Wordless Wednesday rose up the ranks (probably because of the popularity of St. Teresa of Avila). Comedienne Sarah Silverman's peddling of anti-Catholic myths attracted attention, as did a lengthy Forum Friday discussion on the Church's rights and responsibilities regarding secular legislation on such moral issues as same-sex "marriage."
Click on the links in the poll to read the stories, then return to this page to cast your vote.
You can also check out the entire archive of posts for October 2009. If your favorite post wasn't listed in the poll, leave a comment and tell us which one it was!
(Wondering what this post is about? See "The 12 Days of Christmas Are Back!")
More of the Best of Last Year:
