I started this blog back on November 15, 2005 as mainly a knitting and talking about what's going on in my life blog. At the end of August 2008 I began to slowly and cautiously to also blog about our new passion, guns and target shooting. After the election I began to let more of the "Right-Wing Extremist" seep into the blog, mainly in the Parting Shots. And for a long time it was shooting and life and knitting, not necessarily in that order.
And now I'm adding another element. I'm going to start posting about my Catholic Faith as it's now part of my life. No preachy stuff; that turns me off, too; just occasional Faith related posts and blogging about how I'm fitting my Faith into my life or is it that I'm fitting my life into my Faith.
I was raised in a Catholic family and went to a Catholic Parochial School from kindergarten through the eighth grade. My folks couldn't afford to send me to a Catholic High School as I had two younger sisters still in school. Because of those nine years with mostly nuns as teachers I got a very solid grounding in the Catholic Faith along with going to Mass every. single. weekday and every Sunday.
Faith has always been present in my life in one way or another but I didn't go to church or pray on any kind of a regular basis. I'd always joked that I was a collapsed or expired Catholic.
But over a year ago, October or November, 2010, I don't remember exactly when or why I decided to read the Bible — just a chapter or two every night or so. Long story short (which I'll tell in subsequent posts) on November 19 I went to Confession and took Communion for the first time in ... well ... a very long time.
I've always tried to live a Christian life but now that I'm a practicing Catholic who wants to continue to take Communion and along with no mortal sins that means going to Mass every week, usually Saturday's for me and on Holy Days. And learning how to all of a sudden fit my Catholic Faith into my everyday life. [If we go to the range on Saturday I'll get up early on Sunday and go to early Mass or we can go to the range on Sunday and I can go to Saturday afternoon Mass.]
As I've never been a practicing adult Catholic until recently and as I want to deepen my faith I'm figuring out how to say the Rosary every day. I went to a seminar at church and learned a lot. My current answer is that I don't have a set time. If I have the time, I like to say a Scriptural Rosary. I love how the Bible verses amplify the Mysteries. I also prefer to say it out loud as that tends to keep my mind from wandering too much but neither is always possible.
I'm also figuring out how to fit prayer, Bible study and my one or two Bible chapters into every day. I like to pray at the end of the day as that calms and relaxes me. I'm not very good with extemporaneous praying (making it up as I go along) so I found some prayers on line, printed them out and say those, usually either praying in a soft whisper or speaking them silently to help keep my mind from wandering. Doesn't always work but I notice it a lot quicker than if I just read them like I do a book. And I change some of the prayers and change the order around every so often.
If I haven't had a chance to say the Rosary that day, I'll say it at the end of the day. My daily Bible study and chapters I can work in anytime but it's usually at the end of the day. I start reading Ecclesiastics this evening.
blogging to: Memories 89 1
reading: Catherine of Siena, a Passionate Life by Don Brophy
Parting Shot: "The devil strains every nerve to secure the souls which belong to Christ. We should not grudge our toil in wresting them from Satan and giving them back to God. -- St. Sebastian
And now I'm adding another element. I'm going to start posting about my Catholic Faith as it's now part of my life. No preachy stuff; that turns me off, too; just occasional Faith related posts and blogging about how I'm fitting my Faith into my life or is it that I'm fitting my life into my Faith.
I was raised in a Catholic family and went to a Catholic Parochial School from kindergarten through the eighth grade. My folks couldn't afford to send me to a Catholic High School as I had two younger sisters still in school. Because of those nine years with mostly nuns as teachers I got a very solid grounding in the Catholic Faith along with going to Mass every. single. weekday and every Sunday.
Faith has always been present in my life in one way or another but I didn't go to church or pray on any kind of a regular basis. I'd always joked that I was a collapsed or expired Catholic.
But over a year ago, October or November, 2010, I don't remember exactly when or why I decided to read the Bible — just a chapter or two every night or so. Long story short (which I'll tell in subsequent posts) on November 19 I went to Confession and took Communion for the first time in ... well ... a very long time.
I've always tried to live a Christian life but now that I'm a practicing Catholic who wants to continue to take Communion and along with no mortal sins that means going to Mass every week, usually Saturday's for me and on Holy Days. And learning how to all of a sudden fit my Catholic Faith into my everyday life. [If we go to the range on Saturday I'll get up early on Sunday and go to early Mass or we can go to the range on Sunday and I can go to Saturday afternoon Mass.]
As I've never been a practicing adult Catholic until recently and as I want to deepen my faith I'm figuring out how to say the Rosary every day. I went to a seminar at church and learned a lot. My current answer is that I don't have a set time. If I have the time, I like to say a Scriptural Rosary. I love how the Bible verses amplify the Mysteries. I also prefer to say it out loud as that tends to keep my mind from wandering too much but neither is always possible.
I'm also figuring out how to fit prayer, Bible study and my one or two Bible chapters into every day. I like to pray at the end of the day as that calms and relaxes me. I'm not very good with extemporaneous praying (making it up as I go along) so I found some prayers on line, printed them out and say those, usually either praying in a soft whisper or speaking them silently to help keep my mind from wandering. Doesn't always work but I notice it a lot quicker than if I just read them like I do a book. And I change some of the prayers and change the order around every so often.
If I haven't had a chance to say the Rosary that day, I'll say it at the end of the day. My daily Bible study and chapters I can work in anytime but it's usually at the end of the day. I start reading Ecclesiastics this evening.
blogging to: Memories 89 1
reading: Catherine of Siena, a Passionate Life by Don Brophy
Parting Shot: "The devil strains every nerve to secure the souls which belong to Christ. We should not grudge our toil in wresting them from Satan and giving them back to God. -- St. Sebastian
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