his November, the month our nation should remember veterans especially, we pray particularly for the priest chaplains of what is sometimes called the largest diocese in the world: The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Though this Archdiocese has no fixed property per se, its jurisdiction spans the globe. It serves not only active duty troops in all branches of the military but also reservists, guard troops, the Veterans Administration, the Civil Air Patrol, and anywhere U.S. government personnel are in need of Catholic chaplains. It is estimated that about 1.8 million souls fall under the care of these priests. We thank the many generous bishops who release some of their priests to follow this unique and demanding call, even if only on a temporary basis.

Owing to their mission in the military, we won`t be displaying individual names. If we did, at about a dozen a week, it would still take nearly a year to share their names. Instead, we invite you to please pray for each and every one of them, their safety, their spiritual strength and for all the troops they literally bring Christ to. Ask Our Lord to inspire many young men, as well as already ordained priests, to answer the call to serve as military chaplains. Though the life is challenging and difficult, it is also rewarding and the need is very great. God bless and protect all our military priest chaplains!

#sisterreginacomicstrip ...

#sisterreginacomicstrip ...

A Holy Family Mother`s Day

Anna Jarvis might not have been able to grasp the full role of motherhood Mary was undertaking had the founder of Mother`s Day been in Nazareth 2000 years ago, but she certainly could have picked up some clues if she observed Jesus and Joseph and their relationship to Mary. They would have honored her, treated her with respect, given her their love as a son and a husband in a measure unseen anywhere else in history. Jarvis would likely have been pleased.

On this Mother`s Day, however Anna Jarvis intended it to be for singular families to honor their own particular mothers [that`s why she insisted on "Mother`s Day" rather than "Mothers` Day"], we honor and pray for all Mothers everywhere. We thank God for you and pray for all women taking on the role of mothers in a world that so desperately needs women with motherly hearts like Mary`s ready to sacrifice and love.

#SisterReginaComicStrip ...

Why, after Roe V. Wade has been overturned, is the March for Life still happening and marking its 50th year in D.C. while many scores of local marches also take place? Maybe an answer is found in the name itself. It is called "March for Life", not "March for the Overturning of Roe V. Wade." It isn`t about one law, one right or one prohibition. It`s about life - which, if we think about it, encompasses EVERYTHING ELSE. Though the momentous event in 2022, overturning a ruling like Roe V. Wade and moving the fight for life to the State level, is to celebrated, this isn`t just about that decision. It`s really and fundamentally about converting hearts and enlightening minds to see life as it fully is: a GIFT from God alone. Life, be that of the unborn baby in the womb or of the mother or the father or the elderly or the chronically ill, is something to be revered, respected and protected from conception to natural death. #sisterreginacomicstrip ...

Gifts and Fruits

Sometimes it happens that people give gifts to each other they don`t really want. They`re thankful and polite, but then put them someplace on a shelf because they didn`t want to give offense. Many little knick knacks, while representing small (but real) acts of kindness and charity, gather dust in this almost dormant way.

But what if the giver was God? Pentecost isn`t just a Feast where we historically mark the descent of the Holy Spirit on Mary and the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room. It`s meant to help us recall the Gift of the Holy Spirit that we have already received. That we speak of this intangible munificence as seven separate gifts is more for our benefit, to try to wrap our heads around the unspeakable. That God, the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and wants to fill us with these magnificent gifts. And, surprise!...he expects us to do something with these gifts. They are to bear fruit. Even these are enumerated as twelve fruits. They are not to lie dormant and unused to wither and shrivel. They are to vivify.

If it seems impossible to understand the seven gifts and the twelve fruits or to witness their manifestation in souls, we only have to look at the Saints throughout the Church`s history. They accepted and welcomed the Spirit, got out of the way, and let him operate in their lives.

If we notice dust collecting on the precious gifts that came to us in our lives, it`s never to late to ask to Holy Spirit to clean things up and start bearing fruit again.

#SisterReginaComicStrip ...

There are fads that come and go in mankind`s seemingly endless quest to find happiness in almost anything and anyone so long as it is not God. Keeping God and the goal of being with him forever in eternity does not require any complicated methods. As it is the month of October, dedicated to the Rosary, it is a good time to recommend this simple and very effective prayer that helps us build the practice of filling our minds with Jesus. While the repetition of the prayers along the rosary beads may sound boring initially, it helps train the body and the mind. The fingers and mouth participate as the mind learns to linger with each mystery. Soon enough ten beads are transformed into ten steps side by side with Mary leading us to her Son. Mary always leads us closer to her Son, never away. She wants our minds filled to capacity with Jesus, even more than we do. #sisterreginacomicstrip ...