A Dutch Lent

Can you see the way the world has gone when Dutch Catholics advertise Lent as a type of Ramadan? Only 10 percent of the four million Dutch Roman Catholics attend Mass every week, and only a few tens of thousands fast during Lent.

Morning Offering

I've learned several Morning Offering prayers, and others are listed here. The first prayer was this rhyme taught by my Mother:

Each thought, each word, each deed of mine,
Shall be an act of love Divine.
And everything that I shall do,
Shall be, my God, for love of You.

The second Morning Offering I learned from our pastor of almost 60 years ago, who often came to our grade school classroom to see how well we kids were learning our religion. Once, Father asked us to say the Morning Offering--to see if we had memorized the prayer. None of us knew it (but we did know a short prayer that noted how all our actions were to be according to God's will).

Sister's face drooped like a wilted flower as she saw her students fail this question from the pastor. Father then taught us the importance of the Morning Offering prayer. Finally, he turned sternly to Sister and said he would give her a printed copy of the prayer. He would check on our memorization the next time he returned to our classroom. The Morning Offering my pastor gave us students to memorize is reprinted below:

O Jesus,
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I offer You my prayers, works,
joys and sufferings
of this day for all the intentions
of Your Sacred Heart,
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
throughout the world,
in reparation for my sins,
for the intentions of all my relatives and friends,
and in particular
for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.

After we were married, my husband taught me this third Morning Offering Prayer. It's a good, quick prayer to say anytime during the day.

Everything we do today
Is for the honor and glory and love of God.
O Lord, be with us today and all the days of our lives,
That we may dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.

The shortest Morning Offering is:

SERVIAM! [I serve (the Lord God)]

Choices of Periodicals

This post is meant to encourage others to consider subscribing to these magazines and newspapers. No order or ranking is implied, other than is indicated in my comments.

THE REMNANT: I've subscribed to this small Catholic newspaper for almost 40 years, and when it was published by Walter Matt and featured Michael Davies as its premier columnist, no other periodical best matched my own views. Walter retired and his young son took over as editor, but it seemed there was an occasional unwise selection of columnists and stories. Fortunately, Michael Matt now has matured into an editor who exemplifies the best of his father. Poor columnists and stories no longer appear, and I highly recommend this traditional Catholic newspaper. The Remnant website is excellent, especially because of its many links to current Catholic news.

THE PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY REPORT: I started subscribing in about 1970 to this small politically conservative publication that arrives monthly in a #10 envelope. Phyllis advertises her monthly report as containing more information per page than any other publication, and I agree. Current and past reports are available online at Eagle Forum. I could speak for an hour on the work that the 81-year old Mrs. Schlafly has accomplished over the years--leading the effort to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, stopping pro-aborts in the Republican Party, giving one of the first examples of homeschooling, and exemplifying the best of an active Catholic mother of six children, etc. Her daily rosary is said in thanksgiving to God for the defeat of the ERA.

THE WANDERER: Finally The Wanderer has a website! I've subscribed to this Catholic newspaper since about 1967 when my spiritual Godmother gave me a trial subscription. Totally supportive of the Pope, it criticized actions of liberal bishops which contributed greatly to my understanding of how the Church's current problems resulted from the top down, not from the bottom up. The newspaper continues to be a key source of information on Catholic events in the U.S. and world. Father Z is a columnist, as are Pat Buchanan and other conservative Catholics.

THE LEAVEN and THE CATHOLIC KEY: What can I say??? I used to read these periodicals of the Kansas City, KS and the Kansas City, MO dioceses to find out what the enemy inside the Catholic Church was doing. Now both Bishops write excellent commentaries that show how the Church is being and must be restored. I highly recommend the editorials written by both Bishops.

CATALYST: Give Bill Donohue the credit for making significant headway against the social and political assaults on Catholicism. This Journal of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights describes the many instances of anti-Catholicism and shows how the Catholic League is responding with intelligence and force. A true example of good Catholic militancy!

AFA Journal: The American Family Association publishes a good periodical of Christian activism to lead the fight against those who opposes traditional values. These Protestants are the ones who have done the most to expose homosexuality in the media, and they were among the first to recommend that all computers connected to the internet have filters to protect children. Their current boycott is against Ford Motor Co. for supporting groups that want homosexual marriage. The February 2008 issue of the AFA Journal features "Looming Confrontation: Can Apathetic Christianity Withstand the Challenge of a Radical and Agressive Form of Islam?."

FINANCIAL TIMES: I recommend this 6 times/week UK newspaper with a U.S. edition because it is so full of in-depth international as well as national news. Recent multi-page sections have focused on China and the Internet. A most informative newspaper on the secular world.