My Catholic Life

"First let a little love find entrance into their hearts, and the rest will follow." St. Philip Neri Saturday was the feast day of St. Philip Neri. Someone sent a meme on Facebook with the above quote. Of course, me being me, one of the things I thought of was the song "Put a Little Love in Your Heart", sung by Jackie DeShannon in 1969. Jackie DeShannon also sang the song "What the World Need Now (is Love Sweet Love) in 1965. There may be some who feel that the whole problem in the Church today is the sappy idea of love carried over from the 60's and 70's and reflected in such songs as these two. To a certain extent they may be right. The love of God is not about sappy sentimentality. It is not all about the feels. Even so, I'm going to go with it. It can't hurt to put a little love, sweet love in our hearts. St. Philip Neri seemed to think that it was a good place to start. We have come to know and to believe in the love God

I just posted another episode of Showing Up Catholic on the Vericast Network. Showing Up Catholic #21 God With Us January 10th 2017 The Christmas season ended with the feast of Epiphany. We box up our decorations and put away the celebration until next year. The thing that we were celebrating, however, the Incarnation, remains with us. Emmanuel, God with us, is not confined to the yearly memorial of an event from long ago. In this episode we talk about the Catholic Church as the unique extension of the Incarnation in every age. Check out the on demand programs at vericast.net. Click on the link to watch past episodes of Showing Up Catholic

I have started a My Catholic Life youtube channel. Here is the first video. I talk about how having a Catholic life has been good to me. Go on over to youtube and subscribe to my channel. My Catholic Life on youtube

Showing Up Catholic Ep. 18 “Fullness of Relationship” August 3, 2016 People often talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Does “personal relationship” truly describe the fullness of relationship available in Christ? Vickie talks about a life in Christ lived in the Catholic Church. Through baptism we can be assured and confident of our access to this fullness of relationship. http://www.vericast.net/blog/2016/08/03/fullness-relationship-showing-catholic-ep-18/

Here are some episodes of "Showing Up Catholic" on the Vericast Network that you may have missed. Showing Up Catholic Ep. 11 “I’ve Been Through The Desert” March 9, 2016 Spiritual dryness, times of testing, suffering and hardship. These are often described as desert experiences. Lent is a time in the desert as well. In this episode Vickie talks about spiritual benefits that can come from our times in the desert if we are willing to lift our heads and look beyond hardship. http://www.vericast.net/blog/2016/03/09/ive-desert-showing-catholic-ep-11/ Showing Up Catholic Ep. 10 “Sharing in Christ’s Suffering” February 26, 2016 Do Catholics have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Most definitely. We encounter him in many ways. During Lent we demonstrate that relationship by compassionately and gratefully contemplating his suffering for our sake. We join him in his suffering to share in the redemptive work of the Cross. In this episode Vickie gives a perspective

My latest episode of "Showing Up Catholic" for the Vericast Network "Mercy and Reconciliation" During Lent we contemplate the mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection. Mercy is an essential component of that mystery. Mercy is at the core and center of the Gospel message. In this episode, Vickie examines what our most recent Popes have said about mercy. She discusses as well the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a means to experiencing God's mercy. Watch it here

Another episode of "Showing Up Catholic" has been posted on Vericast.net. Chasing Prophecy When we Catholics chase prophecy we sometimes find ourselves heading off of the road. In this episode Vickie talks about using discernment when it comes to private revelation. When we come across messages "directly from heaven" can we trust them? Vickie talks about some red flags that we can look for in dealing with private revelations that have not been (or not YET been) approved by the Church. Grounded in our faith we can test the spirit of messages and prophecies to determine if they will bring us to truth or to error. http://www.vericast.net/blog/2015/10/28/chasing-prophecy-showing-up-catholice-ep-3/ If you want to catch past episodes of "Showing Up Catholic" check out the profile page with a link to all of the episodes. http://www.vericast.net/shows/showing-up-catholic/

 The second episode of my show for the Vericast Network, "Showing Up Catholic", is available. To "show up Catholic" requires an understanding of what that word "Catholic" means. In this episode Vickie takes a look at the word Catholic and gives a perspective on Catholicity and how our Catholic character relates to evangelization and our relationship with each other as the Mystical Body of Christ. You can watch it here.

I will be presenting a new show for the Vericast Network (Vericast.net) called "Showing Up Catholic". This first episode is called "Built on the Rock". In this first episode of Showing Up Catholic, Vickie gives a perspective on the scripture of Mt 16:13 - 20, in which Peter answers the question "Who do you say I am?". She gives some interesting background regarding where this event occurred as well as discussing the Rock on which Jesus builds his Church and what it means to say the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

My first podcast for Vericast.  In this episode Vickie Armstrong gives a perspective on the Conquering Power of the Church. She talks about the Obelisk at St. Peter’s square as a symbol and witness of that conquering power and discusses a model from the early Church. Christ conquered through the Gospel and through the Church that he established. In today’s world true cooperation with him and true witness to him must include an increased confidence in his Church as well. You can watch that episode  here

A blog I wrote for Vericast. On a recent Tim Haines show,  Parading Mistruth , Tim discussed some of the controversy that surrounded the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York and Boston.  One thing that controversies like this manage to do, is generate lots of drama. Catholics seem to be just as susceptible to drama as anyone else. The thing is, often we find ourselves debating the drama and not the real issues.  We debate whether or not Cardinal Dolan gave an order for the police to give a faithful Catholic the bum’s rush. We then prove it with frame by frame video evidence. We accuse one person of employing a goon squad of thugs, yet will willing gather in mobs of our own. Gang banging across the internet, seemingly unaware that there is a difference and a line between making our voice heard and harassment tactics. We attempt to take by force what may instead be taken by grace. We resort to discrediting reputations rather than clarifying issues.  It is not only within this particula

A blog post I wrote for Vericast.net In the Christmas Present    Tim, Wilson and Father Paul Nicholson discussed some current attitudes about Christmas and the need for us to reclaim it. We attempt to reclaim the day, the season and even the greetings of Christmas from the secular that endeavors to wrap it in relativism, social cohesion, consumerism, commercialism and the narcissism of self.  Yet our attempts may prove themselves powerless if we are not, at the same time, responding to and actively reflecting the essence of Christmas ourselves Read entire article here

Another post in my Turning the Tide series for Vericast. When I chose the title Turning the Tide for my series this was the scripture that I was thinking about. The term itself does not appear in the scripture, but it’s what happened. When Moses held up the staff the tide of battle turned in favor of the Israelites. When Moses lowered his hands the tide of battle turned in favor of the enemy. Often it feels like we are on the battlefield battling our little hearts out and that the enemy is having the better of the fight. It seems that our government is bit by bit hemming us in so that we can no longer live, proclaim and share our faith. It seems like evil can boldly show its face and no one blinks an eye. Within the Church it seems that we are at odds with each other. It seems that many are at odds with the clergy and the magisterium. Both faithful and clergy are, at times, at odds with Church teaching.  It does not seem that we have the better of the fight. The fight seems to have

Guess who I am using for my inspiration today? The Guess Who, that’s who. And if you know the Guess Who then you know from my title that I’ll be working with two songs from the playlist. Anybody here see the noise, see the fear and commotion? I think we missed it Anybody here see the love, see the hate being motioned?   Anybody here see the noise, see the fear and commotion that is surrounding the Synod on the Family? If you are following the media and the bloggers it is hard to miss it.   There is noise, there is commotion but most of all there is fear. The extreme progressive side is afraid that the Church is going to tell us to put a muzzle on our sex lives. The extreme radical traditionalists are afraid that the Church won’t tell us to put a muzzle on our sex lives, thus leading us into apostasy.   Those in the middle are being encouraged to perceive the Church as a completely human institution, a government just like any other government.   By the people, for th

This is the second installment of the series, "Turning The Tide" that I am writing for the Vericast Network. Here is the link http://www.vericast.net/blog/2014/10/08/turning-tide-taking-stand/

Have you ever noticed that people will sing along to a song and not really pay attention to the lyrics? Sometimes you are singing the words correctly but don’t realize that the subject of the song is just wrong.   It’s got a good beat and a catchy refrain that hooks us in. We don’t even realize what we are singing about. We kind of mindlessly sing along. Other times we are singing lyrics that we just think we are hearing and don’t stop to think that they don’t even make sense.   It doesn’t always occur to us that the lyrics that we are singing have to be wrong because they just don’t fit the song. Again, we just keep singing along. There is a song that was sung by Creedence Clearwater Revival called Bad Moon Rising. There is a lyric in that song that goes don’t go round tonight. It’s bound to take your life. There’s a bad moon on the rise. You don’t know how many people that have mistaken “there’s a bad moon on the rise” as “there’s a bathroom on the right”…and they sing the song