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Angels & Dragons XXVII: St. Michael the Archangel in Thassos

Published December 10, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Faith

At the end of the 11th century a monk named Luke lived for fourteen years on a Greek island called Thassos.  The place he lived was later called Louka in his honor, but not before he constructed a church in honor of the beloved apostle St. John the Evangelist.   Later, seeking a more contemplative life,… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published December 10, 2019

Angels & Dragons XXVI: The St. Michael Relic Stone Miracles

Published November 22, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Blog, Faith

For centuries, St. Michael the Archangel has used relic stones from his cave in Gargano, Italy, to perform miracles. (See: St. Michael Relic Stone article September 2, 2017.) On September 25, 1656, St Michael said: “I am the Archangel St. Michael. Anyone who uses the stones of this grotto will be liberated…”   At the St…. [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published November 22, 2019

Angels & Dragons XXV: St. Michael the Archangel in Colossae

Published October 24, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Blog

St. Michael the Archangel was present in the life of the apostles and the early church from the very beginning. St. John the Evangelist wrote about St. Michael in the Book of Revelation, and others witnessed his prophecy at Colossae about the coming of St. Michael.    When St. John the Evangelist went to preach the… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published October 24, 2019

Angels & Dragons XXIV: The Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel

Published September 25, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Faith

The Scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel is a sacramental of the Catholic Church. It was blessed by Pope Pius IX in 1878 and formally approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1880. The official blessing and investiture prayer found in the Roman Ritual for the Scapular of St. Michael the Archangel has seven important statements… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published September 25, 2019

Angels & Dragons XXIII: St. Michael the Archangel in America

Published August 29, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Blog

In Tarpon Springs, Florida, USA, there is a shrine to St. Michael the Archangel with an ancient icon of St. Michael known for decades for miraculously curing many sick in America.  The icon is approximately 400 years old, and it comes from Symi, an island in a chain known as Greece’s Dodecanese.  The story began… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published August 29, 2019

Angels & Dragons XXII: St. Michael the Archangel in Mexico

Published August 6, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Faith

On April 25, 1631, St. Michael the Archangel appeared in Tlaxcala, Mexico to a 17-year-old named Diego Lázaro de San Francisco who was married to Francisca Castillian Xuchitl.   The apparition occurred as everyone was processing in celebration of a previous apparition of St. Michael to St. Gregory the Great (April 25, 590 A.D) during a… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published August 6, 2019

Book Review of Abuse of Trust: Healing from Clerical Sexual Abuse

Published July 30, 2019 • Written by Shawn Rain Chapman Filed Under: Blog

  In the current wave of the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, it has been hard to know what to do. I have taken it on faith that the church eventually would survive this crisis and make the necessary changes to protect children and adults from abuse, because I believe the Church is true…. [Read More]

Written by Shawn Rain Chapman • Published July 30, 2019

Angels & Dragons XXI: St. Michael the Archangel in Spain

Published July 8, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Faith

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony (Rev. 22:16).” On June 18, 1961, St. Michael the Archangel appeared to four girls, Conchita Gonzalez (12), Mari Cruz Gonzalez (11), Jacinta Gonzalez (12), and Mari Loli Mazon (12), at Garabandal which is a small village in Spain consisting of 300 habitants.   As in… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published July 8, 2019

Sister Lynn’s “Lectio on Life

Published June 26, 2019 • Written by Shawn Rain Chapman Filed Under: Blog, Faith, Prayer

  I had been talking to Sister Lynn D’Souza, OSB about the way people interpret dreams and often feel God is speaking to them in the stories and symbolic situations of their dreams. I had thought that one could also interpret life and its events as messages from God. In some situations, I tend to… [Read More]

Written by Shawn Rain Chapman • Published June 26, 2019

Holy Naps

Published June 6, 2019 • Written by Shawn Rain Chapman Filed Under: Blog

via Holy Naps

Written by Shawn Rain Chapman • Published June 6, 2019

13-Day Pilgrimage to the Shrines of Italy September 2019

Published May 31, 2019 • Written by ATX Catholic Filed Under: Events

Join Fr. Juan Carlos Lopez on a life-changing pilgrimage to visit holy sites and important sacred art throughout Italy. September 8 – 20, 2019 DEADLINE TO REGISTER: JUNE 8, 2019 Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez: guadalupe-rodriguez@austindiocese.org $3,899 Per Person Round Air Trip from Austin, TX Price Includes: First class hotels with double occupancy option, Two daily meals,… [Read More]

Written by ATX Catholic • Published May 31, 2019

The Spirit of Focolare: Unity and Love

Published May 23, 2019 • Written by Shawn Rain Chapman Filed Under: Blog

In a bomb shelter in the Italian town of Trent in 1943, a group of young girls talked about how their hopes dreams were being crushed by World War II. Their town was relentlessly bombed. Families who could were leaving as the town literally fell apart. Those left behind were suddenly living in poverty and… [Read More]

Written by Shawn Rain Chapman • Published May 23, 2019

Angels & Dragons XX: “War in Heaven” (Rev. 12:7)

Published April 23, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column

The Book of Revelation describes the “War in Heaven” (Rev. 12:7) between St. Michael and his angels against the Red Dragon and his angels, when a vision of a woman about to give birth is shown to them. What was the first battle like?  Why did it happen?  What was the trial of the angels? … [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published April 23, 2019

Easter Pilgrimage

Published April 21, 2019 • Written by Shawn Rain Chapman Filed Under: Blog

    During Holy Week I was on a special pilgrimage. I went to a mountain in Oregon, almost to the top, and lived with my daughter and her little family off the grid. I took few belongings; only what I could fit in a back pack. At the airport I was so glad to… [Read More]

Written by Shawn Rain Chapman • Published April 21, 2019

Look Up, Child: An Invitation for Holy Week

Published April 16, 2019 • Written by Rachel Filed Under: Blog

Lent has ended and Holy Week has begun. And you might say that we have all lived a really “good” Lent. The beginning of Lent was marked in a special way, coming as it did on the heels of Pope Francis’ meeting about the abuse crisis with all of the bishops in Rome. Now as… [Read More]

Written by Rachel • Published April 16, 2019

The Crowning of St. Joseph!

Published March 12, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column, Faith

“Thus should he be honored whom the King desires to honor!” The Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary is on Tuesday, March 19, 2019.  This year is also the 61st anniversary of the church approved apparitions of St. Joseph in America in which Sr. Mary Ephrem (1916-2000) saw him being crowned… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published March 12, 2019

Angels & Dragons XIX: The Angel of Peace in America

Published February 25, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column, Faith

In the fall of 1954, the Angel of Peace came to prepare Sr. Mary Ephrem (1916-2000) of the Sisters of the Precious Blood of Jesus for the coming of Our Lady of America.  In 1960 and 1972 these apparitions received official imprimatur approval from Archbishop Paul F. Leibold (1914-1972) and in 2007 the president of… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published February 25, 2019

A quest to forgive

Published February 6, 2019 • Written by Shawn Rain Chapman Filed Under: Blog

Forgiveness is at the very heart of the Gospel, and it is a clear tenet of our faith. Jesus made it clear he expects us to forgive as we have been forgiven. But what about traumatic, destructive wrongs done to us? What about toxic relationships and people who have done us serious harm? Even in… [Read More]

Written by Shawn Rain Chapman • Published February 6, 2019

Angels & Dragons XVIII: St. Michael the Angel of Peace!

Published January 29, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column, Faith

For centuries St. Michael the Archangel has been known as the Angel of Peace!  In the pre-Vatican Roman Breviary (Liturgy of the Hours) published in 1482 and in use until Vatican II, it clearly states, “St. Michael is the Angel of Peace because he was the leader of the heavenly hosts that fought the rebel… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published January 29, 2019

Angels & Dragons XVII: The Power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

Published January 12, 2019 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Blog

January is the Month of the Most Holy Name of JESUS, and the name of JESUS is the most powerful weapon against “the dragon and his angels (Rev.12:7).”  This special feast is celebrated on January 3, and it is associated with the Circumcision of JESUS (Lk. 2:21) when Joseph officially gives Him, “the name of… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published January 12, 2019

Mary, Mother of God!

Published December 28, 2018 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Blog

From the early centuries of the Church, Mary is called Mother of God “Theotokos”, or “God-Bearer.” Mary, “Mother of God,” is the first official title given to her by the Catholic Church and maybe her most essential and most powerful title, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “From the most ancient times… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published December 28, 2018

A “Small” Christmas Poem

Published December 25, 2018 • Written by Rachel Filed Under: Blog

Merry Christmas dear readers! May you be drawn this Christmas into the humility and smallness of the Christ Child – for our world is hungry for hearts that are uncomplicated and open, humble and warm. Let us make a home for others in our hearts this Christmas, through the grace of smallness that the God-Made-Man… [Read More]

Written by Rachel • Published December 25, 2018

An Advent Interview with St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Published December 15, 2018 • Written by Shawn Rain Chapman Filed Under: Blog

  “The Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty. You shall see his glory within you.”- Liturgy of the Hours We are sitting in my living room, reflecting silently together in the glow of the blinking lights of the Christmas tree. It looks particularly lovely in the dark. It’s light turns the smooth, gentle… [Read More]

Written by Shawn Rain Chapman • Published December 15, 2018

Order, Disorder and Grace in Advent

Published December 15, 2018 • Written by Rachel Filed Under: Blog

I’m looking forward to offering these thoughts to you, dear readers, to be a small light on your Advent journey towards Christ. In His Providence, all these pieces fell together over the past few weeks. That doesn’t always happen in blogging, but when it does, it gives me the sense that the Lord is up… [Read More]

Written by Rachel • Published December 15, 2018

Christma Posadas at Community First Village – Dec 15, 2018

Published November 28, 2018 • Written by ATX Catholic Filed Under: Events

Join us for the “live” Christmas Posadas at Community First Village Saturday, December 15, 2018 at 7:30 PM. Bring the whole family, friends, clergy and religious for this special Christmas celebration of communal song, prayer as we walk with Mary on a donkey and Joseph searching for lodging. Posadas is a Spanish word that means… [Read More]

Written by ATX Catholic • Published November 28, 2018

Angels & Dragons XVI: St. Michael & All Souls

Published October 31, 2018 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column, Faith

What happens when we die?  And what does the Archangel Michael have to do with our life after death? The Catholic Church teaches through the mass prayers, Her prayers for the dying, and through the lives of the saints that St. Michael has been given a very important role both during and after our death…. [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published October 31, 2018

Angels & Dragons XV: The St. Michael Statue

Published October 25, 2018 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Blog

In 490 A.D. St. Michael the Archangel appeared to Bishop Lawrence Maiorano (the second apparition) at Gargano, Italy, giving him instructions on how to defend the area against a vast army of pagan invaders. During the battle a sand storm overwhelmed the attackers, blinding them and pelting them with giant size hail-stones, making them flee… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published October 25, 2018

Angels & Dragons XIV: Mont Saint Michel

Published October 11, 2018 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column, Events, Faith

Saint Aubert, the Bishop of Avranches in France, founded Mont Saint Michel in 708 after St. Michael the Archangel appeared to him in his dreams three times. Saint Aubert ignored the Archangel in the first two dreams, but in the third dream St. Michael drove his finger into Aubert’s skull and commanded him to build… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published October 11, 2018

Cardinal Sarah: Defender of the Faith

Published October 10, 2018 • Written by Matt Sullivan Filed Under: Blog, Faith, Family, Social Justice, World and News

Within the ranks of the Church leadership, Robert Cardinal Sarah stands out as a rare example of outspoken zeal for the faith accompanying his conspicuous love of God. Born and raised in Guinea, he first became a priest and then archbishop of Conakry (covering all of Guinea). He was made Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI… [Read More]

Written by Matt Sullivan • Published October 10, 2018

Bishop Joe calls for a Novena of Reparation – this week!

Published October 8, 2018 • Written by Rachel Filed Under: Blog

Bishop Joe Vasquez of the Diocese of Austin has called all faithful to join in a Novena of Reparation starting Tuesday, October 9th through October 17th to pray for victims of abuse and offer prayers of reparation. In an interview from August, when the Pennsylvania grand jury news broke, Bishop Joe said the following:  Editor:… [Read More]

Written by Rachel • Published October 8, 2018

Angels & Dragons XIII: The Glorious Michaelmas!

Published September 25, 2018 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column, Faith

The Michaelmas is the centuries-old Latin Mass celebrated in honor of the Archangel Michael on September 29th. Devotion to St. Michael the Archangel existed in the Old Testament (Daniel 10:13, 10:21, & 12:1), and it continued in the New Testament (Jude 1:9 and Revelations chapter 12.) The Apostle John prophesied a healing spring which was… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published September 25, 2018

Angels & Dragons XII: St. Michael’s Flaming Sword!

Published September 15, 2018 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column, Faith

St. Padre Pio did spiritual battle with demons to free souls, and at his shrine, there is a mosaic of the Archangel Michael handing Padre Pio a sword. In the book “Deliverance Prayers For Use by the Laity,” exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger uses the sword of St Michael, together with the sword of Our Lady… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published September 15, 2018

Judas and Peter, Mary and the Children in the Church Abuse Crisis

Published September 12, 2018 • Written by Norine Shaivitz Filed Under: Blog

Amid the violent chaos of the impending crucifixion of Jesus were at least a few children. The eighth station shows they were in the crowd with their mothers, maybe the same ones who once asked the indignant Apostles whether Jesus could bless them. Jesus, who once said the meek were blessed, has also said the… [Read More]

Written by Norine Shaivitz • Published September 12, 2018

2018 Catholic Build

Published September 11, 2018 • Written by ATX Catholic Filed Under: Blog

Austin Habitat for Humanity and Catholic churches and individuals in the Austin area have been coming together for over twenty years to build a home for a deserving family in our community. This year will be no exception as we head to East Austin to build a home for the Mendoza family. Through faith in… [Read More]

Written by ATX Catholic • Published September 11, 2018

On Disagreeing With the Pope

Published September 10, 2018 • Written by Matt Sullivan Filed Under: Faith

On August 2, in light of an address last October to the Pontifical Council, Pope Francis made a modification to the Catholic Catechism declaring that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”. As an officially declared teaching of the Church, this poses a serious… [Read More]

Written by Matt Sullivan • Published September 10, 2018

One Way to Be An Answer to the Current Crisis

Published September 7, 2018 • Written by Rachel Filed Under: Blog

  We’ve had a lot of difficult news to absorb these last few weeks. It would be easy to look at the Church’s current situation and wonder if we’re not splitting apart at the seams. Some have called this the US Church’s worst crisis in history (see interview below). So before sharing my thoughts on… [Read More]

Written by Rachel • Published September 7, 2018

Angels & Dragons XI: “Michael the Archangel will Arise.” (Dn.12:1)

Published September 7, 2018 • Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez Filed Under: Column, Faith

Throughout history St. Michael the Archangel has arisen to protect God’s Church and heal God’s people. St. Michael will arise now during these most turbulent times, but we must invoke his protection with prayer, consecrations, penances, novenas, and processions as in the ages past. In the year 590 Pope Pelagius and many souls died of… [Read More]

Written by Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez • Published September 7, 2018

Angels & Demons Conference September 28-29

Published August 30, 2018 • Written by ATX Catholic Filed Under: ACNM, Events

Angels & Demons: Discerning the Glorious from the Fallen September 28-29, 2018 (On the feast day of St Michael the Archangel) at Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Parish in North Austin ​ Friday 5:30-9:30 pm Saturday 7:30 am-5:00 pm ​ Boxed-lunch provided Saturday These exciting topics will cover the background knowledge of the Creation and mission of… [Read More]

Written by ATX Catholic • Published August 30, 2018

A Church On Our Knees

Published August 21, 2018 • Written by Norine Shaivitz Filed Under: Blog

I was praying the decade of the rosary I try to say everyday for clergy and I had to stop. I was internally yelling and externally crying, and that emotion had to find another outlet. So, I’m writing. I’m glad to have the Eucharistic company of Jesus, consecrated by one of the priests at the… [Read More]

Written by Norine Shaivitz • Published August 21, 2018

The Church is true but we are a very sick family right now

Published August 18, 2018 • Written by Shawn Rain Chapman Filed Under: Blog, Faith, Family, Social Justice, World and News

I entered the Church officially at the age of 22, in 1990. It took me a long time. I attended daily mass for two years even though almost everything about the Catholic Church freaked me out. I had authority issues. I had spiritual issues. I had sexual abuse issues. I had issues with men. I… [Read More]

Written by Shawn Rain Chapman • Published August 18, 2018

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