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The Dark Side of Those Warm and Fuzzy "Chicken Soup for the Soul" Books

Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2022 by Susan Brinkmann

Photo by Nguyen Thu Hoai on Unsplash

Many of our blogs come about as a result of readers who give us "tips" about a fad or personality that warrant more research. This is what happened with the popular books, Chicken Soul for the Soul. Thanks to that reader's tip, we unearthed a goldmine of vital information about these "warm and fuzzy" books that we all need to know about!

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Jesus and Mary

Posted on Thursday, June 30, 2022 by Women of Grace Staff

June 30th

“Jesus and Mary themselves obey and offer their homage to Joseph, for the reverence what the hand of God has established in him, namely, the authority of spouse and the authority of father.”

-Pope Pius XI

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Meet the Team: Lynne O'Connor

Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2022 by Kate Mathis

It's time to meet the team that makes Women of Grace the impactful apostolate that it is!

Today we're featuring Lynne O'Connor, Director of Mission Growth and Expansion, and Regional Coordinator. We hope you enjoy learning more about Lynne from her answers to the questions below.

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Great confidence

Posted on Wednesday, June 29, 2022 by Women of Grace Staff

June 29th

At a difficult time in the Church's history, Pope Pius IX, wishing to place her under the powerful patronage of the holy patriarch Joseph, declared him "Patron of the Catholic Church."(42) For Pius IX this was no idle gesture, since by virtue of the sublime dignity which God has granted to his most faithful servant Joseph, "the Church, after the Blessed Virgin, his spouse, has always held him in great honor and showered him with praise, having recourse to him amid tribulations."(43)

What are the reasons for such great confidence? Leo XIII explained it in this way: "The reasons why St. Joseph must be considered the special patron of the Church, and the Church in turn draws exceeding hope from his care and patronage, chiefly arise from his having been the husband of Mary and the presumed father of Jesus..., Joseph was in his day the lawful and natural guardian, head and defender of the Holy Family.... It is thus fitting and most worthy of Joseph's dignity that, in the same way that he once kept unceasing holy watch over the family of Nazareth, so now does he protect and defend with his heavenly patronage the Church of Christ."(44)

“This patronage [of St. Joseph] must be invoked as ever necessary for the Church, not only as a defense against all dangers, but also, and indeed primarily, as an impetus for her renewed commitment to evangelization in the world and to re-evangelization in those lands and nations where-as I wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation Christideles Laici - "religion and the Christian life were formerly flourishing and...are now put to a hard test."(45)

In order to bring the first proclamation of Christ, or to bring it anew wherever it has been neglected or forgotten, the Church has need of special "power from on high" (cf. Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8): a gift of the Spirit of the Lord, a gift which is not unrelated to the intercession and example of his saints.”

-APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION “REDEMPTORIS CUSTOS” OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II ON THE PERSON AND MISSION OF SAINT JOSEPH IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST AND OF THE CHURCH

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Crystal Balls are Never Just Harmless Fun

Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 by Susan Brinkmann

LG asks: "One of my friends is trying to convince me to see a person who can tell the future by scrying. I told her this is against my religion but she said this would just be for fun. Should I take her up on it?"

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Expressions of trust

Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 by Women of Grace Staff

June 28th

“Joseph found happiness not in mere self-sacrifice but in self-gift. In him, we never see frustration but only trust. His patient silence was the prelude to concrete expressions of trust. Our world today needs fathers. It has no use for tyrants who would domineer others as a means of compensating for their own needs. It rejects those who confuse authority with authoritarianism, service with servility, discussion with oppression, charity with a welfare mentality, power with destruction.

Every true vocation is born of the gift of oneself, which is the fruit of mature sacrifice. The priesthood and consecrated life likewise require this kind of maturity. Whatever our vocation, whether to marriage, celibacy or virginity, our gift of self will not come to fulfillment if it stops at sacrifice; were that the case, instead of becoming a sign of the beauty and joy of love, the gift of self would risk being an expression of unhappiness, sadness and frustration.”

APOSTOLIC LETTER “PATRIS CORDE” OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE PROCLAMATION OF ST JOSEPH, PATRON OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH

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The interior life

Posted on Monday, June 27, 2022 by Women of Grace Staff

June 27th

“Saint Joseph…is a teacher of the interior life. Place yourself under his patronage and you’ll feel the effectiveness of his power.”

-St. Josemaria Escriva

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The plan of salvation

Posted on Sunday, June 26, 2022 by Women of Grace Staff

June 26th

"The greatness of Saint Joseph is that he was the spouse of Mary and the father of Jesus. In this way, he placed himself, in the words of Saint John Chrysostom, “at the service of the entire plan of salvation.”

-APOSTOLIC LETTER “PATRIS CORDE” OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE PROCLAMATION OF ST JOSEPH, PATRON OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH