Here are the top ten posts, according to your readership and our site monitor.

And, as has become the practice over the past months, we’ve got a wordle which highlights word usage among the 8,600 in the 40 posts of this month.

Lord, Catholic, youth, young people are all frequently used which is appropriate.  I see all the days of the week identified, which confused me at first, but then I remembered that I chronicle my week each Monday and so it makes sense. I see NCYC in there as well, bet that gets larger next month!

If you want to check out the wordle, as with all images, click on it and it should enlarge for you.

Meanwhile, of note on the list below, the CaptionThis, usually a popular feature each month, barely made the top ten…!

Happy Halloween. 

I’ve spent some time reflecting on fear.

Fear blocks us up for completing projects, thinking of great ideas, and refusing to take great ideas and releasing them until they are absolutely perfect, fully approved by every voice.

Fear blocks us from relationships, intimacy with others, putting ourselves really out there, not only for ourselves but for others as well.

I’ve come to understand that the mantra of hope is “Get r Done.” To keep on keeping on living the dreams, implementing the vision.

Fear is the TRICK we and the world like to play on us to keep us from our original purpose. But living life is the rich, tasty TREAT that is beyond the stuff holding us back.

Our prayer for this Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lord, we are quite busy.

We find ourselves busy aspiring for titles such as “Rabbi,’ ‘Father,’ or "”Master…” or even that pretty cool dude over there at church. It’s a silly sort of busy, you are the Christ.

Lord, we are so busy.

There is so much disconnectedness around us. We have broken faith with one another, we find ourselves not listening, our faith has become surface-y and is not laid to heart for us. It’s a meaningless sort of busy, we are to give glory to your holy Name.

Lord, we are really busy.

We are determined to share the gospel of God. But, sometimes we find ourselves tying up heavy burdens hard to carry and laying them on other’s shoulders… when the gift of our very selves properly conveys our affections…Butm we find ourselves struggling the word of God as our human words get in the way, as our inability to lift a finger to move others as we defend our imagined place of exultation get in the way… because,  Lord, we are busy.

. . . .

In you, Lord, we seek our peace. May our very souls be stilled and quieted. In you, O Lord, we find our hope, both now and forever. In you, Lord, we seek our peace.

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Reformation Day is celebrated this weekend in many churches.  It celebrates Luther’s 95 theses, purportedly on the Wittenberg Door.  Anyway, sometimes, when I look at the Reformation and what it wrought, I think to this… and it is just us true for us Catholic types!

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I immediately ran over and said “Stop! Don’t do it!”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he said.

I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!”
“Like what?”

“Well…are you religious or atheist?”
“Religious.”

“Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?”
“Christian.”

“Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?”
“Protestant.”

“Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?”
“Baptist.”

“Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?”
“Baptist Church of God.”

“Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?”
“Reformed Baptist Church of God.”

“Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?”
“Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!”

To which I said, “Die, heretic scum!” and pushed him off.

- Steven Colbert

Many of you might check out the video below and think to yourself… Dude, he’s just catching up on YouCat? Well, no… not really!  That said, have you seen the promotional video yet?

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone spoke of behalf of Pope Benedict to the Plenary Assembly of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE). The Pope asked bishops of Europe to "identify new ways of evangelization with missionary audacity," and he particularly stressed the need that young people have of the Gospel.

In a statement from the meeting, the European bishop identified evangelization as “the manifestation of the Church’s life and vitality. It should not be understood simply as a pastoral activity, but as the manifestation of its very nature and mission." They identified the "new evangelization" as not just for fallen-away Christians, but for everyone.  "It seeks to proclaim Christ, true God and true man, crucified to bear every human grief, raised from the dead that we might have life," they stated. "Through their baptism, all believers are called to take part in the new evangelization: families; young people who are generally the most open to being missionaries; but also parishes, the movements, and new communities.” (You can read more from the Zenit article)

Meanwhile, a Presbyterian elder and writer for the daily  Kansas City Star’s Faith Matters blog, Bill Tammeus recently advocated that we evolve our thinking from church as not a "place where" but a "people who."

The line oft-accredited to Saint Francis of Assisi is “preach the Gospel at all times… if necessary use words.”  When we are using words we are most often using words within a place where WE feel comfortable.

(more…)

This day is call’d the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, will stand a tip-toe when this day is named, and rouse him at the name of Crispian. Here’s another YouTube to share with young people

This famous motivational speech from act IV scene iii Shakespeare’s Henry V, delivered by the title character preceding the Battle of Agincourt.

Pope John Paul II described discipleship as a worthy adventure. It seems to me that any worthy adventure is something worth getting rather poetic over.

In Matthew 5, Jesus describes those who followed him as Blessed and the adventure is as high stakes and poetic as Shakespeare.

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, but he’ll remember with advantages what feats he did that day. Then shall our names, familiar in the mouths of others, be described as Blessed.  This story shall the good man teach his son; and Christ’s Christian shall ne’er go by, from this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered.

Of course, we are talking about last Thursday’s Lid video.  Which is where I found myself early this morning with Sean Herriott on Relevant Radio.

Oh, what is also relevant is that if you want to record yourself, you should push record at the beginning… not half-way through. Good note to self…Relevantradio102411 by CatholicYMblog