Third Annual "Pick-A-Saint"

Happy New Year!

My family and I just finished our New Year's tradition of picking a companion Saint for the year from a jar filled with the names of various Saints and Blesseds.

This year, we again ended up with a diverse group of patrons to accompany us throughout the year.  The results:

1.  St. Rose of Lima
2.  Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
3.  Blessed Pope John XXIII
4.  The Holy Souls in Purgatory.

Praise God!!

Merry Christmas!

O Heavenly Wisdom,
O Lord,
O Root of Jesse,
O Key of David,
O Dayspring,
O King of Nations,
O Emmanuel...
Welcome Lord Jesus, we love You!

Merry Christmas!

Praise God!!

Halloween Insanity

Is it just me, or have people really started to go crazy with Halloween decorations? It seems that each year, the "decorations" that folks place outside their homes get more elaborate and more macabre.

Front lawns now spend the month of October covered with skeletons, demons, vampires and mock graveyards. Even gargantuan inflatable death trains are making an appearance. (Seriously- I saw a gargantuan inflatable death train, complete with a skeleton engineer, a gravestone and a vampire passenger, while I was out walking the dog the other night. Picture above.)

Call me a prude, but I find the increasingly elaborate displays disturbing... I simply do not remember seeing decorations like that in the past. Heck, when I was a kid, my mom used to put a plastic pumpkin decoration on the front door, and we thought it was cutting edge! Today, that pumpkin is pretty tame compared to the gruesome displays popping up around town. Another sign that our society is losing its way, I suppose.

Still, in all things: Praise God!!