Remember the popular Christmas carol “12 Days of Christmas”? Ever wondered about the meaning and the significance behind the elements mentioned in the lyrics? I came across this little piece of information on The Lair of the Catholic Cavemen.

-The Partridge in a Pear Tree was The Blessed Virgin Mary and The Christ Child.

-Two Turtle Doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French Hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The Four Calling Birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The Five Golden Rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The Six Geese A-Laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven Swans A-Swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The Eight Maids A-Milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine Ladies Dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The Ten Lords A-Leaping were the Ten Commandments.

-The Eleven Pipers Piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The Twelve Drummers Drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

Read the entire post here.

Tags: Catholic, Christmas, Inspirational

Ok, if you haven’t been to or at least heard of The Curt Jester blog (rss), WHERE have you been?!?!?

Jeff Miller, a.k.a. the Curt Jester, is (obviously) the owner of this fantastic blog. If you’re looking for “Punditry, Prayer, Parody, Polemics, Puns from a Papist Perspective“, this is THE place to go. Jeff combines fun and humor (and sometimes, a touch of sarcasm) with everyday Catholic living and the teachings of the Catholic Church, while preserving the orthodoxy and respect due to the topics discussed.

The latest post (as at the time when I was typing this) on the blog titled “If the Catholic Church was a programming language” is simply outstanding! Jeff makes comparisons between the Catholic Church and various programming languages. As a programmer myself, this post was very much close to heart. I particularly love this piece of sample code:

Here is a sample “Hello World” program in C††

faith()
{
works()
{
print(“Let there be light ” ) ;
}
}

After all “Let there be light” was the original Hello World program by the Divine Programmer. Every C†† requires a “faith” method which is the main entry point to the program. Remember faith() without works() and your code is dead.

What can I say? Jeff, you’re a genius!

To the rest of you, hop on over to The Curt Jester blog NOW!!!

Tags: blogs, Catholic, Humor, Inspirational, Reviews

I found an updated version of this popular Christmas carol on The Ironic Catholic. I think I like this version much much better 

(to the tune of “Jingle Bells”)
SANCTUS BELLS

Sanctus bells! Sanctus bells! Sanctus all the way!
When they rang them way back then, they got got your att’n (now–pray!)
Sanctus bells! Sanctus bells! Sanctus all the way!
Now we hear them and we smile as we live in the Way…

Dashing through the mass
your mind is on a sleigh
Through the prayer we go
distracted all the way (no, no, no!)

Bells by servers rung
New focus on the mass
it is a miracle, after all,
so go renew your task:* Pra-aaaay! (refrain)

You can read the original post here.

Tags: Catholic, Christmas, Humor, Inspirational

With the bombardment of the sexual revolution all around us, it is refreshing to see some who take their faith and chastity seriously.

Reported by the Chicago Sun Times: So what is it like to kiss a girl for the first time ever, after she has become your wife?

“It was surreal,” said Claudaniel “CD” Fabien… after his marriage to Melody LaLuz Fabien on Saturday….

Claudaniel, 30, and Melody, 28, had pledged to be abstinent before marriage — but went a little further by agreeing not to kiss each other on the lips before their union was official.

Why so strict? They didn’t even want to get close to temptation, instead waiting until the minister said the magic words: “NOW, you may kiss the bride.”…

Both Claudaniel and Melody Fabien are abstinence educators – Claudaniel for the nonprofit Confederation of Spanish American Families. Melody is director of the “What’s Good” program for the LYDIA Home Association, a Christian service agency. Both teach abstinence programs within the Chicago Public Schools. Read The entire story here.

~ Via Jill Stanek.

[Photo credit: Chicago Sun-Times]

H/T: Jean from Catholic Fire

Tags: Inspirational

According to WordPress, this is my 100th post. So for this special “occasion” I thought I’ll post about something interesting and meaningful.

I’m not sure why, but somehow Catholics (and even some non-Catholics) have a special fascination with conversion stories and/or vocation stories. I came across this vocation story of Father Philip Powell, OP, as posted on his blog, Domine, da mihi hanc aquam…

I was born a poor white child. . .in rural Mississippi. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Nonetheless, it’s true.

Both sides of my family are Mississippi delta cotton farmers. Though no one farms now, both of my grandfathers planted cotton. My mother and all of her sisters “chopped cotton.” My dad drove a tractor. All of them went to church. My mother’s family went to the Baptist Church and my dad’s family went to the Methodist Church.

My first memory of church goes back to the sixth grade when my mom and dad sent me and my little brother to Vacation Bible School. Mostly I remember being the only kid that week who had not “accepted Jesus into his heart as his personal Lord and savior.” Come Friday, feeling the pressure, I walked the aisle, said the necessary things, and walked back to my pew complete with Jesus. It didn’t take.

For the most part my family back then was not a church-going bunch. We went occasionally, but mostly we spent Sundays working in the gardens, the yards, doing necessary work around the house and farm. Sometime my sophomore year, mom and dad decided to start going to church again. They chose a United Methodist Church in the largest town near us. It was the local “bankers’ and doctors’” church. Lots of old money. Lots of nice cars. Lots of snooty glances at the rubes from the woods. I hated it. We stopped going after about six months.

That next year I went to Mexico with my junior Spanish class. We cut and sold firewood from my family’s property to pay for the trip. Our teacher, a Catholic woman, helped us with the hard labor and with our Spanish. Up until we got to the National Cathedral and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the trip had been a bust for me. My roommates were jerks. I didn’t have much money. And my Spanish was rotten. When we arrived at the plaza in front of the cathedral, one of a hundred tour buses packed full of tourists, I stood up and started to the front of the bus like a robot. One more stop, one more site, snap a pic, get back on the cool bus. Little did I know. . .

Read Father Philip’s vocation story in its entirety here.

Tags: Catholic, Inspirational