For the past few years, I have kept my Christmas tree up until February 2, the Feast of Candlemas (The Presentation of Our Lord and Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary). Traditionally this is end of the Christmas season, although in the current church calendar the Christmas season ends on the Feast of the Baptism (January 12 this year) and then we are back to "ordinary time." I was inspired by a priest who has spoken about how the true end of the Christmas season is the Feast of Candlemas and that he keeps his Christmas tree up until then. He is a priest who says the Novus Ordo and not the Traditional Latin Mass. By the way, I have a small artificial tabletop Christmas tree, which is very low maintenance. I am just curious if anyone else is keeping his or her Christmas tree up until February 2. If not, when did you take yours down?

Hi everyone,
    It's hard to believe that February starts THIS WEEK! Time is flying. Please spread the word about this! 

TO ALL THE MEN: A group of us are praying a novena for our vocation. We are going to start another round on the Feast of Saint Joseph (Sunday, February 2). Please invite others who may be interested. Remember that "vocation" can be either the priesthood, diaconate, religious life or MARRIED life. If you are dating someone, then I encourage you to continue the novena until you get engaged. Deadline to join us is February 9.

TO ALL THE LADIES: There is a group of women praying a similar novena. They are starting their next round in mid to late February. I would be glad to connect you with their leader.

TO EVERYONE: Everything done is over email. Please email me if you are interested.

Overview of the novena:

Part 1. Novena to St. Joseph (February 2-10) - prayed by EVERYONE.

Part 2. Novena prayer for our vocation (February 11-XXX) - This is the rotating part. Two of the men will be praying this Novena from February 11-19, then two more from February 20-28, etc.

In summary, each man will be praying the novena for 18 days during the duration, but someone (actually TWO men) will be praying FOR you the entire time (about three months)!

What a deal!

Note: The prayer the first day is the LONGEST for the novena (about 10 minutes). It gets shorter each day. You pray it on your own.

Questions? Contact me.

Happy Ordinary Time!
Larry

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Tuesday, January 28, 8:30-9:45pm ET

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It is with deep regret to inform you of the passing of my dad, Don (a.k.a. ezdays) this afternoon.  He was a founding member of this forum and instrumental in getting it up and running.  I know he considered many of you friends and extended family and talked about you and this forum quite often.  

The family is planning a service at some point, and I will keep you posted as we progress.

Note: Only participate if you want to in this thread 

Hi Y'all

Out of curisoity, I have been listening to this podcast. I was wondering if anyone else listened to The Rosary In A Year with Father Mark-Mary?

Catholic Singles! 
Join Catholic Singles Events Newsletter for our FREE Monthly Virtual Social & Speaker Event on Saturday, January 11 at 7-9 PM EST.   
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Yesterday, happened to catch Fr. Mike Schmitz' keynote address at Seek 2025 ... very interesting ... just thought I'd toss this out to anyone who'd like to hear him ... really love Fr. Schmitz!

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outloo...reserved=0

A very blessed Feast of The Epiphany to you!

I wish everyone a happy new year!

More than half my life ago I had a short dream which I still remember vividly. I laughed about it with my mother and sister. I don't remember all the particulars, but I recall feeling absolute apathy with my job, my prospects for prosperity, and any ability to support a family.

I saw a corroded old metal cage, with a dejected miniature parrot sitting in the cage. I then noticed the bars of the cage were wider apart than the small bird was wide. 

"Stupid green bird! It can leave any time it wants!"    I said this in my sleep and woke from the dream. I realized the dream was about myself, and realized that the bird's situation was my own.

Life can beat you down and steal your energy, confidence and aspirations. If we just passively allow that to happen, we are that stupid,
morose, dispirited bird. Most of the time, we can simply step out of the cage, at least to some extent. There is no such thing as total freedom or contentment in this fleeting life, but we sure can improve things.

Several of us here have expressed dissatisfaction with our jobs recently.

Jobs are ephemeral. They never remain the same, and in the end they provide and are necessary but cannot be fulfillment even in this life. 

There are many jobs, but only one you. Every day is a new day. Tomorrow is a new year. If you are presently in a cage which you can walk out of, do so.

There is always a better job. Only once did I leave a bad job and end in a worse one, and that worse job was the spur to go back to school for proper training in fine arts, a boon to me my whole life.

Happy New Year. Resolve to advance yourself if you are discontented.

Merry Christmas everyone