The burden of Sola Scriptura

Good post about the burden of thinking that you have to interpret all Scripture on your own.

What to Do When Your Productivity Tools Are Your Biggest Distractions: A Two Step Plan

Good ideas.

Living a good life isn't supposed to be easy

Steve of the "Gay, Catholic and Doing Fine" blog makes a great point. An excerpt:

But I have less and less patience with this question: “How can the Church require homosexuals to be celibate? How can she impose such a heavy cross?” 

Why do people think that living a good life is supposed to be easy? Readers, whoever you are — gay, straight, married, single, relatively healthy or inflicted with any one of a billion possible debilitating pathologies — you will be asked to carry a cross. It’s going to be hard, and it’s not going to be fair.

5 things to know before visiting an Eastern Rite church

Helpful post.

The young guns of the Catholic blog world

Devin Rose highlights some great new voices in Catholic new media.

Catholics: Your misguided compassion will come back to bite you in the rear

A thought provoking post by Leila Miller.

The beauty of a hand-written note

A good reminder to send loved-ones updates on paper once in a while.

A day in the life of a family with 11 kids under 13

Neat story.

One couple's experience of having a seriously disabled child

An excellent piece about the hope and potential of every human life.

30 Years Of Music Industry Change, In 30 Seconds

A fascinating look at the changes in music format, from the days of LP's to the days of MP3's.

The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time

...With samples so you can hear each one. (My list would look a little different, but it's interesting!)

Nobody ever has a deathbed wish that they'd had fewer people around to love them

Awesome post from Matt Archbold.

Is the pursuit of physical loveliness frivolous?

A thought-provoking piece about women attempting to look nice physically. An excerpt:

To my mind, the pursuit of loveliness is, in actuality, a celebration of a woman’s unique physical attributes. It’s a way to acknowledge that, for all our messed up feminine insecurities, we realize that these bodies that God has fashioned with His own hands and given to us are gifts. Through caring for our physical selves, we demonstrate our gratitude. It’s a way of saying that we reject the worldly lies we’re told about physical beauty, that we think that God is an awesome creator and that we intend to use His gifts--all of them--to enhance this world with loveliness.

A week in the life of a Catholic priest

via Catholic Video Blog

Life without an architect

Excellent post from DarwinCatholic. An excerpt:

The house or office you are sitting in was built according to a plan and a purpose, a purpose from which it is now only able to deviate to a limited extent. My house cannot suddenly become an office tower, though it has an office in it. My office building would make a very poor house. But they are built knowingly, according to a plan. And yet, our lives seem often constructed to a purpose without the architect knowing that he is in constructing something with walls and doors -- an edifice which will suit some ends well, and other poorly. Individual choices pile up unto some particular type of life, and once that life is built people sometimes find it is not, in fact, the kind of structure they want to live.

Dignity when you can't take care of yourself

A powerful, profound post from a Catholic mom of seven who is undergoing brain radiation as she battles Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, about what she has learned by going from caretaker to the one who is taken care of.

People living in high-rise buildings told to fast longer during Ramadan

An interesting story from Dubai.

Wheelchairs for the poor

A story about an inspiring man with an amazing mission. What a great organization:

Everyone involved in the project has a favorite story. Lanfried's is about a 5-year-old boy in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The boy lived in an orphanage for disabled children, where he spent most of his time lying on the floor except for trips to the bathroom. 

A week after giving the boy his new chair, Lanfried was heading to the airport when he caught a glimpse of something familiar on the side of the street. It was a wheelchair. The little boy was in it, being pushed by an older boy, who was running. The boys were laughing.

One family's home prayer room

Inspiring!