Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!   I will be posting here as often as I can, or as often as I have something I wish to share.   My name is Jim and I am a Catholic layman living in Lowell, Massachusetts.   I chose to title this blog as I did because I regularly attend Saint Joseph the Worker Shrine, a beautiful Roman Catholic shrine in downtown Lowell.  It is, as is often said, "a hidden jewel in the city of Lowell".   In fact, during this weekend's upcoming Lowell Folk Festival, they will be doing some outreach to try to lure some of the 100,000 visitors that are expected for the city's annual event to make their way into the Shrine.  Unfortunately, most people around here are not aware of this beautiful place. It is hidden away as they say, tucked away between a side street and an alley.  They offer 3 Masses a day 7 days a week, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation 6 days a week.  It is staffed by priests of the religious order the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.  It has become a spiritual home for me.
Having said that, I must make very clear this is my blog, and this blog is 100% my reflections only, and is not affiliated in any way officially or unofficially with the Shrine.  I would be happy if this blog serves to further raise awareness of this beautiful place, but this blog is not something any staff member of the Shrine has endorsed or encouraged.  I am doing this strictly on my own, hopefully in line with the will of Our Lord.
I do not know what direction this blog will take.  I do not know how often I will update it.  I am just starting it on faith, and see where it goes. I pray that God speaks through this blog to whoever reads it, and one is moved to at least ponder some things in his or her life.
I realize there are a lot of Catholic blogs out there, so I am not sure if anything I say will be original.  I guess whether or not it is original is not as important as whether what I say provides food for thought or not.
As I stated, I consider myself to be an average Catholic layman.  I am single in the eyes of the world, but not in the eyes of the Church yet.  (I will not speak any more on that publically for now.)  I did spend some time in the mid-90's in a Diocesan seminary discerning a priestly vocation.  I also spent some time before that discerning a monastic vocation.   So, no, I am not a professionally trained lay minister in the Church, but I did feel I should disclose that I have received some formal education in the Faith, perhaps more than the average person.  Regardless, I think most of my reflections will come from education I have received in the "field of life" so to speak, with interactions with others, spiritual reading, keeping up on current events, etc.
I was inspired to start this blog a few weeks ago after the Supreme Court decision which approved same-sex "marriage".   You can probably tell from the fact that I put that word in quotes that I do not believe there is such a thing in nature, but it is in the law, and I acknowledge that.  When the law goes against nature, however, there are issues, and I am sure that will be something I talk about.   I felt that with this decision, the Church was officially put on the outskirts of society. The Church is being pushed to the edge of extinction, of irrelevancy, some would say.  If one is Catholic nowadays, and does not feel a little bit like an outsider, then  I would contend he or she is not has not integrated their life with their Faith fully.
After that decision was made, I looked myself in the mirror (as I hope many Catholics did) and asked if I truly was doing all I could do for the Faith.  The starting of this blog is a result of that reflection that occurred.  I needed a forum besides my Facebook page (which is not designed for long posts) to say what I want to say, and do what I can for Christ and His Church in Her time of need.
This blog will be a work in progress, I am hoping it will improve as time goes on.  I welcome any suggestions, criticisms, compliments, comments, and ideas for topics.
So, here we go, I hope you enjoy the posts I will make on this page.  I would encourage you to bookmark this, and check for updates.

-Jim