General Information . . .
Contact Info
Janet's Schedule
Janet's Bio
Lay Dominicans
CassidyComments
The Catholic Times
Recommended Sites
Janet's Schedule:
Please join me every Tuesday beginning January 22nd for a Communion Service at Genesys (Hospital) in Grand Blanc. The short service will begin at 11:30 a.m.
St. Catherine of Siena Lay Dominican Group
Meetings: 2nd Saturday of each month
Where: Holy Family, Grand Blanc.
Janet Cassidy is a featured biweekly columnist in The Catholic Times, a contributing author to The Catholic Homeschool Companion and a guest speaker. Additionally, Janet is the producer and author of CassidyComments, an online subscription newsletter, and has hosted her own radio program Faithworks with Janet Cassidy. She continues to write for Liturgical Commission Publishings as well.
Janet is active in religious education, having served as a Workshop Facilitator, Catechist, and Catechist Trainer. She is a wife, mother of three, and holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Madonna University, Livonia, Michigan. She resides in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
Lay Dominicans:
"Being a Dominican is not something in addition to being a Christian, it is a way of being a Christian." Fr. Augustine DiNoia,OP
Lay Dominicans are Catholic men and women, 18 years or older, married or single, who have been moved by the Holy Spirit to live according to the spirit and charism of St. Dominic. Lay Dominicans are committed to Prayer, Study, Community and Service.
The Dominican Laity is not a group or organization that one joins. It is not a club. It is a living out of one's faith within family and work responsibilities.
Meetings
The St. Catherine of Siena Lay Dominican Group of Grand Blanc, Michigan, to which I belong, was established in November, 2005. We meet once a month, beginning with 8:00 a.m. Mass at Holy Family. The official meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. in the St. Joseph Center and includes social time, praying the Liturgy of the Hours, study and a short business meeting.
If you would like more information about the Lay Dominicans, please contact me at johnseven38@yahoo.com.
CassidyComments is a free, online subscription newsletter, containing my short spiritual reflections and commentary.
It is sent bi-weekly, directly to your inbox. The addresses are not made public.
If you would like to sign up, send an e-mail to johnseven38@yahoo.com and ask me to add you to the list.
Below you will find a sample of the e-letter.
Issue #51
Welcome to Cassidy Comments!
You are receiving this free, biweekly newsletter containing my spiritual reflections and commentary because you have requested to do so, or because a friend has forwarded a copy to you.
PLEASE NOTE: This is the only issue you will receive unless you subscribe by sending an e-mail to cassidycomments@yahoo.com. You may unsubscribe at any time. All addresses are kept private.
Please help me spread the word by forwarding a copy to a friend.
I invite you to visit my website at www.janetcassidy.com where you will find news & commentary, scripture reflections and even my blog!
Seasons of Life
For some of us, Fall is a wonderfully refreshing time where there is a coolness in the air and relief from the heat of summer. For some it is a time of sadness, an overwhelming anticipation of the cold, dark days of winter. Still, for others, September brings about a sense of restlessness, perhaps anxiety, unattached to anything in particular.
Much like our seasonal changes, our spiritual growth can, at times, also be wonderful, overwhelming and fear-inducing, as God calls us closer and asks more of us. The question is whether or not we are willing—in the midst of these intense, often confusing feelings—to say Yes to God.
It is helpful to remember that our movement toward God should not be founded on feelings alone. Faithfulness and all that our commitment to Christ entails is about believing in the midst of doubt, acting in the midst of uncertainty, and fulfilling our Yes, even after realizing it is much more difficult in reality, than it is in theory.
We mustn’t fool ourselves. When we say Yes to God—whether it feels refreshing or overwhelming—it will always bring considerable change.
I encourage you to put all of your trust in God today. Count on His love to help you through whatever you may be experiencing. Let your faithfulness carry you through the seasons of life, when your weariness threatens your peace.
God bless,
Janet
The Catholic Times
Janet is a bi-weekly columnist for The Catholic Times.
For subscription information, contact The Catholic Times at:
The Catholic Weekly-The Catholic Times
P.O. Box 1405
Saginaw, Michigan 48605
or call: 989-793-7661
The following is a sample of Janet's column:
When did we lose Scripture’s basic wisdom?
When I was young and learning about the ways of the world, my mother told me the truth about childbirth. “It can be painful,” she’d say, “but as soon as you see that little baby, you forget about the pain. It is all worth it.”
I was utterly amazed this week when I discovered that my Mom’s wisdom about childbirth is straight from scripture! If you read the Gospel of John, Chapter 16, Verse 21, you will find:
“When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.”
Now in the Gospel of John, the evangelist uses childbirth as a metaphor for the pain the disciples will experience when Jesus departs and the joy they will one day experience when they are reunited with him. But, for me, I am drawn into a deeper question: How did Mom—who didn’t study scripture—acquire this Gospel wisdom?
I am intrigued by the likelihood that scriptural wisdom is passed on from generation to generation—often without our awareness of its origin. It’s interesting to consider that ideas from scripture have become so deeply rooted in us that we have forgotten their God-centered past.
What really scares, me, though, is when we knowingly reject the wisdom of scripture and Tradition, two great sources of God’s revelation. We are in danger today because we set off, apart from God’s wisdom, trying to improve that which needs no improvement.
Take families, for instance. I heard a disc jockey talking on the radio the other day about homosexual couples. He was going on and on about how wonderful it is that they are adopting children. When he wrapped up his conversation, he surprised me by saying he wasn’t quite sure, however, about homosexual couples marrying. Huh?
It’s lucky I didn’t run my car off the road . . .
You see, it was the commitment that he felt was most important (think Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt). He said as long as a couple is committed to each other, that’s what children need. His colleague only made matters worse when he said: “Marriage is just an idea.”
Well, let me tell you, I’ve been married for twenty-five years now and I assure you marriage is not just an idea. Being a sacramental sign of God’s unifying love and grace, it runs deeper than our secular ideas about commitment. Naturally, there are plenty of people—like that disc jockey—preaching commitment without unity. They think commitment is all it takes to raise a family. What does that teach children about the value of marriage?
Oh yeah, I forgot, marriage is just an idea that isn’t relevant anymore.
Perhaps we need a reminder that families are supposed to reflect back to the world an image of Church, where God is the visible head of a sacramental union between one man and one woman. The disc jockey and several of his callers were absolutely electrified by the thought that one day their idyllic family picture could be the norm.
I guess that’s what you get when you reject God’s wisdom for your own foolishness.
RECOMMENDED SITES
http:\www.catholicmom.com
http://www.barbarabartocci.com/
Barbara Bartocci, Author & Speaker
See my new series: Grace on the Go books
For Caregivers, For Dieters, For New Mom
Dr. Meg Meeker, M.D., Pediatrician Teen health issues
Eric Scheske, writer/editor, has an interest in pop culture. He writes The Daily Eudemon
