By: Anna Armamentos

A friend shared the following reflection with me about how evident the humanity of Jesus is during His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.  It is hard to believe that Jesus who is totally God was totally human and felt all the pain and disappointment that we sometimes feel.

Here is the link:
http://glorify-god.com/columnists/reflections-on-gethsemane/ 

By: Rose Schmillen

This week is crunch week for all of the American Architecture students in Versailles - we have been working on the same design project for the entire semester, and it is finally due today! I am done. I haven't gotten a full night's sleep in a while and did not sleep at all last night . . . I have spent the last six days drawing up plans, sections, elevations, 3D drawings, diagrams, etc., plus I have made a scaled model, and during all of this I've had to come up with ways to keep myself from going absolutely insane as I worked. 

Enter 90s music, movies, Dracula on audio book, and YouTube theology.
Not theology concerning YouTube, but Catholic theology that can be found there. There are many types of theology there and one needs to use discretion to make sure to not end up listening to unreal things, but some amazingly good things can be found there, too.

Enter Dr. Scott Hahn.
A renowned Catholic theologian, Dr. Hahn has many lectures on YouTube. I just finished one of his on the Holy Trinity, and was so moved that I wanted to share it right away. I highly recommend listening to it if you have the time, or if you have a project that involves hours (and hours and hours and hours) of work that doesn't fully occupy your brain.

Lastly, I apologize - this is obviously not Spiritual Reading; it's Spiritual Listening. Enjoy!

In Between Heaven and Mirth, Father James Martin assures us that God wants us to experience joy, to cultivate a sense of holy humor, and to laugh at life’s absurdities—not to mention our own humanity. Father Martin invites believers to rediscover the importance of humor and laughter in our daily lives and to embrace an essential truth: faith leads to joy.

Holy people are joyful people, says Father Martin, offering countless examples of healthy humor and purposeful levity in the stories of biblical heroes and heroines, and in the lives of the saints and the world’s great spiritual masters. He shows us how the parables are often the stuff of comedy, and how the gospels reveal Jesus to be a man with a palpable sense of joy and even playfulness. In fact, Father Martin argues compellingly, thinking about a Jesus without a sense of humor may be close to heretical.

Drawing on Scripture, sharing anecdotes from his experiences as a lifelong Catholic, a Jesuit for over twenty years, and a priest for more than ten, and including amusing and insightful sidebars, footnotes, and jokes, Father Martin illustrates how joy, humor, and laughter help us to live more spiritual lives, understand ourselves and others better, and more fully appreciate God’s presence among us. Practical how-to advice helps us use humor to show our faith, embrace our humanity, put things into perspective, open our minds, speak truth, demonstrate courage, challenge power, learn hospitality, foster effective human relations, deepen our relationship with God, and ... enjoy ourselves. Inviting God to lighten our hearts, we can enjoy a little heaven on earth.

Copies of Between Heaven and Mirth start at $13.40 and can be purchased at: http://www.amazon.com/Between-Heaven-Mirth-Laughter-Spiritual/dp/0062024264.