Showing results by narrator "Marlene C. Bertrand" in All Categories

If a Catholic couple chooses to avail themselves of the spiritual resources available to a Catholic married couple; the relationship will last a life time and thrive while doing it. A failure of a marriage is directly related to the spiritual heath of the individuals involved. Even if only one of the parties embraces the spiritual principals the marriage can be saved.

This is an audio guide to teach Catholic religious organizations effective communication skills.

Sailing and adventuring on Puget Sound has been a part of my life since I was at least eight years old. I grew up in Edmonds, Washington, and lived with a view of Admiralty Inlet. I had a 25-foot Coronado sailboat in the harbor. Adventures with my father included trips to the US San Juan Islands and the South Puget Sound. My affinity for the water never faltered. Nowadays, at 58 years old, and despite numerous heath issues, I still love mud mucking around Southern Puget Sound.

This is not a marital manual about how to physically have pleasurable sexual intercourse. There are numerous illustrated manuals covering every aspect of the procedures for married love-making. This audiobook is an advanced manual on how to include your sex life in its' proper place - with God as the designer and promoter of exquisite marital pleasure, joy, and love.

When devout Catholics marry, they marry for life. They promise each other and God that they will not enter into another marriage until one of them dies. No matter what the issue, they are married for life. If they divorce and get married again outside the church, they will have sinned. They will be excluded from the primary sacrament, the Eucharist (communion).

Someone might ask, "Why all the prayer?" I pray a minimum of 10 times a day because it is the right thing to do, and it does incredibly good things to me. I pray at other times and other ways; however, prayers of thanksgiving seem to be among the most powerful, for effective and happy living. Here is my story.

Here is a frank discussion about sexual behavior and the consequences of that behavior. It is an argument for saving sexual intercourse for marriage. This short book proposes abstinence as a radical solution to the problems inherent in the now defunct sexual revolution.

Catholic Christians have a different attitude toward pain, even if it is part of the natural dying process. This little booklet is an attempt to illuminate the Catholic Christian way of facing pain and transform it into a useful and productive time in life. It is a frank discussion. If you have not evolved in your relationship with Jesus, you may find this discussion hard to understand or even offensive. Still, if you listen and then pray you will understand. With understanding may come peace and joy.

This is an attempt to bust myths. There is a myth that we have no control of our personal happiness. The myth is that we are subject to the forces around us much like a stick in the tidal currents. We cannot control other people and things; and so we falsely believe that our personal happiness is just a matter of good fortune. So we falsely believe that some people are fortunate and have reasonably happy live and others are just destined to be miserable.

It took the full six weeks for us to move. I took 33 Ford Focus carloads and four full pickup trucks to move all our stuff to our new apartment. I also sent seven pickup trucks to the junk man and numerous carloads of stuff to neighbors and friends. This is the story of a very physically, emotionally, and spiritually challenging time. It took an additional six weeks before we were actually comfortably established in our new luxury apartment. Overall, I would not change a thing.

The following tales are completely true and can draw all of us to think about the important things in life. They all take place around different campfires at the beach. In some cases, the names have been changed to honor the privacy of people. Yet their stories were so rich in humanity, that it would have been a shame to not tell them. Sometimes a campfire is more than it seems at first. These adventure and beach fires took place over a period of 13 years.

During the winter of 2004 I had a medical surprise - I found out that I was very sick. I was 43 years old and it looked like I might not make it to live past my father's age at his early death - only 49 years old. Here is my story.

This is my story of how I became a Right Wing Fundamentalist Roman Catholic and of course a Republican. I eventually became politically incorrect, and finally at peace with my church and my politics.

This is a story about what it is like to spend 40 days of your life with the "forty days for life movement." During the 40 days of fasting and praying out in front of Planned Parenthood; I tried to be there for some part of each day. Work and other distractions kept me away 6 days; but even when I wasn't downtown at the corner of Adams and Legion in Olympia WA, the pro-lifers were on my mind and in my heart from 8:00am to 8:00pm.

My wife and I began this voyage of self-discovery about two years ago. Our kids were gone and we wanted to use our living space a little differently. We wanted to clean out some of the clutter we had accumulated from raising two teenage boys and generally clean out our home. Little did we know that before we were done, we would change our view of material belongings, and actually begin rejecting our cultural addiction to owning more stuff.

In the fall of 2015 I saw an advertisement on the Port of Olympia web site. It was looking for volunteers to serve on the Olympia Harbor Patrol. In exchange for a year commitment, people would be trained in boat handling, search and rescue, and port security. Being a long time recreational boater and sailor, I was interested in giving back to the community which had given me so much over the years. I applied online and waited. Several weeks later, I was invited to an interview

I have spent decades trying to get closer to God. Since I was 20 years old; I have been aware of our loving God longing to be with us and heal us of our hurts. I have found this intimacy with God through many techniques. God can be found in meditation, contemplation, Holy Sacraments many other kinds prayer techniques.

What follows is a frank discussion about the Catholic view of sin. It can be painful to engage in such a discussion. If we are honest, we are all involved in some aspect of sin. Thankfully Christians have a way out of the destruction, guilt, and misery which sin inflicts on every sinner.

I am a devout Roman Catholic. There are at least 21 different sects of Catholicism which claim a union with the Pope. This means that they accept the Pope as the final authority as Christ's representative on Earth. Roman Catholics comprise about 1.2 billion people. I was baptized as an infant, raised in a Catholic home, pray daily, and will die with the Last Rites. It has been a good sacramental life filled with the joy of knowing my savior (Jesus) and the promise of spending an eternity with our loving creator.

For a modern culture that does not highly value life, it is paradoxical that we don't want to talk about the dying process or the possibility of an afterlife. Catholics sometime suffer from the same hesitation about talking about death. Yet the Roman Catholic religion and culture are a constant preparation for that moment when we must trust Jesus for our salvation. All the rituals and sacraments, prepare our minds and hearts for that thing from which there is no escape.