Sophistry Exposed: How Emotional Appeals Replace Truth (Plato, Aristotle & Today) ~ Fr. Ripperger (video title)

Fr. Chad Ripperger has a PhD in philosophy. He is not only an exorcist priest but is a "doctor".

Surviving the Dark Night of the Soul - Explaining the Faith (video title)

Writing update

It's already been around six weeks since I published Book 20. After that, I read through 21 and 22.

I'd estimate it's been about three to four weeks since I started writing Book 23, but it was a rough start. I thought I had the story I wanted, but then I had other ideas... ideas that came to a screeching halt in the face of a combined one-two punch of perimenopause and autoimmune flare up.

However, I've gotten over that stumbling block and am writing. So far, I have around 7,000 words on Book 23 written and it's along the lines of what I had in mind but a bit different setting. I also may be showing a different effect of the Starfire from its blending with a different species. That will really bring some things together from the beginning of the series, and I can't wait to see how it comes together.

While Nya and L'Ni and the new character seek out the Keepers and the Starfire, the Ethalian military coalition is preparing for the big attack on the Issan.

It's been a long road and this will be the most difficult to write, but I am determined to finish this. It'll be worth the wait.

Thanks for your patience!

ps--Dargo has improved, but the effects from having his teeth cleaned and a piece of tooth root taken out was frightening for a while there. He's an old boy showing signs of age, just not as bad as he was right after being under anesthesia. Thanks for any prayers offered for him. I always ask for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, who has been great about helping me with this boy's health issues through the years.

God bless!

Imploring God to rid the world of evil; God will reward you accordingly. Fr. Iannuzzi explains (video title)

On Bad Thoughts ~ St. Alphonsus

aging pets are heartbreaking

A lot of writers have pets. We have the typical cat clowder. I've occasionally posted about them here with pictures.

It's been just under six years since we put down our oldest and first family kitty when she was sixteen. Because she was showing all signs of being at the end but not letting go, we took her to the vet as a mercy. As soon as the needle was in, she was already gone. She still had her mental faculties.

Our current oldest, Dargo, is fifteen today, but is going downhill fast. For several months, I've been noticing signs of dementia (feline cognitive dysfunction syndrome or CDS), which has been heartbreaking. I fear his time is coming soon. I have a friend who has told me about her husband's dementia and taking care of him, and the signs I've seen in Dargo and researched are a lot of the same, but in a cat way. It's heartbreaking to watch him fade away from me, like watching him die mentally while still being alive in body.

To try to help with his decreasing eating, we had his teeth cleaned recently. However, that hasn't helped. I don't know how much time he has, but in celebration of the momma's boy who has been a part of our household since he was seven weeks old, here's some moments from our lives together:

Kitten Dargo and (now deceased) Padme

Dargo loved his foster mother Padme. He mourned her death
for a few months.

Dargo and Suki competing for space in the bay window
and deciding to share it.

Mom's snuggle buddy! Soon after his first teeth cleaning
a few years ago

The Power and Purpose of Prayer (video title)

October 7: Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary... the spiritual truth behind the Battle of Lepanto

Our Lady of Victory/Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!

A quick note on my website contact form

My old Yahoo email is where the contact form submissions from my website get sent. However, Yahoo has been classifying more and more legitimate email as spam. Although most of those emails are spam from my website, occasionally, valid emails also get sent to spam and I miss them.

If I have not replied to your email, use the email in my book, the same email, and try again. That doesn't mean Yahoo won't send that also to spam too. I'm working on training the filter, but I often forget to check spam and apologize for any non-response. It wasn't this bad before they changed their email system.

The other option is to reply here, but because of some nasty commenters, I've set this blog up to require an account. Because Blogger is owned by Google, that means a Google account.

I'm sorry to make things difficult, but if you receive enough spam of your own, you'll understand why this is so frustrating on both sides - overwhelming spam and losing valid emails.

Thank you for your patience.

God bless!

St. Faustina: Her Life and Spirituality - Explaining the Faith (video title)

Today, October 5, is the the feast day of St. Faustina Kowalska. This date marks the anniversary of her death in 1938. The Diary of Saint Faustine Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul, is an excellent read and inspiring for anyone seeking to grow spiritually. Reading about the life of a future saint gives one insight into the trials and tribulations of a soul seeking to grow. Saint Faustina's diary is different than the writings of other saints in that she writes about direct visions of Jesus, who asked her to bring the message of Our Lord's Divine Mercy to the world.

Eternal Father, I offer you the body, blood, soul, and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!

The full Divine Mercy chaplet can be found here: https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/pray-the-chaplet

ps - On a side note, this day would have been the birthday of my deceased brother. I believe he would have had a devotion to St. Faustina if he had survived longer than just short of 22 years that he had on this earth.