www.catholicconnections.org

Self-titled as "an Internet resource for active and inactive Catholics," Catholic Connections scores big with any user looking for links and other resources to keep connected to the Faith. It provides a comprehensive, topically-arranged master list of Catholic Internet links, books and other publications. With this useful site at hand, even "inactive Catholics" should have ample motivation to get active again.

A straightforward, user-friendly layout makes for easy navigation and topic searching. Looking for information on apologetics? Simply click on the corresponding tab, and off you go to a page full of links, short descriptions, and suggested reading material.

For each category, Catholic Connections has ranked the "top five" websites available, followed by a long list of other sites of interest. Each listing includes a brief description or mission statement.
As a bonus, they've added a list of recommended readings. Each category typically features one title you can order online through Amazon.com by clicking on the cover image.

Two thumbs up for this site. Have a look, check out how much is out there waiting for you, and stay connected to the Faith.

Catholic Calendar
www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/index.html

Have you ever wanted to know what your patron saint's day is or when a certain liturgical feast day is? If you have, and even if you haven't, have a look at this site and find just about anything you can imagine about the liturgical calendar.

As soon as you log on to the site, you have all the Catholic liturgical information for the day right in front of you. Without leaving out a detail, the site tells you the current day and date; the current cycle and year of the liturgical readings; the readings for the day (along with links to the actual texts of the readings); the solemnities, feasts or memorials observed that day; and the mysteries of the Rosary for that day. From there you can go further in for more detail about any of those topics simply by clicking on them.

The site also allows you to search the calendar by liturgical celebration, such as Easter Sunday, All Souls' Day, or a particular saint's day. Just click on the "Find a Date" tab. If you choose a saint's name from the lengthy list of feast and holy days, you'll find a page with the date of his memorial or feast; a biography; and where available, images of the saint and other relevant items.

You can also browse the calendar. Arrow tabs let you move quickly forward or backward on the calendar a day, week, month, or year at a click. Or let's say you want to find the readings from the Mass for a particular day - any day between January 1, 1963, and December 31, 4099! That means you can look back, for example, and see which Gospel text served as the reading on the day you were born (if you're young enough) or what it will be on your birthday several years from now.

This is a tremendous tool, especially for those who need such a quick reference for liturgical planning. Simply click on "Select a Date," type in the date, and there you have it. For the bigger picture, you can display the surrounding week, month, or year as well.

It's neat, it's clean, it's organized, it's simple, and it's incredibly useful. Not only a great resource for pastors to prepare their homilies, but also a great tool for anybody to find pretty much anything they're looking for on the liturgical calendar.

Apostolate for the Eucharistic Life
www.eucharisticlife.org

An encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is awakening and renewing the spiritual life of many Catholics today. The Apostolate for the Eucharistic Life was founded to help contemporary believers experience within their daily lives the personal renewal and eternal hope that the Church offers through Eucharistic intimacy with Jesus. To accomplish this mission, the apostolate has two goals: to encourage prayer and to deepen knowledge of the Faith, especially in regard to the Eucharist.

In accordance with their first goal, the website includes a number of prayers: Eucharistic prayers from the saints and other sources; prayers focused on the redemptive sacrifice of Christ; and prayers to the Holy Family. The apostolate also offers the Eucharistic Prayer Companion, a free quarterly publication offering Eucharistic prayers and meditations reflecting the seasons of the liturgical year.

To meet the second goal of education, the website provides a rich source of information about the Eucharistic life and the Catholic faith, along with meditations for the Rosary and stories of saints who have lived particularly close to the Eucharist. In addition the apostolate provides a second free publication, the bimonthly Eucharistic Life Jubilee Newsletter; a radio broadcast; and free audiotapes.

True Presence, a radio series of ten-minute reflections on the Eucharist, is broadcast in fifty-nine cities on the EWTN National Radio Network. You can tune in online to hear the broadcast, choose from an archive of broadcast recordings, or order free audiotapes of the recordings. All these educational sources help guide Catholics in the Eucharistic life with instruction from Scripture and Church teaching; historical and contemporary testimonies about the Eucharistic life; the witness of Eucharistic miracles; meditations on Mary, Our Lady of the Eucharist, and the Eucharistic devotion of other saints; and features on current developments in the Eucharistic life of the Church.

Of particular interest on this site is the "Eucharistic Timeline." This clever design shows the historical continuity of the Church's Eucharistic faith and practice by displaying chronologically the names of prominent Catholic teachers and councils who have taught about the meaning of the Blessed Sacrament. Click on any one of them or the time in which they lived, and you'll find information about what they taught and how the Eucharist was a significant part of their lives.

The Eucharist is one of God's greatest gifts to the Church. Take a moment, stop by the site and see what more you can learn about this wonderful grace our Savior has given us.