When I was in my first two years of college, I lived near my aunt (who is really my mother's cousin - but I called her my aunt). Her mother had had a stroke and she lived in a nursing home 3 hours away. This woman was also my mother's godmother, and we called her Mimi. I went with my aunt to visit Mimi, and I observed that because of her stroke she was virtually unable to do or say anything. She was completely bedridden. It was hard to watch my aunt communicate with her mother, as the responses from Mimi were unlike anything I had ever experienced before. My aunt was loving and kind, patient and positive with her mother. My aunt busied herself with tidying things up around her mother's room and checking on this and that. Although I sensed that there were unresolved feelings, conversations that were wanted to be had, there was also an air of resoluteness to be a loving and supportive daughter and to move beyond the challenges of the past. It is a complicated thing to be with one you love so much who is not the same as she once was. This visit was well over 20 years ago, however there is one thing that I will never forget and that is the two words that Mimi repeated over and over: "Pray always."In fact, those two words were the only ones she said. "Pray always," she would say with a tongue that didn't work the way it once did before her massive stroke. She would say it with her eyes wide open and look at you and again say, "Pray always." After hearing it so many times in a short amount of time, I became uncomfortable. I didn't know what to do or to say in response. I had only seen this wonderful woman a handful of times in my life and most of the times it was when I was small. When I was growing up, adults would rarely hang out with the children, and instead they would congregate amongst themselves and discuss things kids would undoubtedly find boring and repelling: grownups I don't know, politics, taxes, religion... While seeing her in this bedridden state and repeatedly hearing, "Pray always," I told her I would pray always and assured her again and again in our visit that I would pray. I showed her my rosary and assured her that we prayed on the way up to visit her and we would pray on the way home. To which she responded, "Pray always." I had no idea what she meant by 'pray always', and now some 20+ years later I have a better understanding and a better discipline and stronger faith, but this visit and her message stuck with me. Being young, and totally unprepared for this visit, I had merely volunteered to travel the several hours in each direction so that my aunt wouldn't have to go alone. I chose to go in order to be supportive to my aunt and I thought my ability to be polite would get me through this visit with grace. I didn't rely on God or on the Blessed Mother to guide me through the visit. Big mistake! I just wonder what that visit would have been like should I have asked the Blessed Mother to be with me and for her to guide my heart, my hands and my words to Mimi as well as for my aunt. As I moved through my twenties and thirties I would pray; and then I didn't pray - but I didn't 'pray always' until about 4 years ago. That story is for another time, but I have never forgot the visit with Mimi nor her message and kind - albeit insistant - directive to 'pray always'. Pray Always with the SaintsI am a big fan of calling on the saints to help cheer me on in my daily life. They have successfully completed this earthly life. There are saints that were nearly perfect from the start, there were great conversion saints, there are mothers who sacrifice for their children saints, there are martyrs that gave the ultimate sacrifice for God and so many other inspirational saints that we can look to their example that can help us on our journey. Saint stories we can take comfort in, stories that inspire us to be better - to do better, stories that can break your heart, stories that we can refer to when we find ourselves at a crossroad about what to do. Today, July 31st, is the feast day of St. Ignatius. He said that there were good and evil spirits all around us. St. Ignatius wrote about how to know the difference between them. Simply, he said, we must discern what would God want for us and to follow that direction. For more, check out the link below: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/making-good-decisions/discernment-of-spirits/introduction-to-discernment-of-spirits One way to help discern the will of God is to follow St. Francis de Sales' introduction on the path to holiness as Father Mike Schmitz explains in the Ascension Press link above: 1.) Ask 2.) Offer 3.) Accept We ask the Lord to be present to us in this moment. We offer Him this moment we are experiencing (positive or negative). We accept whatever comes of this moment. Fr. Mike says that that if we do this we can make any moment a sacrament, and we can make any moment a sacrifice. (see the video above) We all have free will and Our Lord will never impose His Will onto us. In prayer, we can ask God for the grace to be able and to be strong enough to follow His Will for us. I pray for that courage every day. (I pray for a lot of things and) I pray that all things be done according to His Most Holy Will. Purgatory and PrayerMimi had visited Medjugorje with her family, prior to having her stroke. She was present when her eldest daughter interviewed one of the visionaries. She was struck by the conversations about Purgatory. Mimi did not want to experience that! Immediately after that interview, she prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament at St. James church. She prayed and asked the Blessed Mother for the opportunity to fulfil her purgatory purification here on earth. A mystic named Maria Simma, was interviewed by Sr. Emmanuel of Medjugorje in the book: The Amazing Secret of the Souls in Purgatory: An Interview with Maria Simma . In the interview Sr. had with Maria, she was asked are we able to do our Purgatory on earth so we don't have to experience Purgatory our earthly death: And Maria responded, "Yes. I knew a priest and a young woman who were sick with tuberculosis in the hospital. The young woman said to the priest: "Let's ask the Lord to be able to suffer on earth as much as necessary in order to go straight to Heaven." The Priest replied that he himself didn't dare ask for this. Nearby was a religious sister who heard the whole conversation. The young woman died first, the priest died later; and he appeared to the Sister, saying: "If only I had had the same trust as this young woman, I too would have gone straight to Heaven." Resources from The SaintsThere are several great books to delve into with regard to growing in holiness including: The Bible (of course) St. Francis de Sales Introduction to the Devout Life by Ignatius Press/Lighthouse Catholic Media Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska Interior Castle St. Teresa of Avila - Translated and Edited by E. Allison Peers Padre Pio's Spiritual Direction for Everyday - by Gianluigi Pasquale (author), Marsha Daigle-Williamson Ph. D (translator). I'm sure there are several other books that are amazing spiritual resources and can inspire and enlighten your heart to Our Lord, but these are some that I keep very close to me on a regular basis. There are many saints who experienced souls visiting from Purgatory to ask for prayers, Masses, etc. including St. Padre Pio. He had many experiences with Holy Souls in Purgatory.
There are many saints who also bring our attention to those suffering in Purgatory, including but not limited to: St. Catherine of Genoa St. John Massias St. Nicholas of Tolentino St. Odilo of Cluny St. Padre Pio Blessed Mary of Providence Blessed Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński As you may or may not know, the Holy Souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves. We must pray for them, offer Mass for them, sacrifice for them. The Holy Souls can, however, pray for us and are powerful intercessors. Praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory is important, but that is (of course) not the only reason you should pray. Referencing from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2559-2565): We pray in Praise of His Glory. We pray in thanksgiving. We pray in petition. We pray for intercession. We are to pray always. And there are so many ways to pray. Through the Mass, through the blessed rosary, through offerings, through our thoughts and songs, through our treatment of others and through our life can all be a prayer. We must pray always and we must strive for holiness. It is a lifelong process for most of us. I am a great sinner, but I am striving each day to grow closer to our Lord, to bring my family closer to our Lord and to be a light to all whom I interact with. Dear Lord, Thank you for this wonderful day. I offer you all my joys, frustrations, hopes and struggles. I offer you my whole day with all those whom I shared today with. I pray we may all grow closer to you in love and joy and that we may become holy; that we may become great saints. Please keep us all from temptation and may we be protected from all evil. May we chose your Holy Will for our lives at each moment, and if we should fall, please guide us to a full, humble and complete confession. Heal our wounds Lord. Hold our hand and guide us on your path through the narrow gate. May we always be pleasing to you and helping and loving our neighbors. Please send your angels to send guards over our mouths so that we may only speak of things pleasing to you. We pray for the conversion of sinners, those near death and dying and for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. We ask to be able to suffer as much as possible on earth so we can go straight to Heaven. We accept Your Will in all things Lord. May our prayer be done according to your most Holy Will. Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the name of your most Precious Son Jesus. Amen. St. Francis de Sales - Pray for us. St. Therese the Little Flower - Pray for us. St. Faustina - Pray for us. Thomas Kempis - Pray for us. St. Teresa of Avila - Pray for us. St. Ignatius - Pray for us. St. Catherine of Genoa - Pray for us. St. John Massias - Pray for us. St. Nicholas of Tolentino - Pray for us. St. Odilo of Cluny - Pray for us. St. Padre Pio - Pray for us. Blessed Mary of Providence - Pray for us. Blessed Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyńsk - Pray for us. Holy Souls in Purgatory - Pray for us. Immaculate Heart of Mary - Pray for us. Our Lady of Good Help - Pray for us. Our Lady of Peace - Pray for us. Our Lady of Grace - Pray for us. Our Lady of Fatima - Pray for us. Our Lady of the Rosary - Pray for us. Our Lady of Lourdes - Pray for us. Our Lady of Guadalupe - Pray for us. All the Angels and Saints - Pray for us. Amen
0 Comments
I feel as if I am getting slapped with major changes to our culture and attacked on long held values and beliefs as well as facts that I apparently have taken for granted everyday. It is as if when I wake up each morning I start the day having to protect the life, the values, the souls of those I love. In fact, my mother gave me this sign to put in my office (see below) that gives me solace that I am not the only one fighting these battles. Why else would there be a sign that says so unless more than one person feels this way? Just this week in Minnesota, a MN Department of Education advisory council voted to approve a new 'toolkit' for "Safe and Supportive Schools for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students". There were around 200 people there to advocate for and to oppose this measure. According to the Star Tribune (see link to full story below): "The toolkit, approved by the School Safety Technical Assistance Council, is a nonbinding guide with information about providing welcoming environments for all students and guidelines for school officials to support transgender and gender-nonconforming students. (...) Wording in the draft toolkit recommends that school officials ask before assuming a student's name, gender identity or pronoun and should not exclude students from activities based on how they identify." Please read their whole article for all their details. See the link directly below this sentence for this 'toolkit' and all it spells out. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53e8f0b2e4b0638731efc6f5/t/59540e12bebafb4aa8845f09/1498680854530/Toolkit_DraftVersion2.pdf http://www.startribune.com/lgbtq-allies-and-opponents-to-rally-at-mde-meeting-wednesday/435412273/#1 Bullying is not okay!I can tell you speaking as a parent that this is whole thing in MN absolutely outrageous! I can tell you that I don't want any child to be bullied, but that includes my children. I do not want them to be bullied by this crazy toolkit and the agenda that has been attacking my values, my community and the rights of all families not to be destroyed little by little. It is time to jump out of the pot!There is an old story about a frog in a pot: The parable is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The dial has been turning up the heat for awhile now and things are getting hot and uncomfortable. I do not believe in bullying. We need to love our neighbor. Loving someone also means that you do not lie to them or do things that will harm them. I, as well as doctors around the country, believe that you are born one of two genders: female or male. I also believe that when someone has surgery to make physical changes to one's body it does not alter the biology of male and female. This is a tough road when you have a child who you love dearly and want to help in everyway. I get that, but to what end? The greatest good for the greatest number comes to mind. Way back in 1990 I was part of the Lincoln-Douglas high school debate team, we often argued the values of the Individual vs Utilitarianism. I think both the individual and the greater community are important and valued, however having an advisory council create this "nonbinding agreement" - which we all know will become binding - that is designed to substantially alter education in our state is outrageous! We are in the pot and the water is starting to boil. What happens after we jump out of the pot? Can we still jump out of the pot? Who has the ice cubes and how many do we need to cool this whole thing down? I don't have the answers to these questions, but I know we all need to work together and to do something before the lid is placed firmly on top and we are cooked. St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle. Pray for us!
St. Padre Pio, pray for us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us! Our Lady Queen of Peace, Pray for us! Sacred Heart of Jesus, We place our trust in you! Amen. -This blog is me sharing my journey of faith. This blog is for Jesus, and it is a place for you too.
As a wife and mother, it is a big part of my vocation is to get my family to Heaven. I don't think I really knew how big of a responsibility that is when I signed up. This is one area in my life where I do not want to fail. Not even a little bit. This world we live in makes my job much more difficult. It seems everywhere we look, the world we live in tells us that God is not welcome here. And things that were taken for granted are questioned and changed. But even scarier is that the world has decided to tell us through media and political agendas and the like that we are our own gods. The messages seem to say, "If it feels good - do it! (And don't worry about any of the consequences of your behaviors, we can mop up those little inconveniences later.)" But this is the world I was born into and I have watched it change dramatically over my lifetime. A popular saying now is, YOLO, (You only live once) and I'm not sure which way that phrase is to be taken, is it to be taken as an excuse to forgo the responsibilities of this world so you can live for yourself and live selfishly? Or is it to be taken as a challenge, one where you choose to live bravely and against the grain of God-less-ness. I do wholeheartedly agree with the slogan you only live once. I am consciously choosing my life to be different than what any magazine, movie, or even our secular culture is trying very hard to sell to me as normal behavior. In living my life on earth only once, I need to make it count! I want to be a saint and spend eternity in heaven and with all those whom I love so dearly, and to do so, I need to live by God's Laws. Please know, I do make mistakes. Oh boy, I make lots of mistakes! I am a sinner - struggling everyday on my path to Jesus and that is why I need Catholic stones to help me with each and every day. If you are not familiar with the Catholic Stones I talk about they are: Prayer, Fasting, the Mass, the Bible and Confession. Prayer: "For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." - St. Therese of Lisieux St. Therese, Doctor of the Church, uses her little ways to bring us closer to Jesus. If you have not read Diary of a Soul it is a must read to add to your list. I have many other saints that I look to for support and guidance as you will become familiar with as the blog continues. Simply put prayer is talking to God. Of course there are different kinds of prayer according to the Glossary in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2559-2565): "The elevation of the mind and heart to God in praise of his glory; a petition made to God for some desired good, or in thanksgiving for a good received, or in intercession for others before God. Through prayer the Christian experiences a communion with God through Christ in the Church." Fasting: Matt 6:16 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." I have been told the best fast is on bread and water. I am not as strong in this area of my faith as I am in other areas. I am working on it. Fasting doesn't have to be only from food. It can also be from tv, movies, music, etc. - things that do not lead us closer to Christ. In fact, I am getting pretty good at this kind of fasting. Now that my kiddos are becoming more self sufficient, I am better able to work on the food fasting area for spiritual discipline and growth. May God help me. The Mass: "The earth could exist more easily without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass." - St. Padre Pio This is my favorite stone. It is also my favorite part of my day, and when I do not get to go to daily Mass, I feel that my day is not complete. For those of you who may not fully understand the Mass and why it is so important please see Dr. Scott Hahn's wonderful book on the Mass called: The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth (See links below) www.amazon.com/Lambs-Supper-Mass-Heaven-Earth/dp/0385496591/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500649412&sr=1-3&keywords=scott+hahn https://youtu.be/0uL_IAJWvX0 The Bible: "Learn the heart of God from the word of God." - Pope St. Gregory "The Old Testament is like a radio with its hidden voice announcing the One to come. The New Testament is like a television because the Word became both audible and visible." - Archbishop Fulton Sheen "Become familiar with the Bible so that it can be your compass pointing out the road to follow." - Pope Benedict XVI This Catholic was not raised reading the Bible as a daily discipline. That has changed with our household. My family, my children read the bible and are becoming more and more familiar with the Word. There are so many things demanding our time and our attention and the Bible often becomes, as Father Simon ("Father Simon Says" on Relevant Radio) often reflects, "that dusty book on the coffee table". The Bible is meant to be picked up and read. It is meant to be a "compass" for our life says Pope Benedict XVI. St. Ambrose said, "We speak to God when we pray; we listen to Him when we read the Scriptures." Let's stop talking so much and take time to listen to God. Confession: "My daughter, just as you prepare in My presence, so also you make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyse what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light. (1725) -St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul This beautiful sacrament is to bring us healing, in fact it is a healing sacrament according to the Catechism. CCC 1421: The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. We are the walking wounded who are in need of Christ's Mercy and we find and receive His Mercy when we make a good confession. St. John Bosco says that we must make full and complete confessions when we go to Reconciliation. We should not say, "I lied 3 or 4 times," when it was really 4 times that I lied. St. John Bosco says that would constitute an insincere confession. We cannot hide anything from God anyway so let's be brave and do our best - even though it is hard. Confession is humbling and it is healing for us and especially for our souls. "Confession is an act of honesty and courage - an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God." -St. Pope John Paul the Great Pope Francis also has quotes on the importance of receiving the Sacrament of Confession: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-be-courageous-go-to-confession/ So in a nutshell, these Catholic stones are important in our quest for heaven. These stones I will carry with me and use them to overcome the world and keep my eyes on Heaven and my feet planted on His path for me. God help me, may God bless you and may He Bless all of us on our journey to forever with Him. In closing hear my prayer: Dear Lord, Please guide my heart and my hand this day. Please send your angels and saints to protect and guide me in all I say and do. Keep my eyes fixed on You and Your Most Holy Will. And may all that I do and say be for your Glory. St. Michael the Archangel - Pray for us. St. Padre Pio - Pray for us. St. John Bosco - Pray for us. St. Augustine - Pray for us. St. Ambros - Pray for us. St. Pope John Paul the Great - Pray for us. St. Faustina - Pray for us. St. Therese the Little Flower - Pray for us. Pope St. Gregory - Pray for us. Holy Souls in Purgatory - Pray for us. St. Philomena - Pray for us. St. Joseph - Pray for us. Immaculate Heart of Mary - Pray for us. Our Lady Queen of Peace - Pray for us. All angels and saints - pray for us. Amen. |
AuthorCatholic. Living out the vocations as wife and mother. Feeling the Holy Spirit's prompting to raise her family with the light of Christ and help them all become Saints. Archives
September 2017
Categories |