Remain Firm in the Unity of Christ's Body through the Enduring Bond of Love

From St. Fulgentius of Ruspe in the Office of Readings for today:

"The spiritual building up of the body of Christ is achieved through love. As Saint Peter says: Like living stones you are built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And there can be no more effective way to pray for this spiritual growth than for the Church, itself Christ’s body, to make the offering of his body and blood in the sacramental form of bread and wine. For the cup we drink is a participation in the blood of Christ, and the bread we break is a participation in the body of Christ. Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, since we all share the same bread. And so we pray that, by the same grace which made the Church Christ’s body, all its members may remain firm in the unity of that body through the enduring bond of love.

"We are right to pray that this may be brought about in us through the gift of the one Spirit of the Father and the Son. The holy Trinity, the one true God, is of its nature unity, equality and love, and by one divine activity sanctifies its adopted sons. That is why Scripture says that God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit he has given us. The Holy Spirit, who is the one Spirit of the Father and the Son, produces in those to whom he gives the grace of divine adoption the same effect as he produced among those whom the Acts of the Apostles describes as having received the Holy Spirit. We are told that the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, because the one Spirit of the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is one God, had created a single heart and soul in all those who believed.

"This is why Saint Paul in his exhortation to the Ephesians says that this spiritual unity in the bond of peace must be carefully preserved. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, he writes, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, with all humility and meekness and with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit.

"God makes the Church itself a sacrifice pleasing in his sight by preserving within it the love which his Holy Spirit has poured out. Thus the grace of that spiritual love is always available to us, enabling us continually to offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to him for ever."

"There are certain things in life which are too beautiful to be forgotten.."

Praise be Jesus Christ! What a gem... Calvary and the Mass by Venerable Fulton Sheen+

From the prologue:

Each word is a part of the Mass. The First Word, "Forgive," is the Confiteor; the Second Word, "This Day in Paradise," is the Offertory; the Third Word, "Behold Thy Mother," is the Sanctus; the Fourth Word, "Why hast Thou abandoned Me," is the Consecration; the Fifth Word, "I thirst," is the Communion; the Sixth Word, "It is finished," is the Ite, Missa Est; the Seventh Word, "Father, into Thy Hands," is the Last Gospel.

He Has Answered My Heart

He has answered a question that has been in my heart for so long now.  He answered last night while reading, just after midnight.  And now today I learn that this is the day that John Henry Cardinal Newman died. Thank You, Jesus.  Thank you, +Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Thank you, +John Henry Cardinal Newman.

"Touch Me not," He says to St. Mary Magdalene, "I am not yet ascended to My Father..." Why might not our Lord be touched before His ascension, and how could He be touched after it? But Christ speaks, it would seem, thus (if, as before, we might venture to paraphrase His sacred words)-- "Hitherto you have only known Me after the flesh. I have lived among you as a man. You have been permitted to approach Me sensibly, to kiss and embrace My feet, to pour ointment upon My head. But all this is at an end, now that I have died and risen again in the power of the Spirit. A glorified state of existence is begun in Me, and will soon be perfected.  At present, though I bid you at one moment to handle Me as possessed of flesh and bones, I vanish like a spirit at another; though I let one follower embrace My feet, and say, 'Fear not,' I repel another with the words, 'Touch Me not.' Touch Me not, for I am fast passing for your great benefit from earth to heaven, from flesh and blood into glory, from a natural body to a spiritual body. When I am ascended, then the change will be completed.  To pass hence to the Father in My bodily presence, is to descend from the Father to you in spirit. When I am thus changed, when I am thus present to you, more really present than now, though invisibly, then you may touch Me- may touch Me, more really though invisibly, by faith, in reverence, through such outward approaches as I shall assign.  Now you but see me from time to time; when you see most of Me I am at best but 'going in and out among you.' Thou hast seen me, Mary, but couldst not hold Me; thou hast approached Me, but only to embrace My feet, or to be touched by My hand; and thou sayest, 'O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat! O that I might hold  Him and not let Him go!' Henceforth this shall not be; when I am ascended, thou shalt see nothing, thou shalt have everything. Thou shalt sit down under My shadow with great delight, and My fruit shall be sweet to thy taste. Thou shalt have Me whole and entire. I will be near thee, I will be in thee; I will come into thy heart a whole Saviour, a whole Christ- in all My fullness as God and man- in the awful virtue of that Body and Blood, which has been taken into the Divine Person of the Word, and is indivisible from it, and has atoned for the sins of the world- not by external contact, not by partial possession, not by momentary approaches, not by a barren manifestation, but inward in presence, and intimate in fruition, a principle of life and a seed of immortality, that thou mayest 'bring forth fruit unto God.'"

John Henry Cardinal Newman, Lectures on Justification

Jesús, Maestro Divino

Found this beautiful prayer on a holy card I received at a retreat this past spring.  Love the intimacy of this prayer:

Jesús, Maestro Divino,

que descendiste del cielo

para darnos gracia, en abundancia

auméntala dentro de nosotros y conviértala

en río que fluya hacia la vida eterna.

 

Te ofreciste a sufrir

la agonía de tu pasión y muerte; y

te entregas en la Eucaristía

como, alimento para todos.

Ayúdanos a comprender

la grandeza de tal ejemplo.

 

Haz que el fuego de tu amor queme

las impurezas de nuestra debilidad humana

y dadnos la fuerza para seguir tu invitación

a la perfección infinita del Padre.

 

Por Fé, dadnos firmeza,

Por Caridad, dadnos fervor,

Por Esperenza, confianza infalible.

 

Dadnos la fuerza de ser héroes en cada virtud

y la confianza de alcanzar la santidad

con la ayuda de María,

tu Madre y nuestra Madre. Amen.

 

+Siervo de Dios, Obispo Guglielmo Giaquinta

But the believing soul...

Such beautiful contemplation by St. Bernard of Clairvaux On Loving God, excerpt from Chapter 4- Of Those Who Find Comfort in the Recollection of God:

In that day those who set not their hearts aright will feel, too late, how easy is Christ’s yoke, to which they would not bend their necks and how light His burden, in comparison with the pains they must then endure. O wretched slaves of Mammon, you cannot glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ while you trust in treasures laid up on earth: you cannot taste and see how gracious the Lord is, while you are hungering for gold. If you have not rejoiced at the thought of His coming, that day will be indeed a day of wrath to you.

But the believing soul longs and faints for God; she rests sweetly in the contemplation of Him. She glories in the reproach of the Cross, until the glory of His face shall be revealed. Like the Bride, the dove of Christ, that is covered with silver wings (Psalm 68:13), white with innocence and purity, she reposes in the thought of Thine abundant kindness, Lord Jesus; and above all she longs for that day when in the joyful splendor of thy saints, gleaming with the radiance of the Beatific Vision, her feathers shall be like gold, resplendent with the joy of Thy countenance.

Rightly then may she exult, “His left hand is under my head and His right hand doth embrace me.” The left hand signifies the memory of that matchless love, which moved Him to lay down His life for His friends; and the right hand is the Beatific Vision which He hath promised to His own, and the delight they have in His presence. The Psalmist sings rapturously, “At Thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore” (Psalm 16:11): so we are warranted in explaining the right hand as that divine and deifying joy of His presence.

Rightly too is that wondrous and ever-memorable love symbolized as His left hand, upon which the Bride rests her head until iniquity be done away: for He sustains the purpose of her mind, lest it should be turned aside to earthly, carnal desires. For the flesh wars against the spirit: “The corruptible body presseth down the soul and the earthly tabernacle weighteth down the mind that museth upon many things” (Wisdom 9:15). What could result from the contemplation of compassion so marvelous and so undeserved, favor so free and so well attested, kindness so unexpected, clemency so unconquerable, grace so amazing except that the soul should withdraw from all sinful affections, reject all that is inconsistent with God’s love, and yield herself wholly to heavenly things? No wonder is it that the Bride, moved by the perfume of these unctions, runs swiftly, all on fire with love, yet reckons herself as loving all too little in return for the Bridegroom’s love.

And rightly, since it is not great matter that a little dust should be all consumed with love of that Majesty which loved her first and which revealed itself as wholly bent on saving her. For “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

This sets forth the Father’s love. But “He hath poured out His soul unto death,” was written of the Son (Isaiah 53:12). And of the Holy Spirit it is said, “The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).

It is plain, therefore, that God loves us, and loves us with all His heart; for the Holy Trinity altogether loves us, if we may venture so to speak of the infinite and incomprehensible Godhead who is essentially one.

An Act of Reparation

This morning I read of horrible sacrilege and blaspheme of Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist.  An Act of Reparation from Vultus Christi:

How are we to respond to crimes of this sort against the adorable Body of Christ? First, we must pray for the perpetrators of the sacrilege.

Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
turn their hearts to Thee in sorrow and in love.
Holy Ghost, Living Flame of Love,
pierce their hearts with true repentance.
Amen.
 
Then we must pray in reparation:

Beloved Lord Jesus Christ,
hidden in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar;
silent, humble, defenseless,
and motionless in the Sacred Species;
handled by the faithless
and, alas, even by those
who having received the faith,
have fallen into darkness and spiritual perversion;
we offer ourselves to Thee in adoration,
to make reparation
for every sin of irreverence, sacrilege,
blasphemy, and hatred of Thy Divine Person
in the Sacrament of Thy Love.
We further offer ourselves to Thee in adoration,
believing for those who do not believe in Thee,
hoping for those who have lost hope in Thee,
loving for those who do not love Thee.
Avenge this act of sacrilege, we pray Thee,
by a triumph of Thy merciful love
in the hearts of those who have so offended Thee,
and, by sending forth Thy Holy Angels,
restore the Sacred and Adorable Species
into the hands of Thy priests,
and into guardianship of Thy grieving Church.
Amen.

Silverstream Priory: An Urgent Appeal

An urgent appeal this Saint Patrick's Day from Silverstream Priory in Stamullen, Co. Meath, Ireland, Dom Mark at Vultus Christi writes: 

The Monastic Tension

I am not the first nor will I be the last monk to feel torn between remaining silent and speaking, between disappearing and appearing. I would not, for minute, want to compare myself in any way to Saint Gregory the Great, or to Saint Bernard, or to Blessed Columba Marmion, all of whom suffered the tension of feeling pulled into silence and out of it, into the enclosure of the monastery and out of it. Monks are not, by vocation, preachers, and yet some monks have always preached. Monks are not, by vocation, writers, and yet some monks have always written, and written well and much. Monks are not, by vocation, missionaries, and yet some monks have always carried the pure light of the Gospel into places of darkness.

Survival
Over the past few days,  I have listened to my community and to our friends; we have discussed the extreme precariousness of our foundation. People whom I trust are urging me to make appeals, to seek out benefactors, to accept invitations to preach, to speak about our urgent need and to write about it. It is a question of survival. What am I going to do? We are preparing the second issue of our newsletter; it will feature an appeal for support. I am going to work at making Silverstream Priory known; I am going to ask for help wherever and whenever possible.

Risk
We do not yet own Silverstream Priory nor any of the surrounding land. While our community is established canonically here in the Diocese of Meath, we cannot yet call Silverstream our own, nor can we administer it freely, and develop it. Until we have purchased Silverstream’s buildings and property, there remains an element of risk in what we are doing. The men who have joined our monastery are conscious of the risk involved and, in the face of the risk, have laid their lives on the line.

Read the entire appeal here.

Prayerfully consider how to help.  My own heart is eternally grateful for the prayers of the monks at Silverstream Priory and for the spiritual writing of Dom Mark Kirby at Vultus Christi.  What a beautiful gift their prayers and their work are to our Holy Church.  Let us support with our prayers and gifts these ‘Men Who Hold Their Gaze Directly Towards God'.

St. Patrick, pray for us! St. Joseph, pray for us! St. Benedict, pray for us!


 

"The humble and hidden presence of the Lord in Mary, in the Church and in each soul, radiates light and hope to the world."

Hope does not disappoint.  It has been an amazing week, with ups and downs, but through it all, the Holy Spirit so evident and working in mysterious ways in each of our lives and in the life of the Church at large.  I want to share with you one of the most beautiful teachings of our new Pope Francis, given in 2008, as His Eminence Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, SJ, at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec (source The Sacred Page, translation from Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam).  My heart is filled with gratitude for our new Papa, a humble, holy, and wise man.  Let us pray for him together.  You will want to read the entire catechesis, but here are a few of my favorite exerpts, showing both the Eucharistic and Marian heart of our new Pope Francis (emphasis from Michael Barber at The Sacred Page).

First, Mary as a Model of the Covenant, and how she helps us live the Eucharistic Mystery:

Desire and self-offering are the two anticipatory attitudes that convert the Church and also each faithful soul into “new wineskins.” By desire and self-offering we become, like Mary, vessels suitable for the Word to take on flesh within us. The humble and hidden presence of the Lord in Mary, in the Church and in each soul, radiates light and hope to the world. John Paul expresses this beautifully, speaking of the Visitation:

“‘And blessed art thou that hast believed’ (Lk 1:45): Mary has anticipated, in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Eucharistic faith of the Church. When, in the Visitation, she carries within her the Word made flesh, she becomes, in a way, a ‘tabernacle’ – the first ‘tabernacle’ in history – where the Son of God, still invisible to the eyes of men, is offered for the adoration by Elizabeth, as ‘radiating’ light through the eyes and the voice of Mary.”

Mary, therefore, is a model of the Covenant, between the Lord and His bride the Church, between God and each man. Model of a Covenant that is company of Love, confident and fruitful abandonment and fullness of hope that irradiates joy. All of these virtues become music in the Magnificat of which John Paul II gives us a beautiful Eucharistic vision:

“In the Magnificat, after all, is present the eschatological tension of the Eucharist. Each time the Son of God is presented under the ‘poverty’ of the sacramental species, bread and wine, the world has within it the germ of the new history, in which ‘He hath put down the mighty from their seat’ and ‘hath exalted the humble.’ (cf. Lk 1:52). Mary sings of the ‘new heaven’ and the ‘new earth’ that are anticipated in the Eucharist and, in a certain sense, allows a glimpse into its programmed ‘design.’ Given that the Magnificat expresses the spirituality of Mary, nothing helps us live better the Eucharistic Mystery than this spirituality. The Eucharist has been given to us for our life, as that of Mary’s, all one Magnificat!” 

And, the great personal joy of receiving the Eucharist as Mary receives:

Throughout this catechesis, as we contemplate in Mary the mystery of the Covenant, it has been gradually revealed to us the riches of the Eucharist and of the Church. In our Mother all becomes concrete and “possible.” In her school the ineffable mysteries of God are given a maternal face and tone and they become comprehensible to the faith filled with Love which, as God’s faithful people, we profess to Mary. The conclusions to be drawn for the personal spiritual life, I believe, each of us must select from among those in which one finds the greatest joy, as Saint Ignatius asserted in the Spiritual Exercises. Uniting the Eucharist and the sacramental communion with Mary is something that we do intuitively, and deepening our understanding of this is something which does us all good.

For this we might ask the Grace of receiving Communion as Mary received the Word and allow it to take on flesh anew in me; the grace to receive the Eucharist from the hands of the Church using ours as a paten (meaning “manger”), aware it is our Lady who places it there and entrusts us with same; the grace of singing with Mary the Magnificat in that moment of silence that follows Communion; the grace of anticipating in the Eucharist all that will be our day or week, with all the good and positive offered jointly with the bread, and all that suffering and passion offered jointly with the wine; the grace of believing and placing with Love all our hope in that premise and token of salvation we already have in each Eucharist, to later conform our life in the image of that which we receive. Thus, each of may derive benefit from that upon which we have meditated.

And, finally, on going forth to be light of the world and salt of the earth:

It is the incommensurable, unreturnable nature of the gift that has been transmitted to us which compels the Lord to sanctify the Church in an indefectible manner, as He did with His Mother, in such a way that it is assured this gift can be both received and transmitted “for the life of the world.” the mystery of the Covenant that makes the Church all-holy is a mystery of [both] service and of Life.  It should never cease to amaze us this definite aperture to the Trinitarian life itself is given and is poured forth not just for some but for the life of the world. This is the case even if not all know it or take advantage of the fruit of the incomprehensible Liberty of the Uno and Triune God whose self-giving is total and for all.

In uniting to Christ, instead of sealing itself off, the People of the new Covenant are converted into a “sacrament” for all humanity, sign and instrument of salvation, in a work of Christ, into a light of the world and salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-16), for the redemption of all. The mission of the Church continues that of Christ: “As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.” (Jn 20:21). Therefore, the Church receives the spiritual strength necessary to accomplish its mission of perpetuating in the Eucharist the sacrifice of the Cross and being in communion with the body and the blood of Christ. So, the Eucharist is the source and, at the same time, the summit of all evangelization, given that its objective is the communion of men with Christ and, in Him, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit.

 

H/T Father Andrew for posting the article on twitter.

Cross posted at Community of Catholic Bloggers

A heart burning with love is a joyful heart

"A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. She gives most who gives with joy." -- Blessed Mother Teresa

Blessed Mother Teresa, when she cared for the desperately poor around her, never turned away from suffering. Yet, she always gave her heart to those around her with much joy, even despite her own interior suffering. That kind of joy comes from a heart burning with love for Christ.

Blessed Mother Teresa, pray for us!

Excellent post from Vultus Christi: Thoughts of peace, and not of affliction

In case you missed it, here is an excellent post from Fr. Mark at Vultus Christi:

Thoughts of peace, and not of affliction

I will therefore go to meet Him with confidence and humility

God has taught me so much about confidence the past several years, especially through the words and intercession of St. Gertrude, my favorite Saint, whose feast day is today.  St. Gertrude has unlimited confidence in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His Love.  A little booklet about St. Gertrude that a friend gave me has been such a gift from God in my life, teaching me that self-confidence is nothing, but confidence in God is everything. 

The book says, "The Holy Fathers have always taught that the measure of our hope and confidence is the measure of the graces which we receive from heaven. They have realized that, through our unreserved confidence, God is most honored and glorified."  In these times of trial, let us not lose hope, and let us have unlimited confidence in our Lord, Jesus Christ.  I trust in His Mercy and Love laboring for good within my heart.  St. Gertrude, pray for us!

What will it avail me to hesitate? Even if a thousand years were given me, I could nevertheless not prepare myself fittingly. I will therefore go to meet Him with confidence and humility, and when my Lord sees me from afar, He will send in advance a garment wherein I may be fittingly clad to be presented to Him.
~St. Gertrude the Great
 

from Saint Gertrude the Great Herald of Divine Love (TAN Books):

TAN Books

 

 

This is Beauty, You O Lord, have ravished my heart

+JMJ+

Tonight as I was praying in the Chapel with Jesus in the tabernacle, beauty is what was on my heart, only it felt heavy, thinking of how beauty is distorted and ignored and discarded and degraded in our world right now.  I had just read Marc Barnes' post, Dappled Things My Dear Readers.  True Beauty elevates our hearts and minds to God and His Glory.

In my facebook newsfeed this afternoon, one right after another was first a picture posted by Endow on the Dignity of Women and Feminine Genius and then another picture from a feminist group whose name I do not even want to type here, shared by a friend.  The contrast was so startling that it jarred me into realizing how the beauty of feminine dignity is so much under attack, even by those who profess to be all about giving voice to women.  It makes me so sad for my sisters that do not know their true dignity as beloved daughters of God.  Another quote that that was on my newsfeed was from Dignitas Magazine:

"True beauty emanates from a woman who boldly and unabashedly knows who she is in Christ."~Jen Smidt

True beauty is shown in these women making their Final Profession of Vows with the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.  They sing, "The joy I feel in my soul comes from knowing You."  That is Beauty.

But, I am human, and my heart became heavy once again thinking of how, I, myself, do not feel beautiful.  Right there in quiet, peace, and tranquility, I forgot myself the dignity I have as a daughter of God.  So I began focusing on myself, rather than Christ and the beauty emanating from women who boldly and unabashedly know who they are in Christ. 

I feel spiritually beat up, bruised, tired, worn out, and just plain not beautiful.  It has been a difficult week, and I am probably too hard on myself, but really, being a wife and mother is hard work, and just plain messy.  This is especially true with young children that all have minds of their own along with a mom who is trying to figure it all out herself and often forgets who she is in Christ.  My heart has a long way to go to find healing and I just found myself thinking how can I ever be beautiful, how can spiritually beat up, bruised, tired, worn out ever be beautiful?  I feel more like a worn out wife, and definitely not a bride.  How could that be beautiful?

And then something miraculous happened.  I looked up from the tabernacle to the Crucifix, and then I realized that beat up, bruised, tired, and worn out is Beautiful, but only on the Cross.  I often contemplate the Cross when I come to pray, but I think that there must be some new lighting on the Cross in our Chapel.  It seemed brighter, and even the shadow cast by Christ hanging on the Cross, pouring out His life for me was beautiful.  Beautiful beyond words.  And He poured Himself out like that, took on the ugliness and harshness of the Cross, out of Love for me, to reconcile me to Our Father.  That is true Beauty.

From a poem I wrote a few years ago:

We weep here at His Cross, we cry out in anguish.
He has overcome all by His Love and Mercy.
This is Beauty, You O Lord, have ravished my heart
by Your Love and Mercy. Your Cross has set me free.

Amen.

Vultus Christi: Thou hast set Thy Heart on us

Thou hast set Thy Heart on us

From Father Mark Kirby at Vultus Christi:

"This he learned not by searching far and wide,
but by abiding there with Mary near the cross,
there to gaze on the 'one whom they have pierced' (Jn 19:37).
This he learned, John the eagle,
gazing unblinking into the Sun
that rose each day before his eyes
in the Breaking of the Bread.
"This is My Body which is given for you.
Do this for a commemoration of Me.
In like manner the chalice also,
after He had supped, saying:
'This is the Chalice, the new testament in my blood,
which shall be shed for you'" (Lk 22:19-20).

Teach us, John of the seeing heart,
how to gaze with unveiled faces
on the Face here veiled,
that we may discern in the Bread broken and given
the Eucharistic Heart, the water and the blood (cf. Jn 19:34)."

Read the rest here.  Thank you Father Mark.

Teach us, St. John, to abide with Mary near the cross, today in honor of her Immaculate Heart, and all days in His Eucharistic Heart.  In the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Amen.

How I got my kids to not complain about my loud music...

Told them that my good friend, our neighbor, and one of my son's dearest friend's mom is the DJ! 

She DJs here at our local University radio station from 9 - 11am every Wednesday.  And she likes similar music as me, plus expands my horizons too!  Pray for her, she is a great gal.  Her name is Jen.

So Wednesdays are my favorite.  We take a little break from school and go to Adoration, then for coffee and donuts and now loud cool music, with no complaining!

Smiles all around here!

Thank You Jesus!

Agony

From the comments on a blog post to which I would rather not link, author unknown:

Agony

In a garden
On a warm spring night
Long ago,
The Lord of All, conjoined
With frail humanity
Saw
Down the ages
An angry, spiteful, hating
Man.
And looking beyond
(the insult to his body)
Saw
A soul in torment
And wept tears of blood.

(Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison)

Enter into Life

I'll be honest with you.  Things are falling apart over here.  Big time.  And after staying up all night with my sick baby, it may not be the best time to make a big decision, or it may be the best time to make this decision.  In the early hours of the morning when I could do nothing but take care of Michael and think without a screen in front of my face, I spent some time pondering about how I spend my time during the day.  In some ways, it seems as though I'm really living out my vocation, but in reality, I am avoiding it every chance I get with needless distractions and a desire to "fit in".  But the problem is that I will never fit in anywhere but the Heart of God.  As St. Augustine says, "Our hearts are restless O Lord, until they rest in You."  He is out there in each one of you and I have had the privilege of meeting some wonderful people online.  For that I am so thankful and trust that God put certain people in my life for a reason.

Yesterday, I read a post at Vultus Christi, where Father Kirby wrote a letter to a novice Oblate (married with children) about how she, as a wife and mother, can enter into the their charism of Adoration and Reparation.  Here is how Father Kirby began his letter:

My dear daughter in Christ,


Praying at Home
Recently, you asked me how you, as wife and mother, with children to look after from morning 'til night seven days a week, can enter into our monastery's charism of adoration and reparation. It will be many years, I think, before you will have the freedom to spend any significant amount of time in adoration before the Tabernacle, or before the Most Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance.


Your Divine Office
Your duty now, and the expression of your love for God, is to be fully present to your family. Your "Divine Office" is to cook, and clean, and change dirty diapers, and run errands, and keep the littlest ones amused, and find time to listen to the older children, and to bandage cuts, and look after bruises, and welcome guests -- and every now and then -- to steal a moment or two alone with your husband. Is this incompatible with your desire as an Oblate of our monastery to offer yourself to Our Lord in adoration, in reparation, and in supplication for the holiness of priests?

... Read more here.

This letter makes me weep in both joy and sadness.  I know God is calling me to enter fully into the life He has given me, and I trust that the relationships which God wants me to nurture are right here around me in my own living room, those with my husband and my children.  God has blessed me with a few really close friends and many acquaintances to encourage me and hopefully in some small ways I can encourage them as well.

This morning in my email inbox was an article from Matthew Warner at Fallible Blogma, "What's Your Idle?"  Well, my idle has been checking email, checking in on social media, reading blogs, writing blog posts and reading political news.  My husband is very generous in giving me the time I need to go to weekly Adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, to attend daily Mass at least once or twice a week, and to go out with friends just for some down time.  But it is the daily idle time that has me falling apart.  And, like Matthew, I am going to change what I do with that idle time.  Here is a 40 second prayer that Father Kirby included in his letter to his daughter in Christ:

A 40 Second Prayer
Here is a prayer that I wrote for this purpose. It takes exactly 40 seconds to say. Over time, it can be memorized. Use it to mark the beginning of your hour of adoration and reparation and, then, go about your business, trusting that Our Lord has heard your prayer and received it into His Heart.

Lord Jesus Christ, although I cannot, during this hour, approach Thee physically in the Sacrament of Thy Love, I would approach Thee by desire and by faith.

Transport me, I beseech Thee, by the lifting up of my mind and heart, to that tabernacle in the world where Thou art, at this hour, most forsaken, utterly forgotten, and without human company.

Let the radiance of Thy Eucharistic Face so penetrate my soul that by offering Thee adoration and reparation, even as I am busy doing ordinary things in an ordinary way, I may obtain from Thy Sacred Heart the return of at least one priest to the Tabernacle where Thou waitest for him today. Amen.

I offer all of this to Your Sacred Heart, my Lord and my Love, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my Mother.

Why I Love the Catholic Church

This video is awesome.  Jesus, you are the reason why I love the Catholic Church.  Mary, you are the reason why I love Jesus, and Jesus, you are the reason why I love Mary.

Thanks Father for making this video:




Check out more inspirational videos at Spirit Juice Studios

The Mystery of His Love

God has drawn me to His Heart and to the Heart of His Mother in amazing ways.  He has sent me friends in St. John the Apostle, St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Gertrude the Great, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Catherine of Siena, just to name a few.  The most astounding fact is how these Saints found me, rather than me finding them.  God has given them to our family, to me.  He cares about every single detail of our lives, of my life.

From a broken heart, I have sought Him and His Love, but it is He Who has found me, his prodigal daughter, his lost sheep.  He drew me to His Most Sacred Heart in the Blessed Sacrament.  He drew me to Him through speaking directly to the ear of my own broken heart.  He drew me to His bosom, to the Shadow of His Wings.  He has hidden me in His Wounds, and will never let me be separated from Him.  He has given me a Mother to teach me, guide me, and love me in a way that was missing from the brokenness of my childhood.  How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place, Oh Lord!  How marvelous are your ways, how saving is Your Love, Your Mercy, Your Strength, Your Kindness, Your Beauty, Your Heart.

Tomorrow, our family will consecrate our hearts and home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  We will enthrone a beautiful image of Christ giving us His Heart.  Please pray for us as we receive Christ into our very lives in this special and profound way.

St John was given to St. Gertrude as a special protector.  He told her in a vision, "Come, come, beloved spouse of My Master, let us repose together on the sweetest bosom of Our Lord, in which all the treasures of beatitude are hidden!"

From St. Gertrude, The Great, Herald of Divine Love (Tan Books):

St. John stood to the left, and St. Gertrude to the right of our Savior.  As they reposed on the sanctuary of His Heart, and were ravished with inexpressible delights at Its beatings, this dialogue took place between them:  "Well-beloved of the Lord, did these harmonious beatings which rejoice my soul also rejoice thine when thou didst repose during the Last Supper on the bosom of the Savior?"

"Yes, I heard them, and my soul was penetrated with their sweetness even to its very center."

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Gertrude wondered and feared because of this amazing goodness of her Lord.  She thought it too great a condescension for the adorable Heart to remain continually near her to supply for her defects.  But Our Lord consoled and encouraged her by this comparison:

"If thou hast a beautiful and melodious voice, and takest much pleasure in chanting, wilt thou not feel displeased if another person whose voice is harsh wishes to sing in thy stead, and insists on doing so?  Thus My Divine Heart, understanding human inconstancy, desires with incredible ardor to be continually invited, either by words or signs, to operate and accomplish in thee what thou art unable to accomplish thyself.  Its omnipotence enables My Heart to act without trouble.  Its impenetrable wisdom enables It to act in the most perfect manner.  And Its joyous and loving charity makes It ardently desire to accomplish this end."

Thank you for your prayers as we enter more deeply into the faith and hope that Christ gives us through His Holy Church and His Holy Mother.

For more information about this vision of St. Gertrude of St. Augustine and The Holy Trinity, portrayed so beautifully by Isidoro Arrendodo, go to Idle Speculations.   

In Need of a Savior

On my last post, I should have written that I struggle with acedia and sloth rather than acedia/sloth because I struggle with both.... didn't mean to imply they were the same thing.

A HUGE help for me is Confession. I went to Confession last week the day after writing that post. Then we finally had a weekend at home without too much going on, and we were able to spend a full day cleaning and organizing. I'll admit I am not a particularly organized person, but in order for things not to completely fall apart around here, we have to have some semblance of organization. Procrastination usually comes first for me, and then sloth, finally resulting in acedia. A friend once told me, you are kind of an all or nothing type of person aren't you? Sigh Yes, I guess that is true for me. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I trust You Jesus, You are my All in All.

I am thankful for all of your prayers because it is such an encouragement and writing these things here helps me to be accountable. I am most thankful for Jesus Christ giving Himself completely to us in the Sacraments, particularly in the Eucharist and in Confession. Without these Sacraments, I could very possibly still be plodding my way in the Slough of Despond, trying to save myself.

Novena for Fr. MacRae

Joining A Catholic Mom in Hawaii in a novena for the intentions of Father Gordon MacRae. The novena begins Monday, August 22nd. From A Catholic Mom in Hawaii:

The feast of the Queenship of Mary is next week. I think it would be very appropriate for us to pray the Memorare for Father's intentions for nine consecutive days, starting on Monday, August 22nd, the actual feast day and ending on August 30th, with confession, Mass and Holy Communion. If you can have Mass offered for Father Gordon, it would be greatly appreciated! After all, they are our blessed mother's priests.

I will be starting this week by joining in Spiritual Communion while Fr. MacRae offers Mass in his prison cell this evening at 11:20pm EST.

Thanks Mary for letting us know about this novena!

UPDATE: Karinann has a beautiful post over at Daughter of the King for this novena for Fr. MacRae. Please join us if you are able!