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."

In What Font, In Whose Spirit, In Whose Blood

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!

Love the Collect for today!

God of everlasting mercy,
who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast
kindle the faith of the people you have made your own,
increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed,
that all may grasp and rightly understand
in what font they have been washed,
by whose Spirit they have been reborn,
by whose Blood they have been redeemed.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

AMEN!

"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.

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!


 

Prayer to St. Joseph for the Church Militant

 

O GLORIOUS St. Joseph, chosen by God to be the foster father of Jesus, the chaste spouse of Mary ever Virgin and the head of the Holy Family, and then appointed by the Vicar of Christ to be the Heavenly patron and defender of the Church founded by Jesus, most confidently do I implore at this moment thy powerful aid for all the Church Militant on earth. Do thou shield with thy truly paternal love especially the Supreme Pontiff and all the bishops and priests who are in union with the Holy See of Peter. Be the defender of all who labor for souls amidst the trials and tribulations of this life, and cause all the peoples of the earth to submit themselves in a docile spirit to that Church which is the ark of salvation for all men.

Be pleased also, dear St. Joseph, to accept this dedication of myself which I now make unto thee. I dedicate myself wholly to thee, that thou mayest ever be my father, my patron and my guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me great purity of heart and a fervent devotion to the interior life. Grant that, following thine example, I may direct all my actions to the greater glory of God, in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and in union with thee. Finally, pray for me that I may be a partaker in the peace and joy which were thine at the hour of thy holy death. Amen.

"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

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

A Prayer for our Priests

We thank You, God our Father, for those who have responded to Your call to priestly ministry.  Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf:  Fill Your priests with the sure knowledge of Your Love.  Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.  Lead them to new depths of union with Your Son.  Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.

Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, Your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder Your Word and follow Your Will.

O Mary, Mother of Christ and our Mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.  Intercede for our priests that, offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

St. John Vianney, pray for us and for our priests.



So thankful for our priests!

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!

Stay With Me

A prayer I found at Fr. Gordon MacRae's These Stone Walls. If you wish to join Fr. MacRae in Spiritual Communion, join in a Holy Hour as he offers Mass Sunday evenings between 11pm and midnight Eastern time in his prison cell:

Stay with Me, Lord

A Communion Prayer by St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without meaning and hope.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I can hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You ever more, and to be in Your company always.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be always faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I wish it to be a place of consolation for You, a dwelling of Your love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late; the days are coming to a close and life is passing. Death, judgment and eternity are drawing near. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way, and for that I need You. It is getting late and death approaches. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows.

0 how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!

Stay with me, Jesus, because in the darkness of this life, with all its dangers, I need You.

Help me to recognize You as Your disciples did at the Breaking of the Bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the power which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death I want to be one with You, and if not by Communion, at least by Your grace and love.

Stay with me, Jesus. I do not ask for divine consolations because I do not deserve them, but I only ask for the gift of Your Presence. Oh yes! I ask this of You!

Stay with me, Lord, for I seek You alone, Your love, Your grace, Your will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and I ask for no other reward but to love You more and more, with a strong and active love.

Grant that I may love You with all my heart while on earth, so that I can continue to love You perfectly throughout all eternity, dear Jesus. Amen!”

They Get It

These children get it:




H/T Fr. Z

Make Me Believe Thee Ever More and More

My simple prayer was Lord, help my unbelief. His answer to me came as I prayed quietly in the sanctuary and saw a student pass through and bow in reverence to the tabernacle on her way somewhere, stopping to show her love for her Lord. Then one day, burdened by sadness and deep doubts about myself and the world around, I went to the sanctuary to pray, drawn by Him and His Love. I found Him there, hidden from view but drawing me to His presence in the monstrance. I collapsed in sadness and fatigue for carrying the burden for so long.

His Holy Presence was there also in the priest who listened that day in the sanctuary and loved me in the place where I was. I was a mess, the little girl inside crying out for belonging, for safety, for love. From that day forward, I knew Christ was there, Present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the sanctuary, whether in the tabernacle, in the monstrance, or in the Holy Mass. He had drawn me to Him in a particular way that day. My faith is still a journey, but through the simple prayer of my heart and in that powerful encounter, He placed a longing in my heart to be with Him in the Eucharist and many blessings have poured forth from that longing.




Adoro te devote

O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee,
Who truly art within the forms before me;
To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee,
As failing quite in contemplating Thee.

Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived;
The ear alone most safely is believed:
I believe all the Son of God has spoken,
Than Truth's own word there is no truer token.

God only on the Cross lay hid from view;
But here lies hid at once the Manhood too:
And I, in both professing my belief,
Make the same prayer as the repentant thief.

Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see;
Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be:
Make me believe Thee ever more and more;
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.

O thou Memorial of our Lord's own dying!
O Bread that living art and vivifying!
Make ever Thou my soul on Thee to live;
Ever a taste of Heavenly sweetness give.

O loving Pelican! O Jesu, Lord!
Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy Blood;
Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt,
Is ransom for a world's entire guilt.

Jesu! Whom for the present veil'd I see,
What I so thirst for, O vouchsafe to me:
That I may see Thy countenance unfolding,
And may be blest Thy glory in beholding. Amen.

(St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. E. Caswall.)


Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quae sub his figuris vere latitas;
Tibi se cor meum totum subiicit,
Quia te contemplans, totum deficit.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur;
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius,
Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius.

In Cruce latebat sola Deitas.
At hic latet simul et humanitas:
Ambo tamen credens, atgue confitens,
Peto quod petivit latro paenitens.

Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor,
Deum tamen meum te confiteor:
Fac me tibi semper magis credere,
In te spem habere, te diligere.

O memoriale mortis Domini,
Panis vivus vitam praestans homini:
Praesta meae menti de te vivere,
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

Pie pellicane Iesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo Sanguine:
Cuius una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

Iesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro, fiat illud, quod tam sitio,
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beatus tuae gloriae. Amen.

He Will Bring to Light What is Hidden in Darkness

1st Corinthians 4: 1-5

Brothers and sisters:
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.

This reading today at Mass really spoke to my heart, especially considering my post from yesterday. My frustration was running deep, and I need to remember it is not my job to judge, but to pray and to take loving action when called by God. We must pray for our own conversion and the world's conversion.

Lord, let Your light shine through me and help me to follow Your will, not my own. Mary, I give you my will, conform it to the will of Your Son. Lord, have Mercy on us, we are all sinners. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

A Small Sign of Hope

Thank You God for this small sign of hope in a world so distraught and torn by violence and hatred. Thank You God for the Muslims in Egypt that stood by their Coptic Christian brethren by attending Christmas Eve Mass. Thank You for giving Yourself to us in this broken world in Holy Mass. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

From Yasmine El-Rashidi at ahramonline:

Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside.

From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass, making a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife.

“We either live together, or we die together,” was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the “human shield” idea.

Among those shields were movie stars Adel Imam and Yousra, popular Muslim televangelist and preacher Amr Khaled, the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak, and thousands of citizens who have said they consider the attack one on Egypt as a whole.

“This is not about us and them,” said Dalia Mustafa, a student who attended mass at Virgin Mary Church on Maraashly Street. “We are one. This was an attack on Egypt as a whole, and I am standing with the Copts because the only way things will change in this country is if we come together.”

The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7th. Coptic Christmas Eve services were last Thursday, January 6th.

H/T Patrick Archbold at Creative Minority Report

Holy Mass - A Beautiful Collision

by malaroux at YouTube

How He Loves Us

Note: Original Post changed.

Oh my, so powerful:



Could listen to this over and over. Thank you God for good friends who pass this love along to us. In Your Name, Amen.

Thank you Adoring Angel!

This song reminds me of the powerful encounter we as Catholics have with Jesus at every Holy Mass, during Adoration of Him in the Blessed Sacrament, when we follow Him in Eucharistic Procession. He is with us always, but in these moments He is with us as Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

God's Love is so wondrous and amazing that He humbles Himself to come to us in a tangible, incarnate embrace every time we receive Him in Holy Communion. This music is beautiful and the Holy Spirit is obviously present in this place where she is singing, but wow, I am amazed at How He Loves Us in the Holy Eucharist and how Heaven's gates are opened for us at every Holy Mass.

P.S. - Just ignore the yelling at the end of the video ;)

What Holy Mass means to me

Okay, well here goes, now you will really know how clueless I really am. Since I am a Catholic convert, there are times when I run into issues that I really have no clue about, and feel really sort of embarrassed that I don't know what people are talking about. It isn't any way that they make me feel or anything that they have done or said wrong, it is just my own insecurity for not understanding. And really I am so thankful that God places these moments in my life, so that I can go home and do some research myself and He (God) is ALWAYS there when I search, and the answers that come from our Holy Mother Church are amazing. I feel a Jeremy Camp song coming on... Every time I'm on my knees, searching for Your Strength, I will find You there, find You there.

Anyway, I digress (at least with song and music!). Lately I have been reading/hearing a lot about mass translation changes, different mass forms, the 3rd anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, and so finally I decided to go and sort out what the terms Novus Ordo, Extraordinary Form, Ordinary Form, Tridentine, etc.... really mean. Just to give you a little idea on where I am coming from on this matter, Scott Hahn's book The Lamb's Supper is one of my favorite books, and it opened wide for me what Mass really is. Ever since He removed the scales from my eyes, when I go to Mass, it is all about Him and not me. Honestly, if I could, I would be at Mass every possible moment I'm awake. Or in Eucharistic Adoration, or in Eucharistic Procession. Where You lead me, I will follow... Because He is there in the Eucharist, He comes to us, He Loves us, He gives Himself completely to us, how could we not want to be there?

After doing some research, I am a little more educated about all these different terms about Mass Forms, but I still feel a bit confused about the technical side of things. I am thankful for priests who do understand these technical (and really spiritual) matters and who bring God's Love to us through their reverent regard for Our Lord and Savior in the Eucharist. What I am not confused about is that even though I do not know what it was like before Vatican II, or what the ins and outs of different forms are, there is a BIG difference in my heart when I am more reverent at Mass. God has moved my heart to great love for Him through more traditional practices such as receiving on the tongue and Gregorian chant among other things, and I truly look forward to any changes in the Mass that will foster more reverence for Our Lord and Savior in the Eucharist. I am so thankful for Pope Benedict XVI's movement in this area, and know deep in my being that the Holy Spirit will continue to teach all of us about His Love for us in the Mass. In our homeschool plan this year, we are going to be learning more Gregorian Chants in our music study! I think sometimes I am learning just as much as the kids are, if not more, during our homeschool time. And being a student at heart, I am thankful that God has given us this opportunity to grow closer to Him.

Some day I will write a post about His story in my life on how the Eucharist has transformed me. He works in such marvelous and mysterious ways. Oh God, please do not ever stop stirring my heart for love of You. I love you. I am Yours and You are mine. Amen.