"Where love is, there is freedom..."

"Love exists only where there is freedom. To be forced to love is hell; to be free in love is heaven. Where love is, there is freedom.  Since the child is the flower of love, it is earth's sacrament of  freedom. As the cradles come back into the world, freedom will  come back. This freedom will consist not in throwing off restraint,  which is license, but in the increase of new centers of freedom. In  each child God whispers a new secret to the world; adds a new  dimension of immortality to creation; and makes the clinging  hearts of husband and wife feel a little freer, as they look into that  strange and mutual hope which has come to them from God."

+Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Three to Get Married

The Church Loves us as a Mother

"Think of what a good mother does.  A good mother sets high standards for her children, standards of behavior, standards of cleanliness, standards of respect, standards of work.  And she expects her children to meet them, and that's love.  And that's the way the Church loves you, as a mother, setting those expectations, setting those standards.

"Where is mercy? Mercy is not to lower a standard. Mercy is to love you and help you when you have earnestly tried, and failed, to live the standard. The Church always could be and always should be more merciful in that way, to reach out, to seek out, like a shepherd, those who struggle to live that standard, and to love them in their struggle."

Homily from Fr. Andrew, Good Shepherd Sunday

Listen to all here. 

Out of the mouths of babes

:) Today at lunch, when Michael was sharing his food with Luke:

Luke: "I think Michael is going to be a priest when he grows up."
Me: "Really, do you think so? Why?"
Luke: "Because he is always sharing."

So true! :) And Luke shares a lot too!

Lord, let them all be open to your will for their lives in whatever vocation you have planned for them! Amen.

A Friend in Christ is a Treasure

Good friends are hard to find, but they are out there!  There have been many people in our lives who have come and gone, and as I am growing in faith, it is becoming less painful to say good bye because I trust that God has a plan for each person He places in our lives.  Once every relationship is viewed in the light of Christ and His Love, the ups and downs are easier to handle because Christ is always the same and He never leaves.  And we can recognize that it is Christ loving us through those people with whom we are friends and Christ loving them through us.  With Christ in a friendship, it is possible to truly love another person for that person's sake, not for one's own selfish reasons.  And with Christ in a friendship, it becomes possible to truly forgive and to be forgiven.  Today, I am speaking about relationships where Christ is the foundation for both sides, but in reality, this can apply to all people with whom we meet and interact.  We can love them for who they are, love Jesus in them, and hope for Jesus to come into their hearts when it seems like they do not know Him.  In all of this, it is Jesus Loving us, and them, with an eternal Love.

One such family that has come into our lives will be moving away next week.  We knew they were only here temporarily, so it has been easier to prepare in this sense, knowing always that they would be moving.  But it did not stop us from nurturing a close friendship in Christ.  Christ has provided us with the freedom to enter into a friendship that we know will change over time, and to dispel the fear that we would get too close and then have to say good bye.  It is sad to say good bye, but yet, I also have a great amount of hope and am looking forward to see what Jesus has planned for them and for us over the years.  I will truly miss spending time with them, and so will my husband and our children.  The best part was how well our entire family got along, moms, dads, and the children!

Really, God has provided such grace in all of this.  We both homeschool; we both had 4 children when we met, and had babies 1 month apart last year.  I came home from the hospital on Mother's' Day, and their daughter was born on Father's Day!  Our families are both lego fanatics (well maybe not us moms, even though we think legos are cool); the dads are both Eagle Scouts and went camping with the boys' cub scout troops, we love playing games (except a couple of us need to work on the other two about their lack of desire to play cards ;)  ); we went to Mass together for the first time in our newly restored Cathedral here in our diocese; both moms blog; and both families have a heart for Jesus!

Our oldest son Joseph will be going to his first confession this weekend.  Joseph has found a true lego soul mate in their oldest son, Kolbe.  They have spent hours building legos together.  Kolbe made the card shown above for Joseph (all out of his own desire in religious ed, with no prompting from his parents).  My heart is full of gratitude for each person in their family.   

Thank You God!  We pray for their safety and blessing as they finish packing and as they travel back home.  Give them courage, hope, perseverance, a strong faith, and love as they live out their beautiful vocations in You.

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.

Coming Together with the Heart of the Church

Recently, news of Archbishop Patrick Zurek asking Fr. Frank Pavone to cease public ministry outside of the diocese of Amarillo due to financial concerns has been in the pro life and Catholic blogosphere. This post is not about Fr. Frank Pavone, but his situation is what finally gave me the courage to write it.

In speaking of this with a friend, she made a point about what happens to the priests who aren't well known who become accused?

We must not abandon our Spiritual Fathers. Yes, I do believe we must pray, always we must pray, and fast for our priests. But to put love into action requires a bit more. When a priest is accused, first, he deserves the presumption of innocence until a full investigation takes place. In this presumption of innocence, he deserves the public support of his diocese, and the Church at large. I do not mean blind support, but support with the Heart of the Church, with Mercy and Love as our foundation, always taking into account the great hurt that may have been committed against the victim.

We have recourse to our Mother Mary, who will not abandon us or any of her children who flee to her for protection. If guilt is found, we must follow Mary as our guide and still must not abandon our Spiritual Fathers. We all desperately need the Mercy of Christ. Forgiveness is a necessity for healing, even for, especially for, the victim. Justice cannot be served without repentance and forgiveness. Believe me, this is something that I have lived and know.

This past Sunday, we heard about forgiveness in the Gospel. We cannot control the response of other people, but we can our own. It is my prayer that we will come together and support our priests in a public way, with the presumption of innocence to begin, and with mercy and forgiveness always, both for the priest and the accuser. If we come together in loving support and become stronger when this happens, maybe, just maybe, some of the nonsensical false accusations will cease. If not, then those who make false accusations are only accomplishing what they mean to do and that is to tear us apart. Our mercy must also extend to those who are making false accusations; however, mercy does not mean standing by and letting a great wrong persist just to keep from offending people who are hurting. It does no good to real victims of crimes to let a false accusation stand.

For more information about falsely accused priests, visit Fr. Gordon MacRae's blog These Stone Walls. He had a wonderful post a few months ago, If Night Befalls Your Father, You Don't Discard Him. You Just Don't!

Also at Fr. MacRae's blog is commentary, including an article about priests who have been found guilty and who have been "discarded." Let us not abandon our priests ever. This does not mean condoning or accepting horrible crimes. This means living with the reality of Christ's call to repentance in our own lives, and to forgive as we have been forgiven. God's mercy is greater than all of this.

St. John Vianney, pray for us! St. Joseph, terror of demons, pray for us! St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle! Our Lady of Good Help, pray for us! Christ, have Mercy on us!

UPDATE: Read Fr. MacRae's latest post: SNAP Judgements Part II: Ground Zero of the Catholic Scandal.

Poll at Fr. Z's Blog

Fr. Z has several polls at his blog regarding our opinion on male and female altar servers. Please go vote at:

Should the Holy Father reverse the interpretation of the 1983 Code which allowed for female service at the altar?


Does an all-male sanctuary foster vocations to the priesthood?


Sanctuary encompasses the part of the church within the altar rail.

For what it's worth, my opinion is that there should not be female altar servers and that an all male sanctuary does foster vocations to the priesthood. Having said this, though, our daughters will NOT be altar servers even though it is allowed in our parish, but at this time we would permit them to be a lector.

Red Cardigan has a great post at And Sometimes Tea that makes some good points from a feminine perspective, although I am not in 100 percent agreement with her. I didn't read all the comments at her post but am pretty sure there are definitely some things said in the comments over there that I do not agree with.

So far I have pretty much avoided the negative comment atmosphere I've heard about in the Catholic blogosphere. I hope to remain blissfully naive about this, but if not, so be it.

UPDATE: At least that's the way I interpreted sanctuary, that it means the part of the church within the altar rail (or where the altar rail should be). Maybe I don't have that right but that is what I based my vote on.

Women of Mystery Women of Hope

Women of Mystery Women of Hope:



H/T Fr. Andrew

A Noble Purpose

What a wonderful and joyous occasion to witness the beginning of a sacramental marriage! While on vacation, we went to a cousin's wedding at St. Patrick Cathedral in Ft. Worth, Texas. It was a true blessing to witness the bride and groom offer their sacramental vows to one another in such a holy and beautiful cathedral. Everything about their wedding drew my heart to worshiping God through His Son, our Lord, in the Eucharist. It was such a joy to be in the presence of Christ in such a beautiful and holy place.

As the father of the bride offered his daughter to be given in marriage, I could sense the presence of the bride's mother who had died nearly five years ago due to early onset Alzheimer's disease. The bride's mother, my husband's aunt, was a devout Catholic woman who dedicated her life to her Lord and to her family. The bride's mother and my husband's mother are the oldest two girls of thirteen children. They grew up in a small village in Wisconsin with several houses, a bar, and a beautiful old Catholic Church! Oh, how wonderful to grow up so close to Jesus in the tabernacle.

The Old Testament reading was from the book of Tobit. In Tobit is the beautiful account of the Archangel St. Raphael sent to aid in the healing of Tobit's blindness and to heal Sarah's grief on losing seven husbands, each dying before consummation of their marriage. Unbeknownst to each other, both Tobit and Sarah had cried out in anguish to God at the same time, and in God's great Mercy He answered their prayers of grief and sorrow with blessing.

In the prayers of Tobit and Sarah, they praised God and cried out with faith in His Mercy despite being deeply grieved in spirit. The Archangel St. Raphael led Tobiah, Tobit's son, to Sarah and they became husband and wife. Then they returned to Tobit and God healed his blindness.

Before consummating their marriage, Tobiah and Sarah prayed together, begging for God's mercy and deliverance. I have always loved this prayer since the first time I heard it. What a humble and wise way to begin a marriage:

Blessed are you, O God of our fathers,
praised be your name forever and ever.
Let the heavens and all your creation
praise you forever.
You made Adam and You gave him his
wife Eve
to be his help and support;
and from these two the human race
descended.
You said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone;
let us make him a partner like himself.'
Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine
not because of lust,
but for a noble purpose.
Call down your mercy on me and on her,
and allow us to live together to a
happy old age.

They said together, "Amen, amen," and
went to bed for the night.

~Tobit 8:5-8

Last year, a friend gave me a book about St. Raphael by Angela Carol. In the book, it is mentioned that St. Raphael is, among other things, the patron of happy and holy marriages. May St. Raphael guide us along in our journey, encourage us in our faith and in our marriage, and aid us in opening our hearts to God's healing power. St. Raphael, pray for us!

A Mother's Heart

My heart is full after reading Raising a Vocation by Anne over at Imprisoned in My Bones and her oldest son's discerning a call to the priesthood. He has a blog about his experiences at St. Francis de Sales Seminary Camp, a high school camp for high school boys discerning the priesthood. I am so amazed at how beautifully God works in people's lives!

What an amazing privilege, honor and blessing to have a son called by God to become a priest or to have a daughter called by God to become a nun. It would be wonderful for any or all of our children to have such a beautiful vocation as this! This is my prayer, but I often find myself doubting my ability as a mother to help guide their hearts. This is why I was so happy to see Anne's post, which encouraged me that God has placed this desire on my heart for a reason. Whatever His plans are for our children, we must encourage them in their walk and help them learn to listen to God.

One of the things we tell our children is how important it is to listen to God in their hearts, to listen to Christ's call and to go where He wants them to go, wherever that may be. Listening with the ear of their hearts may be in simple every day ways now, but will hopefully guide their hearts to Him more and more as they grow in age and wisdom. Living our lives in an authentically Catholic way is the best way to form them in this way. When I begin to neglect living an authentically Catholic life, I begin to fall away and it is harder to be the mother God has called me to be.

I am so thankful for Our Holy Church, Blessed Mother and St. Joseph to guide us as parents, so that we will grow in His Love and continue to nurture the faith growing in our children. God speaks to us in many ways, through receiving Him in the Holy Eucharist, at Holy Mass or during Adoration, at Confession, during prayer, through everyday experiences, and through people. May we always know and receive the graces He desires to give us, and turn back to Him when we fail to receive Him and His Love.

Lord, let me see You, hear You, receive You, and love You everywhere and always! If it be Your Will, let any or all of our sons hear and respond with an enthusiastic yes to Your call to be a priest. If it be Your Will, let any or all of our daughters hear and respond with an enthusiastic yes to Your call to be a nun. If it be Your Will that they live a married vocation, let them respond with an enthusiastic yes and bless their future spouse. Teach them all to listen to You and Your specific call for them. Help us as parents to guide them to do Your will and let them live their lives here on earth so that they will be with You forever in Heaven. In Your Holy Name, Amen.