Holy Thursday

Lord, I want to be your disciple.
Help me to show greater discipline
in seeking what is truly important
and not the trivial.
I know I have denied you
countless times.
Please help me to always return to the cross,
to the Eucharist,
to You.

My Latest Fav Site

Divine Office - Liturgy of the Hours - Breviary - Free Audio - Bible - Prayer
Elizabeth Foss mentioned the app for Divine Office recently in a post...which was Divine Providence in my world as I have been feeling the call to go deeper in prayer after the worst Lent spiritually in my memory to date.  Anyway,  I've been too cheap to buy the app just yet but I have however been LOVIN' the web page.   This bookmark has been getting lots of use.
I used to pray the Liturgy of the Hours frequently before children so praying them in the midst of distraction and at infrequent nap and quiet times has been a new experience.   And at times a great challenge -- do I forgo that much needed first trimester sleep for a 5:30 a.m. wake-up before Julia?  Or attempt to pray Morning Prayer over the dirty but now deserted breakfast table with the crying of small children in need of adult mediation from time to time?  What do I do when eldest refuses to nap or be quiet in the afternoon?  And when I am sorely tempted to nap myself?   We're working through these kinks slowly. 

Regardless, I am excited to be praying the Psalms again!

Rosary Praying Template

I mentioned this to a few people and couldn't figure out a way to post it to facebook (yet) with my SLOW Internet.  Maybe once I can get out of the house again (read- it is winter and we have the plague ;-))  So hopefully this will work for now!  Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, pray for us!

Quick Takes 11-11-11

1- As H week wraps up we are anticipating a visit from one of our favorite H's, my cousin, Heidi!  She's always a fun house guest and the girls are tickled that she'll be spending the weekend with us.  Hopefully we can get her some needed R&R away from the college life.  And her and Kate are requesting more SNOW!

We had our first round of snow this week and Katie loved every minute of it.  She was out in it not long after the day began!

2-Well I think that we're through the HFM and the disease never really seemed to take over as I expected.  Though 8 days of keeping the girls home was certainly enough in this mom's book!  Neither girl has a blister and there are just dwindling signs of the rash that plagued them.  I am grateful that it wasn't worse. 

3-FREE Things!  Really excited to see this printable at Catholic Icing not only for my own kiddos but for Religious Ed classes locally.  Really helpful, really handy and FREE! And just received a reminder about Advent Adventure from Holy Heroes, another FREE faith opportunity.  We really enjoyed the things they did for Lent last year and are definitely looking forward to Advent with joyful anticipation now!

4- We attended Wool Day at a local farm with the Home Education Network (HEN).  It was a big hit for Kate.  I was quite impressed with it too.  The family hosting had sheep that they showed how to sheer (though just a bit because a wool coat comes in handy this time of year), then a local artisan brought wool samples and supplies and showed the kids how they could each felt their own ball.  For the older kids she did spinning lessons and more.  Kate and I were quite happy with our felted ball.  And I was particularly pleased to meet a few other moms for potential networking

Katie took the pictures of our ball to post on the blog.

She also picked out the colors herself- blue, black and glitter sparkle (which you can't really see from her shot).

5-We did this act of thanksgiving today (and H is for Hands!).  I case you're wondering, it is a tree with hand print leaves that note things we're thankful for on the hands.  I have to once again put a plug in for Small Steps for Catholic Moms, It was the act of the "Think, Pray, Act" today.  I highly recommend this book for moms particularly ones with small children who struggle to fit prayer and apply it to daily life.   It has been a continual blessing to my days. 

Katie is thankful for- Grampa, Gramma, Mom and Heidi.  She traced her hands and wrote all the names herself!

Julia is thankful for "Boos" aka her pacifier, Cock-a-doodle-do aka roosters, and babies.  Mom is thankful for Dad, Our Church and coffee especially at today's 5 AM wake up.  I think I live with roosters!

6-And speaking of gratitude...ladies do you dare to try this?  I'm giving A Heart of Gratitude a go (started yesterday with my own adjusted version) but wow, I think Betty's right on the money in these remarks.  However, what a great lead in to Thanksgiving or just practice in gratitude and love!  I know I've seen a few folks listing things they're particularly thankful for on Facebook, too.  I dare not try that, I'd be on there way too much!

7- You'll be seeing a new look on the blog in the near future!  Be patient as I try to have patience!  Here's to a great weekend!

Head over to Conversion Diary as she hosts "Quick Takes" every Friday!

Blessed John Paul II

My personal story with Blessed John Paul II began the summer of 1993.  I was just out of 8th grade and my mom finagled me a spot on our Diocesan lead trip to Denver, CO for World Youth Day.  There were 10 of us from our small parish that made the trip.

I'm on the far left in the back.

 It was a LONG bus ride.  My strongest memories of the trip are of time spent in Mile High Stadium where the Holy Father  and various bishops spoke to us.  The theme song I remember was 'We are One Body' and the gospel message  "I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full" (Jn 10:10)  The cheers for the World Youth Day cross being carried into the stadium and the cheers for the Holy Father as he entered in the popemobile gave me chills. Oh, and the weather that day was rainy and when the pope came, the clouds cleared the sun shone and there was a rainbow over the scene- a coincidence only God could come up with!
 

I have pictures of the Holy Father's helicopter flying him into the stadium and these 'close' pictures of him on the jumbo-tron.

 As with every WYD the highlight of the week long pilgrimage is a hike out to a field where pilgrims will spent the night on the ground in vigil for the Sunday morning Mass with the Pope.

Here's a shot I dug up of the pilgrims hiking out of Denver to our field.

Looking back at this pilgrimage, that summer was a point of conversion for me.  The Catholicity of the faith became so obvious in the gathering of cultures of the young faithful from all over the world.   The faith became my own.  It penetrated my life at school and at home in ways that it hadn't before and in a real sense I grew up as I entered high school that fall.  I began to defend the Church and her teachings at my public school- I wrote a letter to the high school paper about swearing and recall asking a friend, who was making fun of the pope to not do so.

In college, I grew even closer to JPII- reading some of his writings and seeking like him to be "Totus Tuus"  I was especially fond of Familaris Consortio. I was able to make another pilgrimage to hear him speak at St. Peter's in Rome at the end of the Jubilee Year.  [I couldn't find pictures from that one].

I began working that summer in youth ministry and had big plans lead a pilgrimage of my own to World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada in 2002.  There were 20 of us, including my mom this time!  She encouraged me to go that first time and I returned the favor this time around and had her chaperone.  It was AWESOME to share a pilgrimage experience with the youth of my parish.

This time we got a lot closer as the Holy Father came through.

Our zone in the field was prime real estate.  You can see the stage behind us.  The headphones with A.M. radio were treasures, too, especially if you're rusty on other languages.

I am third in on the back left.  My mom is in the back to the right of the sign in the WYD hat.

The Holy Father had aged since I saw him in Denver.

This time my memories are a little firmer.  There are two stories revolving around bathrooms (maybe for another post) and I remember the theme and the experience of pilgrimage (not to be confused with vacation) as a spiritual reality.  John Paul II brought me to tears more than once on that trip with his words to me and the youth of the Church.

I had the opportunity to start studying for my Masters in Theology the fall following that trip.  And that first year took The Writings of John Paul II as a course!  My studies lead to a move to Stevens Point Pacelli and as co-Director of Campus Ministry once again I would get to make a pilgrimage to World Youth Day.   Our plans were already in place on April 2, 2005 when John Paul II died.  The Holy Father had already written his message for the celebration of the 20th WYD in Cologne, Germany that summer.  As part of our trip we were able to stop at the Vatican and visit the tomb of the late John Paul II. 

The grave of Pope John Paul II

Camping out for the vigil, 2005.

And the 800,000 plus young people gathered that week- especially at the vigil remembered the legacy of the previous pope as we prayed with Benedict XVI.  I am part of what some call the JPII generation, I grew up  with John Paul II as pope.

Tomorrow, May 1, 2011 John Paul II will be declared blessed.  And though he is not John Paul the Great, yet, GREAT has been his influence on me and my spiritual pilgrimage in the Church and for that I am grateful.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!

Piety

We have been working on reading though the Gospel of Matthew on Tuesday mornings with the church ladies. This week we are working on Matthew 6. The lesson focuses on piety, our deep devotion to God that comes from inside us. In reading and hearing the reflection for tomorrow's lesson I was really moved to write a bit about the three acts of piety also known as the works of mercy: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.

These three acts are typically part of the Catholic Lenten experience. A key to understanding these penitent acts is found in 1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; bu he who does the will of God abides forever.

The point of the works of mercy are to combat sin- particularly these three common sins which I highlighted in bold. The Christian is called to be on the offensive when it comes to sin and these three pious acts are our weapons.

To combat the lust of the flesh- FASTING. Lusts of the flesh are those things we seek to serve our body, food and sexual pleasure are probably on the forefront of these. Fasting helps us to acquire mastery over our instincts and true freedom of heart. In Matthew 6 beginning in verse 16. Christ warns us that we ought not be actors in our fasting. True fasting is done for the good of the penitent and for God alone not so that others might see.

To combat the lust of the eyes- ALMSGIVING. When all I can think of is what I want (whether it be a better job, a bigger house, this TV, that computer, accessories etc. I struggle with lust of the eyes. And the Lord's cure all for this desire for things is to give. If I've been saving up for that new pick-up and have $3000 saved perhaps I give, $1000 away. The lesson of course is that God provides what we truly need and nothing of this earth can satisfy us. Matthew 6 reminds us that it is treasure in heaven that is of primary importance, not the things of this earth (A great reminder in this economy) and what we ought to seek is the Kingdom of Heaven and the rest will be provided at an as needed basis. Tough, isn't it? We also are reminded that almsgiving is not about the publicity.

To combat the pride of life- PRAYER. The pride of life is "a disordered self trust" St. Thomas Aquinas says. This temptation shows its ugly face in human history from the beginning in the Garden of Eden. The choice Adam and Eve faced is the same one we face daily. Can we trust God? Or would we rather take matters into our own hands? Jesus doesn't admonish public prayer but rather reminds us that real prayer is an interior thing. We ought to pray whenever and wherever! But it isn't about the show but rather that conversion of heart that takes place when we turn to the Lord and present ourselves as we are to Him. We are reminded that who we are when no one is watching is our truest self.

So, let's take a look at our lives! Let's use these tools to combat sin!

Here's to a blessed Lent!