An estimated 2 million people took part in the procession at the Eucharistic Congress.
I pray for all souls to bring our Lord back, in such splendor, into your hearts.
My Lord and my God
Words can not describe the JOY in my heart and soul, watching the video below.
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The words we don’t hear enough today, backed up by action. “I’m sorry” and “I forgive you”.
The entire world today seems to be on an “Escalator”. The anger and outrage at everything is so thick, you can see it like a fog rolling in, forgetting that not every “escalator” goes up when we get on.
Newton’s Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action. Looking at this today in society, one can easily assess that for every action there is blown out of proportion over re-action.
“You offended me” is the phrase of the day and one that can be only followed by “I’m calling my attorneys”. Or, “You don’t deserve to live because you offended me”. That last line can be seen from the gang ridden streets of Chicago all the way to the Middle East, as its no different. Society as a whole, is staring to mimic a perpetual sandbox fight of six year olds in which everyone throws their sucker in the sand and stomps away to get the older brother to beat up the perceived evil kid who called someone a name or dare to knock down a “sand castle” created.
To be “Offended” is to be resentful or annoyed, typically as a result of a perceived insult. What is behind that? Pride. A deep rooted, nasty, maggoty pride that needs to be cut out completely. To do this takes humility.
When I hear souls today try to use the key trigger words like, Crusades, Molestation by Priests, Inquisition and the anti-Catholic mantra of the day, as a means of looking for anything they can grasp, as a means to make the entire faith look bad, or offend me personally, I pity them for the simple fact of what they can not see, that my faith isn’t based on the mistakes nor sins, little or big, of anyone. My faith is built on and in, the Love that Jesus Christ has for us all. On His cross, the words that left His lips, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”.
What comes with forgiveness? Forgiveness is the biggest, baddest weapon on the face of this earth. There is nothing stronger then it when it is given for and out of love for the other. It cuts to the heart of the problem and allows two souls to speak and not scream. It immediately deescalates all situations in which the soul can be placed in when it is received from the party it is given to. When it is not received, the soul giving it, not only places it firmly in our Lords hands, but receives the peace needed from our Lord to continue without any need for the receiver to acknowledge the forgiveness given as the soul understand it has done all it could and peace is achieved.
May our Lord bring His peace this Christmas, to all who seek it, through humility, in saying we are sorry, showing we are sorry and accepting the forgiveness that is given.
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us
On this past Sunday, my family and I were blessed to attend Holy Mass at Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala, which has been deemed as a Holy Door pilgrimage site. I had found this out about a week ago, while attending Holy Mass on my birthday, which turned out to be a Holy Mass celebrated for the Immaculate Conception.
My health problems have been flaring up, even in recent days, so for me to actually make it, with my entire family, on the day the Holy Door was blessed and opened, along with attending Holy Mass after, I consider a HUGE gift of our Lord. I cried. For many years, close to twenty, of asking, seeking, wondering, repenting, lamenting, praying and crying, became rejoicing. Its not to say that simply by me walking through that door means my conversion of heart is over, but it reached a point in letting go. Letting go of the past and accepting the mercy and justice of our Lord. It reached a “growing” point that only our Lord can measure.
Saturday night before hand, I found myself looking at different religious art on the internet. This is something I love to do. My husband and I don’t have much money, so being able to see the beautiful paintings and other items on the internet gives me an outlet, to spend time with our Lord in a way that is very personal. We scroll through different sites and He leads me through different countries and far away museums showing me all the wonderful artwork that I would never be able to see in any other way. We found this painting below, of our Lord as the Holy Child in the Tabernacle.
Going back to Sunday’s Holy Mass, along with walking through the Holy Door. Fr. Peter came out and the doors were shut. Holy Mass began outside, he blessed the doors, the hammer hit them and they were opened so Mass could continue. The crowd processed inside through them and Holy Mass continued. As Father began his Homily, it was all about “The Waiting”. He mentioned a list of things we wait for, and as he did, I whispered to my husband, I had been waiting for this day for close to twenty years. I would love to say that every Holy Mass I have ever attended is etched in the forefront of my memory, but all have not. There are many! But, not all of them can hold a position like this one has.
When father continued his “Waiting” homily, I listened intently putting in perspective of the past 2015 years since our Lord rose from the dead. In the last, minuscule in comparison, 49 years of my life. then again in the “waiting” to receive our Lord in the Eucharist while out of communion. Waiting for doctors test results. Waiting to have tests done. Coming around then, to the mercy of our Lord, for giving me the time to wait.
As Holy Mass concluded, I found myself in His peace. There was a moment when I realized I had a busy week ahead with Doctor appointments and forgot all about the pain I was having. I thought how beautiful it would be, to be able to receive Anointing of the Sick, since I had just received our Lord and walked through the Holy Doors. It had been a while since I had receive Anointing and being that my condition may need surgery, what a beautiful day to have this done. It wasn’t as if I NEEDED to get this done NOW. That “feeling” wasn’t present. I was not pushing for this. It was as if it was a suggustion to my soul that really became something I should do, but, only if it could be done, it would be good.
As we were leaving the Church, I told my husband I was going to ask Father if I could receive Anointing. I waited for the crowd to pass me by, and when it became thin and father wasn’t bombarded with souls, with only a few souls left, I approached Father and asked him. He told me he had to be at the airport within thirty minutes to catch a flight and told me, VERY humbly and graciously, that I could call the office in the morning and one of the other priests would be able to do just that for me ASAP since my first appointment was on Tuesday. He told me he would DEFINITELY keep me in his prayers as he was about to rush off. I pray no one takes this as a NON act of Mercy as I can see, it truly was our Lord at work through him, telling me no. I was at peace with his answer, and thought how I would be able to just attend the next day, and ask my Parish Priest for the Sacrament. My family and I left and had a few moments at home, “waiting”, before my older daughter had to be at our home Parish for singing in Festival of Carols.
As we arrived at our Parish, the Church was a bit dark as we walked in, I dipped my hand in the holy water font and genuflected turning to our Lord in the Tabernacle. To my surprise, the doors of the Tabernacle were wide open, and our Lord had been moved for this event. We took our seats in the pews, and “waited”. After a few moments, I noticed my Pastor mingle with others. I went to him and asked him, if he had time after, if he could give me the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. He graciously said yes that it wouldn’t be a problem.
The caroling was beautiful and at times, everyone in attendance was asked to stand and sing along. Between carols, we reflected on scripture readings and Gospels, ending the afternoon with a beautiful sense and understanding of the magnitude and meaning of our Lords birth, and the time spent by many souls “waiting” for Him, before His birth.
When all was over, my “waiting” for the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, was over as well. Father called me to the back of the Church. We were standing next to the Baptismal Font facing the Altar. I looked up the aisle to the Tabernacle of our Lord, behind the Altar which the doors were wide open. As Father began the prayers over me, that painting of the Holy Child Jesus in the Tabernacle, very vividly, came to mind. Some things, with His grace, you just know.
Praise, honor and glory to our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever.
When my daughters started this school year, in both classrooms, were sign up sheets for various programs for family’s to help out with through the year. As I looked about my fifth graders room sheet, I had noticed no one has signed up for the 5th grade retreat, which would be taking place this Advent. I had never helped with one and figured I would, since no one else would.
Time had passed and months flew by until I was contacted about two weeks ago. Her teacher had caught me in person and mentioned that she would be emailing me the information and we needed to sit down and discuss what the theme would be along with other items that would be taking place. I waited patiently and another week came and went. No email. I asked my husband if she had emailed him and he did not receive any information either. So I sent her an email asking her what we needed to do. For some reason, the email never go through. A few days later, I received a general email from the school, in which all family’s were notified, talking about the upcoming retreat and that we needed to nail down a date. I responded back, being it was a Friday, I knew I wouldn’t hear back until at lease Sunday evening. The email bounced back. It seemed as if something didn’t want me to partake in any way shape of form in doing anything for this retreat I had signed up for, months ago, that no one wanted to do.
That following Sunday, I had entered the Parish Hall between Masses and our Pastor was there. He had called out to me from across the room, but called me by another name. I looked at him and he did it again. I said to him, no Father, I am Peggy. He said your not so & so? I said no Father. My name is Peggy, you know, Violet and Chloe’s mom? He laughed a bit and called me that other persons name again and said he wanted to talk to me about the upcoming Seventh grade retreat. I said to him, Father, that is not me. We haven’t nailed down a date yet for the retreat and I haven’t heard any news as to when it is yet. He said yes we did and I need to talk to you about it, calling me the other persons name again. Once again, I told him, I was not her and did not have a child in the seventh grade. He looked at me puzzled for a moment and with that his eyes widened and said, okay. Your Violets mom. It finally registered with him. I left and went back home, immediately checking my email to see if any news came through and nothing was there, once again.
The following morning, my husband took our girls to school and I had him inform my daughters teacher that all the emails I had sent were bounced back and I just could not get any information through to her to get this going. The day after that, on my way into school to pick up my girls, a parent told me that she was working on the retreat and was wondering if I could help them. I informed her of all the things that had taken place and would love to help along with telling her I was grateful that someone was doing something as it was like I was being sabotaged at every turn in trying to do anything for this event. It seemed as if everything I was doing, was blocked and just couldn’t get anything through. As if I wasn’t supposed to be doing this even though I had volunteered for it. She had informed me that the day for the retreat was just set for December 10th and it would only be a few hours in the morning. I was grateful for any information and thrilled that it would be taking place. Along with being very grateful to our Lord, that someone had done something to get the ball rolling. She told me she would email me some ideas, I left and went home. Guess what? No emails received. He knows what we NEED before we ask.
Last Friday, First Friday, as I attended Holy Mass with the school children, something happened. Keep in mind my health is not the greatest and I have struggled with many strange things over the years, out of the ordinary things, from needing emergency surgery for a Spontaneous Heterotopic Pregnancy to congestive heart-failure that had originally been diagnosed as seasonal allergies along with degenerative disks in my spine that once, pinched my spinal chord in my neck and made it seem as if I had a stroke. Last Friday, was no different. While at Holy Mass, just before the Consecration, it was as if someone jabbed me just under the ribs with a knife on my right side. It brought me to my knees as it took my breath away for a split second and as fast as it happened, the pain was gone. I continued to concentrate on our Lord and joined my pain with His Wounded Sacred Heart, as through the rest of Holy Mass, I was at peace with Him, although still in slight pain. As I left Mass, I was a bit perplexed as to what this could be. I had my gallbladder removed just last year and hadn’t had that type of pain since back when I still had one. I prayed. The next day, I attended Holy Mass again as it was First Saturday and I was meeting with my Carmelite Brothers and Sisters for our monthly meeting. As I sat in prayer and contemplation, the pain returned a few times, although not as strong and I knew something was up. Something was wrong and needed to be looked at. Being that it was the weekend, I would put it off until Monday to call since the pain was not so great and could be dealt with by just taking it easy. Our Lord had me completely at peace and I continued on with light chores and prayers.
Sunday came and after my family and myself attended Holy Mass, I received a phone call from another classmate of my daughter, in regards to the retreat. We spoke at length of different ideas she had designed and asked my opinion on a few other things and we agreed on all of them in regards to how the children would have a wonderful morning. It was done. I only had a few ends to tie before this coming Thursday for making Advent Calender’s themed for the Year of Mercy, for the remainder of Advent until Christmas. As I hung up the phone with her, it dawned on me, our Lord provides. He knew I was going to have health issues that would get in the way of doing as much as needed to be done for this Children and He, in His MERCY, provided for them. Although most of what took place seemed to be one way, in which it looked as if I may have dropped the ball, or someone did, it actually wasn’t. All these little inconveniences, steering me away from what I wanted to do, even though through good intention, needed to take place to ensure the children’s fifth grade retreat was able to be taken care of, by someone other than me, because I was not going to be in any shape to follow through with it. Our Lord is MERCIFUL. He knows what He is doing and He knows EVERYTHING. He knows the plans He has for us.
I had called my doctor yesterday, Monday, and gave his nurse all my symptoms. They made room and got me in today, beginning a whole series of tests. I will not have my blood work back until Friday, as they are currently looking for something wrong either with a bile duct or something with the liver or pancreas. My doctors orders are to RELAX and REST and not to do much of anything while he plots out the next course of diagnosis, be it CT Scan or MRI, after he discuses this more in detail with the Radiologist. If I get a fever or worse pain, I am to go to the ER for emergency treatment. All this, while I discuss it all, with our Lord, the true Doctor, in contemplation and prayer. That being said, it would put a HUGE damper on this Fifth Grade Retreat that WILL now take place on this Thursday, without me, if I was kept in charge of it. If I had anything seriously planned, if I had been given the entire task. It would have been compromised by an unforeseen, by me, health issue that our Lord most surely did know about. That is the mercy of our Lord as seen by a very grateful soul. Praise, glory and honor to our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen
I don’t like to blow my own horn, ever. Today is my 49th birthday. Next to the gift of life, Mercy from our Lord added with the Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis through our Lords Church, is the greatest gift any soul can receive outside of Eternal Life with our Lord Himself. Celebrate Life!
Tomorrow, the Jubilee of Mercy begins. For my birthday, I seek to help with Mercy, bringing souls back into communion with our Lord. I ask all my readers to please take advantage of the Jubilee of Mercy and use the grace our Lord is giving YOU ALL, to come home to Him. Seek Him and you will find Him. The door is open! Ask!
Today, I am dedicating my blog and the posts within for the next year, to be used as a tool of Mercy for souls in need who desire time with our Lord. When I first heard of this beautiful upcoming year, I was in awe. For the past twenty years, I have been on a path back to our Lord and have experienced Him living, much alive in all aspects of life. There are souls who do not believe you can prove that He even exists, and there are souls who need no proof as the very fact they have lived, is proof enough. When He reveals Himself in every aspect of your life, that empty hole in your heart, that we try to fill with anything but Him, becomes a place that only He and you, together, can exist in and nothing else can fill you with more joy than this encounter with Him, as it is the foundation to build all life in Christ, on. May our Holy Mother Mary be the model of faith, we all seek to emulate in the sorrow and pain we experience and know that no matter how hard it may be, our Lord has the final word.
When we accept His mercy, we accept His justice. With the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), comes Absolution.
I pray for the conversion of souls this year, as I have been and hope that this Year of Mercy brings a personal encounter with Love to each soul in such a way, turning away from that Love, is never even part of the equation.
Our Lord Jesus Christ loves you very much. Its a love unlike any other. When that Love is placed first, above all else in your life, His life, alive , becomes alive in you.
Peace! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
Let all who thirst come; let all who desire it, drink from the life-giving water (Revelation 22:17)
As I began making dinner tonight, after not feeling very well, I started gathering all I needed for dinner that was supposed to be made last night. I have had a fever and not sure what my body is doing again, and my children & husband escaped to a school function so I was left with a lot of ingredients, and no need to use them, or to cook yesterday.
Tonight, I’m preparing a pasta & shrimp meal with garlic & shallots, green onions and some lemons. I love cooking with our Lord as I am in “conversation” with Him through prayer. Simply asking Him, okay, what do we add here and should I use this and He points the little things out to me. It makes for a beautiful way to prepare a meal when the family is off doing what they are doing and allows me time away to enjoy the little consultations that our Lord gives to me.
Tonight as the meal is simmering in the pan, our Lord allowed me reflect on the topic of conversation that has been on everyone’s mind in regards to receiving Him at Holy Mass. I had shared my story before, but tonight as I began to ponder it, He made me laugh so hard and filled me with His joy. A few days ago, I had brought my girls to the mall and we entered into a store called Bath and Body Works. To be honest, I don’t much care for their products as that’s just not where I find simple pleasures, and this is in no way a plug, but its funny how things work in the end, and give glory to our Lord, even when the world doesn’t understand what it did, or is doing.
I allowed my daughter to purchase a few things that she liked and as we made our way to the back of the store, I notice next to the register, a bottle of hand soap named “Lemoncello”. I laughed because I had heard this story a few months ago: Rome prepares for Holy Year of Mercy – with ice cream. I purchased the limoncello soap.
Back to making dinner and pondering with our Lord, all the ingredients were in the pan, and now were ready to simply simmer. I walked to the sink and began to wash my hands. As I used the soap, I noticed the name: Bath and Body Works. I smiled as our Lord began to remind me again. Bath meaning Confession, as the Sacrament of Confession is the “shower for your soul” and Body meaning Eucharist, His Body in a state of grace, followed by “Works”. It works. Peace. “This is the time for mercy.” “Gather in my name”, not scatter.
Its a great consultation to have Him cooking with me in this home, I look forward to going to His home for our next meal together.
Praise, glory and honor to our Lord.
Praying for conversions back to our Lord now,and always, especially for the coming of the Holy Year of Mercy.
Our Lady of Consolation (Carey, Ohio), Divine Mercy shrine
When I first started this blog, Peg Pondering Again, “Trying To Paint A Picture Of Christ” was a mission in my heart. I didn’t know how it would look. I didn’t know how to start. I didn’t know what our Lord wanted me to do. I just knew He was calling me to do it. Today, I know in my heart, the “painting” is complete. Merciful Lord Jesus Christ, I trust in you.
“In the document, Pope Francis says the Holy Year is “dedicated to living out in our daily lives the mercy” which God “constantly extends to all of us.”
St. Faustina, pray for us. St. John Paul II, pray for us. Our Lady of Consolation, intercede for us. Merciful Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
St. John Paul II pushes open the Holy Door on Dec. 24, 1999.
Glory to God!
Everything you find in this blog, praise and glory be to God.. It is the mercy of God. It is His mercy that brought me back home and I pray the entire world takes advantage of the coming Holy Year of Mercy.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.”
Repent and believe. St. John Paul II, pray for us. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Have mercy on us all.
VATICAN CITY — Saturday evening, in front of the Holy Door in the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis’ will give the archpriests of the major basilicas of Rome copies of his “bull of indiction,” or formal proclamation, of the Holy Year of Mercy. An aide will read portions of it at the door before participants process into St. Peter’s for evening prayer.
Please continue reading here for the full story: Proclaiming the Holy Year at the Holy Door
Psalm 30
1 A psalm. A song for the dedication of the Temple Of David
I
2 I praise you, LORD, for you raised me up
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
3 O LORD, my God,
I cried out to you for help and you healed me.
4 LORD, you brought my soul up from Sheol;
you let me live, from going down to the pit.
II
5 Sing praise to the LORD, you faithful;
give thanks to his holy memory.
6 For his anger lasts but a moment;
his favor a lifetime.
At dusk weeping comes for the night;
but at dawn there is rejoicing.
III
7 Complacent, I once said,
“I shall never be shaken.”
8 LORD, you showed me favor,
established for me mountains of virtue.
But when you hid your face
I was struck with terror.
9 To you, LORD, I cried out;
with the Lord I pleaded for mercy:
10 “What gain is there from my lifeblood,
from my going down to the grave?
Does dust give you thanks
or declare your faithfulness?
11 Hear, O LORD, have mercy on me;
LORD, be my helper.”
IV
12 You changed my mourning into dancing;
you took off my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness.
13 So that my glory may praise you
and not be silent.
O LORD, my God,
forever will I give you thanks.
Peg Pondering Again 