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)
33 At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
34 And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
35 Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.”
36 One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
37 Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
38 The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
39 When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
40 There were also women looking on from a distance.m Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome.
41 These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
The Burial of Jesus
42 When it was already evening, since it was the day of preparation, the day before the sabbath,
43 Joseph of Arimathea, a distinguished member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, came and courageously went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
44 Pilate was amazed that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had already died.
45 And when he learned of it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
46 Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.
47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid.
Brothers and sisters:
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.ROM 8:35, 37-39
I was moved to tears and more at Holy Mass yesterday morning, when I heard after the Homily from a local Chaldean Deacon who was invited by our Priest to give a talk after the Homily, with first hand knowledge, of what has and is taking place in Iraq. This taking place to our Christian brothers & sisters, being tortured, murdered, raped and martyred by ISIS, being paid for by THIS nation we live in by the Obama administration. ISIS hate our Lord. They hate Him. They hate Him in the Eucharist. They hate Him in His Church. They Hate Him in His followers. They hate Him in the Rosary we pray to pull closer to Him. They hate Him in the statue’s that are religious “photos” of those we love and look to for peace and model our lives after. They hate Him and that is why they persecute us. They hate us, because we BELIEVE. We must protect our Lord and all that He is. This is a “Spiritual Battle” against evil that is manifesting itself and making itself known bluntly as evil across the globe. We must defend religious freedom, we must defend our Lord in the Eucharist. We must defend the FAITH He has given to us, even at the cost as He did, “death on a cross”. The cross we carry for future generations to find that peace, the world and worldly are rejecting.
We truly are at war. Spiritual War, against Satan and his demons, who seek to destroy everything that even resembles our Lord in this world, in even the slightest way. Come back home to our Lord. Yes it is already won through our Lord but now is the time to choose a side. Wake up! REPENT.
“A small white lamb follows a white donkey through the rubble of homes in the northern district of Beit Hanun” Israel
I believe in one God,
the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead
and His kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
With the Father and the Son
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Last night, I attended Exposition of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, for the soul purpose of what took place in my life today. Handing myself fully over to Him.
I entered the Chapel of St. John of the Cross, and came face to face with our Lord. I thanked him for all He had done for me and to me through my conversion of heart. I poured myself out to Him and simply asked Him if He would allow me to enter under the Mantle of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. As I finished praying, I felt this tickle under my nose and sneezed. All I could hear in my heart was “God bless you”.
To someone who doesn’t understand His presence completely taking over my life, it’s a meaningless thing that occurred. To me, this so simple action would have been nothing more than a sneeze after prayers, if it hadn’t been told to me a long time before. I knew in my heart, our Lord truly called me with the words, “God bless you”.
Looking back through my enter conversion, not able to comprehend our Lord calling to me in so many ways and thinking I was in “Trouble”, struggling with what so many call “Scrupulosity” as it was, for most of this, I instantly knew how to “Trust Him”. The evil one would never use a soul to repent of ones evilness, nor call them to come and sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament to be near our Lord and empty ones self of all “self”, receive the sacraments, attend daily Mass let alone, enter the Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I’m not trying to blow my own horn here, the glory is our Lords. The honor is our Lords. Everything belongs to Him. “Ad maiorem Dei gloriam”. To the greater glory of God.
Today, this morning, I was received under Our Lady’s Mantle. The mantle of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Many years ago,going back to the point of least “distraction”, as I attended confession for a sin that caused me great pains for many years, my penance was to sit in front of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. As I did, I was reduced into a blubbering pool of tears at how I refused to listen to Him in my youth. How I refused to confess that one sin for fear. As I looked up between sobbing, I seen the face of our Lord in the Eucharist. There was no doubt it was Him with His Crown of Thorns very visible to me. There were many others in the room with me and they did not see, was I was “Seeing”. I then seen myself as a child of about 3. I don’t profess to know what this means other than our Lord loves me too.
When our Lord “opens eyes” for the first time, there is utter horror at the fact we have been so sinful and rotting in our sins. But the greater horror is that we have hurt our Lord so painfully. You NEVER seek to hurt Him again. Our “environment of sinfulness” becomes a place we never wish or hope to be. To see ones self in this way causes the soul to pull closer and closer to Him, and away from that world we once lived in, along with a deep repentance of all our sins. Not just the big ones. All sins. You begin to say NO to yourself, and yes to all our Lord commands and all He has said and done. The “appetite” for pleasures changes from flesh, to “Spirit” as the soul realizes the reality that all “pleasure” comes from our Lord. One doesn’t seek vanity, or fortune or fame. As all those things that man can give, and do, never replace or replenish the soul for this desire for all things holy. All things change! God never does. He remains as He is.
He becomes the “Object of all Desire”. You turn from self, and turn to Him as His grace replaces self. The key is to act upon it. It’s easy to see why so many refuse to believe in Him. It’s quite simple. Because they don’t want to. There isn’t a PLACE in His “Kingdom” that any soul can escape Him and His mercy He is offering to all souls. All it takes is denying self, and accepting Him. ALL of Him.
Mama Mary is the shinning example of His Grace. The first question: “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” In thinking of this passage in scripture and pondering it, how can anyone of us believe in Him, if we refuse to have a “Relationship” with Him. Unless we say yes, the only relation will be with self. The world shook around her, and His “Kingdom Within” that was brought forth to the world, was the first peek into the “Kingdom” she was told of, through His Grace, by saying yes and acting on it! She remained in “His Kingdom Within” with not only constantly saying yes Lord, but acting on it, even to the day she told Him, “They have no wine”.
Accepting the sorrows as knowing, this to shall pass no matter how great the sorrow may be, she did not remain in the sorrow, nor allow it to take hold of her, as He remained with Her in Spirit, guiding her through it. Therefore she was there to strengthen and guide the Apostles, when that same Spirit came to them, to guide them through and not cling to it but to the Spirit and become one. I have learned that the greatest use for His grace, is humility. Placing ones self last as Mama Mary does. She does not seek to be known, rather she seeks to glorify God. She does not seek self. She seeks simply to do the will of God because she loves Him.
“Do not be afraid” were the words first offered to our Holy Mother as are the words today, to each soul from our Lord who turn to Him.
Thank you Mama, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, for saying yes.
This is what ZERO light from man looks like. The Church of the Good Shepherd on New Zealand’s South Island is surrounded by starlight, thanks in part to night-sky preservation efforts
This is what light pollution prevents you from seeing: The constellation Orion, imaged at left from dark skies, and at right from within the Provo/Orem, Utah metropolitan area.
In the photo above, I can imagine our souls, dim with sin looking the same way…
“Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
” Revelation 12:4 Comes to mind…
A Facebook Friend posted something very interesting this morning on Light Pollution. She said she had never heard of it and I found her comments rather sad. You see, when I was very little, my dad would break out his telescope and we would look at the stars. It was a time that was beautiful. He used to tell me all the time about light pollution. He would tell me of a sky FULL of stars where a telescope was not needed because the beauty was breathtaking as it was.
As cities grew and crime became a greater issue, more man-made lights became needed. All that was needed was one crime and blaming it on darkness (lack of light) rather than actual (darkness of evil). What causes a man to commit crimes? Certainly not the fact that it is dark outside, but rather there is a darkness within.
You see, when man loses sight of God and His creation, he forgets that God is watching him. He forgets that God is God. He begins to make himself a god.
Such is evil in this world in the ways it seeks to trick the soul into believing it needs what it is providing much more than what God has created for it, to see God in His creation, to adore Him and give Him the glory since the beginning. This is where evil separates man from God. When you can no longer see or hear Him, man forgets about his need for Him and life becomes “dark”. Slowly removing the Light of God, and replacing Him with mans own “creation”…
We had a MAJOR power outage in 2011. No power was available from San Diego to AZ. We were celebrating Rosaries for Peace and had a precession of Our Lady of Fatima planned just before the power went out. We continued on without electric. The moon was full and beautiful in the sunset sky as the procession began.
It was SPECTACULAR! Inside the Church everything was candlelit throughout the entire Mass. When I arrived home after, driving through town without any lights anywhere, I was amazed to see how BEAUTIFUL the sky was. How peaceful the night was. People were out and enjoying the evening.
I was able to see things I never dreamt of before. It was the most beautiful night I had ever had in my life. Granted, it was spent with our Lord in one of the most spectacular ways it could have been in this world. I am very happy without “light pollution”. As I am just as happy right now with it.
Revelation 22:5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Glory to God….
After understanding my FB Friend had no clue what I was talking about, and telling me good luck with banning the sale of light bulbs, I had to clarafy what I am actually speaking about to her:
The price has already been paid to let the light shine from within. But the world doesn’t want that. It wants to suck the faithful into the “black hole” of its “manufactured light”. All you have to do is “plug in” to what our Lord is telling you. The reason manufactured light is used today is for “security”. LOL Do you see what I am talking about now? Trying to stop the sale of light bulbs would do nothing nor is that even where my thoughts are. My heart knows, man is so infatuated with false security that they do not understand Gods security. We live in an imperfect world, I can not change that. I do however understand it.
“We can find such reasons in the order and beauty of creation itself, which speaks of its Creator; in the longing for the infinite present in the human heart, which finds satisfaction in God alone; and in faith, which illumines and transforms our lives through our daily union with the Lord. By the witness of our living faith, may we lead others to know and love the God who reveals himself in Christ.” – Pope Benedict XVI
The flower-like image of this star-forming region in Earth’s southern skies was imaged using a 64-megapixel Mosaic imaging camera on the National Science Foundation’s Victor M. Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.
Cometary globules are isolated, relatively small clouds of gas and dust within the Milky Way. This example, called CG4, is about 1,300 light years from Earth. Its head is some 1.5 light-years in diameter, and its tail is about eight light-years long. The dusty cloud contains enough material to make several Sun-sized stars. CG4 is located in the constellation of Puppis.
The head of the nebula is opaque, but glows because it is illuminated by light from nearby hot stars. Their energy is gradually destroying the dusty head of the globule, sweeping away the tiny particles which scatter the starlight. This particular globule shows a faint red glow from electrically charged hydrogen, and it seems about to devour an edge-on spiral galaxy (ESO 257-19) in the upper left. In reality, this galaxy is more than a hundred million light-years further away, far beyond CG4. The image from the Blanco 4-meter telescope was taken in four filters, three of which are for blue, green and near-infrared light. The fourth is designed to isolate a specific color of red, known as hydrogen-alpha, which is produced by warm hydrogen gas.
My daughter, who is only 8 years old always seems to ask me questions that are just so amazing about the faith, because they are so innocent. Most times, leaving me in a deep state of wonder. The latest question, is no different.
Her question to me was this: “Mommy? What was Baby Jesus first word?”
It set me off on a road of very deep pondering and contemplation of the relationship between our Infant Lord and our Holy Mother. I don’t ever want to leave this place where my daughter brought my thoughts.
As I thought of it deeply, it wasn’t until my girls and I set out tonight to the store that I simply asked Mama Mary out loud in prayer with my girls. Before the final word left my lips, an answer came to my heart.
Mama Mary, being full of grace and humility would never have taught our Lord to say Mama first, just as today she does not seek any glory for herself but only for Him. Abba! Came to my heart..
Glory to God in the highest…
EDIT TO ADD from my Facebook Page:
Whatever the normal first word uttered by any baby in the first century area around Bethlehem, in Aramaic, was probably the first word spoken, most probably related to mother and father. His perfect humanity is in the commonness which he shares with all of us in our infancy. That is the beauty of that humanity as is the look of love between mother and child as “she wrapped in him swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.” That gaze of love rests in the heart of our Christmas celebration in Gift Given, Gift Received, Gift Shared. But since he is the Word-made-Flesh, he IS the First Word. A powerful question which leads to the simple Beauty and Goodness which draws us anew to the manger. – Fr. John P Mack Jr
Last night as I was in Adoration, in front of our Lord in the tabernacle, I was praying the Divine Office. As I got to the antiphon: “When the Son of Man comes to earth, do you think he will find faith in men’s hearts?” and answered with a knee jerk response of no, and felt a feeling of darkness come over me for the state of the world and myself. It was as if our Lord was telling me “wrong answer.” And when I thought of it deeper and pondered it, The answer no to this question came with “pride” and is not through humility. As I started to continue, I heard in my heart “The gates of hell shall not prevail” and I stopped in my tracks and said “Wait one minute!”.
Yes! I exclaimed. YES! When the Son of Man comes to earth, he will find faith in men’s hearts! Because He said so! His entire “Mission” was to instill that faith in men’s hearts. To not lose hope, to not lose the true love for others and to be charitable and with His grace, “All things are possible with God”. He surely did not die and raise from the dead for this beautiful faith to die as He did. NO! Thus the reason He died for her, the Church, so she could live on to teach with Him, with the Holy Spirit all that He had done in love and continues to do.
How miserable of a world would it be, not to find faith in the hearts of one single soul. How unbearable life would be to not find one ounce of compassion or true charity and love. As I look around today at the state of the world, and since my conversion, as bad as it had gotten in regards to what I have seen in myself and others, our Lord was there and still is, the entire time with His consolation to pull me through. To see love as it is. To see compassion. To see faith and to hold on to hope, knowing His word is true: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”. For as long as there is our Lord, there is the Church He gave to us.
This is the job for the laity He has for us. To continue, strong in the faith. To teach our children to be strong in the faith so their children and their children for generation after generation can continue to have Him in their hearts. We must be strong against the temptations in this world. We can only place our faith and trust in our Lord to see to all our needs. When we do, everything, all “things” that can never bring true happiness are replaced with joy. We must fight the evil in this world with love and true faith in Him. Without fear of what may happen to us. It’s not a battle in the physical sense, but the spiritual truth in which all must adhere to our Lord and not the things the world is tempting us with.
If we learn that nothing is ours but the faith, and we live by this truth, we learn to let go of all we grab on to in this world, allowing God to hold on to us as He seeks to do.
I thank my Grandparents generation for living the faith. The family motto was always “Scattered but never lost”. It held the “family” together through the most horrific times. They never relied on anything or anyone but our Lord. They celebrated the Saints days. They attended daily Mass. All the Sacraments were considered major celebrations. Their love for one another was through the love they had for our Lord. All through World War I, the great depression and then World War II. They faced the most uncertain times with the certainty of our Lord. My Great Uncle becoming a priest, ordained in 1930 Slovakia. Surviving the Nazis and then the Communist Occupation, NEVER placing his faith in the governments that came and went, but solidly in our Lord. Never seeing “freedom” again in his nation of Slovakia but knowing TRUE “Freedom” through our Lord. This faith, is still here today. This faith, is here in my heart. I am not alone. As we live through this Great Depression of Faith in society, we must come to understand that no matter what may come, the Faith our Lord has given to us shall always be. Never give up hope. NEVER lose your faith! It is truly, all you have. Nurture it and teach it to your children that it is all they have.
“When faced with this abyss of evil, I can only respond with an abyss of love.” Blessed John Paul II in Nazi Occupied Poland, announcing to his friend he has chosen the life of Priesthood
Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother,
venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians”,
the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.
We come before you today to implore your protection.
Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them
along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be
a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.
When you obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth,
you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb
and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.
You willingly and generously cooperated in that work,
allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul,
until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary,
standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.
From that moment, you became, in a new way,
the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith
and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.
Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed
with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.
Grant that your children may discern at all times,
even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.
Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China,
who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love.
May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world,
and of the world to Jesus.
In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high,
offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.
Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love,
ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.
Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!
Sunday morning, Easter Morning, I awoke and decided to take a walk. As I was preparing for the walk, it became my walk with Christ. It was on this walk, I knew I could never come back. I packed my rosary & prayer, tossed on my shoes and started walking to Church to see our Lord in Adoration.
As I started to pray I noticed the life around me. I came to a tree in bloom and stopped to look. Some blooms were open and full flowers and some buds had not opened yet. I came to a pine tree and seen some cones fully open that had sent forth their seeds and some completely closed, holding on to them. I was reminded of our faith in Christ. Some hearts open before others. Some are in full bloom, some just ready to burst forth and some have not opened yet. All just as beautiful as the next.
As I walked and prayed, I came to a house that had been completely renovated but no one was living in it yet. It looked as if it had been updated from top to bottom and all it was waiting for was to become a home. I thought of “I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’”. And I continued to walk..
As I came to a bend in the road that lead to my church, I noticed someone walking behind me. I continued to pray the rosary and ponder. A teenage boy came up behind me, and began to speak to me. He was mentally retarded, and asked me what I was ding on this beautiful day. I told him I was praying the rosary and walking to Church. He began to walk with me and told me he was going to a car lot up the street and I assumed he liked cars, then he said he was heading to the pet shop up the street that had lots of animals. We began to talk about faith and as we walked, I taught him how to pray the rosary. He was not Catholic, but his love for Christ was very noticeable.
We talked about our Lord all the way to my Church. I told him I was going to see our Lord who is present in the Holy Eucharist. He did not know what Catholics believed. We walked and had an enjoyable morning and it came time for me to leave. When we got to my church I told him this is where I had to cross. I asked him his name and he said it was Kenny. I told him I would keep him in my prayers and he walked off with my rosary and the little prayer card, instructing him how to pray.
He was continuing on and I crossed the street to my home parish. As I got into the parking lot, the 10 AM Easter Mass was letting out. One of the office workers seen me and grabbed me telling me they needed some help directing traffic because it was getting backed up. So I put on the orange vest, grabbed the whistle he gave me and was on my way directing traffic on the street where cars were trying to cut into the exit. I started directing traffic,m allowing cars to exit on to the street, not allowing cars into the same area, as they had to go back and turn at the “light” to enter. As I stood there I realized I was in the middle of the street and looked at the stop light. I could hear our Lord speaking to me in my heart, “Work with the Light”. I giggled because I knew not only was He speaking about the traffic light, but also in regards to Him. After about 30 minutes or so, the traffic died down and I was free to spend some time with our Lord in adoration.
I walked to the tabernacle, kissed it and thanked our Lord, knowing Mass was about to begin again, left quickly, grabbing a Divine Mercy Chaplet pamphlet for the walk and continued my walk with Him, taking that different route home. As I am still walking with Him today, without any plans using that old route, with the exception of making sure Mama Mary was still with me.
I recently started reading Saint Louis Marie de Montfort’s book, God Alone. Its funny really, because I have been putting it off for a while. I have been afraid to read it, because of my fear of my attention being taken away from our Lord and placed on our Holy Mother Mary. I’m not that far into the book, only a few pages really, and have to admit, I found it amazing that I share the same fear that our Holy Father, Blessed John Paul II had.
“the reading of the treatise of the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin was a turning point in my life (at a time when he was secretly studying for the priesthood). Whereas I had initially been afraid lest devotion to Mary might detract from that due to Jesus instead of giving Him his rightful place, I realized, when reading the treatise of Grignion de Montfort, that such was not the case. Our interior relationship with the Mother of God is a result of our association with the mystery of Christ.” Blessed John Paul II
Funny really, as I am a member of the Legion of Mary and have spent the past year doing our Mothers work, be it in Nursing Homes or with the elderly, the dying and sick. Also, in the past few days, I have started the daily consecration to the Immaculate Hart of Mary. I have seen my devotion to her blossom and my understanding of her grow. I can’t help but protect her when she is put down by others who don’t know her and yet I fear her. This truly humble woman who totally gave up her life and will to God. I have pondered deeply Mama Mary’s devotion to her true Spouse, the Holy Spirit along with her devotion and love to her Son, our Lord in so many ways learning more and more about the humility she had and how it made way for God to entire fully into her life. Simply by saying yes, she shared in the divine plan of my redemption and the redemption of all mankind. I don’t know what I am doing or how I am doing it, in my faith, but there is a constant reminder that Mama Mary is the model for me to follow.
Yesterday, I was given a day to spend with my children and husband at the fair. It was a long day of carnival rides, eating good junk food but also, spent in deep solitude, in prayer. Although we spent the day at the fair as a family, my husband barely said any words to me. At times I feel as if I am an empty shell to him, and serve him no purpose to even be a part of this family. Every suggestion to do something, fell on deaf ears with little response from him. While standing in line with the girls for rides or shows, he would walk away and not even tell me to come with to wait with him for the girls to get off rides. I pondered deeply Mama Mary and what would she do? I didn’t argue. I didn’t lose my temper. I just said yes. Yes to being ignored, and my husband and children being placed first. The day that was set aside for the family, became the day of understanding for me, that my faith and hope will rest in God, no matter what tries to upset me. With this faith comes great suffering in this life but my hope is not in this world but rather in the next. Amazing reality is and quite ironic that the theme for the fair this year is “Out Of This World“. I have never in my life felt more out of this world. More out of communion with the world and IN communion with God.
When we arrived home last night, it was rather late and I laid down to say my prayers. I began to fall asleep while reciting the Rosary and someplace between sleep and wake, I heard a distinct woman’s voice call my name. Not just once, but twice. I had never heard this voice before and truly thought it was Mama Mary waking me up to finish my prayers. I awoke and finished to the sound of water rushing. For some reason, at 11:15 PM, our sprinklers turned on and refused to shut off. I can only hope it is the flood gate of grace that has broken wide open, that Mama Mary is now sharing with me.
Tomorrow, June 15, is the feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus. This afternoon, I had dressed the Altar in preparation for Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for the feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus. I noticed the flowers we had we not exactly perky and had spent way to much time on the Altar. Taking into account, Friday is payday, I knew I couldn’t just run out to buy flowers, so I left the Altar as it was, knowing I would run out in the morning to pick up flowers that were presentable to be placed in front of the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I left for home.
While at home, I thought about how I was going to get to the store before the first Mass. I thought about how I couldn’t really afford to place flowers I had dreamed of presenting. I love our Lord’s Sacred Heart and I always want to do the best for Him. I received a call from my Pastor who told me he was just in the church and noticed the flowers were a little expired. I giggled a bit and told him I knew and explained to him that I couldn’t provide anything until the morning as my finances were very low and I had hoped to place red and white roses at the foot of the statue, which was placed closer to the Altar. He was very happy to hear we were on the same page and we ended our conversation on a very happy note. I sat for a few moments and thought where am I going to go to find the flowers at that hour? I prayed to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for help once again, to ensure the feast would be beautiful and for help with finding the flowers and getting them there on time. Every time, she comes through. Mama Mary help me, has become a regular short prayer in dealing with situations like this, that often come up more then I like to admit.
After the call with my Pastor and pondering the problems that might become bigger, I asked my husband if we had any money. We were down to our last $30.00. I asked him if it would be okay for me to spend it on flowers for the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and he said yes. I ran to the store, hoping to find just a few red and white roses, with maybe a sprig of green. It wasn’t going to be much, but at least it would be something! I prayed in the car for Mama Mary’s help in finding just the right ones to place at my Lords feet. I started looking through numerous bouquets of flowers and came across the red roses I was looking for. Looking and looking again, no white roses to be found. After a little sigh, I was grateful they had the red ones and this was not a florist or a specialty store, but they had them and it was something to present with the little amount of money I had.
After purchasing a little over a dozen roses, drove straight to the church. As I was walking in with the red roses in hand, I passed by the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. I peeked in to bow to our Lord and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. On the floor, in front of the tabernacle, were two dozen white roses. It had only been less then a half hour since speaking to my Pastor on the phone and no one heard my conversation with him. I know he didn’t get them. I walked in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and approached the tabernacle in awe. I had been there earlier in the day, not much more then two hours before this time and the flowers were not there. I didn’t know what to say to our Lord at first, but as soon as the thank you came to mind, the tears came to my eyes.
I took the white roses with me and prepared them with the red roses, exactly as I had hoped to do and placed them at the foot of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was 5:00 PM as I finished, and the church bells began to chime. I sat in awe and prayer and the love I had for the Most Sacred Heart of our Lord, grew even more.
She was told of Him
She bore Him
She gave birth to Him
She held Him
She nursed Him
She changed Him
She nurtured Him
She sang to Him
She raised Him
She played with Him
She fed Him
She ticked Him
She kissed Him
She hugged Him
She attended to Him
She cried with Him
She laughed with Him
She suffered with Him
She comforted Him
She loved Him
She died with Him
She rose with Him
She sits with Him
She is mom
My King is but resting
At rest, He works to free those from captivity
Held in the abyss of death
Unlocking the door to eternal life
Gathering the souls entrusted to His Father
Oh the joy of the reunion with Abba
At the sight of St. John the Baptist
The Glorious trumpet blast announcing the King into Heaven
As we wait for Him to awake,
A Mother covered in her Sons blood, sits in sorrow
Sorrow only her Son can console
Peg Pondering Again 