Our Lady of Mount Carmel

I was pondering intimacy and how one acquires intimacy in prayer. How do I go from the intimate union of Jesus in the Eucharist to deeply living out an intimate relationship?
Put another way, how do we Catholics go from our rote prayers for example to intimacy, to a passionate love of God?

It seems to me there is a difference between Catholics who show up for mass and Catholics who live their faith. I'm not talking about evangelical Catholics, Charismatic Catholics or those who are more Catholic than the pope but the ones who accept others for who they are (sin and all - mind you that accepting someone for being a child of God deserving of love is completely different than approving of someone's sin. We can accept the person but disapprove of the sin.), who live a life imbued with joy, peace and tranquility. It seems to me these people have a strong interior life. This interior life flows into their very being and the fruit of this interior life is seen in the fruits of grace: joy, peace, tranquility, love. Some of these Catholics might very well be charismatic, evangelical or whatever label you want to give them but the hallmark of a strong interior life will be manifest in the fruits of grace.

So I don't have to beat someone over the head with my rosary beads. My devotion to the rosary is meant to foster a deeper union to Christ through she who held God inside her very self, who nurtured him, who taught him and who waits upon us to draw nearer to her so she can bring us closer to Him. Mary's greatest desire is that we enter fully into the mystery of God. So perhaps on this feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, you too might consider renewing your commitment to a deeper devotion to the Blessed Mother.

I lost my wallet!

Seriously, I lose things on a continual basis. This is why I have house elves to fetch me my things that I leave just about anywhere. This morning I lost my wallet. Yep, for two days I lost my wallet but only realized it 2 days later. So I texted my friends because I was about to flip out and they prayed for me.

So if you too are in need of a prayer to St. Anthony:
Tony, Tony look around, something's lost that can't be found.

I was informed that I should have a permanent personal novena to St. Anthony.

You know your Catholic when..

you walk in your sleeping child's room to say goodnight and quietly start to pray "Hail Mary full of grace" and he finishes the rest of the prayer in his sleep.
That was my monkeyboy last night so I guess we must be doing something right.

The Civil Rights Movement is not Dead

Dr. King made the following remark:

“We must all keep fighting for the civil right of babies in the womb. If a person is not allowed to live, no other civil right can be realized.” - Dr. Alveda King

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/the-same-stones-as-dachau#ixzz1jiqLb6rR

This is the infamous Rockford, IL abortion mill which is now closed. Praise God for the power of peaceful prayer and for all the courageous men and women who daily stand up for those without a voice.

See what I mean? 14 year old is suing her family so that she will not be forced to have an abortion
She has a hearing on the 19th that may or may not grant her an injunction. This after being harassed and beaten by her family to force her into an abortion. Huffington has even weighed in on it.

"I CAN"T FIND MY..."

Usually I hollar (now that's a word I haven't used in a while!) that statement out at least 5 times a week, usually more, sometimes less but it's a recurring statement from me and you can just fill in the blank...

-shoes

-socks

-keys

-purse

-coffee cup

-neck pillow (how do I lose a neck pillow?????)

-brush

-laptop (don't ask!)

-wallet

-phone

-ear muffs

-gloves

-scarf

If I own it, I'm pretty sure I've lost it!

However, this week I lost my January Magnificat. It's my little prayer book that has the daily readings for the month and the ever important 3d edition Roman missal changes (the celebrant and people's parts) so I can remember the words to the prayers and follow along. Having just the people's responses for mass in front of me has not been very helpful to me. I enter into mass so disjointed and it's a distraction for me, and I feel like hollaring "I CAN"T FIND MY PRAYERFULNESS " (and yes I am using that in scrabble - fair warning) 

Although I pray along with the priest, I've found I can really enter into the prayer if I indeed follow and throw myself into the prayer (and sometimes I don't necessarily follow along but having them in front of me as a cue to when I'm suppose to chime in = OH SO helpful!!). It helps my prayerful attitude and it allows me to join in the prayer in a deeper way.

Oh and thank you Saint Anthony for retreiving my Magnificat (which my car seat swallowed). It must have been snatched out of my pocket by the un-prayerfullness demons. Thank you for the holy-whappage you gave them and in all honesty I will be super full of prayerfullness the next time I celebrate the holy sacrifice of the mass!

Here's your sign

The priest today pointed something out about Ahaz's refusal to ask for a sign from God (Is 7:10). He didn't ask for a sign because he didn't want to have to look for a sign, much like the people at the butt of Bill Engvall's jokes. Granted asking for a sign from God can be a bit daunting because well, you need to be careful what you ask for because you just might get it. One has to be on alert because God will always answer, just not in the way you think He might.

A friend of mine was discerning the priesthood and he wasn't sure he had a vocation. So he had asked for a sign. He got his sign in the form of a burning barn and barnswallows. You see living out in the country, one day he found himself alone in his parent's farm still unsure of the priesthood. He awoke from a nap badgered by barnswallows. They were chirping and hovering over him. So he got up chased them out of the house which was when he discovered the barn was on fire. Off he rushed. On his arrival he noticed some chicks chirping in the burning barn, the chicks of the barnswallow that had awoken him. As he rescued them, he realized that had he not been there the chicks would have perished in the fire. He connected this incident to his prayers. Internally he just knew he was called to the priesthood because it could be no one else but him to do the mission God had in store for him. God needed him to save souls from the burning fire and gratefully he allowed it.
It's like that for us too. We just need to hope, pray and be alert for the sign because it will come, just not how we imagine it.

In which chunky pup teaches me how to pray

2559 "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God."² But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart?³ He who humbles himself will be exalted;⁴ humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought,"⁵ are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."⁶ 

(Catechism of the Catholic Church)

First off. Amen. 

Did you know that 1/4 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is devoted solely to prayer?

Man is a beggar before God. A beggar.

Chunky pup, our late golden retreiver was rescued. We took her in when she was probably less than a year old and surmised she was abused. She had quite a few fears such as the fear of being beaten. Anytime we'd raise our voice she'd expose her belly to us and wet the floor. It took us months before she was reconditioned to know that when we were upset with her, we weren't going to beat her. So she did eventually stop wetting the floor and exposing her belly to us when we were stern with her, but she never stopped cowering in acknowledgement that maybe eating the furniture was a really bad idea on her part.


That cowering and acknowledgement of our own scumminess and sinfulness before the almighty God is the power of humility that maybe doesn't move or sway God, but moves and changes us. When we do that, truly acknowledge our own shortcomings and failings honestly before God, something really remarkable happens. It has the power to change our very life because it will affect how we deal with those problem people and situations we face on a daily basis. This happens because we allow ourselves to be seen for who we really are in the light of a good, perfect and eternal loving God.

The new opinions of the new translation of the Roman Missal have gotten old

I got SO sick of reading everybody's stinking opinion of the implementation of the new translation of the Roman missal that I couldn't bear any more. Maybe my tipping point came when The New York Times weighed in noting that even the Monsignor lost his place during mass. Gasp! Horror! Shock! Oh the shame of it all!
Please spare me. I really can't take any more. Father Z has it perfectly:

(Even missal guides for the laity have the mass parts of bowing, kneeling, silence, etc written in red.) It's really that simple folks. 'Nuff said!
Perhaps instead I can address a few of the obstacles people face in returning to mass in general:

• I don't need to go to mass to get close to God.
• And I don't need to show any affection to my husband in order for him to know I love him, but is that really how I want to live out our marriage? Our behaviors matter! If I don't behave according to my beliefs, very soon I will belive in the way I behave. Go to mass. It'll reinforce your beliefs.
• I had a bad experience with the church.
• I had a bad experience with my son. At the moment he and I are not happy with each other but we both know we can't fix it by ignoring it or each other. Persevere!
• I don't like the Church's view on...
• I don't like sharing. I never have and probably never will, but it's so much easier when I just get out of my comfort zone, look at it from the other persons' perspective and just do it. Jesus loves everyone no matter what baggage you bring. He just asks we obey his commands and the teachings of the church. Note: He doesn't force us. We are always free to obey or disobey and He doesn't ask us to like any of it.
• I don't get anything out of mass.
• Sometimes I don't get anything out of sexual intimacy with my husband, nothing tangible anyway. I mean if we're not going to have a child, 'Why bother?' (note the dripping sarcasm) Any moment spent in intimacy with my husband is NEVER wasted. It's the same with prayer, and mass is the highest form of prayer.

Let's play! God's shoes

Dear Heavenly Father,

I know what the problem is. It's me.

I know what the solution is. It's you. Amen.

God's shoes. I can't hear Him coming. I only recognize Him after He's past but for weeks now I have been drawn to the parable of the Prodigal son, for weeks, and if I really examine it much further I expect it's been longer than that. You recall this parable, the son demands his inheritance and leaves his father only to lose it all. He decides to return to beg his father to let him be a servant so he can have his basic needs met. He had the whole scenario played out in his head how it would go.

The son knew he lost his dignity as son but knew he was still his Father's son. This is why he returned, begging to be a servant. He hoped for mercy to fulfill his needs. He still didn't have a clue who his Father was. He only knew he was his son, commendable for sure. However the Father surprises him with forgiveness. Within this forgiveness, did the son truly accept the Father's generosity and gift? Could he? When he turned from the foreign land and left it, that was the easy part, but the long journey home (to heaven) is a long and arduous path. The parable ends at least for the prodigal when he's forgiven by the Father (I can liken this to the sacrament of reconciliation), but at the same time, the journey is only beginning because to accept, to truly accept the gift of son-ship is difficult. I ask myself how do I respond to thoughts of 'my daughter', 'my beloved'? I preach this stuff to others, but the only reason I think God has me preach it, is because I so desperately need to hear it myself. 

Honestly, it fills me with fear. It's a fear that gently beckons, 'be with me'.... and yet it's still fear. 

The glory of God in a holy man

We went to a prayer service where a man of prayer had been electrocuted when he was younger. Now the most remarkable thing about this man is that he's so unremarkable. You look at him and he's unassuming. He suffers from rheumatoid arthritis yet kneels before our Lord when crossing one side of the Church to the other. You'd think he's fine and not in pain to look at him since he exudes joy but he suffers. RA is horrible disease, but the man has a special gift, a special way God uses him in ministry. He has this ability to pray over people and he'll tell you what saints you need to pray to for whatever you need. Don't believe me if you wish but here's what happened to us:

He gets to Peachy and makes the sign of the cross on her forehead, prays then says:

"You are creative and are good at writing. Pray to St. Francis de Sales. For the math that you don't like to do(Eyebrows raised), pray to St. Albert the Great" 

Peach's jaw about dropped to the floor as she asked how did he know I hate math!

Monkeyboy got there late so he joined in an hour later. Again the same sign of the cross and silent prayer and this holy man of God tells monkeyboy:

"Oh boy, you need to pray to St. Francis de Sales. He'll help you out with your writing and english since you really don't like to do those. You are good in math and the sciences (and something about medical school - mama's heart drops as she says "Nooooooo, not medical school, been there - not MY son!") so you need to pray to St. Albert the Great. He'll assist you.

Medical school aside, the fact that an hour apart they get the exact same saints to pray to for opposite reasons is astounding. It makes life easier at home since we can pray them together. Secondly, he SO pegged them! Before you say he assigns every kid the same saints let me assure you a line of kids was ahead of me and Peachy and they got different saints. He had no idea Peachy and Monkeyboy were related. I wasn't standing anywhere near monkeyboy. A fact I lament because I didn't hear the whole discussion about medical school.

Things to take on retreat

Make sure you're packing heat!
You never know when or where the enemy will strike so make sure to take your rosary beads wherever you go.

Take a notebook
Use it, copiously.

Ignore the enemy who tries to convince you that you don't need to go
It's too much time away from work and family. It's too far. Bills are piling up, have you seen them lately? You're prayer life is fine. You're in a good spot, don't push it. You can pray from here just as easy. He'll make you restless, give you headaches, make you feel sick and super way tired and he'll start a waterboarding session with apathy. Oh how he likes to torture with apathy.

Take some spiritual reading
Probably won't have time for that but take it anyway!

Prayers
You're life should be filled with a tapestry of prayers and prayer lists. Put them in your heart and you'll never have to write them down.

Our Father who art INTERCEPTION!!!

We (and by "we" I mean the monkeyboy and I) were watching the EPSN highlight reel when, praying our communal night prayers with the Peach and Papa (before sending the kids off to bed), I yelled out INTERCEPTION at the WRONG wrong wrong time. Peachy points her chin down and raises her eyes at me, 'Interception? Really mama! Our Father who art interception? You think God likes that???'

Good point Peach, I'm sure God didn't like that interception as much as I didn't. The Cowgirls just couldn't hold on to the football. Did they coat the ball in jelly? The Pat's couldn't keep a grip on it either but sheesh!

For the record, the TV now gets turned off when saying prayers. Somehow I've managed to earn a very bad reputation. ???

My daily Med: Sirach

My child from your youth choose discipline, and when you have grey hair you will find wisdom. As though plowing and sowing draw close to her; then wait for her bountiful crops. For in cultivating her you will work but little, and soon you will eat her fruit. She is rough ground to the fool! The stupid cannot abide her. She will be like a burdensome stone to them, and they will not delay in casting her aside. For discipline is like her name, she is not accessible to many….With all your soul draw close to her; and with all your strength keep her ways. Inquire and search, seek and find: when you get hold of her, do not let her go. Sir 6:18-22,26-27

Well that explains a lot! When God writes a love letter, he's brutally honest. I like that. It's not like I didn't know I am a stupid fool burdened by stones but thanks just the same. The whole plowing and sowing... it's hard work. I don't like gardening. We have a house. Why? Husband wanted one. I wanted a small box to live out of but we needed a yard because we had the dog and apparently the kids needed space. How many of our decisions in life are shaped by what others need? Yes, even the dog rated higher than what I wanted and now the useless lump is dead (miss you Brina. I really do. That dog was the best part about any of our dwelling places.). That shows you where I rate, below the dead dog. So now we have a yard and weeds. Do I want to get out there and work in the yard... uh hell no! I did enough of that growing up and I'm done. My brother, that was his life and livelihood. He loved that sort of thing, but I just don't. Know your limitations. I know mine.

Our Lord knows them too; so in his brutality he closes off his love letter with something reminiscent of Tobit Chapter 13 (perhaps), "Draw close to him and he will draw close to you and no longer hide his face from you" and verse 27 reminds me of Matthew 7:7 ask and it will be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you and also of the Song of Solomon (You know, the racy book in the Bible) when I found him who my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go 3:4). It was this last one that really got my attention. I hate disciplining myself as much as I hate gardening. I don't like fasting (disciplining my senses), modesty (disciplining my language), sacrifice (disciplining myself) but how can I draw close, how can I ask, how can I seek, how can I knock, how can I find him if I don't get off my duff and weed the garden of my soul? I'll do it. I'm not going to like it, but I'll do it. All I have to say is you better help me 'cause my garden is reminiscent of the Weasley borough. It's a mess!

Our Father who art plumpy

Monkeyboy has this bad habit of talking back when told to do something. The boy has this deep desire to get the last word in so Papa has instructed him when he needs to respond back to say an Our Father instead.
Saturday night was like something out of Austin Powers where we kept interrupting his last words with "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....zip it" and finally off he would walk screaming an Our Father. I didn't care that he was screaming. God's eternal, maybe he's gone deaf and appreciates it.
This morning monkeyboy was clearing the table and refraining from talking back by saying... "our father who are plumpy" and I about lost it!

Fasting: Day 2

I want chinese, badly. I'm really a bit of a wimp considering this is day 2 of a 3 day fast. It was suppose to be a week, but my buddy's birthday is Friday and I promised him we wouldn't fast on or near his birthday when we first discussed fasting a few weeks ago... then I went and asked if we could fast on his birthday week.

Fasting is always a surprise to me when paired with prayer. It certainly does de-clutter so I can see things better. I was noticing this pattern in my daily life that I don't think I'd have seen otherwise. Instead of waiting patiently, I tend to act rather bruskly. Sometimes quick action is necessary, as in an emergency. However that is the exception, not the norm. I always thought waiting/not acting was a sign of laziness and perhaps it can be, but there is a difference between laziness and patient endurance for the right moment. So that's my chinese take away for today.

From Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher

"If I were a physician, and if I were allowed to prescribe just one remedy for all the ills of the modern world, I would prescribe silence. For even if the Word of God were proclaimed in the modern world, how could one hear it with so much noise? Therefore,create silence."

The Litany of Mothers

My friends and I came up with this Litany from having to deal with our mothers, mother-in-laws and women in general. We all have challenging days with those wonderful ladies in our life, so just like good Christians, we decided to pray, sort of... It goes really well to John D. Becker's Litany of Saints, but it certainly doesn't carry an imprimatur so I wouldn't go making prayer cards for this one.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Queen Pouts a Lot, we pray for you.
Mother most cranky, we pray for you.
Woman incessantly needy, we pray for you.
Lady most irritable, we pray for you.
Mother-in-laws, we pray for you.
Draining our energy, we pray for you.
Perpetually unstable, we pray for you.
Mother most irrational, we pray for you.
All you cranky, grumpy women, we pray for you.


Yes, well I know my children if not already doing so, will be praying this litany for me too, and for the record, I do love being a Catholic nerd!

Morning cuddles

Its funny how I haven't noticed this until, well I was in mass. Yes, I think of all sorts of odd stuff during mass. Today I was thinking, I'm a cuddler, shock I know. Mind you I don't like being pawed at like Peachy pawed me all weekend. She was stroking my hair like I was one of her dolls, good grief! Would you stop it! But I do so enjoy morning cuddles with husband, with the kids. It's the best. I was thinking how I missed that, when I suddenly thought, "oh I guess I've still been doing that".

See I get up early and lounge in bed, twiddle my rosary beads, saying my prayers, nodding in and out of conscientiousness, taking my temperature and continuing my morning talk with God. Eventually I get my lazy butt out of bed but not after my morning cuddles...

My Daily Med: "Have I been with you for so long a time

and you still do not know me?"
This passage reminds me of...gonna say it...wait for it...yep... Catholics.
Cradle catholics, those "been catholic my whole life", " I was raised Catholic", cafeteria Catholics, lillie and poinsetta catholics ( ACE catholics - advent, christmas, easter) whatever your personal favorite is, that's what the reading today speaks to me about and I'm not immune. I completly accuse myself of being guilty too.
The thing is each and every time we enter into the holy sacrifice of the mass, we have the opportunity to meet Jesus. It's not some abstract idea of a real presence. It's him in the flesh, body, blood soul and divinity and do we take the opportunity to meet him, to know him, to love him, to serve him each and every moment of our lives? The hard and fast truth is that every person that meets Christ is transformed. You never leave him the same way you came. Never! Read any of the Gospels. The magi, the first to meet our Lord, went home a different way. That's important! That should happen to us too.
So often it doesn't. Why is that? Is it because we never met him? Are we just like Philip who listened to Jesus' preaching, ate and drank at his table(Eucharist) and camped out with him (adoration) but never really met him/got to know him?

If we never knew him, who's fault is that? It takes 2 to enter into a relationship and it takes 2 to maintain that relationship. He's doing his part. Are you doing yours?

I'm on a mission

from God.

No not the Blues Brothers... although... hilarious.

I once had it explained to me that prayer life is SO important. Being faithful to your prayer life, mass, and holding the teachings of the church and living them out are so vital to your life and prayer is where we get our marching orders, so to speak.
Do you check in daily for your marching orders? Do you not get them if you do check in? Here's the thing, not everyone is a general in need of battlefield instructions and worthy of war room intelligence but do your time and you'll find that you'll get put in the battle where you are most needed with all the equipment you need to carry out your mission. General, corporal, mess cook, soldiers all need to check in and get their orders. No one is immune and each and every one is needed for the battle. So grab your gear, check in for prayer. It's time to roll!