Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!

I am over here to wind down and marvel at the beauty of it all!

Reading Caryll Houselander...

...and loving it. Here is a "freebie" from the Catholic Culture website. And, over here is one of the books that I am reading whose editor did a fine job.

I am amazed at how she, by her passionate adherence to the sacramental life of the Church and committment to daily prayer, maintained a sound mind and joyful, productive spirit during some very dark times. Our times of the "culture wars" are dark in a more interior way, and we have much to learn from her life. While we do not have to run with all of our might in to our air raid shelter, we must be so very vigilant about the "bombs" dropped on us by the three enemies of our soul.

A prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

We have had a few bumps in the road starting back to school, but God has blessed us with options. The girls are both, as of today, in school; and, Jay is still at home working here three days a week and at SJBA two days a week.

This prayer is so good:

"O Jesus, supreme Goodness, I ask You to give me a heart so enamored of You that nothing on earth can distract it...a free heart, never seduced or enslaved, an upright heart which never goes astray." (St. Thomas Aquinas from pg. 827 of the Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D.)

"I have seen the Lord!"

The words of Mary Magdalene in today's Gospel reading, Jn 20:1-2, 11-18. I am copying the reading below, because, I chose this passage at my retreat in June as my ideal image of the Lord for this year. Jesus who is as close to us as our breath, who is there, even when we do not recognize Him. Our best teacher. The only One to Whom we should listen. When we do experience His true Presence, He knows we want to cling to Him, yet, as real Love does, He sends us forth to "preach" repentence and new life.

On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
"They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don't know where they put him."

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.
And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb

and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet
where the Body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
She said to them, "They have taken my Lord,
and I don't know where they laid him."
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,
but did not know it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?"
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
"Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him."
Jesus said to her, "Mary!"
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
"Rabbouni," which means Teacher.
Jesus said to her,
"Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
'I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
"I have seen the Lord,"
and then reported what he told her.

Some English Catholics who rocked their world...

For now, I am just going to put some links and then hope to develop the topic some more:

written by Maisie Ward (excellent bibliography)

good blog post on the Catholic Evidence Guild

same blogger on Caryll Houselander

I got the image here

St. John the Baptist

Gospel according to St. Luke Chapter 1: 57-66, 80

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child

she gave birth to a son.

Her neighbors and relatives heard

that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,

and they rejoiced with her.

When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,

they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,

but his mother said in reply,

“No. He will be called John.”

But they answered her,

“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”

So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.

He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”

and all were amazed.

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,

and he spoke blessing God.

Then fear came upon all their neighbors,

and all these matters were discussed

throughout the hill country of Judea.

All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,

“What, then, will this child be?”

For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

The child grew and became strong in spirit,

and he was in the desert until the day

of his manifestation to Israel.

Summer heat, summer stress, summer renew...

I am so glad to re-find this blogger mom who has given me much inspiration for years now. I am so tired and stressed lately. I really need to get to daily Mass at least once a week! Please pray for me!

It is so pitiful --that it makes me smile-- thinking that I am just too tired to post a list of personal reading that I'd like to do this summer 2010.

Summer is for reading, is it not? It is for relaxing and refreshing the mind, body and soul. So far, little of those things. The tide needs to turn. I have learned in the past, time and time again, that if I want a change in our family habits and routines, well......... guess whose heart needs to change?

Encouraging Link

I found the life lessons at the bottom so good.

A good booklist...

This website has some wonderful resources.

Food that heal -- a good list

This post has some titles I should get from the library first.

our Holy Father and "living in the digital world with a believer's heart..."

I was over at Elizabeth Foss's blog and clicked on this link. Our Holy Father continually pours forth words of wisdom and encouragement as we face the battles unique to our times.

Turning yellow and pruning out cowardice...

Note: Today is Friday, May14th, and I am re-reading this and seeing how opaque my language is...in plain language: what I mean is that it takes courage to frequent the Sacrament of Penance. I have been very regular with Confession for the past 4 years, and I still find it hard to go and allow our Savior to prune me. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the Sacraments so that we would flower abundantly during our earthly pilgrimmage and merit, only through His graces, Heaven.

My son and I spent hours digging and planting yesterday. The fresh air and sunshine did us both good. This year, I have not been getting enough physical exercise and recreation. A balance of prayer, rest and work is so necessary to keep one's prayer life from withering. Like the yellow leaves on sickly plants, there are yellow leaves on the flower of my soul that need a good pruning. This is an ongoing process. The first "cut," by the grace of God, has come from this blessed time of physical recreation in the garden. The next cut must come from the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

For a long time now, I remind myself that celebrating Confession just before Mass is like giving the devil the "one-two punch". I have high hopes of this coming Sunday's Eucharist. I cannot give what I do not have. It is so easy for me to succumb to sloth, both physically and spiritually.

We Christians are called to be salt and light. All fertilizers that help our plants grow are basically salts. Over and over, since I entered the Catholic Church at the vigil Mass of the first Sunday of Easter 2000, I have experienced a withering of my prayer life when I wait too long to go to Confession. Confession is God's will and His merciful Heart. We cannot give the mercy that we do not receive.

All praise and glory be to God, I see, in myself and others, the desire to be salt and light. This desire will not bear fruit without the courageous Love that comes from careful celebration of God's Sacraments.

Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus...