What does "TKC!" mean? My first draft

Be prepared to put your life on the line in order to enlighten the world with the truth of Christ; to respond with love to hatred and disregard for life; to proclaim the hope of the risen Christ in every corner of the earth.

—POPE BENEDICT XVI, Message to the Young People of the World, World Youth Day, 2008

(quote taken from Mark Mallet's blog)

When I was very sick, after our son was born, I discovered Mark Mallet's music and drew strength from it and his writing. Recently, I re-discovered his writing, thanks be to God. It is at a time in my own journey of faith when I am struggling to improve and live closer to God and His Will. As an aside, something Mark said (somewhere?) in his writing made me reflect on the process of writing: writing is a gift from God and, over and over in my life, I have found that I learn as I write. This is okay. A writer does not have to have it all figured out to perfection before sitting down to write.

Well, as my husband often tells our oldest child, "we must often generalize first before delving into the specifics." Some young people, especially those of the dominant intraverted temperament, have trouble with generalizations. In our daughter's case, and sometimes even in the case of my husband (he would not mind my sharing this), the intravert's sense of justice often thrashes at the obscurity of a generalization or a "not-flushed-out" premise or rhetorical question.

Back to the topic at hand (smile), I am just a housewife and a mom. I love being a housewife and a mom. Over the period of about 4 years, I kept hearing in my prayers a call to join Regnum Christi. I was following a rule of life and trying hard to make all my thoughts, words and actions be little gifts to God. This was not because I was anything great, but I had, all thanks be to God and His graces, come to a certain place spiritually.

I would describe that as a place where we know we are home. We know Who God is, and we want, more than anything on earth, to be a member of His family, both now and throughout all of eternity. This is a good place to be. It is the best place to be, and that is why the three enemies of the soul war with such force to move us from this place.

Christ's Kingdom is not of this earth, yet, at the same time, the light and salt of souls living on earth fully in a state of grace is akin to the Blessed Virgin's standing on the head of the serpent. The devils and his armies are blinded and bound by the light and love of such souls. To aspire to be a child of God is the goal of the earthly life, and it is what will get us to Heaven. To proclaim "TKC!" is to desire Heaven. Okay, think on that.

Please also realize that we often fall short, and sometimes, in this noble pursuit, we fall and fall hard. For those of us who often teeter out, or almost out, of the blessed state of grace, then confidence in our Guardian Angels, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and the power of the Holy Eucharist will bring us back to full sanity. Sanity of the soul is all that really matters.

I have to go pick up our firstborn from school -- so, "to be continued" and, the good Lord be pleased to give me the time to do it, "to be polished up" too.

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.