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Does God Want You to Have It All?

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Can women have careers without neglecting their children? Can women have children without neglecting their intellectual gifts? In short, can women have it all? My mother taught me that the answer was no. She quoted former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fondly and often: "A woman can have a great career and a great marriage. She can have a great marriage and great kids. She can even have a great career and great kids. But she can't have all three." That kind of thinking leads a woman to wonder, as soon as she sees the first plus on the pregnancy test, is this the first day of a life filled with irreconcilable choices? Read more...

When We Are Struggling: Quotes From the Saints

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Teresa of Avila understood that humour helps us cope with difficult situations. Supposedly after a donkey threw her into a cold stream, Teresa stood in her heavy,dripping wet, medieval habit and yelled at God, “If this is the way You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few” A word of wisdom  from St. Teresa for when we are crying over unanswered prayers, “There are more tears shed over answered  prayers  than over unanswered prayers.” St. Teresa “Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry”  -St. Pio of Pietrelcino “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” -St. Francis “Tribulation is a gift from God – one that he especially gives His special friends.”  -St. Thomas More read more>

Lessons from the loss of Gianna!

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Well, today is the day we remember our dear Gianna, who we lost one year ago. She was 16 weeks in utero when she past and I must say it was heartbreaking. However looking back at that time I can't believe how much Christ carried us all through it. He provided so many graces that it is difficult for me to truly express how close we felt to Christ at that time. I am sure many of you can attest to that with the loss of a loved one. I have been praying about what to write today and I have come up with a short list of what we learnt from that deep loss. Here they are; to read more click here  http://www.yearsofmilkandhoney.blogspot,com

Your Own Living Tabernacle

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"You know, my loving Jesus, I do want my soul to be spotlessly pure and undefiled, so that it will be for You a most beautiful Home, a Home from which no one will ever dislodge You - Your own living tabernacle, where You will ever dwell, and where I shall live consciously and lovingly with You, and always have a word with You before I speak, act, or make a decision.  I want You to be so happy, so much at home in my soul, that You will take complete possession of it and live Your life in me." from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, 1936, p.143 Painting:  The Bleu Veil, Tarbell From The Cloistered Heart

I carry a Cross in my pocket

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FATHER FRANCIS MAPLE

The Body Remembers

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pray for us sinners What I am about to explain might seem strange at first but we all know that it is true, we just do not usually talk about it.  The body remembers. The body remembers tension and stress which for me was the stress  of running a household of eleven people and my muscles stored that tension. Now that my youngest is in university, body has not quite caught up to my new reality. The result is that I am still tense, rushing to squeeze in some time to write when in fact, God has graciously handed me hours of the day where I am free. I am free to write, pray, even relax and enjoy the acres of land the surround our old house. The  subconscious  too needs time to unwind long after the conscious mind has grappled with the past, let go of memories and forgiven. Then there are the  pre-verbal, non-verbal parts of my soul  that cannot be cajoled into coming out of their cave. Any sign of control or manipulation sends them scurrying back into hiding ;  they take the long

Reflections on the cry of the poor. by Ben

An Indictment The blood of brothers soaks the earth And we look away as if it’s nothing, normal, acceptable. The sounds of anguished screams echoes in our ears And we turn the volume up in our minds to read more click here  http://www.yearsofmilkandhoney.blogspot.com

Soar Like an Eagle

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“Perfect as the wing of a bird may be, it will never enable the bird to  fly if unsupported by the air" -Ivan Pavlov S imilarly, we can try to perfect ourselves by our own efforts but we will never be able to fly in the Spirit, no matter how holy we seem, without the wind of the  Holy Spirit lifting and filling us with the Presence of God Isaiah 40:31  (NASB) Yet those who [ a ]wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up  with  wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. Teresa of Avila once explained the difference between what we do and what the Spirit of God does. We can build a stone aqueduct but then we must wait for rain to fill the reservoir and fill the channel with living water. Sometimes God will insert a geyser or an instantaneous fountain but usually we have to build an aqueduct and wait for His timing.

Catholic Church + Catholic School = A Strong Catholic Community

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An interesting thing happened to me today after Mass. A lady approached me after Mass and asked if I was still running a mother's bible study. I responded that us "sisters in Christ" didn't meet any longer. I wanted to continue by saying that we still rely on each other for spiritual support, always speaking about our faith journey whenever we see each other, even in the grocery store, we stop and quickly share a spiritual or life issue and always ending the conversation with "I'll include that in my prayers." Because of our busy schedules and growing children, some mothers went back to work and others had more babies and got busier at home. Causing us to longer meet as a group once a week. To read more click here  http://yearsofmilkandhoney.blogspot.com/2014/01/church-school-strong-catholic-community.html

Bible verses for your kids (and you!) to memorize

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    Reading back over some old posts recently, I realized I had promised to share with you some of the Bible verses we use for memory and copy work in our homeschool. Well, better late than never! These verses are helpful for adults to know by heart as well as children. They teach about virtue, the importance of prayer, God’s character, and other aspects of the spiritual life. Over the past several years, our family has  experienced the Bible as unit studies. Reading chronologically through the  Golden Children’s Bible , I look for themes that can help us bring other subjects into our study of Scripture. (See more details on my homeschooling method here.) I choose a verse for memorization and handwriting practice. Sometimes the verse comes right from the story. Other times I search through a concordance or consult my memory for a verse that encapsulates one of the themes we are considering. Read more at Contemplative Homeschool..

'Here is the Lamb of God . . .' Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

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Madonna and Child with the Lamb of God , Cesare de Sesto, c.1615  [ Web Gallery of Art ] In the Philippines the liturgy is that of the Feast of the Santo    Niño (Holy Child). You'll find  Sunday Reflections  for that  here . Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                                   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  John 1:29-34  ( New Revised StandardVersion, Catholic Edition , Canada)  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!   This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’     I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”     And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on

When It Comes to Novenas, I'm Ashamed to Say...

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I usually don't finish them.  I forget! For those who don't know, a novena is nine consecutive days of prayer of petition or thanksgiving. The nine days of prayer date back to the time after the Ascension of Jesus and the Decent of the Holy Spirit on Mother Mary and the Apostles.  The Apostles and Mother Mary prayed for nine days until the Holy Spirit came upon them.  The word novena comes from the latin word "novem" which means nine. Nine days in a row.  That is hard for me to do!  I forget.  I miss days, then I must begin again and again and again.  Well, you get the picture. Read More at "His Unending Love."

You're the best friend ...

Listen to the lyrics of this song as a personal prayer. <   Visit me HERE

A reflection on staying at home!

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I am a stay-at-home mom. I do have jobs, I babysit 3 days a week from my home, I run a Suzuki music program once a week and I am a NFP advocate to read more click here.  http://www.yearsofmilkandhoney.blogspot.com

Praying to Saint Anthony when something is lost

Praying to Saint Anthony when something is lost is a Catholic tradition: Tony, Tony, look around. Something's lost and must be found! That prayer and the more "polite" version ( Dear  St. Anthony  please come around something is lost and it cannot be found .) was repeated over and over at our Girls Night Out. After a long time apart, my friends and I were finally able to gather together to celebrate not only our friendship, but life in general.  To commemorate the occasion, I purchased each member of our group a leather bracelet with the Girls Night Out charm from  Ohm Beads . To read more about our night out with St. Anthony, please click here .

Pray for your priest today!

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I wanted to address this bit of news that I had heard recently regarding Pope Francis and the formation of priest in the seminary. I have been hunting for the actual quote from the Vatican with no success. Click here to read more.  http://www.yearsofmilkandhoney.blogspot.com

It is True. It is Really True.

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Twenty-five years ago, at a Trappist Monastery near Montreal, my husband stumbled upon a book that changed our lives and filled us with hope and joy.   Guidelines to Mystical Praye r, by a British Carmelite nun, Ruth Burrows, relates the experiences of two nuns who live in her monastery. They  know  that their old nature has died with Christ and that now Jesus lives within their hearts, minds,and souls. These two women are the polar opposite of each other. Ruth renames one nun Petra (earth) because she does not receive any mystical visions or feelings. She is an example of most Christians whose spirituality is called “light off”. Never the less, Petra knows that her old self has died. Claire (light) is really a “light on mystic” who experiences inner locution, visions and feels God’s presence. What a relief to discover a contemplative nun who is like my husband and I, who are very much “light on”. I can hardly express the exuberant joy we experienced as we connected

The Indispensable Gifts of Women

The Indispensable Gifts of Women

Facing my greatest challenge: taking care of my mother

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Facing my greatest challenge, as a person of faith, was when I took care of my mother after my father died. My mother and I had a tumulus relationship my whole life and I left home at the age of nineteen. I only spoke to her on the phone to ask for my dad and I never went to see her. When my husband and I decided to get married, he encouraged me to reconnect with her. I did, but the woman was hell bent on trying to make me, my husband, and later, our children, as miserable as she was. Is there a happy ending to this story?  To find out you can read the rest here .

A Father Ignatius Story - "60" by Victor S E Moubarak

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A story where Father Ignatius tackles a problem we may all face from time to time ... Father Ignatius was very observant. He knew most of his parishioners by name and he noticed their moods, habits and behaviors and he reacted to them according to circumstances. One early evening he came out of the Sacristy and he noticed that Mrs Holingsworth was arranging the flowers on the Altar and by the numerous statues of Saints around the church silently. She usually hummed her favorite hymns under her breath whilst working; but not today. “Everything OK Denise?” he asked with a smile. “I suppose so Father,” she replied glumly, “I was just thinking that’s all …” To continue reading please click HERE