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I  don’t want to argue about the reality of the communion of saints, both the living and the dead. I just want to encourage believers and seekers with the thought that there are tens, hundreds, why maybe thousands of saints, most of whom we will never meet, who pray for us, who are in communion with us. The Holy Spirit is  my companion, but in His Body, He has gifted me with many other faithful companions, and Agnes is one of my special friends. Most people have never heard of Agnes Sanford (1897-1982), but she has been and, in fact still is, a dear friend of mine. She was an interesting woman who was born to missionaries in China, married an American Anglican ( Episcopalian), and became mother to three children. Agnes suffered postpartum depression. The doctor finally diagnosed her as suicidal after one of her children came close to dying. A tiny flame of hope was lit within her heart after prayer healed her son physically, and she slowly began the process of her own emotion

John's Story:  I died.  I went through the darkness to the light and was before the throne of judgement.  Looking around I saw his Guardian Angel, instantly recognizing him, although this was the first time I had ever laid eyes upon him.   I turned to my left and saw a hideously deformed creature that had nothing by hate and evil in his eyes, especially directed at me.   For the first time I had breathed my last breath, I was afraid.  There was someone else there also, a woman, I didn't immediately recognize.  I knew where I was, I was at my judgement, and that scared me even worse.  I hadn't lived the best life, I wasn't really nice to people, kind of selfish really, even in my own family.  Even when I was near death I didn't want to give anything to anyone, not even very many kind words.  Being given a time to die was a great gift, because, although I wasn't a perfect saint, I did have a chance to repair some damage I had done in my family and with God,

Queen of Sheba before Solomon Nicolaus Knüpfer, 1640s [ Web Gallery of Art ] The First Reading from today's Mass, 1 Kings 10:1-10 ( NRSVCE ) When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon  she came to test him with hard questions.  She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.  Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.  When the queen of Sheba had observed all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,  the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his valets, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the  Lord , there was no more spirit in her. So she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your accomplishments and of your wisdom,   but I

So excited to announce my second guest post by Colleen Martin. Colleen runs a busy life as a working mother of 5 with a 6th on the way who also finds time in her busy life to keep up a fantastic blog. I especially love  her blog "Martin Family Moments" because Colleen and I have a lot in common. I appreciate her love for the Catholic Faith, her love for exercise and her witty opinion on everything and anything in life. Please take a minute to check out her blog  www.martinfamilymoments.blogspot.ca  . Thank you so much Colleen for being my cyber guest and sharing your honest experience with NFP. I am truly grateful. Our Journey with NFP                                                         by Colleen Martin  http://www.martinfamilymoments.blogspot.ca I encourage all of you to open your minds to Natural Family Planning. It's good for your  body and soul ! Phil and I were so lucky to be raised in big Catholic families that used Natural Family Planning, attend

Valentine's Day is approaching and the flower of the day is usually roses.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen has a different perspective. You can read the rest of the article here .

In honor of National Marriage Week (Feb. 7 - Feb. 14, 2014), here's a fabulous defense of traditional marriage from fellow blogger and lawyer Carlos X.  Part 1 explores the common mythological roots of the male-female union as expression of the divine in Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism. Part 2 details the scientific acceptance of male-female union as the essential archetype of humanity. Please welcome Carlos, who will celebrate fifteen years of marriage this year. He's the author of the  Super Martyrio  blog, which tracks the canonization cause of the Servant of God Óscar A. Romero, whom Carlos met when he was growing up in El Salvador.  Carlos also serves on the Board of Directors of the St. Thomas More Society of Orange County, California, a Catholic lawyers’ guild. Read on to enjoy Carlos' post, and for more National Marriage Week resources, be sure to check out  Catholic Match Institute ! *********************************** Traditional marriage is unlike any o

A friend ,  Ann Marie,  posted this on Facebook . Someone in the Postal Service needs to be rewarded.  A letter from the Post Office. This is absolutely the best!! We don't know who replied, But there is a Beautiful soul working in the dead letter department who understands LOVE. Our 14-year-old dog Abbey died last month. The day after she passed away my 4-year-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey.  She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her.  I told her that I thought that we could, so she dictated these words: Dear God ,  Will you please take care of my dog? Abbey died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I 'm happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to swim and play with balls. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.  Lo

I have  mentioned before  that I spent many years not praying. I didn't believe in God, so I didn't believe in prayer, so I didn't pray. It's only been a little over a year since I started to pray again, and I have found that I am still uncertain about how to do it right. I realize that there isn't just  one   right way  to pray, but it seems I'm not quite on target in the way I do it. I feel clumsy and inadequate. I mentioned this to my husband the other day, and he was surprised that I would feel uncertain about praying. Apparently to some people,  how to pray , is never really a question or concern. But I've noticed that there seem to be all sorts of unwritten rules about how to do it that no one really ever  teaches  you. At least not when you're 37. I may have learned as a child, but I don't remember.   Continue reading here.

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection   (1611 – 1691)   I find it amazing that this simple brother wrote in the 1600′s because his spirituality and wisdom are so throughly modern. Look at this quote. It is humourous, wise and speaks just as powerfully to a 21st century Christian as to one living in the 17th century.I think that one sign that a book is inspired by the Holy Spirit is that it transcends time and place  when the author speaks from his heart to the heart of his readers.  continue reading>

I believe people are put in front of us for a reason. Today was an example of that... Today was super busy: studying, Mass, lunch with friends, a visit to a grant competition for our older son and then the fitness center, where I haven't been in more than a week. Tomorrow looks even busier. Keep Reading...

I stood at the doorsteps of Heaven in full anticipation. It was not a large Pearly Gate shining brightly as we’ve often been told and is depicted in some pictures; no … this was just a small wooden door. A humble ordinary wooden door with no sign or any distinguishing features foretelling where it led to. I remembered the quote from the Bible: “Knock and it shall be opened to you …”   Please continue reading HERE

I wrote about Tonya Reaves two years ago.  It is a heartbreaking story that happened here in Chicago, blocks from one of the best hospitals in the country.  In all likelihood, she could have been saved had someone just called an ambulance. You can read my blog post here . Planned Parenthood will pay damages and you can read that story here . Her face haunts me to this day.

"The novice promises not just to obey orders but to 'live IN obedience.'  The phrase has a splendid ring to it, as though she were throwing up imposing castle walls around her whole life.  And that is precisely what she does.  She makes her whole future existence a kind of vast dwelling place through which she can walk in perfect security always."(Mother Mary Francis PCC, A Right to be Merry, 1956 edition, p. 99.  ( This book is now published by Ignatius Press) In the analogy of "the cloistered heart," I am invited to live within the boundaries of God's will as these are clearly defined for me in Scripture and in 2,000 years of authentic Church discernment..... (continue) Painting:  Edmund Blair Leighton, The Roses' Day, in US public domain due to copyright expiration

For hundreds of years, spiritual directors in  the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic  and Protestant churches, have used the metaphor of an onion to explain the spiritual life. I have referred it for decades because it is a perfect symbol, an image that really is worth a thousand words. It is easy to become discouraged when I seem faced with the same issues, wounds and weaknesses again and again. The mistake is to believe that nothing has changed since the last confession and subsequent experience of grace. That the encounter with the Divine was ineffective, that it was a failure. Nothing could be further from the truth.                                           The reality is that I am human and as an earthling, living in a body, made from dust, I must allow the Holy Spirit to transform me slowly.  continue reading> Share this: Press This Google Twitter 2

My girls and I attended Mass this morning and it happened to be a funeral. It was a small celebration of life of a wonderful woman, who was very much a part of the church community. The girls and I were a little shocked at first because there was no funeral home nor was there any fuss. Simply a few of her family members, all of her CWL community and a few other parishioners. The priest reflected on the deceased woman's life with such kindness. To read more click here  http://www.yearsofmilkandhoney.blogspot.ca

Happy First Friday. ♥ Time for little heart to Heart. ♥   → Click HERE to view a friendly bird's reminder .

Sermon on the Mountain   Károly Ferenczy, 1896 [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                                   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel:  Matthew 5:13-16  ( New RevisedStandard Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)  Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.   No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.   In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Sophie Scholl  (9 May 1921 - 22 February 1943) O

We all know that practising Natural Family Planning doesn't feel very "Natural" sometimes. I'm referring to the fact that when I say those 3 words, most people ask me to say it again and then they ask me to explain what it means. I have become a master at explaining NFP in one sentence or less. It goes something like this. " A method of avoiding or achieving pregnancy using my bodies natural signs as an indicator of fertility and infertility." Then I catch myself blabbering about how I swear we aren't aliens, and it really works and NFP is science based, it's not the Rhythm method. fertility awareness has come a long way. Usually I get a quick, hmmmmm and a change of subject and that's completely ok with me.  To read more click here  http://www.yearsofmilkandhoney.blogspot.ca

What Really Happens at the Holy Mass. This is where I am happiest, at the Holy Mass.  Now I will tell you what really happens at Holy Mass. The Lord told me some time ago, "I want you to go to Holy Mass everyday."  I thought, "O.k., I can do that."   At the time I was only going to Holy Mass once a week, an occasional day Mass but I mostly just prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  I didn't understand, but I obeyed.  Going to Holy Mass everyday required some coordination, I would have to get up earlier and find a Mass along the way to work.  Also, the Mass would have to be close enough to work that when it was finished I could still get to work on time.  I found several different permanent options, and a few back up plans if for some reason I couldn't get to my regular daily Mass. It took about a year of going to Holy Mass daily, but then things started to change.   This was no longer an obligation, but a joy!    God started to open my eyes t

“ When we carry God in our hearts, we are at home anywhere. ” ( The Living Pyx of Jesus, by a Religious, Pelligrini and Co., Australia, 1941)  An encounter that I had longed for, searched for but it had become a brittle dream, a dry leaf long abandoned. I felt   empty, despondent with all inner resources depleted. A mere shell. Yet deeper than the despair Existed a spark of yearning, an ache of hope that was  nonverbal, even preverbal A common yearning in all humanity. Unexpectedly, a mere glance slipped silently into the dark cave within me Like a wisp of smoke suddenly bursting into flame As if the dry litter in my heart was merely tinder, feeding this ethereal fire. A surge of heat surged through my inner self, Seeping into my muscles, soothing my mind. continue>

February is the month of Love. What really is love?   Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8,   “ Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end." Read more at "His Unending Love," Click HERE .

Well, here it is, my first guest post on the topic of Natural Family Planning. I couldn't have chosen a better writer/blogger. Natasha has a fantastically written blog  http://ww.asthefamilygoes.blogspot.ca/ . I have always enjoyed reading about her faith journey and life as a home schooling mother of 6 because she puts her thoughts to words very eloquently. When I first began this journey of blogging, I felt a strong call to gather people's stories about their real experiences with NFP. If you have a story to share please contact me @ galeski@telus.net or leave a comment on this blog. Thank you to Natasha for being brave enough to speak the truth about your experience with natural family planning.  My Advice on NFP - guest post by Natasha Mazerolle I have spent eleven years trying to wrap my head around Natural Family Planning, but only just recently feel like I’m finally starting to get it. My sixth child is fifteen months old (I have conceived eight children, but lost t

Today’s Gospel:  Mark 5:21-43 Today’s gospel is familiar to most of us: the healing of Jairus’s daughter as well as the woman who suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve long years. As Jesus made His way to the house of Jairus, people pressed in on Him from every side, but only one woman touched Christ, drawing healing power from Him. This woman was desperate to be healed. I don’t think she was the only one who believed that Jesus was capable of healing her. I mean, the entire crowd was excited, following Him, hoping to witness yet another miracle at Jairus’s house. No it wasn’t simply faith that drew healing power from Christ, it was the woman’s desperation. Desperation is the key to change, to opening our hearts to receive anything from God. Only when I am desperate, only when I am fed up with myself as I continue to suffer day after day without changing wounded emotions, a sick body, and a tired mind, only then am I really willing to receive healing. It seems that I first mu

  On Sunday I made pizza for supper. Herbed crust, thick, garlicky sauce, uncured pepperoni, black olives, and two cheeses. Is your mouth watering yet? Is pizza among your disordered attachments? As you may know, I’m focusing on being more truly detached from everything except God this year. Before you read the rest of this post, you may want to read or review these: What is detachment in the Catholic spiritual life? Why is detachment necessary? How can you know what your spiritual attachments are? Why do you have inordinate attachments? I can’t work on every possible type of spiritual detachment at once. I have to slice it into small pieces. Here is an easy way I’m trying to start. Every time I experience pleasure or enjoyment, I am immediately turning my thoughts towards God. As I’ve said before, we are not Puritans. We don’t reject the goodness in God’s creation. The world was damaged by Adam’s fall, but not destroyed. Continue reading at Contemplative Ho

Catholic Mom's Cafe: Appearing on Women of Grace all this week! : Watch Monday through Friday at 11:00AM/11:30PM Tune in this week to EWTN's Women of Grace! I am visiting with Johnnet...

In this story Father Ignatius teaches about Papal infallibility ... Early one morning Father Ignatius received a phone call from Mother Superior. Sister Josephine had been called away to visit a very sick relative; would he take on her Catechism class of 7 and 8 year-olds. He sat down at her desk and said, “Let’s start where Sister Josephine left off last week. What did she teach?” Continue reading HERE

Christ Raises the Daughter of Jairus Friedrich Overbeck, 1825 [ Web Gallery of Art ] Today's gospel, Mark 5:21-43, weaves two different healing stories into one, that of the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and that of the daughter of Jairus, aged twelve, who had just died. In the scene below, taken from Franco Zeffirelli's  Jesus of Nazareth , the director focuses only on the story of the little girl. I don't know if the servant of Jairus, whom the latter addresses as 'Thomas' is meant in Zeffirelli's mind to be the future Apostle already showing the honest directness of the saint often referred to as 'Doubting Thomas', the saint who was to make the most explicit act of faith in the whole Bible,  My Lord and my God . In this scene Jesus immediately leaves what he was doing in order to respond to an emergency. Much of our life is like that. Zeffirelli retains words of Jesus that we find in the version of St Mark of this incident a

Mary's Memories Meditations on the Luminous Mysteries The Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan I knew it was time for my Son, Jesus, to leave home and begin His public ministry.  I was elated that He would soon be revealed as the Promised Messiah, but I knew that He would suffer.  The Father had been preparing both of us for this day.  I felt a great deal of pain knowing that Jesus would suffer for love of His people, but I knew that salvation was at hand.  I knew that Jesus would deliver His people from the depths of sin.  John was born before Jesus.  Elizabeth said that John jumped in her womb when I cradled Jesus in my womb.  John says that he baptizes with water, but that the one who is to come will baptize with the Spirit.  There's Jesus in the water with John being baptized.  I see a great light forming over the head of my Son.  The Father is speaking, "This is My Beloved Son in whom I AM well pleased." Read more at:  His Unending Love.  Click HE

First, a little riddle:  What am I? ... I've been considered the center, while holding many seats.  I reveal your emotions & intellect, both the physical & the spiritual.  Yet you might swear with me. And some will cross me... But I could melt, or become hardened.  Sometimes real, sometimes not...  Restless when wrong.  Cured when open.  I'll sing for you, but best at keeping beat.  In need of silence to hear well.  Heavy or broken at times.  Despised, pierced, forgotten.  Still, without me there is no life; yet humble I am ...  What am I to you? Yes.  Now that February is here, time to remember it once again... The one & only heart!  After all, we do have Valentine’s Day right at the very center of the month; But it’s also "American Heart Month"... Indeed it is, ever since 1964 (50 years now!).   And although the news makes mention of it each year, I'm hoping you'll still consider reading on because there is a much bigger and