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'There is no greater joy on earth than to be chosen by our Lord to co-operate with Him in the sanctification of souls.' Dom Marmion (from The Breadbox Letters)

The fleeting dream that eludes many of us is happiness. We are running around, miserable in our insular little worlds, only catching glimpses of the world around us through dung coloured glasses. The solution to our dilemma is easy. . Stop. Take off our dung coloured lenses. Look. Appreciate. I discovered a secret after years of mothering my tiny children. They taught me to take my eyes off my exhaustion and to take delight in the plethora of tiny details all around me. Little kids are born with a sense of wonder and the ability to enjoy little things. My daughter’s retain an appreciation for detail; they all remember the little things. continue

Most of our lives are spent carrying out necessary routines: eating, doing dishes, washing, cleaning, driving, and (hopefully) exercising. If we work, our job might be quite ordinary, menial, or boring. Day follows day, and we don’t expect to ever appear on the evening news for an act of heroism. Neither do we expect to be canonized. Take heart! While researching the lives of saints, I found that several of them bear witness to and teach that holiness can come from simply living a normal life faithfully. click to continue

At the end of this month, I will be going to New York with my daughter for nine days!  My daughter is friends with a family that she used to babysit for here in Chicago.  When they moved to New York last summer, they invited her to come stay with them.  It was a "working vacation."  She helped with the kids, but during her time off she became a tourist.  It was amazing to get her texts and pics as she navigated that humongous city all by herself! You can read the rest at Being Catholic ... Really .

Getty Images Dear friend, Your heart is broken. You feel abandoned and weak, a shadow of your former lively self. I have been praying for you. At church this weekend, we prayed Psalm 147, and these verses leaped out at me, sounding so applicable to you, my friend: The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name. I guess I've never thought about every star having a name, but there we have it: "He tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name." So the stars have names. What's more, God  calls  them by their names, implying that the stars respond. The stars are in relationship with God. Not just cold, mechanical constellations that guide navigation, stars have a sort of life and dignity, simply because God makes them and calls to them. Please join me at Praying with Grace for more. As I repeated the Psalm response after the cantor, I wondered how calling stars by nam

WHY BOTHER WITH MARY? CLICK HERE

Have you ever really paid attention to your vocabulary? Does it match your faith life? Or is your faith life a bit stalled and you wonder how to jumpstart it? Your vocabulary is the key to it all and understanding these five simple words can drastically change your life. Word One:  Disordered Our world gets a bit crazier every day. More things take up our time and energy and consequently leave us less time for God. Our dreams, desires and longings get caught up in the ways that we experience the world. So, instead of dreaming God’s dreams for our lives, we live with and pursue disordered dreams and desires. We keep ourselves on Satan’s treadmill where our disordered existence exhausts us and steals our joy. “Lord, remove the disordered desires from my mind and heart so that I may experience your peace and dream your dreams for my life. Do not allow the illusions of the evil one to infiltrate my heart or mind where I unwittingly allow them to undermine or repl

1) "Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,      they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,      they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40: 31 Friday is a good day.  It's the end of the work week for many people.  The weekend becomes a time of renewal.  God is our strength and He renews us.  For this I am thankful. 2) " He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." Ecclesiastes 3: 11 Read More at:  His Unending Love

Beginning with a riddle... " What Am I? I’ve been considered the center, while holding many seats. In need of silence to hear. I reveal your emotions & intellect, both the physical & the spiritual.   You might swear with me… Some will cross me.  I could melt… or become hardened. Sometimes real… or not. Restless when wrong. Cured when open.     Could sing for you. Yet best at keeping beat. Heavy or broken at times. Despised, pierced, forgotten…  Though without me, there is no life! Still humble, I am. What Am I… to you? " Do you know? …Do you know? Hope you'll c ome see... a paint-by-numbers picture (in need of change), key factors (both physical & spiritual)...  along with LOTS of saintly quotes on….. you know what. ;)   A Matter of Life! >> Click Here to Read More at: The Way to Nourish for Life >>

A most unusual idea inspired by the actor, Alec McGowan, hit the London stage in the 1970s, when, in a personal tour de force, he rendered the whole of St Mark’s Gospel. Against all predictions he performed to a full house night after night. When the same thing happened in New York, where it was performed at the Marymount Manhattan and Playhouse theatres, a Catholic impresario had an idea. He approached Kieron Moore, who had made a name for himself playing Count Vronsky in the film version of Anna Karenina, opposite Vivien Leigh. He asked Moore, who was a devout Catholic, if he would ‘star’ in a similar stage production, but this time in a rendering of St John's final discourse of Jesus at the Last Supper. “It cannot be done,” said Moore, “And it most certainly will not be attempted by me. Only one person could utter such deep and profound mystical truths, and that is Jesus himself, and when they are read they can only be read and understood by those who are inspired by the same

The Dolors of Mary give me such food for pondering. She, like the most significant visionaries of our time, St Bernadette, St Jacinta, St Lucia, St Francisco, St Imelda , ( ok, she’s not so well known but ought to be….) were little kids, LITTLE!!! St Bernadette was the oldest at 14! St Jacinta the youngest at 6.  They too, bore unimaginable weight of heinous attacks,  pressure that I don’t know I would have stood up to. Then again, God did not use me between 6 and 14 to communicate to the world messages either. But think of it…… 29% of the highlights of painful events that Mary suffered, that we know of, she suffered when she was not yet 15. Those decisions shaped the salvation plan of God. That’s impressive. 50% of Her decisions dealt with parenting, decisions that were to lay the tracks for humanity to ride the train to heaven, (should they choose to). continue reading https://theoutlawedgod.wordpress.com/

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The Monastery of a cloistered heart is the person's own life.   A monastery is a place consecrated to God, a place of prayer, a place where God is loved and served.   Our lives can be all of these things.... (continue)   Painting: Fritz von Wille, in US public domain due to age

Today, February 8, is the  First International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking .  This day was picked to coincide with the feast day of  St. Josephine Bakhita  who suffered horrific treatment by her kidnappers. You can read the rest at Being Catholic ... Really .

My wife and a friend are making bread, about 15 feet from my desk. They're having a great time, and I'm trying to not get distracted while writing this post. The results may be interesting. Or confusing. I'll let you decide which. Thanks to some very powerful prescriptions, my ADD-inattentive and major depression isn't nearly as hard to handle as it was: which reminds me of this morning's first reading. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

DOES GOD EXIST? REALLY? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT.

I am spreading the word about an online, free online conference called  The Catholic Conference for Moms  .  I think it’s going to be a great event.  And it’s not about organizers or the speakers–it’s about Jesus Christ and letting Him more and more into our lives and the lives of the those attending the conference. continue reading

Apostle St Peter , El Greco, 1610-14 Museo de El Greco, Toledo, Spain [ 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   Mark 1:29-39  ( New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition , Canada)   As soon as they   left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.   Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once.   He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.   And the whole city was gathered around the door.     And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning,

It's been a little while since I have posted anything. Life has been so busy. But I wanted to get a quick post in about this fun activity I did with my kids last Lent/Easter. Time to Hide the Alleluia! Blessings, Jen