I'd like to share with you something that my dad sent me in an email. It says it was written by a lady named Regina Brett from Cleveland, Ohio. Don't know if that info is accurate, but it sounds good :) Anyhow, here it is:
To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone elses, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Many of these are great things to remember each and every day. In keeping with my post yesterday about the "Our Father" I liked the fact that there were three points that dealt with forgiving people (#s 3, 11 and 28).
If more people could just forgive the past hurts of their life and not hang on to things for so long, the world would be a much better place. Life is too short to carry hatred around in your heart.
I have to admit that sometimes I'll be upset with someone and I'll feel this desire to hang onto the hatred. It is as if the devil doesn't want me to let go of the hurt and the anger. As I mentioned yesterday, whenever I'm having a particularly hard time forgiving someone, I beg God to give me the gift of forgiveness and He always delivers!
Hopefully something in this list has jumped out at you and will help you along your way today!
Somewhat recently I either heard or read that if we all lived the "Our Father" the world would be an amazing place. Seems pretty simple, doesn't it? I thought about what that would entail and here is my take on it:
"Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name"
I believe this is reminding us that we should spend a portion of every day thanking God for all of the blessings He has bestowed upon us as well as praise His holy name throughout the day, not use it in an off-handed or profane way.
"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."
I guess it gets a little harder, here, doesn't it? Discerning God's will for ourselves can be difficult. I figure the best thing we can do is to live in the present moment and ask ourselves (not necessarily make it a conscious question at every moment, but maybe at the beginning of each new task) if what we are doing is what we think God would want us to be doing at that moment. If we live in the present and keep God at the forefront, we will probably stay on track. It seems that when we start living in the past or future too much, or don't stay recollected that we begin to stray from God's will for us.
"Give us this day, our daily bread"
For me, if I make it to Mass every day, then I feel I've lived this part of the prayer. If that is not possible, then a good Spiritual Communion can help me to come close.
"And forgive us our trespasses"
Aside from going to confession every day :), nothing helps to fulfill this part of the prayer better than a thorough, nightly examination of conscience. I usually try to do one mid-way through the day just so that the one at night doesn't take so long (since I'm usually falling asleep while trying to do it :) Asking God to point out my sins and omissions of the day and then asking for His forgiveness sure helps to make my sleep more peaceful.
"As we forgive those who trespass against us"
HMMM, another tough one. It is soooo hard sometimes to go to bed having forgiven someone for something they may have said or done to me that day. Usually, if I can't bring myself to do it that day, I tell God that I would like to forgive that person, but since I can't seem to do it right yet, could He give me the grace to do it soon. He always comes through for me!
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Okay, I know that God never leads us into temptation, so in trying to live this part of the prayer, I think we should try to stay away from things that might be near occassions of sin for us. Whether it is a website, a conversation or a place that might cause us to weaken and then sin, we need to ask for the grace every day to avoid those things that might lead us into temptation. If we ask for this grace, then God, in His Goodness, will deliver us from that evil.
"Amen."
So be it! When you break it down, it really doesn't seem like a lot to remember and do every day. I guess by ourselves we cannot do it, but with the grace of God it is possible. Imagine the world we would live in if everyone even TRIED to live this prayer out. I guess it truly would be Heaven on Earth!
Wow, today is a day full of important things. First - May you have a Blessed Feast of the Sacred Heart! Next - today begins the Year of the Priest. I think this is going to prove to be very important. Third - Ms. 5 yo officially becomes Ms. 6 yo today. Lots to celebrate - I think it calls for double dessert!
2.
My daughters got this new book for their Confirmation from friends of ours called "The Confirmed Catholic's Companion". In it they had a humorous saint quiz. I thought I'd put the questions here and then the answers in #7. See how well you do.
Guess the following patron saints (just for fun): a. Patron saint of shoppers b. Patron saint of boaters c. Patron saint of candy makers d. Patron saint of mortgage payers e. Patron saint of lawyers f. Patron saint of necklace makers g. Patron saint of weight watchers h. Patron saint of travel agents i. Patron saint of pool players j. Patron saint of sweater wearers
3.
So today starts the Year of the Priest and what a great time to show support for all of those good and holy priests we know. We thought it might be nice to devote each of the 12 months to 12 different priests and offer them our prayers, rosaries and masses. It might also be nice to send them a note to thank them for all they do for us. Also, if you're looking for prayers to say, I've found some here, here and here.
4.
The other day my husband took Mr. 4 yo out for his birthday dinner with dad. Mr. 4 yo was shoveling his pancakes into his mouth, all the while trying to carry on a conversation with my husband. Being the good father he is, he told him that he shouldn't talk with his mouth full. Being the wise 4 yo he is, my son replied, "It's okay, dad, I have my food on this side of my mouth (left side) and I'm talking out of this side of my mouth (right side)." They're so logical, aren't they?
5.
I just received word that the Rockford Diocese is in the planning stages of a Catholic college called St. Athanasius College. I plan on sending for the prospectus, but a friend already saw it and said it sounds promising. How exciting!
6.
Emily update - We heard from Emily's mother this week with an update on her recuperation. She is slowly recovering from her massive chemo and radiation. She is gaining weight and ever so slowly the burns on her face and neck as well as the sores on her tongue are healing. She was even able to walk the first lap for cancer survivors at a local relay for life! Let's pray that she is on her way to a complete recovery.
7.
Okay, here are the answers. Hope you did better than I did!
a. St. Francis de Sales b. Joan of Arc c. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel d. St. Bernadette e. Our Lady of Good Counsel f. St. Bede g. St. Josephat h. St. Martin of Tours i. St. Julie Billiart j. St. Casimir
Today I would like to share with you a prayer written by the late Bishop Roger Kaffer. He loved to write prayers and poetry and this is one that he wrote to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Bishop Kaffer prayed this prayer every day after he received Holy Communion. He even had it printed on little cards and handed out thousands of them.
As another part in my series on the Sacred Heart, here is the "Prayer of the Sacred Heart" written at Calvary, Jerusalem on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, June 29, 1984.
The Prayer of the Sacred Heart by Bishop Roger Kaffer
O my Jesus, I love You! I love You! I love You! Most Sacred Heart, Most Sacred Love of my lover, My Savior, My God and my all! How can you love me? So unworthy, so fragile, so fickle! Yet You do and I know it and I cannot tell You how deeply, how immensely and how intensely and completely I wish to return Your love for me - by living, dying and bringing honor and glory to You by helping in a priestly and selfless way to spread Your kingdom. O Christ My King! All that I am, have and do I give to You! No strings! No conditions! Just total, confident love. There is nothing, Lord Jesus, nothing at all that You cannot have - nothing at all that I will not give - or give up - if You want me to. I know this is easier to say than to do. I know that I am a coward and a sinner and a weakling. But my confidence and love for You is such that I know whatever You ask, You will more than give the strength to give You - not fearfully, reluctantly, begrudgingly - but cheerfully and gladly. Your Will! Let me do Your Will my Jesus! Completely, totally, unreservedly - with no strings attached! I love You! I love You! I love You! I wish to be completely and totally Yours. Come Lord Jesus! Come into my heart, come into my soul, come into my body and take me, possess me, transform me, only keep me always close to You - then dispose of me as You will! Amen.
Since the first thing that St. Margaret Mary said was important was consecration, I thought I would share with you a consecration prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. While I am sure that there are different versions of this, this particular one was written by St. Claude de la Colombiere.
My adorable Redeemer, I give and consecrate myself totally to Thy Sacred Heart in the fullest and most complete way of which I am capable.
Nail Me to Thy cross by my baptismal promises, by the duties of my state of life and by my resolution to serve you always. I renew all these before heaven and earth in Thy Sacred Heart.
Thy holy service is for me an easy yoke and its bonds do not burden me. Moreover, I would desire to fasten even more closely its tight knots.
Therefore, I embrace the beloved cross of my vocation even unto death. It shall be all my delight, my pleasure, my glory. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. Thy poverty shall be my treasure; Thy sufferings my delight; Thy person my only love.
I will never abandon Thee, my Savior; I will unite myself intimately with Thee. I do not fear the narrow path of holiness, because Thou art my light and my strength.
I hope, therefore, O my Lord, that Thou willest make me firm to resist all temptations and that Thou willest make me victorious over all the enemies of my soul. Continue to stretch out Thy hand over me, and to bestow Thy favors upon me.
By Thy Blood, by Thy Wounds and by Thy Sacred Heart, I implore Thee, O adorable Jesus, by this act of consecration grant that I may become a new creation of Thy love. Amen.
I thought I would devote today to some background on where the devotion to the Sacred Heart came from. If you know of some info that might be interesting to others that I have left off, please feel free to comment.
According to Pius XII, the main promoter of the devotion to the Sacred Heart is St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who was a Visitation sister from Lyon, France. She lived from 1647-1690, with the main revelations from Jesus occurring between 1673 and 1675. We received a newsletter from Miles Christi with this information:
"Jesus Christ appeared to her with His Heart enthroned in flames, bearing a wound and surrounded with a crown of thorns signifying the wounds our sins made in it and a cross above signifying that from the first instant of the Incarnation...it was filled with all the sorrow to be inflicted on it by the humiliations, poverty, pain and scorn that he was to endure throughout His life and Passion.
St. Margaret Mary continued, "Jesus made me see that he intensely desired to be loved by men and to snatch them from the path of perdition onto which satan was driving them in throngs. It was this that made Him decide to manifest His Heart to men - with all the treasures of love, mercy, graces, sanctification and salvation it contained...and that this devotion is the final effortof His love. He wanted to bestow upon men during these last centuries such a loving redemption."
That part about this being Jeus' "final effort of His love" really hit me. What patience our God has. These revelations occurred over 300 years ago and we still haven't gotten it right, yet He still continues to love us and to bestow His mercy on us.
St. Margaret Mary goes on to tell us that Jesus said:
"Behold this heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to the point of spending itself and being consumed to prove its love to them. And in return, I receive from most men only ingratitude...coldness and contempt. I feel this more than all that I suffered during My Passion. If only they would make Me some return for My Love, I should think but little of all I have done for them."
I think that last line is very important. Maybe we can take this month of June, at this time in history when Jesus is more and more being spat upon by the world, to show Him some love by spreading devotion to His Sacred Heart. "But what can we do?," you ask? Well, according to the Miles Christi newsletter, St. Margaret Mary insisted on:
1. Consecration, that is, a surrender that implies abandonment into His hands with full trust. 2. Reparation to the Sacred Heart, paying honor to this Heart, suffering in expiation for sins and consoling His Heart. 3. Valuing the cross, as demanded by love, to unite ourselves with the Heart of Jesus and to reach exquisite holiness. 4. Charity toward our neighbor, to pray to Him for our neighbor as we would for ourselves, for one of the special goals of this devotion is to unite hearts divided.
Besides implementing these in our own lives, let us try to find a way to tell others about them, too.
Hee Hee. An alert reader noticed in the picture below of my two daughters that one of them was doing a balancing act with the Blessed Mother. Funny thing is is that I didn't notice that until they pointed it out. Maybe the Blessed Mother is levitating over her head to make sure we knew she was with us on that special day :) Oh well, it is much better than a potted plant sitting on top of her head (which I have been known to do before).
2.
Well, this weekend I get the chance to receive one of my Mother's Day presents. DH is taking all of the kids on an overnight campout! So, you may be wondering, what will I do with my nearly 24 hours to myself? I was thinking I would start by grilling a steak for dinner and pouring myself a glass of wine. After dinner, I thought I might put on a good movie and put my feet up for awhile. On Saturday I was thinking of getting up late and then making myself a nice breakfast of pancakes and then enjoying the sunshine for the rest of the day while reading a good book.
3.
Okay, here's what's wrong with the above scenario. First, its Friday, so I won't eat meat. I can't drink wine because it makes my nose itch like crazy. If I sat down to watch a movie I would probably fall asleep because Friday is our early morning formation group. As for Saturday, I can't sleep late even when I want to and I can't make pancakes because the family is bringing all the stuff with for their breakfast! Maybe it will be sunny, but I won't know because I plan on being in the basement the whole time wrapping up the school year. You know how it is: there's papers to sort through and file, grades to calculate and high school transcripts to write up before I forget what was done. That will be my reality and I plan on enjoying every minute of it (although #2 did sound nice, didn't it??)
4.
If I do chill out for awhile, I might put on some good country music. This happens to be my current favorite. I think it would make a great 25th Anniversary song, don't you??
5.
We just finished watching a movie that came highly recommended from a few of my Irish friends and even my mother who isn't Irish! We just watched "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Not quite sure what we missed, but we must have missed something. Please help me to understand oh dear Irish friends....... :)
6.
I got the most recent newsletter from the Carmelite Monks from the sidebar (you know, the coffee monks). In it they talk about how they get up every night at midnight to pray. Here is their explanation as to why they do it:
"The monk wakes at midnight to love a God that is forgotten by men. He rises from his sleep to entrust to the Lord's Sacred Heart the prayers of His church and the intentions of others. In the darkness of night, he rushes to the chapel to find his God and to bring each of you and the troubles of our world to the depths of His Loving Mercy. In the darkness of the night, the Carmelite monk whispers to Jesus and Mary between the verses of the psalmody, "I love you". This is the secret of the monk and the cause of his joy."
How come I don't feel that way when I wake up in the middle of the night??
7.
Thought I'd leave you with this great quote that I found via this post from Totus Tuus. Have a great weekend!
“Today more than ever, our nation is in need of Catholics who know their faith deeply and express their faith, with integrity, by their daily living.” Archbishop Raymond Burke
