Catholic Bloggers Network First Ever Giveaway!

I am proud to say that I am participating in

The First EVER

Catholic Bloggers' Colossal Share-a-Thon (& Giveaway) 

which will begin on Monday, February 13th!  In case you didn't know:

"Saint Padre Pio Catholic Bloggers Network" is a Facebook group for bloggers to communicate and join in on unified initiatives. After the First International Meeting of Bloggers in August, 2011, with Pope Benedict XVI, this unified front was inspired. This group was created for better communication among bloggers and also to create a webpage directory of Catholic bloggers or a web portal of those interested in networking.

With the New Evangelization, "The Church has the duty to announce the Gospel of Jesus Christ always and everywhere." Our motto is: "The greatest charity is to take away souls from Satan and to bring them back to God!" ~ Saint Padre Pio

Together we can make a difference on the world wide web! Let's remind the world, via our presence in Catholic Social Media, that God exists and to educate them about the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church! 

So they've decided to have a wonderful giveaway and I'm going to give away a hard copy of my book "A Plan for Joy in the Home:  A Workbook on Organizing Your Day for Homeschooling Mothers".
 

 
I'm very excited about this opportunity.  From what I've seen it looks like there are going to be some really neat things given away.  Anyone is able to enter, and while I'm not sure of all of the details, you can go to the Home Page of the Network's blog to find out all of the details when they are announced. 

The giveaway will be open for entering for two weeks starting on Monday, so jump on over there and enter for your chance to win some great Catholic stuff!

Moments of Grace

I am doing something different this Friday by linking up at Sucipio for their Friday "Moments of Grace".

This past week I had one of those moments where Heaven touches earth; a pure, peaceful moment that I wish would have lasted a lot longer.  We were at Mass on Wednesday at a church that has adoration.  After Mass the priest exposed the Blessed Sacrament and we all knelt and sang "O Salutaris Hostia"

O SALUTARIS Hostia

Quae caeli pandis ostium.

Bella premunt hostilia;

Da robur, fer auxilium.

Uni trinoque Domino

Sit sempiterna gloria:

Qui vitam sine termino,

Nobis donet in patria.

Amen.

It was at that moment that grace descended upon me and a huge amount of gratitude filled my soul.  Gratitude for all the priests who have taken time to bring us Adoration and to teach us Latin hymns to sing.  For all the priests who have brought other beautiful Latin hymns into the Mass.  There is something supremely beautiful and haunting about a mass of voices singing a hymn in Latin.  I know I said last week that I really enjoy praise and worship songs, but another part of me can't get enough of singing these hymns.


My daughters are part of the choir at our church and the new choir director asked the singers how many of them knew this song in Latin.  I found it surprising, but only my two girls raised their hands.  Thank you, Lord, for giving us the opportunities to be exposed to this kind of beauty.

 

Your Choice in Trials

Wednesday was the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a relatively new saint for our times.  Father was telling us in his homily about St. Josephine's wonderful character despite her very difficult and terrifying life.  She was so terrified when she was younger that she forgot the name that her parent's had given her!  

His point was that, even amidst the trials and difficult life that St. Josephine had, she still remained a very kind and compassionate person.  She could have easily turned into a mean and hardened person, but instead she allowed the grace of God, whom she didn't even know about until she was older, to work in her and make her "saint material".

He then told us the story of a British woman and her husband who were missionaries in India.  While there, the woman's husband died, leaving her all alone and upset in a foreign country.  The woman sought the advise of a holy man about what she should do next.

The man took her into his kitchen and showed her a potato and and egg.  He asked her what happens to each of them when they are put in a pot of boiling water.

The woman answered correctly that the egg gets hard and the potato gets soft.  The man then told her that that was the choice she had in this situation.  She could become hardened and embittered by her experience (like the egg) or she could allow it to soften her character so that she became even more compassionate and caring (like the potato).  She knew then that her choice would be to become like the potato, so she stayed in India and continued to minister to the poor. 

What a wonderful lesson and a great reminder for all of us.  We are all going through trials right now; some big, some little.  Whether they are financial or health related or something else, we are being given the opportunity to decide how they will shape us.  Each time we respond to a situation, we are either becoming more like the egg or more like the potato.  What a great visual to carry with me as we forge through some trying times right now.  It is my prayer that I always choose the potato and not the egg!

Reformation

I went to our local Colettine Poor Clare monastery today for Mass to discover that today is the feast day of St. Colette, the young lady who reformed the Poor Clares back in late 1300's - early 1400's.  Father went on to tell us all about St. Colette and her life.  

He pointed out that she, along with all of the other saints who have taken on the reformation of their orders, ran up against much opposition and suffering.  When people don't want to change from their ways, he said, they are likely to rebel against the one who is trying to make them change.

Isn't that true with ourselves and even within our own family?  

He talked about how far we move away from our relationship with God the more we let the world in.  In the case of the religious, it is letting the world into their monasteries.  In our case, it is letting the world take on too much prominence in our homes, lives and even our minds.  

Every now and then I realize that the world has encroached a bit too much into my life and the life of our family.  When that realization hits, it is time to take stock and reform.  When the reformation comes, so does the rebellion.  The children rebel, I rebel.  It is tough for awhile, but then, once the dust settles again and we reinvigorate our relationship with God, we realize how much more peace there is around us.

Once a year I like to really make a reformation of my life by going on a silent retreat. This year, myself and my two eldest daughters will be going to a beautiful church for the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius; a retreat led by the priests of Miles Christi.  This is an excellent way to purge yourself of the world and renew your relationship with God.  If you are open to the movements of the Holy Spirit, this one weekend can bring about a complete reformation of your soul.  Oh how I look forward to this every year.

If you find you are in need of some reforming, some cleaning out of the world from your life and a renewal of your spirit, why not consider a silent retreat?  If you can't find an organized one in your area, you could set aside a day on your own to spend in silence connecting with the Holy Spirit and weeding out all of the worldly things that have been standing in the way of your closeness to God.

Catholic Bloggers Network

I am now a contributor to the new Catholic Bloggers Network.  If you haven't had a chance to visit, please do.  A group of Catholic bloggers from all walks of life are contributing and participating in this endeavor.  

It is really a neat concept there are weekly round ups, content shares, an online Facebook community, a Blog Academy where you can learn neat tips and even a place to link up items you are selling in the Catholic Shoppe.  

Here is the mission of the group:

In acknowledgment of the Vatican's strong interest to embrace social media for evangelization, this Catholic Bloggers Network was created to enhance communication of Catholic social media users. Here Catholic bloggers can connect and share efforts to bring the Catholic faith into the social media discourse. By creating this webpage directory of Catholic bloggers and connecting the online portals they use, our Catholic community grows larger. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

And now a group of bloggers are getting together to have a colossal give away.  So if you are a blogger and want to participate in this, here are the details:


--------------------------


The First EVER

Catholic Bloggers' Colossal Share-a-Thon (&; Giveaway) 

An opportunity for all of our Catholic Bloggers to
share and promote their Catholic products,

receive new followers and discover new Catholic blogs
...and to WIN awesome prizes!

All Catholic Bloggers are invited to participate...
a small entry fees will be collected from Bloggers who want to participate
(and receive new followers) but don't sell Catholic products through their blogs. 

The cash collected will comprise the cash giveaways!

Lots of prizes, lots of chances to win and lots of winners!

Just fill out the form below and hit the 'submit' button...
to be a part of this Rafflecopter

Catholic Bloggers' Colossal Share-a-Thon!

Spread the word. 
The GIVEAWAY will be live for 2 weeks
and ANYONE can enter to WIN!

Enter for a chance to win a hard copy of
"A Plan for Joy in the Home"!

7 Quick Takes February 3, 2012

--- 1 ---

We went to one of our weekday churches on Wednesday morning to meet the new pastor.  They were having coffee and donuts after Mass to welcome him, so of course we stayed.  I was just walking up to him to introduce myself when there was a commotion.  It seems Mr 11 yo knocked over Mr 6 yo's full glass of orange juice...all over the wood table and the carpeting.  Well, needless to say, we made quite an impression.  The priest informed me that we were "marked forever".  Lovely!

--- 2 ---

This Friday evening marks our monthly evening of recollection with the Miles Christi priests.  A peaceful three hours of rosary, Mass, benediction, adoration, confession, two spiritual talks and ending with...snacks!  We look forward to this night every month.

--- 3 ---

Did you realize that it is almost Valentine's Day?  Would you like to get some great smelling soap for your sweetie?  Or maybe you'd like to use some great smelling soap for your sweetie? :)  Go check out our Valentine's Day page at the Goat Milk Soap Shop.  There's still enough time for the soap to arrive before the big day!

--- 4 ---

We just got on DVD, and devoured, the first season of Downton Abbey this past week.  The girls and I just love British TV series.  In a way I like being behind the times with a series because then you can sit down and watch a whole bunch of them at once without having to be strung out in suspense.  Right now, however, we have to catch up with season two by watching them on the internet.  This takes a lot longer and we can only watch one a day or my DH gets upset because we ate up the bandwidth.  Season two episode one coming up!

--- 5 ---

Ms 19 yo also brought another addiction into the house last week when she brought home the book "Matched" by Ally Condie.  I love one of the reviews on the back:  "If you like a ton of romance with your totalitarian government, this novel is for you!"  While I'm sure I don't like the thought of a totalitarian government, the book was a good read and all four of us enjoyed it enough to run to the library to get the next book in the series, "Crossed".  Can't wait to devour that one!

--- 6 ---

The book mentioned above is a lot like "The Hunger Games" so if you liked that book, you will like "Matched", too.  Imho, however, I think "The Hunger Games" is still a better book and we are all very excited for the movie to be coming out next month!

--- 7 ---

We have a relatively low key weekend coming up.  We're going to have our family portrait taken on Sunday for our parish directory.  Looking forward to that!  Have a very blessed weekend.

For more Quick Takes, visit the Quick Takes being hosted by Betty Beguiles this week!

 

The Charismatic Movement

I've been reading Mark Mallett's blog posts about the Charismatic movement with interest lately.  I feel that I have an affinity for all things Charismatic.  This becomes difficult, however, when 1. you don't have much access to it and 2. you live with a bunch of people who have no interest in searching it out.

My husband, children and I have had various discussions over the years with the things I like and they don't like about things Charismatic.  I'm sure you can guess what they are because they're all pretty standard:

- Is this even really part of the Catholic church?
- Where is the reverence?
- Where is the silence?
- What's up with that music??

That is why I've been reading Mark's posts with interest.  I'm glad to see the movement explained and given some validity.  While I was reading the posts by Mark, I was struck by his statements that the sacrament of Confirmation should really be as it was during Pentecost:  meaning that we should expect to receive the Holy Spirit and all of His gifts and fruits and charisms just like the apostles did.  He made mention that when his sister and his daughter were Confirmed, they received the gift of tongues.  While I'm not going to debate about that particular gift, it made me think about how we've approached our Confirmation preparation in this household.


By the time the girls were ready to be Confirmed they all had a lot of book knowledge about the sacrament, but I began to think back to how much spiritual preparation they had...or didn't have.  I believe that the lack of spiritual preparation severely limited their reception of what God wanted to give them.  My eldest daughter said she remembered her Confirmation being a powerful and moving event.  The next two girls, due to an unusual set of circumstances, did not have much spiritual preparation.  Consequently neither of them had any powerful memories of their Confirmation.


Likewise, I was brought up in the Church and was Confirmed at the appropriate age, but I was of the generation that picked a Confirmation name because it sounded good with your given name, not because it signified a Saint that you wanted to emulate.  Therefore, I too do not have any great recollection of my Confirmation being a moving experience.  I remember going out for my first prime rib dinner.  Sad, but true...


Our next daughter is going to be Confirmed this year and I'm taking all of this as a wake-up call, an exciting call, to spend a lot more time spiritually preparing her to receive the Holy Spirit instead of just having the book knowledge.  I even believe that if myself and my other daughters prepare along with her, that we might be able to receive some of what we missed; even from the pew.  I am looking forward to really spending time in prayer leading up to this event and am excited about the possibility of a surge of the Holy Spirit within our household.

What are your thoughts on the Charismatic Movement?


Note: I reread what I wrote in this last paragraph and I'd like to clarify that I know we all received the fullness of the sacrament!  And while I know that a sacrament is valid even if you don't "feel" anything, I believe that by being better prepared spiritually the gifts received during that time would have been better manifested in us.  I hope that better clarifies what I was trying to say.