I have no rest til I rest in thee

I was excited for St. Monica's feast day yesterday.  She's a great reminder for me to never stop praying for our children to return to the faith.  St. Augustine her son....a great sinner yet a great saint... teaches us that there is always hope for us to return to the Church.  He quoted...'Lord make me good but not yet.'  I laugh to myself every time I'm reminded of him saying that.  Later he say's... 'Lord I have no rest til I rest in thee.'  Thank goodness for his mother praying relentlessly for his conversion.  He's one of the four doctor's of the Church.  St. Augustine pray for us.  

Mary Queen Of The Rosary....Pray For Us

Growing up....I witnessed my mom having a great devotion to Our Lady .  She was faithful to the rosary.  She took (dragged) me to novena's.  She didn't talk a lot about Mary but I knew Mary was in her heart by observing her.  I didn't have a devotion to Our Lady like my mother.  I thought...I had the "ins" with Mary through my mother!

Fast forward many years to now.

At the end of my mom's life when she was in the hospital...I would visit the hospital chapel and pray ten Hail Mary's.  It's all I could do since I didn't know how to pray the rosary.  After my mom passed away...I started to pray the rosary.  Praying it has given me peace and has brought me closer to Jesus.  It feels right.  

After my mom passed... I asked Mary to be my mother.  That too felt right.  Now...I look to her for guidance.  My youngest went off to college and I'm confronted with a quiet empty house.  I think of Mary when her Son left to start his public ministry.  How quiet her home must have been.  Can you imagine the loneliness she must  have felt...the Son of God leaving her....the most perfect Son?  Can you imagine the things the Son of God had taught her?  He was the most perfect loving child.  He loved her the most over any human being.  How alone she must have felt.

She always accepted the will of God.

She was the first disciple to her Son and the most perfect mother.  Saint John Paul II describes Mary's crowning moment was standing at the foot of the Cross next to John the disciple.   John, He says, "Woman, behold, your son."  Then, to John, "Behold, your mother" (John 19:26-27).  With these words...Jesus gives Mary as Mother to each and everyone of us.

In a way I did have the "ins" with Mary through my mother.  I got to know her through my mom.  Although...I had always had the "ins" with Mary through our loving Father.


Note:  James Foley the young man that was beheaded prayed the rosary in captivity.  When he was home after his first captivity... he described how he prayed the rosary on his knuckles.  He prayed the rosary because he witnessed his mother and grandmother praying it.  The rosary is a beautiful way to bring us closer to Jesus Christ.  I'm sure it brings his family and the rest of us comfort knowing that he prayed this powerful prayer.  There really is no greater weapon against evil...not even the hatchet that beheaded James Foley.


Queen of the rosary....pray for us.

So.....

So it's been a while since I've posted.  Within the last year or so... we have relocated to a different state for a job transfer....one daughter graduated from college and has started her second year as a teacher.  Another daughter has graduated from high school and she's starting her second year of college.  My husband and I have finished renovating our cottage and we've started to rent it out to vacationers.  We have spruced up our new (older) house and it's starting to feel like home.
Finding a new parish for us was different this time.  In the past we pretty much went to the nearest church for mass.  This time we shopped.  Shopping for a parish was not the norm years ago and I don't know if it is now.  Usually...one would belong to the parish that was closest to their home.  This time we knew what we were looking for in a parish.  When we attended our first mass there...we knew we were home.  The first row was occupied by 5 nuns in full habit.  There were at least 6 alter boys with white gloves on (in fact, girl alter servers are not allowed), incense and chanting.  Holy Eucharist is received on the tongue and kneeling down all part of a traditional mass.    A few of those past alter servers are now in the seminary and recently one of those young men just passed a way.  A few weeks ago... one young parishioner took her vows as a sister.  Our priest is a convert and he's young and on fire!  We have perpetual adoration for two days a week.  We are blessed to have found a Church that doesn't practice watered down Catholicism.  We are blessed.

St. Joseph The Worker

"Do not lose hope; St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the certainty that God never abandons us." 

~Pope Francis

 

 

 

St. Ephrem Of Syria

"What a wonder is Mary! The Lord entered her, and became a Servant; the Word entered her, and became silent within her; Thunder entered her, and His voice was still; the Shepherd of all entered her, and He became a Lamb in her, and came forth bleating."

–St. Ephrem of Syria

 

 



Simon of Cyrene

 

Simon of Cyrene was forced to help Christ carry the cross on that long dusty road to the top of the mountain.  Simon reluctantly came into the faith but ended up finding it sweet.  His two sons Rufus and Alexander became bishops of the early church. 



Mercy

 

You made all of the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mother's womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  It is amazing to think about it.  Your workmanship is marvelous-and how well I know it.  You were there while I was being formed to utters seclusion.  You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. 

Psalms 139:13-15

 

A difficult pregnancy can seem impossible at the time.  Isn't life the most profound gift you can  give someone? 

 A woman's remorse may happen later on in her life.  God's love, mercy and forgiveness is always there.  My Catholic faith teaches me this.  I'm thankful that the Catholic Church defends life.   

 The only way to save babies is by saving mothers.  When a mother feels the mercy of God then can she be merciful to her unborn child.

After all....aren't the unborn...temples of the Holy Spirit too?

 

 



Wishing You a Blessed New Year

Hoping you feel and see His presence in everything.

 



It's Not Over

There were many a Christmas when I was sad that the holiday was over after the presents were opened.  This year we put up our tree two days before Christmas.  I'm at a place now where I enjoy celebrating the birth of Christ and celebrate the twelve days of Christmas.  It's a time when most  trees are being packed up or thrown out to the curb, and Christmas lights and music have ceased.  The rest of the world is finished with Christmas.   The hustle, bustle and noise is over.   For me... these 12 days of Christmas are quieter and less busy.  This enable's me to reflect deeper.  It's most special.  





Mary Did You Know....

Father Vincent Capodanno & Veteran's Day

 

Below are the last words of military chaplain Father Vincent Capodanno.  Soon after he said these words to a wounded soldier.... he was shot 27 times while shielding another soldier during a fierce battle in Vietnam. 

 

 

During Morning Prayer Today

.....being open to God's Presence in everyday life.

 

 

 



The Core Of The Church

The core of the Church is the Holy Eucharist.  No matter what your view is of Church doctrine....how can one turn their back on receiving the Body of Christ?  This is a Church that many people consider a relic of the past.  This is a Church that can't offer anything.  Really?  Do Catholics really understand their faith?  I would bet that if the Church changed doctrine on the hot topics....that still wouldn't draw people to Her.  What draws me to The Church is the Blessed Sacrament.  It's simple.  It is not the liturgy.  It is not the music.  It is not the art work.  It is not the homily or either the smells or bells.  These things are present in the mass to inspire us.  

 

Then the Jews began arguing with each other about what he meant.  "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"  they asked. 

So Jesus said it again, "With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this:  Unless you eat the flesh of the Messiah and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.  

John 6:52-53.  

 

As they sat down to eat, he asked God's blessing on the food and then took a small loaf of bread and broke it and was passing it over to them...when suddenly, it was as though their eyes were opened...they recognized him!  And at that moment he disappeared!

Luke 24:30-31 

Everything Sad Will Be Made Untrue

 

This really is the truth... bad things will ultimately be made good.  This is our hope.  When we witness miracles or Godwinks (sometimes confused with coincidences)...we are witnessing heaven on earth.  I think it's a glimpse of what's to come.  God gives us examples everyday of what life in heaven with Him will be like.  Pope John Paul II will be made a Saint in a few months.  A woman in Costa Rica was suffering from an incurable brain aneurysm.  Her family made a shrine to Blessed Pope John Paul II and prayed for his intercession to cure her.  While watching his Beatification (the Latin meaning of blessed) on TV....she looked at a picture of him that was in a magazine that she was reading.  She immediately heard the words..."Get up and do not be afraid."  She was cured.  Did you know that the phrase "do not be afraid" is mentioned 365 times in the bible?  Let us be still and take notice. 

Independence Day

As we celebrate the birth of our nation,  let us not forget the words of our forefathers….
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness: that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
~ The Declaration of Independence (1776)
 

It was Septemeber 13, 1944 on the USS Warrington

A few years back before my mom passed away.... we all went

to New York to see my daughter perform at Carnegie Hall.  We also had somewhere else to visit that was long over do.

We took my mom to Battery Park to see the memorial for the soilders that drowned and who were never recovered in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean during WWII.

Two days out of Norfolk, along the Florida coast, a navy destroyer named the USS Warrington  received word that she was steaming directly into a hurricane. Later that evening, the storm forced the destroyer to heave. Keeping wind and sea on her port bow, Warrington rode relatively well through most of the night. Wind and seas, however, continued to build during the early morning hours of September 13th 1944. Warrington began to lose headway and, as a result, started to ship water through the vents to her engineering spaces.

The water rushing into her vents caused a loss of electrical power which set off a chain reaction. Her main engines lost power, and her steering engine and mechanism went out. She wallowed there in the trough of the swells, continuing to ship water. She regained headway briefly and turned upwind, while her radiomen desperately, but fruitlessly, tried to contact another nearby vessel. Finally, she resorted to a plain-language distress call to any ship or shore station. By noon on the 13th, it was apparent that Warrington's crewmen could not win the struggle to save their ship, and the order went out to prepare to abandon ship. By 12:50, her crew had left Warrington; and she went down almost immediately. A prolonged search by 10 other vessels rescued only five officers and 68 men of the destroyer's 20 officers and 301 men.

My mother's brother...Chief Storekeeper USNR Edward John Labuda was one of the men lost at sea.  He had just been home on leave prior to returning to duty.
 

The memorial says....

 

My mother looking at her brother's name engraved in stone for the first time.

 

La Buda Edward J.

 

His name on the wall faces the Statue of Liberty and

 

.....Ellis Island.  The same port where his father entered the United States as an immigrant years before.

Thank you to all of those that made the ultimate sacrifice.  You're forever in our debt and hearts.  Indeed...in to thy hands, O Lord.



A Moment With The Sisters

 

I think nuns are fascinating.  Maybe it's because we live in an age of materialism and how does one give up everything?  I came across this video on You Tube and it gives us a peek of the sisters experiencing the same thing we all did....a few months back.  Watching them brought back wonderful memories of that day.

 

 



Mother's, St. Augustine

 

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of my mom.  My sister said.... that her passing was even harder because we had lost our first love.  Since my mom's passing.... I've been on a journey to know God and my faith. 
My parish priest suggested... that my mom....after her passing.... had something to do in prompting me to start this journey.  God certainly calls us to Him in many different ways.  To those of you that have your mom still...cherish your times with her and respect her.  For those of you that don't have your mom...know that she's still with you. 

 

 

Our Catholic faith gives us many role models of great mother's.  There's no other greater mother than the Mother of God. Since my mom has passed away... I have clung to Our Lady and my relationship with her has flourished.   

Another role model is St. Gianna.  St. Gianna was diagnosed with cancer and was urged to abort her baby so she could receive treatments.  She refused to give up her baby.  A few days after giving birth...Gianna passed away.   

I can't forget about St. Monica.  Her son Augustine was always in her prayers.  He lived a life that was contradictory to a Christian.  Through her perseverance in praying...he found God and became a doctor of the Catholic Church!  We refer to him as St. Augustine.

Below is a you tube movie of his life and the role his mother (St. Monica) played in it.  It's a 2 part movie and it gets a thumbs up from me.

 

 

Another favorite mother of mine is Mother Angelica.  She's the foundress of the Eternal Word Television Network.  She has helped to bring many Catholics back to the faith.  She has helped to bring many from different denominations to Catholicism.  She has helped to bring atheists to Catholicism.

Lastly, the greatest gift I have ever received were my children.  I miscarried a child many years ago.  When my time here is over... I look forward to holding her in heaven.

Happy Mother's Day.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



His Divine Mercy. When Life For Me Began To Change

 

For me, God had always been calling but I wasn't listening until a few years back.... when someone I loved died and I needed their forgiveness.  I fell into a pit and thought I'd never escape this torment of guilt, for the person I needed to forgive me never could.  They had left this life forever.  I had no where to turn and the thought of living with this guilt seemed overwhelming.  Only through the grace of God, He continued to call me and this time I stopped to listen.  I picked up the bible and decided to get to know Him.  I read and read and read.  While reading the bible one day, I realized at that most beautiful, peaceful moment, God is merciful and forgives.  I had experienced His unconditional love and His Divine Mercy.  This was a turning point and a moment I shall never forget.  I went to confession and I have been seeking Him ever since.     

 

"If souls would put themselves completely in My care, I Myself would undertake the task of sanctifying them, and I would lavish even greater graces on them.   There are souls who thwart My efforts, but I have not given up on them; as often as they turn to Me, I hurry to their aid, shielding them with My mercy, and I give them the first place in My compassionate Heart."

 

Divine Mercy in My Soul

Diary

of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

He Is The Light