Deogratias

More Prayers Please

My mom had to be hospitalized again today for the third time in the past month or so.  She is having difficulty breathing again and they're not sure the reason.  I spoke with her nurse tonight and she is going down for a CAT Scan tonight to rule out a blood clot in her lungs, although the nurse said they don't think she has one.  She is getting oxygen from a mask and this is helping quite a bit.

Here she is with the boys during our visit last summer.

Here are some prayers I found at this website.

Prayer for the Sick
Omnipotent and eternal God, the everlasting Salvation of those who believe, hear us on behalf of Thy sick servant, Madeline, for whom we beg the aid of Thy pitying mercy, that, with her bodily health restored, she may give thanks to Thee in Thy church. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for Doctors and Nurses
O merciful Father, who have wonderfully fashioned man in your own image, and have made his body to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, sanctify, we pray you, our doctors and nurses and all those whom you have called to study and practice the arts of healing the sick and the prevention of disease and pain. Strengthen them in body and soul, and bless their work, that they may give comfort to those for whose salvation your Son became Man, lived on this earth, healed the sick, and suffered and died on the Cross. Amen.

Pray the Divine Mercy Novena!

We began participating in the Feast of Mercy several years ago, and the graces we have received have been phenomenal.  It's not too late to begin now. The following are excerpts from passages at ewtn.com.  A link to the devotion is at the bottom of this post.

Jesus asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday.  He gave St. Faustina an intention to pray for on each day of the Novena, saving for the last day the most difficult intention of all, the lukewarm and indifferent of whom He said:

"These souls cause Me more suffering than any others; it was from such souls that My soul felt the most revulsion in the Garden of Olives. It was on their account that I said: 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass Me by.' The last hope of salvation for them is to flee to My Mercy."

In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her:

"On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls."

The different souls prayed for on each day of the novena are:

DAY 1 (Good Friday) - All mankind, especially sinners

DAY  2 (Holy Saturday) - The souls of priests and religious

DAY 3 (Easter Sunday) - All devout and faithful souls

DAY 4 (Easter Monday) - Those who do not believe in Jesus and those who do not yet know Him

DAY  5 (Easter Tuesday) - The souls of separated brethren

DAY  6 (Easter Wednesday) - The meek and humble souls and the souls of children

DAY  7 (Easter Thursday) - The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' mercy

DAY  8 (Easter Friday) - The souls who are detained in purgatory;

DAY  9 (Easter Saturday) - The souls who have become lukewarm.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy may also be offered each day for the day's intention, but is not strictly necessary to the Novena.

A Little Note for Lent

We're still working out our plans for lent this year, but I have some ideas.

In religion we are learning the beatitudes.  Now I don't plan my catechism lessons in advance, we just go through the book moving on when I think we're ready.  Most recently we did the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Friday I decided to skip the fruits of the Holy Spirit for now and move on to the beatitudes, and amazingly the beatitudes were the subject of this Sunday's Mass readings and our priest's homily. 

I think God is trying to tell us that we need to work on learning and emulating the beatitudes in our family and our homeschool.  I think we'll begin making a poster this week.

And I found the this cool idea that we will be doing tomorrow as well. 

So that is a start for prayer life.  Now I need to come up with some creative ideas for sacrifice and almsgivinig.  I'll let you when I come up with something.

The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation

Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with Him.  At the same time it damages communion with the Church.  For this reason conversion entails both God's forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church, which are expressed and accomplished litergically by the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.  CCC 1440

Here is the joyful face of one who has just received the above mentioned sacrament for the first time:

And below is a little celebration afterwards:

A Day of Prayer and Penance for Life

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton legalized abortion in America.  The following guidelines are from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (no. 373):

In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23 when the 22nd falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life.   The Mass "For Peace and Justice" should be celebrated with violet vestments as an appropriate litergical observance for this day.

Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Atlanta are asked to join others across the country in performing works of penance, which may consist of any of the following:  Prayer, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices.

Our family observed this day by attending the Mass for the Unborn at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, preceded by the Rosary for Life.  (The photo above was taken in the Shrine, and the information above was provided at the Mass.)  This was followed by a silent march through the streets of Atlanta. 

In his homily, Archbishop Gregory urged us all not to lose hope and to find solice in the fact that we are keeping this movement alive.  As always, it is wonderful to see the thousands of people who attend this event every year.  We have not forgotten the lives of those who were not given a chance to live.

Our Second First Time Altar Server

Now we have two altar servers in the family!  We were so proud of Alex when he stepped up and served his first Mass last Sunday at 8 a.m.  He did such a super job carrying the candle and holding his hands in the perfect prayer position.  The only one nervous about it was Jacob, who sat in the pew noticing every little thing Alex did.

After Mass, there was a complimentary pancake breakfast hosted by the Knights of Columbus, and everything was delicious.  The boys kept going back for more.  They ate so much, in fact, that I felt guilty about my original donation and put more in the basket.

We made a big religion decision on Sunday as well, and decided to put Nicholas into religious education classes at the church.  He'll be preparing for his First Confession and First Communion this year, and I had originally planned on doing the prep at home.  But at the last minute, I just decided to put him in.  I thought that he would probably be more confortable if he knew the other children who were receiving the sacraments with him.  The others will be learning at home, however.

Our First Time Altar Server

We were very proud of him today as he looked like an old pro on the altar.

When we first arrived at church at 7:40 a.m.,  we were informed that the lead altar server would not be able to make it and that Jacob may have to do more than he was trained to do.  Thankfully God was smiling on him, because although he didn't panic, I knew he was pretty nervous about the whole thing.  An adult server showed up and took the lead and Jacob was very comfortable about that.

In addition, I was a first time lector and did pretty well with the announcents and first reading.  Actually I did the readings at my Granny's funeral last September, but this is the first time as a trained lector.

Incidentally, Father's homily was about the need for more priests and the importance of families and others talking with young men about this.   He said that in actuality there is no shortage of callings to the priesthood but that many men aren't listening to the calling.  They are too distracted by the things of the world. 

While Lee was preparing breakfast after Mass, I was reading aloud from a very interesting find and an unlikely read for me called Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World by E.S. Creasy.  (Lee found it yesterday while he was clearing out one of his dad's old storage compartments.  I can't find a publishing date, but the preface is dated 1861.) 

One of the selected 15 was Joan of Arc's Victory at Orleans.  While I think I already knew that Joan had been a shepherd in her early life, when I read this it struck me that God often calls shepherds to do great things. Among many there was Bernadette of Lourdes and the Fatima children, and of course the most famous shepherds of all who listened to the angels and went to find the Christ Child.  Shepherds are out in the fields away from so many distractions of the world that they actually listen to God's call.

This has helped reinforce my comitment to our decision to move out of a neighborhood.   I want to be out in the woods where we can really pay attention to God's creation without all the distractions of subdivision life.  Don't get me wrong, I love my neighborhood, and we have had many good years here.  I think we're just ready to get away from all the distractions and temptations we regularly find here. 

Happy Corpus Christi

In keeping with our Sunday routines and obligations, we attended a lovely Mass today in honor of Corpus Christi.  Unfortunately we weren't able to join the thousands of area Catholics at the Georgia International Convention Center yesterday for the annual Eucharistic Congress.  We have attended this several times and found each event to be a very uplifting and spiritually enriching event.  I hope all those who attended were so blessed.

However, it was nice to have a less crowded Mass today.  It was a beautiful Mass as usual at our church. We sat in the front row as is best for our family. 

Afterward we had a nice discussion about some of the things that have been going on in our extended family.  There are a couple of illnesses we are helping with, and as always with serious illness change occurs.  I won't go into it here except to say that Lee is becoming a care-giver/helper to his father and step-mother, and this is healing some old wounds.

If anyone reading this doesn't know the meaning of Corpus Christi I will explain it briefly.  It literally means the Body of Christ.  Today we celebrate the Body of Christ which he gives us in the Eucharist as often as we choose to partake.  Since the time of the first Christians, the Body of Christ has been received by the faithful under the appearance of bread.

Happy St. Mark the Evangelist Day

Today is the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist, author of the Gospel According to Mark and disciple of St. Peter, the first pope.   Celebrate by going on a lion hunt or by visiting the city of which he is the patron saint - Venice, Italy.

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday

In the 1930's, Jesus appeared to a Polish num named  Sister Faustina to help the world develop a devotion to His Divine Mercy.  He instructed her to have a the image at left painted and that he wanted the Sunday after  Easter to be declared  Divine Mercy Sunday.   All of this, she obediently and humbly did and so this is Divine Mercy Sunday.

Sister Faustina was later declared a Saint by Pope John Paul II, and this is Divine Mercy Sunday.  Many people participate in the Feast of Divine Mercy by saying a Divine Mercy Chaplet Novena beginning on Good Friday and leading up to this day, as well as participating in confession and communion.   This is the 3rd year that our family has participated in the novena, and we are especially devoted to it.  We have received many, many graces and blessings as a result from this devotion.  If you would like more information about his event, please see http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/feast.htm.

Unfortunately, I am not able to get to our church today to participate in the singing of the Chaplet because I have to attend a swim team meeting.  In fact, I had better leave now.  But I sent my husband and 3 or the boys, and I hope they enjoy it.