Both big and small!

As we look back at all we have to give thanks for this year, 2016, as well as what 2017 has in store remember:

Phillipians 4 – 6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I will be sure to remember all of you at tomorrow’s Mass and my family’s prayers around the turkey, crab casserole, German potato salad and other yummies that make a Watkins’ Thanksgiving dinner delicious.

Today is the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary – we all know her story don’t we??

We can see King Ludwig approaching the Queen; her apron filled with bread for the poor only to have him pull it aside to see a shower of roses fall?

But, there is little to prove this actually happened. Instead we have a loving husband who supported his young wife’s love for the poor. He is quoted as saying, ‘So long as she doesn’t sell the castle, I am happy with her.’

Born in 1207, married at 13-14 and dead by 24 and yet we know her to this day! Oh, that our lives would be as fruitful as hers in such a short period. St. Elizabeth, pray for us.

As for the king? Why, Christ the King!! This Sunday is that marvelous, yet often overlooked feast day. It will mark the end of the Year of Mercy and a wonderful opportunity for us to talk to our family about what it means to have Christ as our King!

Think of life in a castle, feast and fireplaces, long dresses, the princesses and princes, and allegiance to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. This Sunday is a great day to have your own little feast – cake and ice cream, construction paper crowns and a recitation of a prayer like this:

Christ Jesus, I acknowledge You King of the universe.
All that has been created has been made for You.
Make full use of Your rights over me.

I renew the promises I made in Baptism,
when I renounced Satan and all his pomps and works,
and I promise to live a good Christian life
and to do all in my power
to procure the triumph of the rights of God
and Your Church.

Divine Heart of Jesus,
I offer you my efforts
in order to obtain that all hearts
may acknowledge your Sacred Royalty,
and that thus the Kingdom of Your peace
may be established throughout the universe.

Amen.

Take a listen to this lovely song by Natalie Grant as it so clearly speaks of how we love to think we are in charge when we have a loving and merciful king who wants nothing more than the very best for us.

King of the World

Who’s there?

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ, who?

…..Well, there’s really no good punchline to this is there?

Today’s first reading is from Revelation (3:20) which inspired this image. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.’

Considering Thanksgiving is right around the corner we can easily imagine inviting friends and family and those same people knocking and coming into our homes to dine and be with us. So it is with Christ. He awaits the invitation.

This is an invitation we need to extend every single day. Of course, as baptized Catholics, Jesus never departs from us but He will always await an invitation from us to be a part of our day. He wants to be welcomed to accompany us as we drive the kids hither and yon. He wants to sit on the couch as we watch TV and cruise the internet. He wants to be there when we make dinner or change a baby’s diaper.

Take a closer look at this classic image – notice one important fact – there is NO doorknob on the outside. Jesus cannot enter into our hearts and our lives without us opening the door ourselves.

While modern renditions of this painting have added doorknobs or latches on the outside, that was not the original artist’s (Warner Sallman) intention. He wanted to remind us very clearly, very visually that we are called to be directly involved in our own salvation and life.

Come on, get up and open the door, can’t you hear Jesus knocking?

Warner Sallman Collection Information

 

Today the world will be changed, though we do not yet know how. Every election does that – by its very nature and process. For better or worse, we will wake tomorrow in a different world.

BUT, our God remains unchanged and if we keep our eyes on Him and our hands firmly on the plow set before us, we shall endure and prosper – no matter what.

Happy Feast of the Holy Souls!

If you do not know this about me already, I have a real love and devotion for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. I have had this love since I was young – cemeteries held no fear for me but fascination. Who were all these folks whose bones were hidden under the earth? What lives did they live? What regrets did they have? What joys? And most importantly, where were they now?

This love I have is reflected in our Church’s teaching. Did you know there are over 30 Masses for the dead? And numerous saints and writers talk about developing a devotion to them as well.

St. Thomas Aquinas is said to have written that prayers for dead are the most meritorious and most acceptable to God as they encompass both corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Our prayers for the dead are given without expectation as they can give us nothing in return on this earth. No invites for dinner or birthday cards. Just their love and prayers for our salvation! Pretty good deal.

St. John Chrysostum tells us, “Why should we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers to them.”

But how? Here’s some easy ideas to develop a devotion towards souls in your home:

-As you pass any cemetery pray aloud:

“May the souls of the faithfully departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.”

My family adds the following: “Especially those who have no one to pray for them and those that have been forgotten.”

-As you pass a Catholic cemetery:

“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord and perpetual light upon their souls and all the souls of the faithfully departed rest in peace. Amen.”

St. Gertrude the Great gave us the prayer that is said to release 1000 souls from purgatory every time it is said:

Eternal Father I offer you the most precious blood of your divine son Jesus in union with the masses said throughout the world today for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, sinners in the universal church those in my own home and within my family. Amen. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

I’ve seen this prayer posted on the bathroom mirror and dashboard of the car of many a Catholic family. As you brush your teeth (in the bathroom) or wait for a red light (in your car) you can say this prayer a few times and gain some new friends. Real friends who will never forget your prayers.

Fr. Martin Jugie who wrote Purgatory and the Means to Avoid It (1949) tells us:

“Here is an easy means of surrounding ourselves in eternity with many grateful friends, whose gratitude will augment our glory in paradise: for we can make all the friends we wish in purgatory.”

How about that? “All the friends we wish….” The number of friends you have on Facebook or ‘likes’ you get from a post or selfie cannot compare to the numbers of souls who will forever remember you and your family with love and prayers if you pray for them!

Happy Feast of All Saints and Eve of All Souls! My love for Halloween comes only from the fact is is my sister’s birthday and my love for these special days comes from my devotion to the saint and the souls in Purgatory.

So with Halloween over for this year, can you handle a Catholic ghost story? No worries about the source as it comes directly from Ascension Press and Fr. Mike Schmidt.

I ain’t afraid of no ghosts

 

I know I have. More than once in my adult life I have complained about what I was enduring, shaken my fist at God and said, “I don’t remember applying for the job as the new Job!” What I was enduring was unnecessary and awful.

Thoughout these struggles, I have read and re-read the book of Job trying to get a better of understanding of the whole concept of how to handle “when bad things happen to good people”. I’m the good person and have endured the bad situations of unemployment (2x), miscarriage (multiple times) and my MS disability (on-going). I’ve gotten the lousy late at night phone call informing me of the passing of my Dad and arrived at Matt’s Dad’s bedside just a few minutes too late.

But I would always walk away from my reading and praying without any real clarity. I just couldn’t make sense of it at all. It just seemed to me God was being mean and punishing me. I was much like Job – I didn’t think I had done anything ‘wrong’ but still I was enduring such pain.

You know what I mean because I know you (all of us) have had those moments when we know, just know, God is asking more of us than we can possibly handle! It is all too much.

Author Regina Doman, well-known Catholic writer and head of Chesterton Press knows this all too well. And in response to her own pain, she didn’t whine and complain as I am prone to do. Rather she put pen to paper and gave all of us an amazing gift in her retelling of The Story of Job.

I picked up my own copy this past summer when I saw Regina at a conference. It spent several weeks on the bookshelf before I picked it up to read. It is not a long book, less than 50 pages! It even has great illustrations by Ben Hatke (of Zita the Spacegirl fame).

Immediately (and I mean immediately) after finishing this book I felt as if a weight was being lifted from my shoulders and my soul. In those short few pages, Regina told the familiar story of Job in such a way that my own struggles began to make a little more sense to me. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone in my family about it and it was now required reading (and re-reading) in the Watkins’ house.

For my older children, they also had lightbulb moments and a better understanding of just who and how God is. My younger kids read it and loved the illustrations more than the message. But in the end, my whole family knows the important message Job wants us to know…..which I don’t want to give away. But as a hint, I’ll quote the book:

“And God came.”

And so He did.

If you are looking for a wonderful Christmas present to give, I highly recommend this little gift of a book or really any of the other great books available at:

Chesterton Press

Such is the way of a seed or yeast (today’s Gospel, Luke 13:18-21).

It is so easy to talk ourselves out of doing something, anything isn’t it?

We can so easily talk ourselves out of turning off the TV, walking away from our computer, setting down our phone or anything else that is keeping us from spending more time with our children or spouse away from technology.

And we can just as easily talk ourselves into one more cookie, one more level of our current on-line game or falling asleep without saying ‘Good Night’ to God.

I know I struggle with those same lousy habits. I can easily tell myself, ‘It doesn’t matter, it’s only one ____________ (fill in the blank). I’m going good enough’ as I continue on letting my emotions or feelings or current attitude decide my course of action rather than God’s will and my vocation as wife and mother.

Not that any of those single items are bad, but they aren’t always the best and I’ve been trying to challenge myself to choose ‘the better path’ rather than the easiest one for a few weeks now.

So, every morning I ask God to help me a little more – add a little more yeast to my day or plant another mustard seed in my heart. That little bit may turn into a decade of the rosary as I’m driving kids to and from. Or holding Matt’s hand for an small prayer of thanksgiving for our marriage and family before falling asleep. Even talking to one of my kids without either of us looking at a computer screen! Nothing huge, but a small choice of better rather than being content with good enough.

Little stuff that I know God will make into something as big as a mustard plant or as delicious as warm bread. I can do my little bit knowing God (who is so much bigger, stronger and loving than me) will make it yield one-hundred fold.

 

Matt and I just finished this powerful book last night and I happily recommend it to anyone looking to both have a new introduction to the St. Therese’s spirituality and to reminded of just how much, how much God loves them and wants to help them become saints.

Seriously – it is a fantastic book.

We did each reading just before going to bed by ourselves (without our children). It was a great bedtime prayer routine as the Fr. Gaitley’s writing is clear, understandable and often a bit humorous.

If you are familiar with Fr. Gaitley’s other book, 33 Days to Morning Glory, I found this book much more approachable. It was easy to remember his points the next day and both Matt and I found ourselves renewed and refreshed in our faith and, as a nice bonus, our marriage!

While we did the Morning Glory as a family, we found that to be a bit heavier for the younger kids to grasp. However, by the end of the first week of Merciful Love, Matt and I realized we could easily have done this book with our kids (ages 21 – 9, at home). However, we kept doing it as a couple project and it led to some really amazing conversations.

While we could do the Consecration right away, we wanted to pick a ‘powerful feast’ in which to remember what we have done so we will be doing the consecration together on the Feast of Christ the King.

We would love to think that some of you might be doing it as well.

If you have read the book already and loved it as much as I did, please let everyone know!

33 Days to Merciful Love