Month: August 2018

This morning I pray especially for our Church, His pilgrim Church on earth. Father, help us come to and face the truth. Lead us to cleansing and healing. Make your children and your church firm in faith, filled with hope and overflowing with charity.

Send reminders to your priests that the Gospel was not a Gospel of social justice, but it IS a Gospel of charity. Where there is true charity there will always be social justice. Help them unabashedly preach the Truth in order to lead souls to spend eternity with you. No more pussy footing around to keep those who hear from being uncomfortable in the present. I ask to be uncomfortable here, in this life, in order to be comfortable in your arms in life eternal!

Give us true faith.

Let us be filled with the only Hope there is.

Lead us to practice the real virtue of charity.

Mary, Queen of Heaven and earth, pray for us!

Saint Monica, pray for us!

Saint Augustine, pray for us!

Saint Ambrose, pray for us!

In his epistle to the Romans, St. Ignatius of Antioch stated the importance of truly being Christian, not just being called one: “Only request in my behalf both inward and outward strength, that I may not only speak, but truly will; and that I may not merely be called a Christian, but really found to be one. For if I be truly found a Christian, I may also be called one, and be deemed faithful.”
It’s all a matter of being humble. Once, St. Bernard of Clairvaux compared the proud man to the top of a snow-capped mountain at the beginning of spring and the humble man to the valley below. The melting snow, which is God’s grace, cannot flow upwards to the proud man: Through his attitude (he thinks he is at God’s level), he has put himself in a position in which he is incapable of receiving God’s grace. On the other hand, the humble man, since he is at the bottom of the mountain, fully receives the water of God’s grace, and therefore he can bear abundant fruit. Only the humble man can be truly in contact with God and let God’s grace work miracles in his life.
Lord, help me to value my Christian identity. I know that to live in a Christian way does not come naturally to anyone. It can come only with your light and grace. Give me the grace to contemplate you more deeply, so that you can be the standard for my actions and reactions.

From Regnum Christi daily meditation

August Queen of the Heavens, heavenly Sovereign of the Angels, Thou who from the beginning hast received from God the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan, we humbly beseech Thee to send thy holy legions, so that under Thy command and through Thy power, they may pursue the demons and combat them everywhere, suppress their boldness, and drive them back into the abyss.

O good and tender Mother, Thou wilt always be our love and hope! O Divine Mother, send Thy Holy Angels to defend us and to drive far away from us the cruel enemy. Holy Angels and Archangels, defend us, guard us. Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Virgin Most Powerful, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
All You Holy Angels, pray for us.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This morning Father, I pray especially for those who preach your Gospel and for those who confect your Eucharist, that they fervently believe in the words of Christ in the Gospel today, and have their souls set on fire with the gift of faith in the gift of your Son’s Body and Blood. Show them the Face of Christ in the Eucharist.

Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, pray for us!

What a memory we have that I would not trade for anything! After a cancellation in July of a lunch tour at the Kentucky Castle we were finally getting to go on Friday! And our 3 princesses wanted to dress for the occasion. Here they are all ready to go!

As we pulled up to the castle the giddiness and giggles of the girls was infectious and I think Skip and I were just as excited! Doesn’t it show in the stoic expressions? That’s royalty for you!

The girls Stopped to take in all the sights as we went through the gates. The oohhs and the aahhs were priceless!

The adults there could not understand why the girls would be so dressed up and if we heard it once, we heard a version of this question 15 times or so – “Is it a birthday party they are dressed up for?” And our answer, repeatedly – “If you bring princesses to a castle they should dress like the royalty they are!” Too many adults have lost their imagination!!

The most beautiful princesses in the world – Princess Izzy, Princess Colette and Princess Kayla on the stairs of the Kentucky Castle.

The girls were greeted by all the staff and the staff knew they were visiting princesses. It wasn’t long before Patrick, our tour guide, came out and greeted the girls and introduced himself.

We still had about 20 minutes before the tour started so the girls wanted to walk around a bit.

In the library/gift shop

Checking out the window of one of the ballrooms

And the tour begins – notice how the adults don’t mind standing in front of the little ones? Too many adults don’t look at for the little ones around them!

So after some history and trivia here we go! To one of the towers – which is also one of the hotel rooms.

Of course, the adults all went first, up the stairs to see the room and tower, so the girls and I went outside to have Grandpa take a picture of me with my princesses.

And soon we could go up the stairs

The view from the balcony of the tower

Then back inside to see the main house

I can’t sing Patrick’s praises enough! He made my girls feel so special! When we returned to the main house he climbed a few of the stairs and said he had a special announcement  – and this was that there were 3 visiting princesses who were on this tour. Once again, all the adults had gone in front of the girls so they couldn’t see, so Patrick asked them to make room for the princesses to come through and come forward.

Patrick even remembered each of their names and presented them by name – Princess Kayla, Princess Colette and Princess Izzy.

This also gave the little girls a chance to be in front of the adults so they could see what Patrick was pointing out.

Now upstairs to one of the rooms and look who we found –

Princess Colette pointed out that the Queen was made of cardboard.

Hallway before we go to the roof

On the roof

Princess Kayla and Princess Colette wanted to pose with Patrick – Princess Izzy was done with it! She wanted lunch.

Princess Colette said her favorite part of the tour was Patrick, and she couldn’t stop talking about him! She said “My heart was so full when he presented us that I thought I was going to cry!”

And we have to check out the huge fireplace!

One curtsy, one look of surprise and one fainting.

With their serving wench and man servant.

https://www.thekentuckycastle.com/

“He was in the world and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him” (John 1:10-11). How this must have broken the heart of Christ to find himself unwelcome among those he came to save. And how often we leave Christ alone in our churches and chapels, with no one to visit him or acknowledge his presence there
Today we see how frequently Christ is refused entry into the world, and how frequently he is marginalized by so many of those who have great influence in society and in our culture. He is deliberately excluded from the world of politics, from the world of science, the arts, of business, law, and medicine. Often, he is treated in the media only when it chooses to ridicule him. As followers of Christ, we must bring him and his word of life back into every sphere of human activity, for a world without Christ is a world that knows neither its origin nor its destiny and will turn against man himself.

Lord, help me give it all to you today. All my joys and sorrows, all my successes and failings, all of me, for you can do more with them than I can. Make them all a prayer glorifying your Holy Name.

Jesus, give me courage to make your presence felt in the world around me. Let me not be afraid to show that my faith in you is the center of my life and gives meaning to all I do. Let me give witness of the joy I experience in living by your law in my life.

Open my eyes to see your glory all around me. Open my heart to love like you. Open my ears to hear the cries of the poor and the sound of rejoicing and open my hands to help.

Mary, Queen of Heaven and earth, pray for us!

I love coming at 5 AM on Mondays….. He is so beautiful, just waiting for me!

He is also waiting for you!

“One cannot know the Lord without being in the habit of adoring, of adoring in silence, I believe, if I am not mistaken, that this prayer of adoration is the least known among us; it is the one we engage in the least.”

“To waste time — if I may say it — before the Lord, before the mystery of Jesus Christ. To adore, there in the silence, in the silence of adoration. He is the Lord, and I adore Him.” Pope Francis

Dearest Father, I come this morning with such gratitude for all the undeserved blessings you have freely given me! Especially the gift of faith in You, your Son, and your Holy Spirit, thank you.

I have a hard time believing you have blessed me with 58 years on your earth and that even though I spent many years ignoring your presence, even denying your mighty hand, and working against your Word and your commands, you still gave me gift after gift, blessing after blessing! Oh, what a mighty, kind, loving God we serve!

Thank you for my family, and special thanks for the parents you chose for me, through them I learned of your love, through them, I learned you would never deny or turn your back on me, no matter how many times I did it to you.

My dad showed me what a loving father is and also what it means to “fear the Lord” and there is nothing frightful at all! It’s a healthy fear that guides you to do what is right and allows you to seek what’s best.

And what a family of siblings you showered on me! Such diverse personalities and opinions! Never a dull moment! Bless them all and shower them with your love!

Special prayers for the reposed souls of Kathy and Theresa – may they be dancing at your feet with our Dad looking on with pride!

Look at the family you have allowed me to be a part of creating! Oh how you blessed me even when I was cursing you. Please forgive me for those times I did not recognize your hand in my life.

I thank you for Adam and all the joys and challenges he brought. What a wonderful man he has grown into. Please bless him and put people in his life to lead him back to you.

Continue to give him the strength and tenacity to be a wonderful loving husband to Vickie and father to Kayla, Taylor and Derrick. Grant him the gift of patience.

For my beautiful daughter Rebecca, what a honor to raise a daughter, even though I did not recognize it at the time. Give her health, love and strength to be the best wife and mother she can be.

Continue to help her be the partner to Harold that you intend her so that they can lead their children to you. Bless them with love and strength of commitment.

For my golden boy, Glenn. I don’t think he knows how much he is truly loved! And the love I have for him, doesn’t hold a candle to the love you have for him. Please put people in his life that will remind him of your love and lead him back to you.

Please keep him safe and ask Saint Raphael to travel with him

For my husband, Skip, oh how sometimes I wish we had met a lot earlier, but I know it’s all in your time. Please keep him faithful to you. Allow him to continue to preach and teach to bring souls to you.

Help him find that niche where you want him and where his gifts will be of the greatest use.

I still have a hard time believing that you thought I was worthy to be a grandmother! Of all the people and things that have brought joy to me there is nothing that compares to the swell of joy I feel with my grandbabies! Thank you for Kayla, Colette, Izzy, Felix, Taylor and Derrick, please let them feel your presence in their lives. Keep them surrounded by your angels.

Help me be the best grandma and the grandma they need in their lives. Let me be an example of your unconditional love.

Thank you for allowing me to discover the talents you have given me and help me to use them to glorify You! Keep me grounded in the knowledge that my success is all due to you!

For the many friends you have gifted me, especially Ken and Diane, who have stuck with me through thick and thin. Oh, what changes we have shared in each others lives! Lead them and continue to shower your blessings and love on them.

So many other blessings I could enumerate, even those that were disguised as challenges, you know how grateful I am! Please accept my thanksgiving!

Bless all those you have put in my life, or will put in my life – I thank you for each and every one of them!

Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, pray for all your children!

Angels, surround and protect us!

Amen.