Just a Fat Sassy Grandma

He is the best listener!

After Mass this morning I wanted to start 2019 offering prayers for my kids

With Mary for Rebecca and Vickie to keep them in prayer through this year!

and asking Saint Joseph to pray for Skip, Adam, Harold and Glenn through this new year!

The first joyful mystery is the Annunciation – I think about all the holy people who had died in faith before the Gabriel came to see Mary. Some, Cain, Adam & Eve, Noah, had waited millennia for the gates of Heaven to be opened. Were they privy to the announcement? Was there celebration in the place of the dead because Mary said yes?

We are a people of the Incarnation and we so often forget.

Just read about building my spiritual army, an army of saints and holy souls to accompany my on this journey of spiritual warfare called life. I forgot to bring pen and paper so I will start here.

It’s hard to imagine that my loved ones who have died are not in Heaven but it may very well be the case that they are suffering in Purgatory – I do know we are not perfect beings – and so need my, our, prayers. And if they have reached Heaven than those prayers for them are magnified by them for another poor soul suffering Purgatory. So I begin my army with my dad, Paul. It is truly hard to imagine he may not have been a saint right away with how he lived everyday as a gift from God. So what a soldier to have march with me and the saint we know to accompany him – Bernard of Clairvox (sp?).

My sister Kathy, along with her baby, who died 33 years ago. Wow! Time flies! And her partner is Saint Anne, the mother of Mary, grandmother of Jesus.

My little sister, Theresa, who taught us all so much about the beauty of suffering and she needs a very playful, humorous partner and that will be Teresa of Avila. One of her famous quotes, after a fall is “If this is how You treat Your friends, no wonder why You have so few of them!”

That’s my start as I pray my rosary this morning, I offer it for Dad, Kathy and Thersa and ask Bernard, Anne and Teresa to pray with me. For them

On our way to Pittsburgh I wanted to see if I could find an adoration chapel to pray on Saturday and as big as Pittsburgh is – I only found one that is perpetual! But, what a gem!

Skip and I started our Saturday morning there and were in such awe of the beauty, reverence and number of young people kneeling in adoration. So we decided to attend Sunday Mass there before we left Pittsburgh.

What an experience! Such a reverent worship! No one putting on a show. No one drawing attention to themselves – all attention was drawn to the One who offered Himself as the very first Sacrifice!

http://www.thepittsburghoratory.org/

We met Brother Reed after Mass who is on fall break from studying for the priesthood. He told us they were preparing for 60 seminarians to come in that day who would spend the week evangelizing at Pitt and CMU. How cool is that!?

Now it’s time to learn about oratories, and the Oratarions of Saint Philip Neri. Here is a link to their blog.

http://oratorianvocations.blogspot.com/p/theoratorian-vocation-you-may-say_18.html?m=1

I think this will be a quest – to visit an oratory where ever I travel.

And then a quote from my meditation that struck me today…..

“There is no doubt about it: a person who loves pleasure, who seeks comfort, who flies from anything that might spell suffering, who is over-anxious, who complains, who blames, and who becomes impatient at the least little thing which does not go his way – a person like that is a Christian only in name; he is only a dishonor to his religion, for Jesus Christ has said so: ‘Anyone who wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross every day of his life, and follow Me.'” Saint John Vianney

Angels of God, our guardians dear, of all my friends, family, associates, and all who have lit candles here and those lit for, to whom God’s love commits us here. Ever this day be at our sides, to light, to guard, to rule and guide.

Angels, please let us feel your presence walking with us. Shelter us. Laugh with us. Cry with us. Pray with us. Show us the only way to fill our hearts and that is with the love of God.

My Angel, as you pray with me today, please help my pray be efficacious for all those intentions I hold in my heart, for poor souls in Purgatory and especially for those intentions that our Blessed Mother has.

Amen.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you, save souls!

‘We have no alternative,’ St. Josemaria Escriva teaches, ‘there are only two possible ways of living on this earth: either we live a supernatural life, or we live an animal life. And you and I can only live the life of God, a supernatural life’

Every day I ask Saint Michael to protect and defend us from the devil and all his evil minions.

Every day I remember Saint Gabriel’s words to our Blessed Mother and Queen.

But I don’t, often enough, invoke Saint Raphael so I made an effort to read and pray with him today…..

Raphael called the two of them aside privately and said to them: “Bless God and give him thanks before all the living for the good things he has done for you, by blessing and extolling his name in song. Proclaim before all with due honor the deeds of God, and do not be slack in thanking him.

A king’s secret should be kept secret, but one must declare the works of God and give thanks with due honor. Do good, and evil will not overtake you.

Prayer with fasting is good. Almsgiving with righteousness is better than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold,
for almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life, but those who commit sin and do evil are their own worst enemies.
Raphael’s Identity.

“I shall now tell you the whole truth and conceal nothing at all from you. I have already said to you, ‘A king’s secret should be kept secret, but one must declare the works of God with due honor.’
Now when you, Tobit, and Sarah prayed, it was I who presented the record of your prayer before the Glory of the Lord; and likewise whenever you used to bury the dead.
When you did not hesitate to get up and leave your dinner in order to go and bury that dead man, I was sent to put you to the test. At the same time, however, God sent me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah.

I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand and serve before the Glory of the Lord.”
Greatly shaken, the two of them fell prostrate in fear.

But Raphael said to them: “Do not fear; peace be with you! Bless God now and forever.

As for me, when I was with you, I was not acting out of any favor on my part, but by God’s will. So bless God every day; give praise with song.

Even though you saw me eat and drink, I did not eat or drink anything; what you were seeing was a vision.

So now bless the Lord on earth and give thanks to God. Look, I am ascending to the one who sent me. Write down all that has happened to you.” And he ascended.

They stood up but were no longer able to see him.

They kept blessing God and singing his praises, and they continued to give thanks for these marvelous works that God had done, because an angel of God appeared to them.

Tobit chapter 12

Father, thank you for the angels you surround us with that keep us safe and free from harm. Let us always remember to keep them laughing! Thank you for the safe passage through the dense fog this morning.

And thank you for my grandchildren. What an honor to be called Grandma! Bless all the grandparents and their grandchildren that will be at grandparents lunch today.

Once again I earnestly pray for families broken apart. I pray they can find forgiveness of each other. Please grant comfort and sanity to the matriarch and strength and humility to the patriarch. Give them the urge to get on their knees and cry out to you for help and healing. Please have their angels guide them and pray with them.

I pray for those who are owners or managers of businesses. Give them the strength and humility to know what is right and good for the people in their charge. Help them in times of change to weather through and keep afloat.

I pray for all the sick and dying. Please send healing, strength and courage to face the new day.

And above all dear Lord, I ask that your will be done.

Amen

Father, thank you for this day, for this life and for all those you place in my life. Please help me to be the person you want and designed me to be.

You know who I hold in my heart today and for whom I pray

Angels of God, their guardian dears, to whomst God’s love commits them here. Ever this day be at their sides, to light, to guard, to rule and guide.

And may they find so much joy today that their angels laugh with them!

Amen!

“We have a tendency to think only about self-protection, safety, and avoidance of trouble,” says Bishop Robert Barron, “This tends to be our primary frame of reference. But God thinks relentlessly in terms of love, even when that love entails suffering. So, we ask ourselves, what is our final frame of reference? Is it, ‘How do I avoid pain?’ or is it, ‘How do I love?’ So, if I wake up every morning and my basic question is ‘How am I going to avoid pain?’ then I am going to live my life in a certain way – ultimately, a selfish way. But if when I wake up in the morning I say, ‘How do I love today?’ then I will live the life of a saint.”