The Real Presence: I Am Here...I Am Right Here

When one makes the decision to convert to Catholicism, there can still be hurdles standing in the way.  For some, it is Mary as such an important figure within the Church, or the use of statues or icons, or praying to the saints, or Eucharist as the actual body and blood of Christ.  Everyone's reasons for converting are different as everyone's personal story is different.  For me, I always knew the truth lied within the Catholic Church...it was really a matter of how and when I would be able to finally claim that truth as my own.  I always believed in God, I wanted to believe in Christ, but my faith in Him was questionable - at times more than others.  For some reason, I kept hanging on to that truth though, knowing I would come to know Jesus as the Truth.  For me, He was always like a light at the end of a tunnel that I could barely see flickering now and again, appearing and disappearing, close and then elusive but all the while a light I knew was there beckoning me to continue down, stumbling all the way in mostly darkness.  

My biggest obstacle in that darkness was the idea of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist that is offered at every mass, every day, all around the world.  It was what united us as Catholics; that we share in the body and blood of Christ.  As a sometime attendee of the Episcopal church growing up, I was taught that the Eucharist was symbolic and nothing more.  Before converting, I thought the idea of the real presence was a little silly and one that I could just easily overlook because I agreed with everything else.  That thought strikes me as so funny as I sit here and type that now.

I think the first time I was faced with the fact that I had been denying Jesus was when my husband and I went to see "The Passion of the Christ" on Ash Wednesday the year the movie came out.  I, like the three hundred pound gentleman sitting next to me in the standing room only theater, sobbed like a little baby.  I knew what God was telling me about the sacrifice Jesus made for us - for me.  I knew the promise He had given us.  I knew His presence - His real presence - was in the Eucharist waiting for me each mass.  I began approaching the altar for communion with much more reverence after that.  However, as time rolled on, my human-ness crept in from time to time and I would catch myself in mass thinking, "Really?  Is that really you Lord?"

It is so difficult for us mortals to see past what we can only plainly see with our eyes.  There is so much more to this world than what we can plainly see.  As I have stated before, it's like there's a theater curtain all around us at all times that if we could only just reach out and pull back, we would see the true reality - the reality of the spiritual world.  If only we could pull that curtain back from time to time.  Perhaps it would be too scary for us?  

So I have had my struggles with the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  I'm sure many others have as well.  I can tell you there is a complete and total serene sense whenever I am in His presence for adoration.  We are so lucky to have the opportunity to sit in quiet with our Lord, talk to Him, ask Him questions...and just listen.  I have poured my heart out to Him in adoration, and I knew He was listening.   His answers always came, not on my time or on my terms, but they came.  He listens and He is really there...the real presence.  

I will end this posting with telling you of a dream I had last week.  I hesitate to write this, yet something is telling me to share it.  I dreamt I was standing outside the entrance to our church and I noticed an elderly man sitting in a small desk right in front of the church entrance.  I kept staring at him thinking how odd that he seemed to be a person of prominence, yet I did not recognize him.  I am active enough in our parish that I would know someone sitting there in that position - yet he was unrecognizable.  He had a hat on and he was staring straight ahead.  No one was paying him any attention, which I also thought was strange.  Just then, he turned and looked right at me.  His hat instantly came off and I noticed he was bald.  He wasn't just bald, he appeared hairless, and his skin was grey.  His eyes...they were black.  He smiled a most horrible smile and his teeth and gums were grey.  The darkness I felt when I looked into his eyes was immense, and it felt like I was starting to fall backwards.  I looked up and cried out, "Lord, where are you?"  Immediately, I was floating inside the church up the aisle towards the altar.  Above the altar, a large eucharist was suspended in air.  I was fixated.  I heard a man's voice say, "I am here.  I am right here."  

It doesn't matter what is going on in the everyday grind.  What matters is that Christ is the one in charge. He is wholly present in the Eucharist.  He is waiting for each of us.  I urge you to visit adoration during Lent.  He is calling and wants us to listen.  Take time for yourself, cut out all the background static, and spend quiet time with our Lord.  You will never regret it.

Navigating High School and College: Are Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex Rites of Passage?

So, even though I am fired up over what is happening in our country politically right now, I would like to get away from that for a moment and talk about dating, high school, and college.  As I have yet to send my kids through college (only one in high school so far), I probably still have a pollyanna outlook on what the big picture should look like.   Having said that, I also believe in having high expectations for your children - not impossible standards, but high standards.

I was speaking with a neighbor today and she was telling me that when she was in college in the early 60's the dorms were all separated women from men - no coed dorms.  She mentioned that there were no visitors of the opposite sex allowed in dorm rooms and that if your room wasn't picked up, you'd receive demerits.  Sounds like an impossibility?  We have gotten so far away from our morals in this country that it sounds like an impossibility.

Colleges today are breeding grounds for premarital sex, std's, abortions, large quantities of alcohol and drugs, and a general lack of discipline - not to mention our kids are becoming indoctrinated by the far left leaning liberal professors and administrators.  I used to think this was just a rite of passage - like everyone had to go through those experiences to grow up.  I have completely changed my mind.

As I am watching my teenage son navigate his way through high school here in a large metropolitan area in the year 2012, I am more and more convinced that we, as parents, must protect our children from situations that could harm them physically or spiritually.  As I've said before, my only job in life is to make sure my kids get to heaven.  It's really as simple as that.

It may seem awesome that your child is the most popular or is dating the most popular student, and is invited to all the parties, and is going to school dances in "party buses", and is starting to drink and experiment with drugs (because after all, doesn't everybody?), but it's not awesome. It's anything but.  Children in these high school scenarios introduce a whole host of problems that come with a long list of far-reaching complications - issues that will stay with them possibly for life.  

As parents, it is our duty to establish the standard for which we expect our children to uphold, and then it is our duty to make sure we don't purposely place them in situations that could sabotage those standards.  It is a fact that girls involved in premarital sex suffer from depression.  Girls attach emotion to sex - it's the way God created us.  We become emotionally bonded for life with the person we are supposed to save ourselves for.  We become emotionally bonded through the sexual act.  Boys don't have this inclination as much.  Boys and girls in high school are too young and too immature to handle such a mature decision and all the issues that could potentially arise from such a decision (contraception - which comes with its own list of side effects, abortion - which becomes a permanent scar on a woman's soul, std's, depression, etc.)

Why on earth would we willingly send our children into these scenarios in high school?  College is worse!  The kids are having a field day with an over abundance of alcohol, drugs, and premarital sex.  They don't even realize how they are harming themselves, and their parents aren't guiding them away from these things by sending them to our big state institutions.  Heck, big state institutions aren't the only culprits - it's really any college nowadays.  Last week there was a report of a small no-name college in Pennsylvania that offers the morning-after pill in a vending machine in its health center.  Great!  So, those parents that chose to send their beloved daughters off to the small local school are essentially allowing that school to possibly kill their grandchild and harm their child physically and spiritually with a toxic drug readily available in a vending machine.

What's the answer?  For Catholics, I advise you to do three things.  First of all, I am advocating that parents really watch their kids in high school and set firm boundaries...and stick to them.  Secondly, find the "Cardinal Newman Society" through the internet and follow them through fb or twitter or emails as they set the standard for exposing Catholic colleges and universities for encouraging a liberal agenda.  Thirdly, buy the Newman's Guide to Choosing a Catholic College.  It lists colleges around the nation that are strict in their Catholic doctrine and their catholicism is a way of life...as it probably is in your own homes.  I would just ask you to think about how parents who worry about whether or not their babies are eating organic baby foods and wearing organic clothing become parents who willing send their children off to bastions of liberal academia and excessive sin like lambs to the slaughter.  If you love your children, you will always protect and defend them, no matter how old they are.  They do not need to go through alcoholism, drug experimentation, "hook-ups", introduction to a group 1 carcinogen in the form of the birth control pill, std's, depression, and low self esteem to become wonderfully grounded young men and women - pillars in our society.

Here is the link to the Cardinal Newman Society:
http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/

Here is the guide to Catholic colleges:  Newman Guide

HHS Mandate Attacks the Belly of the Church, Literally!

A few people have asked me recently why Obama would pick such a gigantic fight with the Catholic Church...right now...before an election.  I'm supposing he felt he needed to rally his super-left, as he knows the American population can't stand him and he fears being a "one-term wonder".  However, his decision baffles even me.

Is it purely evil at its core?  Am I crazy to think this?  Have I gone off the right wing slide into the great abyss of frenzied "Christians"?  I don't know, but I don't think so.  Let me point out just a few objective facts.

God chose to come to the world to save His people in the form of a baby to the womb of an unwed teenage girl.
Mary said yes to LIFE and our lives were changed forever.  Our world was changed forever.
Satan ultimately desires the destruction of Christ, his Church, his teachings...his followers.
Satan attacks Christ in the belly of other young mothers in the form of abortion, sterilization, and contraception (which itself can cause spontaneous abortion).
Satan has attacked this great nation under God through women's wombs - he is destroying the family unit...violence, murder, death, despair, defeat, depression, physical and mental abuse.
Satan knows the leader of the free world is already not Christian - he's half in the bag, so to speak.
President Obama chose a Catholic as his Vice President.
President Obama chose a Catholic as the head of Health and Human Services - the agency in charge of spearheading contraceptive issues (under the guise of helping the poor).
President Obama has a powerful Catholic friend in Congress - former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
All three of those Catholics are marginal Catholics at best - the last two should be excommunicated in my opinion.
President Obama passed Obamacare so quickly that no one even had time to read it - how that happened still baffles me.
President Obama issues this mandate ordering all employers offer free contraception, sterilization, and the morning after pill - regardless of religious principles.
President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius attack the fundamental core beliefs of the Catholic Church - they are going for the belly.
If the Church is the bride of Jesus, Satan is attacking the bride in the belly...the womb.  What greater way to inflict more destruction on the American family than mandated violence on women and their life-giving wombs?
Satan is using Obama and Kathleen Sebelius.

We Americans cannot allow the wool to be pulled over our eyes.  ALL of us must stand up against this mandate. It is evil at its core.  I believe President Obama's agenda all along was to try to topple the Church.  He wants a socialistic non-religious society.  He knew fair well what he was doing choosing Biden as his running mate and Sebelius as the head of HHS.  He chose well.  He chose marginal Catholics to do his dirty work and put it under the veil of "well, all Catholics feel this way."  Not so, President Obama, not so.  We will fight you and we will win.  Jesus always wins.

Today, EWTN announced they are the first Catholic entity to sue the US government over this issue.  Sign the petition:
EWTN Sues Govt. to Stop Contraception

America is Sleeping

MARCH FOR LIFE JANUARY 22, 2012

So much has been happening both personally (my baby girl turned one) and nationally, that I have not had time to sit down and write.  On January 22nd, approximately 400,000 people descended upon our nation's capitol to walk in protest over the Roe v Wade decision that tragically and drastically changed the face of our nation these last 39 years.  The media barely covered it, of course...which always seems to astound me every year.  How is it that news agencies all over the U.S. do not seem to find half a million people from 50 states congregating in one spot to march for a beloved cause "newsworthy"?  How is that even possible?  Is it just that they turn a blind eye because the March for Life occurs every year - kind of a "yawn, there go the right wingers again"?  Or is it they turn their backs because they march for LIFE?  Is the topic too controversial or is it abhorrent?  Evil works best in the dark, so it is not a stretch of one's imagination to believe that pro-aborts are "in the dark".

The topic of evil leads me to my next topic, which is the decision by the Obama administration to impose their idea of health on every person in the US, regardless of how one's faith might dictate his/her view of health.  Kathleen Sebelius (a supposed Catholic from the heartland of America), her department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and President Obama have just mandated that contraception and sterilization be covered 100% by all insurances starting in 2013.  Of course as Catholics, we cannot live with this decision.  We will not abandon God's rules for our nation's.

This is no different than mandating that all Jews must begin eating bacon, and all Jewish employers must cover the cost of the bacon for every one of their employees. When we step back and look at that example, it sounds ridiculous.  It would be a ridiculous request and if mandated, there would be very loud protests in the streets by people of all faiths standing up for our Jewish brethren.  What if the government began mandating that all "environmentalists" must begin paying for the destruction of our forests because we needed the wood for building supplies and the land for construction.  It wouldn't matter where the forests were and ALL U.S. citizens would have to pay for the cutting down of our precious trees and forest habitats - regardless of your beliefs. Again, that is a ridiculous example because we all know the kind of protests that would ensue over that one!  These examples are actually nothing in comparison to how we Catholics feel about the mandate from Kathleen Sebelius and President Obama.  They cannot make us pay for abortions, sterilization, or contraception - which can lead to cancers, sterilization, and abortion.  We Catholics stand for LIFE.  We will not take part in the destruction of life.

On the White House's blog page, one can find a blog written February 1 by Cecilia Munoz, regarding this issue.  In her blog, she states that there has been some confusion and she wants to clarify, so she states some "facts".  There are two of these seven "facts" which stood out to me.  The first one is that she says according to a study by Guttmacher, 98% of Catholic women "have used contraception".  There is no follow up to that sentence...just that "fact".  That is an IDIOTIC statement.  First of all, even if 100% of Catholic women have used contraception, it does not mean they are still currently using contraception and don't regret it.  Once you find out the harmful effects oral contraceptives can do to a woman's body, you run from them - not walk.  Secondly, even if 100% of Catholic women are currently using contraception and love it, it doesn't make it right....and it doesn't mean the Church should compromise its principles and tell its precious women they will begin paying for something that has the potential to kill them and any potential babies.  It's like saying, well, all Catholics sin, so they shouldn't go to church anymore.  IDIOTIC!

The second point in Ms. Munoz's blog which more than irritated me (it is a terrifying statement) is the following statement:

"Contraception coverage reduces costs: While the monthly cost of contraception for women ranges from $30 to $50, insurers and experts agree that savings more than offset the cost.  The National Business Group on Health estimated that it would cost employers 15 to 17 percent more not to provide contraceptive coverage than to provide such coverage, after accounting for both the direct medical costs of potentially unintended and unhealthy pregnancy and indirect costs such as employee absence and reduced productivity."


This, my friends, is government-mandated population control.  She outright says that it will be cheaper in the long run for these things to be covered 100% in healthcare by employers because the cost of pregnancy, birth, and time away from the job after birth is more expensive.  I don't remember "we the people" giving the government the right to tell us when we should be having babies and how many we should have.  The fact that this woman blatantly writes this on the White House's blog shows you this administration's audacity to force its views down the American people's throats.

I have a friend who recently immigrated from South America.  She said to me, "America is sleeping."  It doesn't get any more serious than that.  AMERICA WAKE UP!  If the President can get away with this, he will not stop with Catholics.  He has already proven time and again he is no friend of Israel.  We are a Christian nation built on the principle that we are one nation "under God" - meaning God is at the top.  God is first.  We also adhere to separation of church and state - meaning the government cannot overstep its bounds and ask its people to abandon their beliefs (so long as they are not breaking laws).  The government has overstepped its bounds.  They are asking Catholics to abandon their faith.  They are asking Catholics to disobey God outright.  It will not happen.  Thankfully, the American bishops are fighting!  I have faith this will get shot down by the Supreme Court, which leads me to...why in the world did they do this anyway?  I have a few reasons - starting with Obama's arrogance - but I will digress.

On a happy note, my baby girl turned one today.  I can't believe it's already been one year - one year since I first held my daughter's tiny hand, stared into her blue eyes, smelled her pink skin, and nursed her in my arms.  She is a miracle I prayed for my entire life. I promised God that if I had a girl I would protect her.  I would protect her innocence and her self-respect.  I have done that and I will continue doing that.  Life is precious and it can be fleeting.  As we mover farther away from the twentieth century, I am wondering just how "left" will we move as a nation before we come back to center?  How far do we have to sail off-course before America finds its wind again to sail on a straight path and lead the fleet?  I am hoping this next election brings change - not the kind of change Obama promised - but a shift in our society to begin seeing and reaching for truth.  We must always strive to be what our forefathers wanted us to be.  They put so much careful thought and planning into the founding documents of this nation - documents we must all be familiar with so that our rights aren't completely trampled on as they are being trampled on by this latest HHS decision.

As I stated before, evil lurks in the dark, so keeping people in the dark is its greatest line of offense.  America, COME OUT OF THE DARK, STOP SLEEPING, AND WAKE UP!  This is not a dream.  We are living through a crucial time in our history.  I will not allow this administration to strip away my daughter's basic right to protect her own body, to cherish her body as the feminine life-giving vessel it was intended to be!

Results of Abortion Since Roe v Wade Jan.22, 1973

The 39th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision here in the US is approaching this Sunday the 22nd.  My family and I will be walking in our local Walk for Life.  Last year, our parish hosted it, but this year a neighboring parish will host it.  I am so thankful to finally be on the right side of this controversial topic and working to change people's hearts and minds.  It feels good to fight for the truth.

There are many results of this national decision that occurred back in January of '73, so I thought I'd outline some of them here.  Because of legalized abortion, our country has been an accomplice to approximately 55 million murders of innocent children...OUR children.  The deaths are gruesome and painful - many times the murders occur after the healthy baby has been born alive.  We are seeing more and more investigations into abortion clinics lately and finding this last fact to be true time and time again.  Some mothers have even died as a result of complications during an abortion.  We, as a nation, have these babies' and women's blood on our hands.  We have looked the other way for far too long.

Women who undergo an abortion suffer many psychological and physiological effects as a result.  Some of them are:  guilt, suicidal thoughts, mourning, low self-esteem, hostility, thwarted maternal instincts, desires to end relationships with partners, nightmares, gastro-intestinal disturbances, loss of appetite, loss of bodily organs, perforated uterus, coma, bleeding, infections, stillbirths, ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages, sterility, higher rate of breast cancer.  There are even more side effects which is hard to imagine. So this "freeing" decision, this "woman's choice", has resulted in murder - millions of times over - and psychological and physiological harm to our nation's women.  I hardly see that the Roe v Wade decision gave women a good choice.  I think one of the most astonishing facts to come from that fateful day is that Norma McCorvey "Jane Roe" of Roe v Wade is now prolife!  She speaks publicly and started her own pro-life ministry.  You can see her website here:  http://www.leaderu.com/norma/  If that's not enough testimony as to why the Roe v Wade decision was a bad one, I don't know what is.

If you are sitting on the fence about this topic, stop sitting.  Get up and join the fight!  Go find a walk this weekend - I bet there's one out there near you.  Contact your church and see what your Respect Life Ministry is doing.  If you are still in favor of legalized abortion, do some serious soul searching.  Murder is never okay!  We as citizens of the United States have the right to life.  Our babies belong to us - they are our citizens as well.  They are crying out for us to end this horrific genocide that we have turned a blind eye to.  Stop looking the other way and fight for what you know is true!

Here is Norma McCorvey's (Jane Roe's) pro-life commercial:

Here's to Being a Naked Cowboy in 2012!

Early evening in our house can be a bit like juggling scoops of ice cream - just quit while you're ahead because a meltdown is coming anyway!  Between trying to get dinner on the table for four children with very different appetites, cleaning up the aftermath of spilled or thrown or spit food, rounding up the cowboys for a wash down, bathing baby girl without one of the cowboys knocking her over while they are enroute to their nighttime snack or an ever-important HotWheels race, and finally bedtimes which vary with each child and from night to night depending on the day's activities, it's no wonder I'm usually dizzy by the time I crawl into bed around midnight each night.

The other night, however, as I was bathing baby girl, I heard my two year old cowboy coming down the hallway (as it's hard not to hear him coming), so I turned to look.  What I saw was a beautiful, just-bathed boy with blonde curly hair bouncing down the hallway - buck naked!  He was just bee bopping along without a care in the world as if everybody walks with ease around the house in their birthday suits.  It gave me such a laugh and I thought, "It doesn't get better than this!"  I had flashbacks of my six year old running down the hallway in nothing but cowboy boots when he was two, and of my fifteen year old greeting guests at the door in nothing but cowboy boots when he was two!

This is LIFE!  In my sleep-deprived daily haze, I know this time will pass and I will miss it.  Small children are like naked little souls for us to learn from. They haven't yet put on their sweaters to protect themselves from life's cold shoulders or their suits of armor to protect themselves from life's piercing moments.  We can be more like them though and shed our heavy outerwear and armor.  It's difficult to be a light to the world with those things covering us up.  This new year, I will try to strip myself from things that keep me from showing God's light.

It's hard to bare ourselves for the world to see, but I kind of feel like everyone is just walking around with masks on - the masks they want us to see - not their naked faces, bodies, and souls that God created.  It's time to take all that junk off that's been weighing us down and be who God created us to be. There's no time like the present, so go be like my naked little cowboys and take the bull by the horns.  Go make 2012 the best year of your life by exposing your God-given talents.  Here's to the New Year!

Happy trails...

Entre le Boeuf et L'ane Gris (Between the Ox and the Grey Donkey)

Many years ago I offered to step in and help out my son's school by filling in for the third grade teacher who quit in the beginning of October with no notice.  The school was in a bind and was thinking of hiring daily subs for the remainder of the year.  I was at home not doing too much.  I had quit teaching middle school the year prior to hopefully become pregnant again, but that plan failed.  I could feel God tugging on my heart strings for these little third graders.  I did have some hesitation in offering to teach them - they were known to be an extremely difficult class.  There were twenty boys and five girls.  The boys weren't easy boys either.  No teacher up to that point had been able to control them.  When I was a middle school teacher I used to watch that class as they were coming up and think, "Whew, I hope I'm not teaching anymore by the time they're in middle school."  Funny how man plans and God laughs!

I delved into my new job just before Halloween thinking, "Honestly, how hard can they be? I am a middle school teacher, afterall!"  I can tell you they handed me my head on a silver platter every day for the first month and a half.  They were so out of control and had been allowed to be so for such a long time, that I used to spend class time just having them practice lining up at the door, sitting back down, getting books, sitting still, sitting silently, etc.  The first two weeks with them, I jumped up on the saddle, but lost the reigns and the horse dragged me with my feet still in the stirrups.  The next couple of weeks, I slowly climbed up on the saddle, grabbed the reigns, the horse took off, and I held on for dear life, not controlling the horse whatsoever.  The few weeks after that, I felt a turning point.  I stayed on the horse, I held on to those reigns, and I actually commanded that horse more times than not.

The turning point with that class was about three weeks before Christmas when the school was practicing for a multicultural fair and our country would be France.  We had to represent France at Christmastime.  I decided I would teach these very busy and loud  children a very quiet Christmas carol and have them sing it in French!  THAT was the undertaking of the century!  I found a traditional French carol that was very beautiful and slow, so it fit the bill perfectly.  Of course those children bucked at the beginning, but they began to like it and before you knew it, all twenty of those boys and all five of those girls were singing that French carol like angels.  We practiced and practiced and practiced.  I had something to prove.  These children were innocent children being deprived of a quality education because adults in their lives had washed their hands and given up...twenty boys, afterall.  I would prove to our school that these children were able to be molded and shaped - they were pliable and able to change.  They would see something in themselves they never even knew existed.  They might see a potential they had never seen before.  Perhaps their parents and former teachers would see them as they had never been seen before.  They would shine anew this Christmas if I had anything to do with it.

I will never forget the looks on the faces of the teachers and administrators of the school when these students began to perform this song.  It was quiet, calm, and angelic.  My students sang slowly, calmly, and with control.  It was definitely a turning point in the year.  I had gained control of those reigns and I would not let them go until June.  From January to June, a lot of learning occurred.  Manners were learned.  Self control was practiced.  They learned empathy for each other.  They began to detest other classes who were unruly (which made me giggle uncontrollably when they weren't around).  They would say, "Mrs. Orces, can you make that class be quieter?  They are disturbing us.  We can't do our work!"

This Christmas, for some reason, I have been thinking of this moment in time.  It was a beautiful rewarding moment in my life.  I saw the power of determination, hard work, good example, and prayer.  Even those whom others had deemed "gone" were not gone, but became new again.  These children allowed themselves to shed the ugliness and wear a new shiny suit of beauty.  It was beauty that emanated from the inside out.

I can't help but think about how I could change this Christmas while waiting the birth of the Messiah.  Am I waiting for my king to come?  Am I ready?  Have I readied my heart?  Am I wearing my new shiny suit?  What about you?  Are you holding anything in or holding back so that you are still wearing that "ugliness"?  Our Lord and Savior is coming.  He is Emmanuel!  We, as Catholics, have to step outside of the secularism of Christmas.  We must ready ourselves for the birth of Jesus, and we must show the world our joy.  God chose to come to earth as an infant born in a dirty stable "between an ox and a donkey" (entre le boeuf et l'ane gris).  The words "humble beginning" don't even begin to describe Jesus' arrival.  He chose to be born into a family as a helpless baby with a very young unwed mother.  This is how God sees His world - imperfect.  We are imperfect, but we are always pliable...moldable.  We can change as easily as children can.  We can become shiny and new.  Christ is always calling us.  He is coming.  His birth is imminent.  It is through this infant child - God's only Son - that we are able to cleanse ourselves even if we come from humble beginnings or are stained from life's dirty stable that we may find ourselves in now.  Prepare the way and prepare your heart for Christ the King...a king born between an ox and a donkey.

Giving Thanks

Goodies from a Thanksgiving past

If it weren't for those mighty strong early British settlers and the Native Americans who helped them survive that first winter, we wouldn't have this glorious holiday.  My ancestors came to this country from England and Ireland not long after the original flock of Pilgrims, so I have always had a soft spot in my heart for this day.  My relatives lived and died for this country and the promise it brought.  I am thankful to them for their strength and tenacity.

It is difficult to imagine life back then and the perils they encountered.  We have become so comfortable in our wealth and common comforts, that it would be unconscionable to think of sleeping outside in the elements or afraid of closing our eyes at night for fear of an attack from a band of foreign peoples.  How long would we last if we had to hunt down our food - or grow it from seed...all of it?   What if we had to build our homes just from things we could find growing around us? How would we stay warm when the temperatures dipped towards freezing or below?

I think of the women of that time and I can't help but be in awe of them.  We women have more on our plates than men when it comes to "adventuring".  I can not imagine being pregnant and giving birth at that time in our nation's history.  How many women on those original ships were pregnant?  How many women survived and gave birth to healthy children?  That actually seems like a miracle when you consider how the odds were stacked against them.

Yes, this nation was founded on strength, tenacity, sheer will, and faith.  Faith was the glue that bound those early settlers.  Their prayers during that first winter were heard and they prayed in thanksgiving over that large meal they shared with their Native American friends.

This Thanksgiving, my family and I will pray and thank God for all of the blessings He has bestowed upon us.  I can't imagine being any richer.  I am thankful for so many things this year: the Church, my husband, my children, our health, our home, our friends, and our extended family.  I am also thankful for all of you who stop by to take a peak at this blog.  This has really been a blessing in my life to be able to finally put all of my sometimes incongruent thoughts "down on paper".  My husband has been telling me for twenty years to write, so this is my start.  I have really been enjoying maintaining this blog, as well as getting to see the numbers of people who read it and the countries from which they hail.  I wish all of you a blessed Thanksgiving filled with love, health, and full bellies.  May God bless each and every one of you!

Duggars say YES to Twenty!

Okay, I'm feeling a definite need to respond to people's comments about the Duggars being pregnant with their twentieth child.  My comment is, "Congratulations!  I'm so happy for them!"  This family is an example to us all on how to keep our eyes on the Lord.  Their priorities are straight...God and family.  And God is blessing them richly.

I have seen comments like, "they are disgusting" and "they are irresponsible."  Really?  Since when was having children disgusting?  Since when did it become irresponsible for a husband and wife who are madly in love with each other to have a large family?  The Duggars are doing just fine.  They feed, clothe, bathe, love, and provide a beautiful home for their children.  They are raising every single one of them without financial assistance from the government so they are not a burden to society at large.  They homeschool all of their children, so they are actually paying into the public school system but not taking from it in any way.  They instill strong Christian principles into all of their children.  They attend Church every weekend, even hosting their entire church in their own home on occasion.  They are stewards to the community at large by helping in soup kitchens, rebuilding people's homes after storms, etc.  They also make sure that every single one of their children can play an instrument or two - I believe their main instrument of choice is the violin.  Hmmmm, irresponsible?  disgusting?  I'm not really seeing what is so disgusting or irresponsible about them.

Is it that people think they might have a child with a disability now that Michelle is 45?  Is that really up to you to decide?  (I'm sorry to make this analogy but it reminds me of when so many people said they wouldn't vote for John McCain because he would probably die while in office from his skin cancer.  Guess what?  He's still very well alive.)  God sends his children to us with all types of imperfections all the time.  They are still God's children and made in His image.  They are supposed to be here.  They are not mistakes.  That attitude makes me ill.  Someone said to me today, "I don't mean to be selfish, but I wouldn't want one with problems."  Really?  REALLY?  Guess what?  All children will have problems at one time or another.  They're just all different and sometimes they don't manifest until much later.  It may be as simple as having trouble in school socially, or it may be at the other end of the spectrum such as having cerebral palsy.  All children are children of God made in His image, and all children are blessings.

I'm happy for the Duggars.  They are an inspiration to me as I deal with my daily struggles with my measly four - compared to their nineteen!  I will pray for them and their newest twentieth addition on the way.  I will pray that some people in our culture who would otherwise despise everything they represent begin to see the beauty that is in the Duggar family.  They are anything but disgusting or irresponsible.  I can think of many other adjectives to describe them and those two would not be there.  I wish them well.

p.s.  For anyone who does not know who the Duggars are, they are a large family who has a show on The Learning Channel.  You can see all about them here:  The Duggar Family

As Halloween Approaches, Keep Your Eyes on the Lord

Growing up in and around the occult, I was acutely aware that evil lurked among us.  I'm not really sure why I knew that since the occult was kind of "my norm".  Perhaps God was speaking to me at a very young age and warning me of the potential door openings with this type of behavior.  I would like to think so...and I feel fortunate that I heard Him.

It wasn't  until I entered the Catholic faith and began doing research, that I realized just how many doors it can open.  As I looked back at familial situations and relationships, I realized there were dark forces at hand.  I'm sure there are people you have known that just don't feel trustworthy or there have been situations that you felt were being controlled by someone with a black heart. Your instincts were probably right.

I think these forces can have a role in someone's life if that person takes his/her eyes off of God and lives for the secular/material world.  Those forces can have a role in someone's life if that person even dabbles in the occult...just a little bit.  All of those seemingly harmless things like astrology, numerology, psychics, tarot cards, etc. are not actually harmless.  They are a door you don't want to open.

If you keep your eyes on God and work for the glory of God in all you do and with all your heart, mind, and soul, the darkness can not invade.  It will shrink because you are living in the light.  When it's night and you accidentally turn on a bright light, you are temporarily blinded are you not?  It is just so bright and then everything in the room is very clear.  God is just like that.  You will be able to clearly see the choices you need to make, roads you may have to take.  It can only be done correctly in the light.

I'm wondering how many of you are living for the glory of God?  Are you working for His glory?  Are you evangelizing?  Are you role-modeling?  Are you being a good friend, wife, husband, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, daughter, son, grandmother, or grandfather?  God calls each of us in different directions, but the right direction is always lit by His light.  Follow his path.  Listen intently, and He will not steer you wrong.  It is when we veer off the "Glory of God" road that we get into trouble.

There is a battle going on all around us for souls.  I often wonder if it's a bit like pulling back a sheer curtain to see EXACTLY what's on the other side.  I almost feel it's that close...just a sheer curtain.  Be mindful of all your actions and thoughts - especially during this time of year.  Halloween is not by any stretch of the imagination a Christian holiday!  Be prayerful.  Keep your eyes on the Lord.  Do all things for the Glory of God and in the name of Jesus Christ!  St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle!