Lent in a Time of War

This Friday, our last before Lent (!!!), I have a post from my sister Shauna'h to share. 💜 I think we all have a lot on our hearts and minds as we approach Lent 2022, and Shauna'h has some beautiful resources to share with us. I'll be back with you soon as we journey through this pivotal season in our liturgical year. 

I had a much different piece planned for Life of a Catholic Librarian today. I was going to cheer you on as you plan your Lent and institute new prayer routines and visual reminders of your faith, just as Tiffany is. I was going to walk you through how my online program, Everyday Lenten Holiness, can help you form these routines and keep momentum with them to see you through until Easter Sunday and beyond. In some ways we will still talk about those things, but I couldn’t bear to cheerfully write to you while our collective hearts are shattered by the developing situation in Ukraine.

Lent is a time of drawing closer to God through prayer, sacrifice, and giving to the poor. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ's will more faithfully.”

Lent has suddenly taken on a new focus for me. There are areas of my life that I would like to clean up with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Many of my plans for what I will add in and take out remain the same, although others are developing differently. Perhaps you feel the same way, particularly in light of the Holy Father’s call to a “Day of Fasting for Peace” on Ash Wednesday. I feel helpless and, at times, hopeless as I watch events unfold in Ukraine. And I know that means it’s time to sink deeply into prayer and fasting.

Here are some ideas for bringing Ukraine into your Lenten goals and routines:

1. Prayer:

1. Novena for Peace in Ukraine

2. Daily Chaplet of Divine Mercy and/or Rosary

3. Offer your daily joys and sufferings for peace in Ukraine with a Morning Offering

4. Daily Prayer to the Mother of God

5. Pray for the dead

2. Fasting:

1. Fast one day per week, perhaps on Fridays alongside your abstinence from meat

2. Abstain from an idea of food that you love, such as sweets, alcohol, etc., and offer up that sacrifice for peace in Ukraine

3. Fast from a habit that is drawing you closer to sin, such as excessive use of social media that elicits anger or despair, and offer up that sacrifice. Replace this with a habit that draws you closer to God, such as reading a spiritual classic, listening to sacred music, or even silence

3. Almsgiving:

1. Donate money or goods to your local Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement initiatives

2. Donate blood to the Red Cross

3. Donate directly to organizations assisting in Ukraine

These are just ideas to get your mental wheels turning, but I hope you bring Ukraine into your Lent somehow. It feels unnatural to advertise on a day like today, but I want to encourage you to learn more about Everyday Lenten Holiness if that is something that speaks to you. It will help you discern your Lenten goals in alignment with God’s will, and then translate those into realistic routines. Everyday Lenten Holiness includes:

• Self-paced audio, video, and text-based lessons with simple and practical ways to integrate prayer into your days

• Action Guides for tackling prayer in each core time of your days and weeks

• Video crash course on how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours

• Virtual prayer corner with various options for live-streamed Eucharistic Adoration, Mass, prayer, and ambiance for your prayer times

• Community support and accountability through the process of changing your environment and mindset about making space for God

• Three weekly accountability challenges to keep you on track with your Lenten goals: the first week of Lent, Laetare (4th week of Lent), and Holy Week

• Holy Week intensive to end Lent on a high note

• Easter Octave suggestions to keep and deepen your Lenten growth and habits through the Easter season and beyond

You will develop the confidence to trust God and to trust yourself to implement change. I want to help as many women as possible, particularly in light of world events. You can use coupon code UKRAINE for $30 off the course and lifetime access to the materials, so you can explore them outside of Lent, as well. Enroll by Ash Wednesday to kick start your Lent with the support of your fellow sisters in holiness. 

Thank you for the opportunity to share your space today. May God bless you, and may God bless the people of Ukraine.

Winter Ordinary Time 2022: Holy Reminders & Lenten Planning

 

Hello friends, it's good to be back with you again! We're nearing the end of Winter Ordinary Time, which excites me greatly, because I know that that heralds the start of Lent! I look forward to this immediate pre-Lenten time every single year, because it means that I get to think about and organize my plans for Lent. 

😍

I *love* Lenten planning! This does not mean that I necessarily succeed on all of my Lenten goals each year, but the endeavoring to try keeps me going! I like to have a combination of devotional goals, abstinence goals, and almsgiving. Keeps things interesting. ;-)

So coming up here for Lent, I will design some sort of series with Lenten themes, I live for this stuff. 😎 I'll plan it all out before the end of February. Ash Wednesday falls on March 2nd this year!

🙌

As the time approaches (and it feels like we have a longer time to marinate in it this year since all of February can be devoted to prep time) I'm happily coming up with ideas and trying things out. I've got a few new devotional items that are helping to keep my mind attuned to All Things Faith-Filled that I thought I would share with you. I have a new icon devoted to the Lenten season that I hung near our kitchen table (so much fun meatless Friday planning to come!)

The kitchen table is also where I do a lot of my work from home, so the placment lifts me up there, too. Oh! I think I forgot to show you this before, but when I'm working in my office, I have this new Christ and Theotokos set to lift me up:

Icons all from Legacy Icons

These are in the extra small size, and they're truly perfect for tabletop use. The other adorable thing that has been lifting me up lately is this delightful mini home altar from The Catholic Woodworker:

Isn't it just divine?! It makes me so happy to see these reminders of our faith as I go about my daily activities, and lately it's reminding me how close we are getting to embarking on our Lenten journey for another year!

Have you started planning for Lent yet this year? What kinds of holy reminders do you have out on your desk or other work space? I would love to hear about it in the comments!

Night Prayer anyone?

 

Happy Friday everyone! I've been diligently working away in the Everyday Holiness course, and finding myself quite inspired by it. :) One of our tasks this week was to try and incorporate Night Prayer into our daily prayer routine. I haven't prayed Night Prayer in many years, but I did in the past and loved it. The psalms and other prayers are so peaceful and perfectly related to falling into a soothing slumber.

I missed the first Everyday Holiness group Zoom chat, unfortunately, but Shauna'h happened to mention to me as she was relaying all the fun details that someone on the call had a special little volume just for Night Prayer. Hark. The librarian was on the case. 😂

I have the 4 volume set for the Liturgy of the Hours, but grabbing the current green volume for Ordinary Time and setting it on my nightstand made me immediately aware of two things:

(1) it took up a lot of space, ha! And,

(2) now, I would need to ferry the breviary between upstairs and downstairs for it to be in position for both Night Prayer (needed upstairs on my nightstand), and then Morning and Evening Prayer (which I pray during the work day or in my living room). 

A separate volume especially for Night Prayer would solve this problem! I simply had to order a copy. :-0 It's now on it's way to me, and I have to say, I'm super excited about this! I think a small volume that snugs on my bedside table and is devoted just to prayer at night will really motivate me to keep up with this practice. I've prayed Night Prayer the past few nights (while I await my new prayer partner) using my old one volume Christian Prayer breviary, but it also is quite large, and frankly has seen better days. It's got quite tattered in the time that I used it prior to acquiring the 4 volume set. So I'm excited about my new Night Prayer addition! Does anyone else regularly pray Night Prayer? 

Some Catholic uplifty things for June...

Hello all! Happy Friday to you, and I hope that you are doing well.

*group hug*

I've had a good week, truly. Henry is done with his school year, and Anne finishes today. Can I tell you that I have NEVER been so happy to finish a school year before? :-0 It was a tough year, not only because of unexpectedly doing it all at home for the past 3 months, but also because each of the kids went through some growing pains this year, with Henry transitioning to high school, and Anne getting used to being at school without him for the first time. But we made it!

This week, we've been talking about summer plans, which I'm looking forward to despite this particular summer looking quite a bit different than usual. We'll still carve out some nice time with the kids and with our parents. Both Mike and I will be working from home until the fall semester starts, so that will help out a lot with family time.

In Catholic stuff for June, the Pentecost novena that we prayed together really lifted my spirits. In that vein, and prompted by the Pray More Novenas site, I started the Sacred Heart Novena a few days ago:

I love the prayers associated with this novena. You repeat the intention that you are praying for, and your hope and trust in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, three times, and it just really lifts me up. You can easily play catch up if you'd like to join in!

Also, the new Word on Fire Bible (the Gospels) is finally available for purchase, and I've had my eye on this one! You all know how I enjoy collecting Bibles. :-)

This edition is GORGEOUS with full color artwork and lots of great commentary from Church Fathers. It's the Gospels, rather than the entire Bible or even entire New Testament, but I feel like this would make a nice travel companion when you want ot focus just on those. I'm definitely tempted to order a copy to read this summer! But the key question is what cover type should I pick? :-0 I'm thinking hardcover!

How is your June shaping up? Are you praying the Sacred Heart novena? I'd love to hear from you!

St. Therese Thanksgiving Novena starts today!

Good morning friends! Our community-wide St. Therese Thanksgiving Novena begins TODAY! If you'd like to join along with us, all of the information that you need is below! I won't be posting the prayers to the blog daily, but today's post serves as a reminder to begin praying, and to pray each day through Thursday, November 28th.

Here is the link to the pdf of the prayers that you need! :-)

I am including day 1 below, but you can take it from here. If you would keep the intentions of the entire community in prayer during this novena, we would be most grateful. Know that we are all praying for you as well! You are welcome to join us in our Facebook group if you like, where we host weekly prayer threads, and where the novena prayers will also be posted daily for ease.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'll be back after the holiday with more lifey merriment, dance posts, novenas and more. :-)

First of our seasonal novenas set to begin next week!

TGIF everyone! The first of our planned community novenas is scheduled to start Wednesday, November 20th. And our gal up on deck is one of my very favorites, St. Therese!

We'll be praying the St. Therese Thanksgiving Novena, which is ever so lovely, and I had not heard of until my good friend Tracy directed me to it!

Link to Thanksgiving Novena prayers

Here's how this will work: I'll be posting a thread on Monday in our community Facebook group wherein people can add their intentions for the duration of this novena. If you're not on Facebook, you are welcome to leave your intention(s) in a comment to this post, and I can pop them in the thread over there so that everyone sees it. And of course, feel free to post "for a personal intention" if you do not feel comfortable revealing specifics.

On Wednesday, November 20th, I'll begin posting the daily prayers in the Facebook. I'll also put up a blog post on that particular Wednesday with the prayer for day 1 and also a link to the full pdf with all 9 days. After day 1, I'll only be posting the daily prayers in Facebook, it would be too tedious to do daily blog posts. But you'll have the link, so I would just keep that as an open tab on your browser or phone so that you can refer to it each day through Thanksgiving!

I think it is so lovely to pray together as a community, and to focus on the needs of others, especially at this time of year. I know that when my own intentions are clouding up my mind, my prayer time tends to get anxious (yikes!), but when I'm praying for the intentions of others, everything is all serenity and light. Win/win!

I hope that you will join us! *virtual hug*

November/December novena plans!

We have actual prayer plans based on feedback that I received last week!

*praise hands*

I received the most votes for praying, as a community, the St. Andrew Christmas Novena:

St. Andrew Christmas Novena

This will begin on November 30th, and run everyday until Christmas, so it's not a traditional 9 day novena. It involves praying a short prayer multiple times through out each day. I will post a reminder before this starts! 

The next one is a totally new-to-me novena called the St. Therese Thanksgiving novena:

St. Therese Thanksgiving Novena

We will begin this one on Wednesday November 20th, and pray until Thanksgiving day.

*heart*

I will post about each of these in detail before the novenas begin, but I won't be posting daily reminders or links to the prayers here on the blog, that would get messy in a hurry. If you're on Facebook (and I know Facebook has it's flaws, but it's an excellent way of keeping up with beloved family and friends), we have a community Facebook group wherein I'll be posting daily reminders and the text of the prayers. That's definitely an easier way of keeping up with the prayers if you'd like me to do a lot of the work for you! I'll also be creating threads in the Facebook group wherein you can post your prayer intentions for each novena, and we will pray for each other's needs!

I'm very excited about these! I've heard of the St. Andrew novena before, but I've never prayed it. Has anyone else prayed either of these novenas before? I'd love to hear from you!

With November approaching, a prayer plan emerges...

Rosaries by Allison

Happy Halloeen, everyone! This morning, I raided my embarrassingly large rosary supply 😬 and brought out my Dia de los Muertos rosary, which is absolutely *perfect* for November, the month of All Souls! It's a great time to remember our family and friends who have passed before us, and to ask them to intercede for us. Speaking of that specific rosary, it is made by my dear friend, Allison, and she's having a special in her Etsy shop for 3 days only! So if you'd like to grab one of these rosaries, definitely hop onto her site and order asap!

As I was praying and driving into work this morning (for an 8 am class 😴), it occurred to me I'd like to plan another community novena. I ended up posting the St. John Paul II novena in our Facebook group recently, kind of spur of the moment, and it was very well received. I thought we could select an upcoming feast day and decide to pray as a community for those 9 days. I can post the prayers daily in the Facebook group, for those who follow along there, and I'll link to them here, of course, so that you can follow along regardless of if you participate over at Facebook or not. So! This begs an important question...

*beams*

Which novena would you like to pray? I'll include some ideas below, and please comment on this post with your vote!

St. Cecilia (feast Nov. 22nd)
All Souls (sort of a general November theme, feast is Nov. 2nd)
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini (feast Nov. 13th)
Christ the King (feast Nov. 24th)
St. Andrew Christmas novena (this would start on his feast of Nov. 30th, and is 25 days long leading up to Christmas)

Oh gosh, I'm getting so excited. :-0 Let me know your thoughts! We could potentially pray more than one of these!

Pondering the rosary...

I've been on a rosary kick lately, as I talked about last week. :-) It's hard for me to develop and stick with spiritual habits, but so far, this one is going pretty well. I pray the rosary a lot in the car, but sometimes on the weekends I'll pray it while I'm waiting for Mass to begin. This week, I was home sick one day with a horrible headache/24 hour bug, and I prayed a rosary while flat on my back in bed, because I had no choice but to lay there. The act of finding and wrenching my St. Francis rosary out of the pocket of my robe while it was still tangled around my body is not a rosary experience I'm looking to repeat, but I'll take what I can get. :-0 The point is that I have been committed to praying it daily, and it's stuck.

Towards that end, my ears perked recently when my sister Shauna'h mentioned that she'd been going through a short Bible study aimed towards better understanding the mysteries of the rosary. When she said that it was designed to last about a month, I offiically looked into it, as Advent is just over a month away. Once I espied it on Amazon, I knew that I had to get it. It's called Ponder, by Elizabeth Foss, and it's published by Take Up and Read.

I'm not particularly good at sticking with daily devotionals like this. But given that this one is designed to last 28 days, I'm cautiously optimistic that I can stick with it for the duration. Each day is only a short time commitment, and takes you through one of the 20 mysteries of the rosary. The other 8 days introduce the mysteries, or have you reflect on them when you complete all five in that set. I received my copy this week, and have just completed day three. The first day was an introduction to how the study will run, and then I've made my way through the first two Joyful Mysteries, the Annunciation and the Visitation. You're provided with the relevant scripture right there in the book, as well as a personal story by the author relating to the mystery. You also have space to answer questions each day:

• What personal message does the text have for me?
  
• What do I say to the Lord in response to His word?
  
• What conversion of mind, heart, and life is He asking of me today?

These are the same each day, but I'm already seeing how different my answers are each day depending upon the mystery and the scripture. You're also provided with some action item suggestions related to the mystery.

I have been agog the past two days over how much the discussion of the mystery for that day has related back to things I'm going through in my life right now involving my kids, the worry that I'm carrying in my heart each day. I'm getting a lot out of this! And I'm slated to finish up around November 19th. This works out well, because if for some reason I miss a day, I still have over a week before Advent begins. My goal is to have gone through the entire devotional, spanning all four mysteries of the rosary, before Advent. I'm particularly excited about getting to the Luminous mysteries! When I re-started my rosary quest recently, I was shocked to realize that it had been so long since I'd prayed them, that I had actually forgotten them. 😳 That has happily been remedied.

Has anyone else used Ponder, or another devotional in the Take Up and Read series? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

July always needs some St. Kateri...

http://catholicmom.com/2019/07/08/a-special-devotion-for-july/

Hey everyone, and welcome to a humid and uncomfortable early-July edition with the Catholic Librarian. :-0 Thank you so much to everyone who reached out and wished me well following my post last week about my upcoming adventures as a finalist in my very first (and let's be real, probably only) dance competition!  I'm super nervous about it. 😬 But I'm grateful for the opportunity. I'll definitely devote a whole post to my preparation process sometime this summer! Finals are in late September.

😬😬😬

But onward and upwards! This is a summer of many changes, as I've talked about several times in recent weeks. The kids are growing and changing soooo quickly. Anne is at Girl Scout camp this week, and she had a rough first day. 😢 My kids are both introverts, just like Mike and I, and so new situations, especially those that:

(a) involve lots of unknown people,
(b) are loud, and
(c) involve games and singing

...are very hard on them. I completely relate to this, and I'm a soft touch, so tears of not wanting to go back make me want to crumble. But of course, perseverance is also important (she wanted to go to this camp, I wouldn't have signed up up otherwise) and so I told her that she needed to give it at least 1 more day. If after the second day it was clear that it was a bad fit and was actively making her miserable, I would not have pushed her. But the first day is never a perfect indicator of how things will be going forward, you need to give it just a wee bit more time. So I took her on the second day feeling uber guilty, and she came home exhausted and hangry again. However, she also chirped on about the woodsy things that they had done, the other girls, and the homemade beef and macaroni dish they had for lunch. She had a good time. And wanted to go back the next day.

HUGE sigh of relief. But the week has been emotionally draining as a result. Therefore my July piece over at CatholicMom comes at a perfect time and on an ideal topic. St. Kateri is a huge source of consolation for me, as I mention in this article (and there is a link back to the original piece fully detailing St. Kateri's place in my and my family's faith journey in there), and right now, I need her more than ever. So, if you need a dose of St. Kateri too, I'd love it if you would check out my piece over there. Comments on the CatholicMom website are always super welcome!

Who are you favorite summer saints? My kids' feast days are also in July: St. Henry on July 13th, and Sts. Anne and Joachim on July 26th. July is a great saint month. 😀

An assortment of winter thoughts and prayers...

That's currently my house, pictured left. ;-) We're in for a heck of a storm here in the Northeast, and apparently a Polar Vortex is coming to suck us all into another dimension, or some such thing. :0 The kids have school cancelled both tomorrow and Thursday, and we'll all be indoors for 2 straight days with lots of family togetherness.

😳

I'm joking. It's good, it really is! But if my kids can't go outside to romp in the snow (which they won't be able to - wind chill will be well below zero, and I'm talking Fahrenheit) they get bored and miserable. We'll make do as best we can! For my part, I'm planning to knit and crochet non-stop, and perhaps I'll have enough time to make a full size afghan! 😃

I do have a blanket in progress, matter of fact:

The theme of the colorway is sweet pea flowers, and I'm so pleased with how this is coming out!

At any rate, the biggest thing on my mind right now are my kids. I mentioned Henry in my post a few weeks ago, and indeed, he was accepted into his first choice Catholic high school. The only thing is, you know...$$$$. We received financial aid, but I'm still losing sleep over how we will make this happen. I think it would be a wonderful environment for him, and I'm really praying that this works out. Your prayers, as well, are very much coveted and appreciated!

Sort of along this same line of thought, the age difference between Henry and Anne has finally, to me at least, become very obvious. My kids are 5 years apart in age, and that has never been a big deal to me. It still isn't, it's just that Henry is becoming a young man, while Anne is still very much in little kid mode. And she should be, she's 7. It's a changing time of our lives, and it's both wonderful and painful at the same time.

So I've been praying a lot. It's been hard for me to pray the rosary in my car since I got a stick shift, but now that I've become more experienced with that at this point, I've adapted to a model whereby I use a one decade rosary with big round beads in my left hand that doesn't interfere with my shifting. At the very least, I can pray a single decade, or the 3 Hail Mary's devotion. I did also sign up for a print subscription to Living Faith, like we talked about last week.

It'll be ok. But it's hard sometimes with the not knowing how things are exactly going to work out. That's where the faith thing comes in, I suppose. ;-)

Are you feeling extra contemplative this winter? What types of devotions do you add into your prayer routine when this happens? I'd love to hear from you!

June novena nerds, report in!

My latest piece over at Catholic Mom is up, and it got me to thinking!

Novenas. I like to pray one per month, and I was slacking on June. ;-) It's always a humbling experience when you see Lisa Hendey tweet something out about a new article over at Catholic Mom, you admire the embedded featured photo, then think to yourself: "That sounds like something I would like to read." And only then do you remember that YOU wrote the article.

Middle age, peeps. It's the pits. 😄

So that's what happened again this month, and along with my hyper organized, early submission of aforementioned article, I also forgot to set things up to pray the Sacred Heart novena along with my group of friends like we had been planning.

Oopsies!

We're back on track now. And the novena starts TODAY! Pray More Novenas is hosting this novena, so you can sign up to receive the daily emails with all of the prayers included, happily. I also tweet a link out to the prayers each day, so if you follow me on Twitter you can follow along that way as well. I put the Twitter widget back on the right sidebar of the non-mobile site for the blog, so you can link to it right on there if you'd like. I remember someone asking me about that widget a while back after I removed it (Cindy?) and I've been toying with putting it back, so now here it is, back. :0 I know not everyone uses Twitter, so this way you can still see what I'm up to on there even if you don't have a Twitter account.

The feast of the Sacred Heart is next Friday, June 23rd. I talk all about it over at Catholic Mom, if you'd like to go take a peek. We love comments over there!

"Wait, what day is it?!" Publicly losing one's mind, but hey, 54 day rosary novena to look forward to!

Hi all! I meant to blog yesterday. I really did. But the day just...got away from me. I had two classes (the first of which was incredibly awkward owing to the fact that the majority of the class appeared half dead. I had to *physically wake up* 2 of them before the lecture even started, that's what we were working with here :0), plus Pilates at lunchtime, plus a bunch of student emails to answer and send out, and before I knew it, I was home frantically pouring a glass of wine to unwind and I realized that I hadn't blogged. Though I had meant to. D'oh.

Want to know what else that I forgot? That I had a piece come out with Catholic Mom yesterday. :0 I'm telling you, things are a BLUR for me right now, it's quite epic. That's not necessarily a good thing, but it is what it is. I'm taking one day at a time, and it's been going much better.

In the meantime, click on the graphic below to follow me over to Catholic Mom to discuss...54 day rosary novenas!

*streamers*

 

After a long day of teaching yesterday, I was super pleased to see that someone tweeted about my Catholic Mom piece. That's what reminded me that it existed. ;-) Then I had someone write to me that they were thinking of praying a 54 day rosary novena, and that my article pushed her over the prayer edge to do it. This made my whole evening.

SOOOOO, if you'd like to pray along, we're starting November 1st, the feast of All Saints! This means that we'll finish up on  Christmas. I mean, how PERFECT, right?!

I'll bookmark a page at the top of the blog with all of the details when I get a chance, but let's do this thing!! Who's in for a 54 day rosary novena?!

Tea Time with Tiffany #15 - Are you doing any differently in your spiritual routine this fall?

Routine has been a theme here this week, yes? Despite the fact that I recorded this week's video a few days ago, it fits in nicely with the theme.

*fortuitous!*

I just watched it so that I could gather the show notes together, and MAN, my hair is crazy in this one. :0 But my week has improved, and so I'm feeling perky today as I write this. It helps that (background discussion is in the video) this morning, despite the fact that I had to start the day with a DENTIST APPOINTMENT (is there a worse way to start one's day? I ASK YOU), when I arrived on campus at the worst *possible* time of the morning, much later than I usually arrive, as I was innocently patrolling the staff parking lot, Hark! Someone was pulling out!

GOD.STILL.LOVES.ME

But I digress. Today's topic is fall and renewed spiritual routines. You got any that you want to write in about? :)

The fall always brings a feeling of new beginning into my life, and I begin to think about Advent. In preparation for that, I generally get all excited and try out new things. What's on my mind in that regard this particular September? View on, gentle viewer!


Items mentioned in this episode (there are lots today!):

• My new Contigo travel coffee mug. #bliss
• Catholic Book Club reading list has been updated through January 2016! Read along with us! The next book we'll be discussing is Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale, by Ian Morgan Cron, on Sept. 30th.
• My new 2016 Mary and the Saints Wall Calendar is in stock and on it's way to me now. *heart*
• Sacred Reading: The 2016 Guide to Daily Prayer, published by Ave Maria Press. I'm going to be trying this out, starting in Advent, for lectio divina! I mentioned in the video that I wasn't sure if it covered just the daily Gospel or all of the daily Mass readings. I checked the sample pages, and it looks like it's meditations on the Gospel alone.
• Magnificat Advent Companion, a favorite of mine every single year. My pre-order is already in. #nerd
• My brand new wood Advent calendar! I grabbed it when it went on sale for about $50, so keep an eye on it, the price fluctuates quite a bit. I can't wait to share this with the kids! They just better not lose any pieces. *glares*
• Saint dolls from St. Luke's Brush. This year Henry will be receiving St. Nicholas, and Anne a rosary case with a painted rose adornment.
• Adoration. No substitute for it. I'm going to try bringing my kids. Have any of you tried this with your kids? How did it go?

Gentle reader, how I do appreciate being able to share time with you like this. It really buoys my spirits, especially during this busy season. What are you incorporating into your spiritual life this fall? And if you've taken children to Adoration with you, please do write in with your tips!

My first ever piece at Catholic Mom commemorates the feast of St. Kateri, & the St. Anne novena approaches!

Happy Tuesday to all of you, and happy feast of St. Kateri! She's certainly a favorite of mine, and quite integral to my own Catholic identity. I wrote a post about this several years ago, and recently I pulled that post up, updated it a bit, tidied up the writing, and submitted it to Catholic Mom. And *happy dance* it was published yesterday, on the vigil of her feast day!

You should have heard me squeal when I saw it. Well, OK, maybe you wouldn't have liked that. ;-) But I was *excited* and the timing is perfect. I've even gotten a few comments over there, which made me all giddy anew. Of course, I responded to every single one personally. Don't you want to go read and leave a comment now? Hummmmmm? :0 I'm waiting for you over there, with much excited anticipation. If you enjoy conversion stories, you'll enjoy reading this one, I think. I hope! Come visit me over there. :)

In other saint news, the novena to St. Anne start date is rapidly approaching, and I created a page with all the details. We'll start praying along on Friday, leading to her feast day of July 26th. I have a St. Anne chaplet on it's happy way to me, so that I can pray that in tandem with the novena prayers:

Photo courtesy of Allison Kinyon, Rosaries by Allison

Allison, the dear soul that she is, whipped this up for me over the weekend at my request, and mailed it out on Monday. She's on the other side of the country from me, but it should be here tomorrow or Thursday. If I have time, I'll record a short video of me praying the chaplet and post it on that novena page so that we can pray together if you like. I don't have audio file capabilities just yet, that's coming, just not ready for prime time this week. Since you can't download it, I know it's not as helpful, but for anyone who wants to, it would be there. I'll let you know if that comes to pass!

But if you're a fan of St. Anne, definitely join the rest of the community in prayer! Who's planning to pray the novena? Do you have a devotion to St. Anne? Please leave a comment and let me know all the sainty details. And you can also leave me prayer intentions in the comments, as well!

The Catholic Nook: Sacred Heart Devotion & Chaplet

Good morning all! Since today is the first day of the Sacred Heart novena, I thought it was perfect timing to discuss devotion to the Sacred Heart as part of my Catholic Nook series. If you'd like to pray along with the novena, click on the link above to join in!

But the Sacred Heart is a devotion that I've always been curious about. As a cradle Catholic, I've heard the concept bandied about for most of my life, and been somewhat familiar with what it means, but nothing official. Then a few years ago, I heard Channing talk about it on her "This Catholic Life" podcast (it's no longer available, as she's a cloistered Carmelite nun, miss her!) and she mentioned that it was her very favorite devotion, which intrigued me even further. So, what is devotion to the Sacred Heart exactly?

In a nutshell, it's based (mostly) upon visions experienced by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the seventeenth century. St. Margaret Mary was a French nun who described Jesus appearing to her and giving her this message:

My Sacred Heart is so intense in its love for men, and for you in particular, that not being able to contain within it the flames of its ardent charity, they must be transmitted through all means.

During the vision, Jesus showed her a human heart, aflame as if with love. He told her that he would be present with devotees to his Sacred Heart in a special way, and that their devotion would lead to peace in families, conversion of sinners, and perseverance when death was near.

The First Friday tradition that you may have heard of amongst Catholics is also tied to devotion to the Sacred Heart. Specifically, Jesus asked the following of St. Margaret Mary:

• Frequent reception of the Eucharist
• On the First Friday of each month for nine consecutive months, receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
• Attend Eucharistic Adoration for one hour on Thursdays.
• Celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart (this year, it's June 12th). This feast will always be on a Friday, and will follow the second Sunday after Pentecost each year.
  

There is a lot of information about this devotion in a book that I reviewed last year, Sacred Fire by Phillip Michael Bulman, if you're interested to read more, as well as at the Salt and Light TV blog.

There is also a chaplet that can also be prayed in honor of this devotion.* The Sacred Heart Chaplet has 5 large beads, and then 33 beads that representing the years of Christ's earthly life.

http://michelis.shopinas.com/product/view/seed-chaplet-of-sacred-heart-of-jesus-b--michelis-8807/

To begin the chaplet, pray:

Soul of Jesus Christ, sactify me.
Heart of Jesus, inflame me with love.
Body of Jesus Christ, save me.
Blood of Jesus Christ, inebriate me.
Water out of the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy Wounds, hide me. Let me not be separated from Thee. Defend me from the malignant enemy. At the hour of death, call me, and bid me to come unto Thee, that with the saints, I may praise Thee for all eternity.
Amen.

Before each large bead, pray:

Jesus most meek, make my heart like unto thine. We adore Thee, O Jesus, who has been afflicted in the Garden of Gethsemani, and who still in our time are outraged in the Blessed Sacrament by the impious conduct of men. O most amiable Saviour, we recognize that Thou alone art Holy, Thou alone art Lord, Thou alone art Most High.

One each small bead (3 on the drop, and then in groups of 6), pray:

I adore Thee, O most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Inflame my heart with the divine love with which thine own is all on fire.

At the conclusion of the chaplet, when you reach the Sacred Heart centerpiece, pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and the following prayer:

O Lord Jesus Christ, who by an ineffable miracle of love, hast deigned to give Thy Heart to men to serve as their nourishment, in order thereby to gain their hearts, graciously hear our humble prayers, and pardon us for the sins of which we confess ourselves guilty before Thee. Cast an eye of compassion and mercy upon those towards whom Thou dost condescend to direct the affections of Thine amiable Heart. And since we desire to honor Thee in the adorable Mystery of the Altar to the utmost of our power and to render Thee most pleasing Homage and for that intention, weep for and detest from the bottom of our hearts all the outrages, contempt, mockery, sacrileges, and other acts of impiety which ungrateful men in every part of the world have committed against Thee, enkindle therefore in our hearts this divine love which Thine Own is inflamed, and inspire us with sentiments like unto Thine, in order that we may be able worthily to praise for all praise for all eternity the love which which this Sacred Heart burns for us. This our prayer to Thee who lives and reigns with the Father, in unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

I'd like to get one of these chaplets and add it to my collection, as well as make a recording of the prayers so that we could pray together. Add that to the list!

#check :)

Does anyone else have a devotion to the Sacred Heart? Do write in a comment!

*Found in Devotion to the Sacred Heart, by Fr. John Croiset

Winter Ordinary Time, how shall we spend it?

Happy Tuesday everybody! Still cold here :) but a beautiful, sunny winter day. I was thinking as I was driving into work today about the fact that we are now officially back in Ordinary Time. Yet far from being boring, this beginning segment (if you will) of Ordinary Time is always interesting to me because it varies in length each year depending upon the placement of Easter. This year we have from now until February 18th to savor the non-penitential nature and saint feast days Ordinary Time has to offer. So, even though it isn't a "special" liturgical time the way Advent and Lent are, this period of Ordinary Time has a lot going for it. So, what are my plans (and yours!) for how to spend it?

As I mentioned, there are some rather awesome saint feast days coming up, so the first thing(s) that came to mind are novenas. Keep an eye on the top navigation bar on the blog for what I'll be praying in case you want to join in! :) You'll notice that the current listing is for the novena to St. Francis de Sales, and that starts this Thursday, January 15th! He is the patron of teachers and writers, so lots of great fodder there to work with in terms of intentions. As soon as his feast day rolls around on January 24th, it's time to start another novena, this time St. Blaise (feast: February 3rd), and then Our Lady of Lourdes (feast: February 11th) and I plan to incorporate the kids into both of these, so stay tuned for information!

I'm very excited about all of this, and I will be incorporating in some feast day celebrations with the kids which I will also write about. I have decided that each year (I will try) to set "saint themes" for each child, and select a few other feast days to draw special attention to. I think I can write a whole post just on this whole nerdy saint theme business, so we'll come back to that. ;-) I'll have a big reveal as to who Henry and Anne's theme is for the year, oohhhhh...

*excited!*

But there is one other thing I want to focus on for this stretch of Ordinary Time, and that is Eucharistic Adoration. Over Christmas I started going weekly, and I am quite determined to keep this habit up. What a *difference* it makes in terms of how I feel spiritually and emotionally when I'm able to work this into my weekly schedule. It's almost guaranteed that I won't be able to make it at the same time each week, but just so long as I get it in once per week, I'm a happy girl.

So, those are my goals. How about you? Any ideas for this short stretch of winter Ordinary Time?

I wanted to mention that I have a book review coming tomorrow, a non-fiction title about a man who walked the Camino de Santiago called Humbled by the Journey, a fascinating subject, to be sure. I hope that you'll join me tomorrow to hear more about it!

Catholic Book Club: Sacred Fire

Happy book club day everyone! And happy feast of Pope St. John Paul II! *beams* He's just one of my very favorites.

Today I have a book to review that pushes all of my joyful buttons as a reader: it's a Catholic book, which fits into the majority of what I read. It's non-fiction, but written in a clear, easy-to-read and relate-to style that doesn't make one feel as though they are reading a textbook. A *very* important quality in a non-fiction title, in my opinion. :) It includes personal stories of relevant saints, giving the book a warm, familiar feeling. And yet it's a book that one doesn't necessarily have to read in chapter order, cover to cover. It's more of what I would consider a reference book, in which you read sections as inspiration strikes. And reference books, my friends, make the Catholic librarian very, very happy to have on her bookshelf. So, let's get into the details of our book, which is Sacred Fire: Practicing Devotion to the Heart of Jesus, by Philip Michael Bulman. Settle in with tea...

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is based heavily upon the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque during the 17th century. Specifics of the devotion involve a Holy Hour of Adoration, reception of the Eucharist on the First Friday of each month, and celebration of the feast of the Sacred Heart, which is a movable feast falling 19 days after Pentecost each year. It is, however, a much more general devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and in Scripture. This books takes that broad look at the devotion, which was very informative for me. There is so much that I didn't know about this devotion's rich history. The book begins with a very personal message from the author about how he became interested in this subject - he had begun attending a parish named after St. Margaret Mary and grew curious about her. I always relate to such personal interjections, and as such was eager to go along on a journey with the author, learning about this devotion.

The book is divided into two main sections: the first is called "A Heart Open to All of Humanity," and includes a chapter discussing scriptural foundations, as well as a multitude of saints and popes who have been devoted to the Sacred Heart throughout the ages. Then, there are chapters featuring several saints of key importance to the devotion, which are St. Gertrude the Great, St. Margaret Mary, St. Teresa of the Andes, and one wonderful chapter entitled "The Splendor of Carmel" highlighting a number of Carmelite saints. There is also a chapter discussing the relationship between the Divine Mercy devotion, St. Faustina, and the Sacred Heart.

The second section, "Elements of the Devotion," addresses the Eucharist, the Litany of the Sacred Heart, reparation to the Sacred Heart, additional scriptural foundations, and the Promises of the Sacred Heart. There is a significantly sized bibliography included for those who would like to research this devotion further.

As I mentioned above, this book appeals to me as a reference source. It is perfect to pull off the shelf and look up a particular aspect of the devotion, point in history, or associated saint. The saint features were my favorite part. All of you know that I adore stories of the saints, and the ones included here are absolutely wonderful. It also seems to me that this book is a perfect accompaniment for a spell at Eucharistic Adoration. Keep this in your car, and when you stop off for a Holy Hour, part of your time can be spent reading one of the chapters. Ideal fodder for contemplation on Jesus truly present in the Eucharist, and on saints as our examples in faith.

This book is available on Amazon as a $9.99 Kindle download, or in paperback for just over $13, certainly a very reasonable price. It is a new book, published just this summer, and it is more than worthy of your consideration. Do check it out!

Has anyone else already read this book? Please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Next month we're moving back to fiction with The Cana Mystery, by David Beckett, which I have been dying to read. Join me!

A quick pondering on the daily rosary...

Afternoon everyone. :) I had a presentation first thing this morning as part of a new student orientation, and I am TIRED. I feel like a limp noodle sitting here at my desk. I did make tea, so that helps, but there's not enough tea in *the world* to banish this glassy eyed stare. :0 But we do what we can.

I had mentioned that I wanted to write about the rosary today, and thus I wanted to follow through despite my lack of energy. And I think this is even a good point to start off with on this topic, which is to say:

(1) Daily Prayer.

(2) Life & all it's responsibilities.

How do those two things mesh together for each one of us?

I'm certain that it's different for every person, and I thought it would be nice to come together and get ideas from each other. I love to pray the rosary in the car. I'm not completely certain why, but I do and I have for many years. I suppose part of it is that I am a person whose mind is constantly awhirl, and when I'm in the car alone I allow myself to relax a bit. A whirly worrywart? That seems pretty accurate. ;-) As an introvert, I always have a lot going on inside my own head, because I don't necessarily talk to *other* people all that often. :) I mean, certainly I do with people whose company I am comfortable with and genuinely enjoy. But otherwise? I keep it to myself.

But in the car I just need to concentrate on getting from one place to another. I don't really need to think about anything else, and so praying at that time just works for me. I keep a rosary (ok, THREE if you must know :0 I like to have my options open based upon mood and liturgical season #NERD) tucked into the holder in the driver's side door so that I can pull it out seamlessly and start praying whenever I have a long enough span to at least get a decade or two in. I don't necessarily aim to complete an entire rosary in one sitting. I'll pray however many decades I can get in and then pick back up whenever I get back into the car.

It doesn't work if I have other people in the car with me ("Mommy, I want the Happy Song!" "No Mommy, tell her no! I'm SO SICK of the Happy Song!!") but on my way to and from work it's a gem.

So how about you, dear reader? If you pray a rosary (or the Liturgy of the Hours, or some other devotion) how do you work that into your daily routine? Leave me a comment!

A rosary linkup?! *eyes widen*

When I saw the rosary linkup over at Suspicio, well. Anybody who knows me knows that I justify buying a new rosary pretty much seasonally, so I thought it would be fun to talk about a few of the rosaries in my collection that I use most frequently. I can't even tell you how many rosaries I've loved and lost, or broken over time, I'm just a complete rosary hoarder. Yes, I have a problem.

This is a single decade rosary that I've had since April 2011. I remember when I bought it so well because it was the month my best friend came into the Church and I bought it along with a rosary to give her at the Easter Vigil. I had it with me for that trip to NYC to see her baptized and confirmed, and with me when I delivered Anne 3 weeks later. I carry it with me in my pocket a lot because it's small and fits easily. I love the beads on this one, They are oblong and faceted, and they feel very nice between the pads of your fingers. I can use this easily when I pray the rosary in the car, which I do daily, since it doesn't hang down and get tangled in things as I drive. I love the four way cross on this rosary, as it features a Miraculous Medal, St. Joseph, St. Christopher, and a scapular medal. The center is an image of Our Lady giving the rosary to St. Dominic, and how perfect is that for this Lay Dominican? When I pray with this rosary, I think of the global Church, and how we are all a family.

This is a rosary I bought just this past Easter. I really wanted a rosary with a John Paul II center, since he is just one of my favorite people of all time, and this one has an image of him as well as Benedict XVI! I love the Easter colors, they make me happy just to look at them. I really love the crucifix too, it's very delicate, with hearts inscribed on it. Right after this rosary arrived, our basement flooded, and I prayed with this rosary while taking shifts baling water from the floor with Mike. I keep it in my purse in it's own special pouch and take it out when I need a pick-me-up.This is my Hope in the Resurrection rosary.

This is Henry's rosary, I bought it for him for his First Reconciliation, which he made this past May. He picked it out because he loves the colors, and it actually has the same centerpiece as mine, with John Paul II and Benedict XVI on it. Cosmic connection! We pray a decade on it sometimes before he goes to bed (when he can be still for a whole decade :)), and he sleeps with it under his pillow, to keep bad dreams away. He assures me that this is a very effective method of dream management.

I also own a number of chaplets. We have...

The 7 Sorrows of Mary. A wonderful and touching Lenten devotion. I really take praying this chaplet to heart, and feel sad when I meditate on the sorrows. The black beads seem perfect on this one.

The Kateri Indian Rosary, in honor of my Mohawk heritage and my dad's confirmation saint when he joined the Church in the early 1990's. My parents had been married for over 20 years before my dad converted, so St. Kateri is pretty special in our house.

Our Lady Star of the Sea, given to me by my precious group of knitting friends who know of my love for chaplets. The smooth beads on this one are just wonderful to pray with, and the colors are a perfect reminder of the sea. I pray this a lot when a problem is on my mind, and I want to ask Our Lady to help me navigate it.

And I may or may not have just ordered a St. Therese chaplet, because my devotion to her has increased this month after reading about her more. I also have a gift rosary that I'm using right now to pray and sort of spiritually join forces with the upcoming recipient, because somehow this makes total sense to me. #crazyCatholicgirl. I also may or may not have an autumn colors rosary on order. I'm admitting to nothing, please don't judge me.

:)