The Solemnity of Mary....

I posted about this on Monday. I didn't think I was going to add more posts. You can scroll down to the post "Solemnity of Mary" or click here.

Blessed and Happy New Year blogger friends. We brought it in by snoring as we hit the sack early. Getting over colds had us tired and needing the rest after our long week away from our bed. Gee, we're pretty boring aren't we?

JPII we love you! Please pray for us!

From the Homily of John Paul II January 1, 2003 - Ending prayer

"May Mary help us discover the face of Jesus,Prince of Peace. May she support and accompany us in this new year;may she obtain for us and the whole world, the desired gift of peace from the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord!

A Catholic resolution for this New Year...

visit Per Christum

h/t to all of you there!

Great blog!

especially the ' brew blessing' post

A brief study of the Catholic belief and practice...

I came across this site (Dominican Preaching manual) listening to EWTN LIVE as Fr. Mitch Pacwa is talking to Fr. Brian Mullady. (I'm catching up on recording on our DVR from last week when were in Texas.) The article is as succinct and rock solid as Fr. Mullady. The episode was from Dec. 26. If you can, download the audio or possibly view it on the archives pages http://www.ewtn.com/ Well worth it! He minces no words.

Truth...what we're all looking for, and longing to be RECONnected to, even if we don't agree with it, or if it 'hurts' we do long for it. As TJ and PD say, "There's a Catholic Church-shaped hole inside all of us." Jesus instituted a Church, which is universal. Not universal 'churches' but a CHURCH.

If Papa has time, we have time...

to pray the rosary.

Solemnity of Mary...

Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (January 1, 2008)

This feast, closely connected to the feast of Christmas, is the most important and oldest of the major feasts of Mary. It is based on the source of her privileges: her motherhood. Jesus Christ, God's Son " born of a woman," (Galatians 4,4) came to deliver us from sin and make us children of God. He is also Mary's Son, and she, his mother, helps bring his blessings to the world.

Mary was not simply a passive instrument in God's hands; rather she discovered and accepted new dimensions to her motherhood as her life unfolded. Scripture indicates signs of her new unfolding motherhood.

Throughout her life, then, Mary was a follower of her Son. At the foot of the cross, her motherhood reached a new maturity when Mary experienced her Son's redeeming love for the world.

The article above was found here.

Adoration...

"Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the Sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us."
— St. Alphonsus Liguori

Adoration

Being gone over a week while in Texas, I realized how much I missed going to daily Mass. When you're used to going to daily Mass and then you don't go for so long, it seems to "show up" inside one's soul, if that makes any sense. I also missed my adoration time with the Lord last Sunday. I signed up for Sunday evenings at our parish and have made it 3 weeks in a row until last Sunday. I'm surely going to go tonight even though it's very cold and I'm tired from being on the go for a long, funfilled week. I read this quote above and it spoke to me loud and clear. I need all the help I can get, for I'm weak and my appetite for sin is sometimes so strong. Not to go off and commit mortal sin, by any means, but the "little foxes" nipping at one's heels are what trips one up, you know what I mean? Those pesky sins that affect us and our moods. The ones that we cling to at times, then end up thinking "Well, that's the way I am. I'll never change." That's the lie of the Father of Lies talking then. Not the Holy Spirit. The Spirit and the Bride say "Come" the other voice says, "Stay home. You're tired and cranky and you have a cold and you've already blown it today not long after Mass." That's the lie that I can't buy. The bait I can't take. I'd appreciate your prayers. God Bless you all and I hope you have a very blessed and peaceful transition into 2008 and that your journey and walk with the Lord will be more close, more intimate and more blessed this year than the past. JMJ

PAX CHRISTI,
susie

Oklahoma Monks...

I am writing this from a motel room in Tahlequah, OK. Rich and I are on our way home from Dallas, where we had a fun Christmas and week in the DFW area with our oldest son, Justin and more Melkus clan.

This is the monastery we finally found before it got dark. Rich had been here a year ago in January and they've come a long way in the construction of the new monastery.

We stopped by the gift shop where Father blessed the statue of the Bavarian Madonna & Child that I bought. He blessed it in Latin which was so touching. They have grown to over double the size they were a year ago. Due to their tradtional, orthodox way of life, and celebrating Mass, they've attracted many more young men to the monastic, cloistered life. They had about 12 monks there a year ago and now around 28 or so.

It's a very lovely setting and I hope to be back to visit maybe in May or June. The large log cabin they're now housed in will be a guest house. Please check out all the photos on their website. This is ONE IMPRESSIVE new structure and all for our Lord's glory and to pray more souls into the Kingdom!

Visit them here at Clear Creek Monastery

Mary, Christ, Mass...

Mary gave us Christ, the Word of God incarnate. Christ Jesus gave us Mass, so He could be with us intimately until He comes again in Glory.

May your Christmas and new year be full of blessings and may you have His joy in the midst of pain and sorrow. For we know not what may befall us, but we know Him who knows all and His JOY is our strength. Thank you, Mary for Jesus. Thank you Jesus, for Mary, our Mother. May we grow ever closer to our Mother's immaculate heart, and therefore, closer to you, our Blessed Lord and Saviour, whose Sacred heart beats for us. Through this coming year, nestle close to both of those precious hearts and let yourself be loved by God.

Peace of Christ be with you,

Susie & Rich

It's Advent, and time to make...

A GOOD CONFESSION

One of the effects of being sinners is that we are blind to our own sins. Satan wants us to believe that there is no evil in what we do. If we fall into this trap, our hearts may become hardened and insensitive to the demands of love. This is why conversion of heart is so important. In fact, it is so important that Jesus has made the symbol of His Sacred Heart, the greatest manifestation of His love for us and of the love we are to have. "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 'If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts... Take heed brethren, lest perhaps there be if any of you with an evil heart of unbelief...'" (Heb. 3).

God is a loving Father who desires that we see our sins, so that He can give us the grace of repentance and forgiveness. He wants us to be free. Satan, however, does not want us to see our sins. When we begin to walk in the will of the Lord, Satan will try to accuse us with our own sins, so that we will become disheartened and return to our old ways. We must learn to discern the difference: God reveals our sins to free us and forgive us; the devil hides our sins and reveals them only to lead us to despair. We should vigorously reject these thoughts. God ALWAYS forgives when there is repentance in our hearts.

For more click here. THANK GOD, for this sacrament. He Loves us all with reckless abandon. Let Him lead you to find freedom from sin in the confessional. Start 2008 with a clean slate! It'll be great! It's never too late!

No words...only a deep love for my dear Padre Pio

Make a Joyful Noise...yes,after some silence.

This is the sound of silence...Laurence Freeman OSB

This is an excellent article on the blessedness of quies. QUIET. Stillness in the presence of God. Blessed Silence.




Of course, I love this song, which isn't silent, but draws me to contemplation after listening to it. What a delectible blend of voices.

Take and eat, this is my body...

Memories.
(my friends, Russ and Deb Rentler on The Journey Home last week, Dec. 10)


I swallow hard, just like you, TJ, each time I've watched the show and I ponder once again the immense love of God. How can one not be so moved by so great a love? Love that chooses to humble Himself even more than he did in space and time 2000 years ago; when he came to us as a baby born in a manger! Now he comes to us as mere bread? Can this be? A wafer made of finest ground wheat and placed on my tongue - to eat? A hard saying it is! So hard to hear, that some of your followers left you! But here I am Lord, I come to you at Mass, to eat of your flesh and drink of your blood. To be changed by your grace, even though slowly. To be moved by your compassion and sent out by your love, to extend your mercy to others that you've extended to me.

Eucharist

I am not worthy
to receive you
at this most solemn
sacred meal,
but only say
the word, Lord,
and I know
I shall be healed
What food is this
before me
that I crave now
to receive?
Echoing Saint Thomas
I cry...

My Lord, My God!
It is You!

Yes Lord,
I do believe!

In a place called Omaha Nebraska...

We are so blessed in Omaha to have the IPF and Deacon James Keating, who now resides here, as of last year. He can be heard on Spirit Catholic Radio, KVSS, so I encourage you all to listen to some archives. Omaha...it's a great place to be a Catholic!

Visit Dr. Keating's blog, too! He's a wonderful, holy man. We heard him speak at St Stephen the Martyr a couple of weeks ago (and also at the Holy Family Shrine last summer) on the Mass, and how important SILENCE is in this noisy, loud, demanding, distracting, world. There should be much more stillness, silence in the Mass than there is. We're to "beg our priests for it" according to Deacon Keating. My husband's thoughts at the end of the evening? "Boy, Padre Pio would never have survived being a parish priest!"

"Holding the Eucharist in his hands for up to 3 or more hours in silence of ecstacy?" I replied, "No, he surely wouldn't."

It's called CHRISTMAS...

This is pretty good, but I'd only add one more thing...

MASS!

Keeping Christ in Christmas and also Mass!

susie

One small step for mankind - Cross Mountain, Medugorje...

"In the mud beneath our feet
salvation is buried,
electric with eternity -
too long have we tarried."

Photo by Colleen Gawley

The true meaning of Monk e-Business...

I'll be visiting these inventive monks (hope to that is) in April. I love this ONE HOLY APOSTOLIC CHURCH, man!

h/t to Joe, my boss, for the title line! Great one!

The "Name it, claim it" theology as I "see" it...

I posted this reply on the CHNetwork.org forum, Fellowship Hall (The Journey Home thread) regarding the recent appearance of Russ and Deborah Rentler on EWTN's The Journey Home. They talked about suffering and how the teaching and doctrine held by the CC drew them back into the Church. The red quote below was what I replied to on the forum thread. Since it got a few laughs, I figured it might get a few here as well. ~ susie

"This particular program was one of the better ones. It also exposed the folly of the "name it, claim it" theology.

When I was in my 20's and had read many an anti-Catholic tract, I began to attend a bible study led by a very good hearted, well-meaning Evangelical young woman who did love and teach that 'name it and claim it' stuff, I "named and claimed" healing for my eyes one winter's day at the bible study and even had hands laid on me at the prayer meetin' that night. Yepper, I was feeling pretty good, and thinking I'd for sure wake up the next morning (since the healing hadn't occured in an instant at the study OR at the prayer meeting) seeing like a hawk. You see, (no pun intended) I'd worn glasses since I was 12 and I was tired of 'em. Tired of 'em I tells ya! For some 2- 3 weeks I lived and moved and had my being while squinting. I had to squint at the grocery store to read labels and signs, I had to squint while driving (with my little tots in the car!) all over the place, getting more and more tired of not being able to see, Happily, my myopia was fairly mild, so my driving wasn't a complete clear and present danger to others or myself on the streets and highway. But I kept on 'claiming the right verses of Scripture" and kept on not being able to see. I was going to 'get healed' though, any day, I just "KNEW" it! Then I'd not have to wear those pesky glasses anymore. Think of the cool witness that would be, too!!! Why everyone in my family would probably ask me how to 'get saved' and really know Jesus as their Savior and it was going to be so great!

Enter my husband.

A kind, loyal, hard-working, true-blue wonderful guy was getting a wee bit of tired of seeing me squinting and hearing me complaining under my breath about not being healed, and not being able to see 20/20 after these 2-3 weeks of my diligent prayers (or was it whining?). "But WHY won't God heal me?" I wondered. I was doing 'everything' I was supposed to be doing, by golly! I'd prayed the correct prayers the correct way and "IN JESUS NAME" and I was reading the Scriptures and watching 700 Club and going to bible study and I'd even bought a Jesus Jumper (what every Evangelical woman wore all over the place in those days!) I was doing all the right stuff and still, no healing came...and to tell you the truth, I was getting sort of grumbly and pouty about it. What was left to do for Pete's sake? It really made me ticked when I'd go to some meeting and hear about someone's eyes or broken leg, or abscessed tooth was suddenly miraculously healed. I'd watch Pat Robertson talk to people call the show about how they got healed when they were just flipping through the channels, happened to see his face or heard a prayer! Voila! Poof! Miracles all over the place, and all I wanted was to be able to see and not depend on glasses anymore. A simple little request or so it seemed to me.

So, back to my gentle, phlegmatic, easy-going and LOGICAL husband. He came into the kitchen one evening as I was trying to read something on the top shelf, muttering under my breath about not being able to see #$@$@ ^#*&. So, he asked me, "Susie, where are your glasses?" I told him "up on my dresser." He left and came back in a few minutes with my specs and handed them to me as he said, "Here. Put 'em on." So I did. Then he said, "Now you're healed. What's for dinner?" I got the hint. That 'name it & claim it' theology never held water for me again! What a brilliant man my husband is! And I'm now in trifocals PRAISING GOD BECAUSE...I CAN SEE!!!!!!!!

What's with Catholics and suffering?

It's said the Church was born on Easter morning, the day Christ rose from the dead. But it is suffering that made the Church grow.

Here are a few verses from the holy sciptures regarding suffering. You won't find these verses in those plastic boxes that were so popular in Christian bookstores in the 80's. God's promises or Promises of God I think they were called. Like mini flash cards to learn and memorize how much God loved us by the promises He gave us. More of the "Name it, Claim it" theology. Suffering wasn't a word that was mentioned in any of those verses.

I never would have known there were so many verses about suffering while ascribing to the Evangelical paradigm. Suffering was not brought up in too many sermons, at least not as something to be received with joy. I'm sure a few of these I'd read and come across but they weren't the ones that I tried to memorize. Suffering was, for the most part, something we tried to get rid of right off the bat, by prayer...never something we were told or taught to "embrace" as our cross, or as a way to draw close to Jesus. Of course we should try to ease the suffering of the poor, the pain of those in our lives we should help to relieve because it is the right thing to do and we know suffering isn't "plunked on us" from God. It's only right to relieve as much suffering in the world as we can, however, not to try every means to 'get rid of it' without understanding how close it can bring us to Christ. When we join our suffering to His, how efficacious it is for not only ourselves, but those we love.

The attitude seemed to be, back in the other non-denom fellowships we were attending: "Jesus died so we don't have to" "Jesus suffered so we don't have to" "Jesus did it all, so we don't have to 'work' for anything" Yet how does that comply with the words Jesus told his disciples? How did these latter day independent "churches" start getting off track so wildly? The 'mainline' traditional Methodist church my family belonged to, didn't share the same thoughts on suffering as the Assembly of God, or the other two independent ones we were part of for years.

Methodists I knew, didn't run to the nearest prayer meeting to "pray it away" (though they also didn't believe physical miracles were for the church in modern times, which wasn't correct either.) Of course, we're to call the elders to lay hands on us if we're sick, as we learn in the bible, but to know that there's God's will and our will, and that spiritual healing is also just as important if not more important; then to offer our suffering for others' salvation is the beauty of Catholic teaching = something abhorrent to Evangelicals - but my mom, more than I, seemed to suffer with a deep faith while seeking some relief and answers from medical science. She had a certain joy, never saying "this shouldn't be happening to me" though in her times alone, she may have, but she was not a whiner or one to mope if things did not go 'her way.' She was not 'consumed' with 'getting rid of her suffering' but still smiled in her hospital room, when her last days were upon her, when Shy Drager syndrome succeeded in killing her after only 5 years from the diagnosis. (SDS is a devastating and rapid progression of symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease.) She had a knowing and an understanding much more "Christian" than what I was learning in my 20's and 30's from some pastors and well-meaning but sorely misguided souls adhering to a certain paradigm found in evangelicalism. The minute we think WE can control God and have Him in our "little plastic box" is the day we're in BIG trouble!

It's only been since we returned to the Catholic Church, 3 years ago, that I began to learn what suffering is and how it is to be lived THROUGH, with our Lord, Jesus, and with our Lady of Sorrows, the title she loves most, for it is the title her Son gave her that he loves most. Something to think about. I typed in Google search, "Suffering and Catholic teaching" and this is what popped up. May we learn to embrace our suffering, not become masochists, which is perversion, but to be followers of Christ. Jesus suffered all his life, all the way to the cross to suffer for us. Who are we, as Jesus' followers to ever think that we should not?