Allow me to exemplify upon this most precious wonderful gift of when we readily accept God as our Lord and Saviour.  It is then, we are a forever changed people. We never want to stop growing in his presence.  Why is that you may ask, well, I believe it is because, when we accept Him, we invite Him into the interior cell of our being. We are much more aware of our accountability, and we become more vulnerable in Him,  and when He enters into our mind and tenderizes our heart, we begin to think like him,  we begin to love like him, and eventually act like him.  For he truly is all loving and worthy of  becoming acquainted with.  I have tried with all my might to live a life of holiness and know full well, the joy of experiencing his grace, I am much more aware of the importance of  having his  grace when interacting with others.  Growing in his love has made me realize the kind of love I was missing.  His gentleness has taught me to be gentle.  That  began to make a big difference in my life.  There is less suffering in our selves and in the lives we share, when we live a life of true repentance. We should as a general rule, have a daily examination of conscience.  This will realign us totally, with being more accountable of our mistakes and errors.  When I go to confession, I deliberately try very hard not to commit the same mistakes over and over.  I strive for spiritual excellence.  I strive to be the best daughter I can in God.  When I fail in my nature to be responsible, I can see how ugly sin is.  Sin leaves a blemish on a soul.  Sin can greatly cost us a life of eternity.  Don't get caught up in this useless choice, you will suffer dearly from the consequences of them. When we live a life of holiness though, we don't desire to cling to the things of this world.  Worldly pleasures no longer have the value we once placed on them.  Thank goodness for that!  When we live in sin, we become hardened, we don't see ourselves as we truly are, and we hurt everyone in our path, because we have developed within us a nature that is unpleasing to God.  We have a choice to do one or two things, we can either look in the mirror and accept  the person we have become or we can roll up our sleeves and get to work in correcting the flaws that we saw from those closest to us and choose to no longer carry them with us like some old useless backpack.  Which does nothing but bring us  and everyone we love down with us.  

Prayer. It changes us.  We may not always see it at first but later we learn that prayer strips us of all the things that we do not need to be carrying around with us for the journey.  I call it excess baggage.  Its time to get rid of the things that weigh us down.  And when we do we can breathe easier and live happier productive lives.   Layer upon layer this excess weight is stripped from the core of our being that sets us back instead of bringing us forward.  When we are dedicated to a life of prayer we are allowing God into our life in a deep and meaningful way so that he is able to enter in and when he does and when we cooperate with his grace, he can then remove the branch in us that is no longer bearing fruit.  And that is a really good thing.  Praying the Rosary, helps us to meditate upon the Sorrowful, Joyful, Glorious, and Luminous Mysteries.  When we pray the rosary we are reminded about what our Lord endured for the sake of our soul.  The praying of the Stations of The Cross, are also a great reminder of the love our Lord had for all humanity.  We can never fully grasp his pain but he so loved the world he suffered greatly for our sinfulness, our weak nature, he knew we would be a fallen race.  We take this time in Lent to sacrifice, fast, pray, and remember our Lord. Let us give him our time alone in adoration, at mass, at home within our very own prayer room, and meet Him in the silence.  We can also think about ways we can better serve our neighbors, family, friends, who may need assistance during the next forty days of Lent.  When we think of helping the helpless, clothing the homeless, feeding the hungry, we are helping, clothing, and feeding God.  For God is living inside of everyone walking the earth.  We are all eternal beings, every single one of us will go on to live forever.  That was and is God's intention, when he first created us. Today at mass our pastor said something profound, and thank goodness I had written it down, otherwise, I would have totally forgotten his message and I always want to share what he talks about during his homily.  He said;" Lent is about RETURNING TO CHRIST &  DYING TO SIN.  Wouldn't it be great if we could take to heart this message that was given and all of us would return to the church and live holy and happy lives.  That would be amazing.  Today I saw so many people fill the church pews, for Ash Wednesday.  My hope and prayer tonight is for every person that attended our church gives their entire life back to Christ by deciding to become daily communicants.  We would have an amazing world of people doing the Lords work.  Oh how I wish to see this happen in my lifetime.  Men and women desiring to serve, we would see in our life time the next generation of saints.  That would be incredible.  Think of the great progress we would have because everyone started to genuinely care about their neighbor.  We have forgotten to extend the olive branch.  We have to begin again.  And when Jesus lives within the heart and soul and body and mind of everyone he has created, we will set the world on fire with his goodness and his love that will be everlasting.

As we continue our prayerful journey together tonight, I ask God to guide you very personally into this novena.  The deeper we go into the prayerful life the more meaningful our life will become.  To be rich in Christ, is to be rich in His love.  His love for us is tremendous.  More so contagious!  Those of you blessed to be walking with the Lord for a very long time know this truth.  I don't know about you, but I personally want to take a leap of faith in getting to know who our creator is.  And I may not get all the answers that I suspect however, if I fall upon only his peace, I will be counted among the most grateful.  As a Christian, my walk with Christ is very real.  I am NOTHING, and He is EVERYHING.   My dearest and wisest friend Ethel M, reminded me so often in her Bible Study Class and Lectio Divina Class we be nothing, and I have to admit, she was spot on.  To hear those words can be harsh at first, but then when the dust finally settles and humility comes into play, it is fitting to say those words.  I think it realigns our way of thinking.  We need to be reminded quite often of this.  I believe its the only way to get out of Jesus way, to let go and let God in.  And when He enters into us, when we give Him total access, it is then His greatest  works begins in us.  But you see. the power of free will given to us by God, can and does get in the way of our spiritual growth.  We have to at first recognize it, admit it, accept it, and move away from it, in order to grow out of it, and it is then change begins again and again and again.  That great change in you is a reflection of your deep love and appreciation for Christ.   I began taking my walk with Him very seriously in 1990, and I never looked back, meaning, I never wanted to return to the person I was before I had given my entire life back to Christ.  I left everything and everyone behind.  Talk about editing, purging, a quarter century of living and starting all over again with the mind set of Christ.  This opportunity is open to anyone desiring a true faith filled life as a Christian.  We all need to mature and spiritual maturity is fascinating.  Its a lot of fun because you get to learn about the importance of holding onto a true faith in a world that has lost their sense of Christian identity and are in need of a Christian compass.  It is here we find ourselves and we find our Lord.  Its a package deal.  We must have hope in God, faith in God and in each other, we must build one another up in greatness.  We have to at least try our very best to live a life that is centered in Christ so that everything we think about, say, and do, has everlasting effects, Let us not ever waste a precious second in this lifetime we were given to live.  Lets live out our very best life using the tools given to us by God himself and live truly live as Christians.  Lets us empower one another, challenge one another, rely on one another, and build up the kingdom of God beginning here on earth.  We can at least try.  There you have it.  I placed the bug in your ear, to spread knowledge, truth,  goodness, kindness, joy, peace, patience, all of the attributes of Christ at your fingertips for you to do something amazing for God.  This is your time to shine and be the beacon of light that carries itself from seashore to seashore, from lighthouse to lighthouse, the difference you make can change the world with just one act of kindness, a smile, a wave hello, welcoming the joy that is Christ back into the hearts and minds of Gods people.     

What a great way to begin this Lenten Season 2023!  We welcome our Lord and enter into this most sacred time within His holy presence.  The longer I walk with Christ, all the more I want to be totally devoted as His own.  I love our faith.  It is so welcoming.  And when we see how real and alive we are in Christ, we live out the beginning of our eternity on earth.  How blessed we truly are to know our creator on such an intimate level.  We commune with Him in thought, in prayer, in service, every single thing we do, is to honor Him.  When we speak, with great gentleness and respect, God is pleased.  When we show compassion and love, God is pleased.  When we take the higher road, the road less traveled, God is pleased.  You see, we began with our Lord.  He loved us first.  Yes, and that love for us that He has, is eternal.  We are eternal beings.  Destined for greatness.  Destined for heaven.  We are not destined for earth.  We traverse through time, experience, and memories,  only to physically die inside of our bodies so that our souls can be brought forth by our Lord.  We do not go to heaven.  We are taken to heaven by God himself. So you see our soul is worth everything to God.  Therefore, we must treat our soul with the respect it deserves.  We need to look deep within ourselves and recognize our souls importance.  We come into this world with a clean slate.  Pure, un spoiled , and beautiful.  The choices that we make change the purity of our soul and the really bad ones force us to take a deep look at what we have done.  A blackened soul full of impurities needs to be purified and some times it takes a lifetime for us to look that deep and desire to deep purification process.  Sadly there are others who never desire to look at themselves and die without ever correcting their imperfections and scars, that deserved to be looked at, examined at great length in order to be healed.  I thank God that I have lived long enough to see what God had wanted me to see and to correct my imperfections so that I can truly live a life that is worthy of my Lord.  Our Lord is a Lord of many chances, I am very thankful of that, and I appreciate every opportunity he has given me to show humility, and reverse the remnants of stain of my sin upon my soul.  I want everyone to utilize that same opportunity.  To look deep within and correct any imperfections that may have set you back instead of bringing you forward into the light and life of Christ.  I pray that this podcast reaches just one soul that may have never known that their soul was in need of cleansing.  And they actually get to clean it for the first time and then they desire to upkeep their soul so it is in a state of grace when our Lord comes for them.  Tommrow is Ash Wednesday, and it is the perfect time of year to rediscover who we are in the midst of Lent.  To rediscover oneself, to edit oneself is a good thing.  We need to bring ourselves up to speed with the truth about God and about our relationship with Him.  Lent is the perfect segway to do so.  The praying of the stations of the cross and reflecting upon the pain our Lord endured for the sake of our souls is the least we can do this Lent as faithful men and women.  Lets begin again.  A new!  Lets show Christ, we are of GREAT WORTH IN HIS EYES AND WITHIN OUR VERY OWN.      

What is it about prayer that opens us up to the Holy Spirit?  Do we even understand what this means?  I believe we are given these special prayers to recite for a reason, mainly I believe, to help us find our way, and to help save our very souls from final damnation, the very soul that our Lord himself gave to us personally.  One cannot see ones soul.  However, ones soul does, in fact, exist.  It exists in the minds eye of our creator, it exists in the eyes and minds of everyone he has ever created.  Who is it that gives us everything?  God! He made us, and we are perfect.  We were born from our mothers womb without stain or blemish.  God made us in his likeness and in His  image.  No one can replicate creation, nor the very first seed that fell to the ground and multiplied.  That was God then and is God today!  God gives us numerous gifts. The question is, what are we doing with those God given gifts?  God gives us a lifetime filled with grandeur, look around you, man cannot create a tree, a sky, a sun, a moon, nor can we create life.  It was then and is now all of God's  doing.  It was God who loved us first!  God only wants one thing from us.  To get to heaven.  We have the opportunity to meet our creator the day that we take our last breadth.  Would you like to meet someone face to face, who knows absolutely everything about you?  Who knows every hair on your head, who knows your deepest thoughts, who loves you more than you will ever be loved by anyone else?   I am looking forward to the day my Lord will come for me.  This has not been the easiest life to live through.  Yes, I have a lot of questions and would like some answers as to why my life was so different than everyone else's.  I may or may not like what God tells me, but its important for me to know why such suffering took place in my heart.  When I finally heard the voice of my Lord speaking to me, I straightened up really quick.  For he had my attention, and I was His.  You see, we need to rid ourselves of sin, and wrongful behavior that negatively contributes to the hurt held within the interior part of our being.  It's a real place.  And yet we forget that it exists and we shove our experiences under a rug not wanting to deal with them.  So many of us are like this, and unfortunately this is a very dark place to be.  Darkness, needs the light to burn away the sorrow of yesterday.  The light needs to come into us for a good reason, so that we can grow out of our immaturity, and mature in Christ.  We don't realize the baggage we carry and how it affects our lives and the lives of those who love us.  I am going to tell you right now, you do not need to carry that baggage any longer.  God wants you to be free.  God wants us to know who you are and why you exist.  And where you and I are heading.  To know God, is to know his truth and to be one with God, we must choose Him over our own desires first and foremost.  We must take up our cross and deny our selves constantly in order to achieve perfection in Christ.  I believe this is the right course of action.  Easy to say, difficult yes, but worth following.  To be free we must desire to be associated with the great I AM.  Perfection, spiritual perfection that is exists in HIM.  We should desire to be spiritually perfect so that we can attain all the graces He would love for us to receive.  Being so perfect should be our main goal in life and we should strive from there for the perfection that can only be attained in his company.  And we make the time for Christ through perpetual adoration.  That one hour a day, a week, will invite us into the interior life of Christ.  And I am sharing this with all of you because, I too have found the pearl of great price in

We are reminded about the great corporeal and spiritual works of mercy that God himself has commissioned to each and every person he has ever created.  Especially today as I reflect upon the life of service offered by Bishop David G. O' Connell.  His desire to do Gods work was obviously great!  Today after reading about his life works as a priest, associate pastor, and bishop, I was reminded that we too are to be like him.  Like him in every sense assigned by God to do marvelous works during our life time knowing that we will bear much fruit for all eternity.

It is up to us to accept Christ and his ways.  To accept the life he has chosen for us, means that we desire to follow him.   We desire to solely adopt the truths  that will strengthen the faithful and enrich every community.

We are a REMANENT my brothers and sisters!  Our very lives are - --  a living example of truth striving for justice and peace.  When we walk with Christ we walk with justice, truth, and a desire to bring what is truthful to everyone.  We do it in such a way as to love and to understand fully that Christ truly is living within all of us.  We don't incite others we prayerfully speak as if Christ was standing right next to us and recognizing his presence we want to make Christ proud of our response and action toward others.  I believe with all my heart when we love and act in love, that love that is Christ, empowers, enlightens, encourages, all of us to desire success in the manner in which we choose to live and love and serve.  That sums up who we are in our Christianity.

To be pleasing first and foremost is to desire being pleasing first in the eyes of God.  To have a healthy fear of God is really good and an important reminder almost like a barometer of how we should and need to be acting as faith filled men and women of God.  We definitely  should act as if God were physically visible in every situation, I bet if we had this type of mindset a healthy fear would come over us and we would think three times over before making a decision that would greatly displease our creator.

In recognizing our heavenly father, this should be enough for us to desire living in a very disciplined life.  Working within the parameters of truth, and desiring and striving for and towards obedience each and every moment of every day, this type of accountability would be taken into consideration before any harsh measure in the mind body soul of every human being about to make a decision that will negatively affect their life and the lives of others in the years to come. . This is where knowledge of the Lord comes in handy.  Knowing Him, imitating Him, can lead us properly without painful mistakes.  Yes, when we desire Christ we never desire to stray away from him. 
We all know all too well that with God there is grace, and goodness.  No evil what so ever.  That is why we choose God first in all things!  In all circumstances.  God is our  compass.  With him we work wonders!  We remain within His presence and stay within the healthy parameters that will guide us and protect us always.  God is all knowing, God is all powerful.  And when we trust fully our life in his hands, and within the mantle of his Holy Mother, we receive the great benefits he offers us. His truth, His justice, His obedience, His knowledge, His peace, His joy holds greater meaning than the thoughts actions of this lifetime, so desire to be pleasing to Christ, by desiring to give your entire life to Him, as did our brother Bishop David G. O'Connell.  Today we remember God, His creation, His claim upon our life, and our YES given to LIVE it well.

The power of prayer is worth experiencing! If you truly want to live a fruitful life you have this opportunity to do so every single day.  Start now.  And  you will begin to see the seed of great fruit sprout in your life. We must desire Christ, and when we desire Christ, we change.  We can never change on our own.  We need the help of God.  We grow in his goodness and in his greatness and it is there, He prepares us for what is expected of us. Something unique and special awaits you.  Gods gifts come to us all differently. No two people are alike, and neither are two relationships with Christ.  I love that thought of Christ entering into each one of us on a different level.  The more we give Christ, the more He is able to work within us.  Its a powerful relationship.  I encourage you to introduce yourself to Him.  I am sure of it that He has waited for you and has so much to share.  When we let God in, we step into his world.  His realm, and it is nothing like the life we see here and live here, He takes us to another level and we see further instead of what is only in front of us, we see Gods beauty alive.

This Novena will change what God wants for you to change in your life.  
If it is the light of Jesus you are truly desiring to experience, I personally encourage you to recite this novena.  

Just this past week, the week before my dads first anniversary of his death, I was given the vision of light.  It followed me throughout my home, morning, noon, and night.  
That illumination at first alarmed me.  I wasn't sure what was happening.  It would catch me off guard.  I would be walking in my home at night and a flash would come over me and it touched the lens of my prescription glasses in a circular motion.  I must have jumped up and out of my skin a handful of times.  

I remember once as a young girl, having a shadow follow me in my room, and I always thought that it was the Blessed Mother, or even a deceased loved one visiting me, one last time before going to Jesus.  A very innocent and beautiful thought.   Some experiences are difficult to explain as well as understand.  One can only guess what these spiritual experiences might entail.  But none the less, both happened.  The real question here is, why did they?  Well as I reread the Novena to the Holy Ghost, Day I, line two, The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Light.  He enlightens the mind.  Ah yes, and for me it was a physical and internal enlightenment.  I have to believe it was the Holy Ghost visiting me right here in my home the week before the one year anniversary of my dads death.  

Can God do this?  Absolutely.  And He did.  The vision of light is gone for now.  And I am continuing the Novena, looking forward to everything the Lord has in store for me as His daughter.  If in fact this happens to you personally where a bright light covers you do not be afraid, keep doing what ever it is God is calling you to do, and do it well.  I would like to believe that my precious Lord is very pleased with me in honoring Him this way personally and through this podcast.  He wants all of us to walk into His light.  And not fear His presence, although that will probably be your first reaction, as it was mine.  The beauty in all of this, is, we are all His children.  Yes our parents raised us, but God ultimately created us, in his form, in his likeness, and we are all beautiful in His eyes.  And one day we will meet Him face to face, and in Awe we will see Him as He truly is.  And that will be a day of great rejoicing.  

To be the light of the world we have to be pure in our intentions.  We have to be loving servants of our God.  Our hearts, our minds, our bodies, undefiled.  Holy.  Yes, holy, when we come into the presence  of our Lord.  Strong in faith, our minds can only think of Him.  And those thoughts become His actions, and we act in a rightful manner that is always pleasing to God.  Always pleasing to our brothers and sisters.  Always pleasing so as to lift up the lowly, care for the sick, clothe the naked, feed the poor, bring the faithless to the faithful.  One day God will ask us, did we truly love those whom He placed in our lives? 

Did we injure, forsake, abandon, without seeing Jesus in the heart of every situation  we experienced as most trying?  Most painful,  most devastating.  It was there that Jesus was present in you and in the company of the person who hurt you, who lied to you, who turned your world upside down.  That same exact Jesus is here right now to save you!  From the darkness, the lies, the evil, that devours the weak. That same Jesus unleashes his power upon every soul who desires Him!  Desire God back, and your life will turn around. Only God can remove the shackles, that have kept you away from a life worth living! 

        

My precious Lord...Saint Padre Pio...Dad....I discovered that the greatest strength of God, is readily available to everyone who desires great silence .  A silent prayerful life has taken its hold over me. It is increasing my faith, enriching my values, and molding me into the woman I have always desired to be.   I am so very thankful to have the daily support of my creator, guiding my spiritual growth.  Inspiring me to study the life of the saints, the history of my religion, and the opportunity to share it with my family of podcasters.  The history of yesterday is equally as important to the history of today.  There are Saints greatly respected during my life time, as there are equally saints who were born and served Christ centuries ago.  God had given them each a purpose and many were true to their calling.  I believe you and I as Christians have that same invitation.  We are invited to take part in this wonderful mystery of faith with God, even though we cannot see Him, he is there, he is present and alive leading us righteously towards heaven.  That same God lives in everyone we love. If only we could take the initiative and share the same God we know and love with everyone who has yet to discover the importance of living which includes Christ living at the helm of every life.  If only we could talk to one another about the daily experiences happening to us where Gods hand interjected and made everything better. That is what I love the most about sharing this important apostolate.  God is revealing himself over and over again, and I recognize that every breadth, every step, He allows.  I could not be with you at this moment writing, editing, recording, without God present because I believe He is doing everything through me.  I can never take the credit of something of this great. I wake up every morning because of his grace and for the great work He wants for me to accomplish for his own.  That's it.  If we could die to the desires of the self we would all see more clearly the truth about our self in every single situation.  We would benefit greatly to set aside our pride in exchange of humility.  We have to desire Christ first, so that we are emptied out of our foolish nature.  And when we see ourselves for who and what we really are, it is there the work begins and a sort of detox takes place and God purifies us and makes us realize we are nothing and that He is everything.  This takes a mature mindset.  This takes real strength and we get there if we become serious about our self, our life, and where we are all heading.   Sure, we can live an entire life without recognizing Christ, and on our death bed desire to know him.  But why wait that long when we have the ability to know Him and meet Him everyday.  For those who deny Christ, I want to invite you to think about why it is you have chosen to separate yourself from a lifetime more incredible than any other life you will ever live?
We must pray more so for one another.  That prayer will bring the greatest unity this universe has ever experienced.  We must never give up on each other.  We must help each other in every situation.  It is then we will bridge the gap and unify.  I believe prayer will unify this division, prayer will enlighten the darkness that overshadows the greatness of every man and every woman deserving what Christ himself believes to be the truth, the way, and the life, for the one that is lived in Him, will live forever!  

Receiving the Holy Eucharist.  If we only knew the great gift awaits us and that great gift is Christ!  To receive the Holy Eucharist in the greatest awe as did Blessed Imelda, we would all die of joy inside! 

Blessed Imelda, was raised beautifully by her parents, to love the Catholic faith, especially prayer and holiness of the mass.  Her mom had taught her to cook and sew for the poor, and to perform corporal works of mercy.  By the early age of nine, her parents gave her permission to live with the Dominican nuns at a neighboring monestary.  Imelda longed to receive holy communion with the nuns.  The Saints became her secret companions.  In nurturing the longing she had felt to receive Jesus intimately in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  She had begged to receive the Holy Eucharist at a vigil of the Ascension.  While praying quietly in the chapel, as the sisters received communion, Imelda had begged to receive the Eucharist, and Jesus did a little insisting of his own.  After mass one nun clearing the altar heard a noise and looked up to the choir to see Imelda, and saw a glowing light shining above her head with Sacred host suspended in the light.  The chaplan was called at once , and he understood Jesus was making his desire known.  Let the children come to me and do not stop them!  The priest then gave Imelda First Holy Communion, and Imelda kneeling with a smile on her face, and her body was still, she died of pure joy upon consuming the precious body of our Lord!   She continues to offer the witness of a child with mature desires and a faith unspoiled in its intensity.  

If only we could all desire Christ the way Imelda did that day.  The outpouring of grace would touch the most hardened of all hearts and convert all souls.  Let us turn toward Christ today with that same desire!