Understanding the liturgical calendar is important.  I think that it better prepares us for an amazing faith filled journey! We as Catholic's,  were meant to experience a personal relationship with Christ.  Some may not have been shown the proper examples in their youth, nor have they received an explanation detailing the history of the catholic faith.  Others, may have only gone through the motions of  attending mass, never realizing the importance of studying holy scripture and the readings for the following day.  Living as long as I have, I now know better.  I know the importance of preparing myself for the mass.  Arriving early is a must!  This helps greatly in shutting down the noise of the world outside, so I can then collect my thoughts, examine my conscience, and just be in a silent atmosphere with my Lord.    At night, before going to sleep, evening prayer is a priority, and I open up my Divine Office, my liturgy of the hours prepare me with good thoughts for the day and I do look forward to listening daily to every word written by our Lord through his people teaching us how to live a life that is honest and true and holy.

Preparation is key.  We as Catholics never stop educating ourselves and we never stop praying.  The devout faithful recite the holy rosary, read daily the Divine Office, both  morning and evening prayers.  This gives us a better idea about the readings being offered by a lector and a psalm being sung by a cantor.  Both greatly help us to meditate and reflect more when the gospel is read during the mass by  priest following his homily. 

 His interpretation of the reading is the message we are suppose to take into our minds and learn from what is being shared and said to us.  And then leaving the church, we take with us the messages we were given by God himself through the priest.  We are given this wonderful opportunity to do something extraordinary as faith filled Christians.  Yet to be determined, because God himself will personally engage in this process in the hours, days, weeks, months, and years ahead.

It takes a lifetime to establish a great and holy life in God. It is do able as long as the example is shown to us through our very first teachers and mentors, our very parents whose examples leave a very indelible impression on our life as young children.  My mother along with my great grandmother lived a saintly and holy life.  She had two twin cousins who were nuns.  I met them only once while going on a Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown Pennsylvania, over fifty years ago.  I saw their love for God through their obedience to him and their devotion to having a prayerful life.  I was caught in  Jesus net, I became a Fisherwoman!  Desiring everything good and holy and wanting to capture more fish in God's net.

I have been inspired to personally promote retreat weekends for women in Palm Beach 2008-20015, and one out of state Eucharistic Retreat Weekend guided and given to us by Father John Paul Mary of EWTN in  Alabama.  We were meant to be instruments of peace for God, bringing back his people to the church, to the truth, to everlasting life. 

I have studied within two lay orders.   The Secular Franciscan Order 2011-2016 , and the Lay Dominican Order 2021-Present.  I believe God wants more for us and out of us.  He wants to see a continual progression of growth within all of His children of light.  He wants the light to burn bright in all the hearts of men and women.  We all have a purpose.  It is important to find out specifically,  what ours is!  And when we do, we set the world on fire with the love of God. 

 "Are Not Our Hearts Burning Within Us"?     

    

 

None of us know the hour, nor the day, when the Lord will come for us and take us back to himself forever.  And in some ways depending upon the timing of things,  what we do not know, sometimes can be a blessing in disguise.  Because we are swayed neither way.  But with time still on our side, we are given a grand opportunity to do something extraordinary with it.  For me personally I think it would be in all of our best interest to prepare ourselves properly for  the coming of our Lord.  To be aware of our final destination. There will be an accountability of our thoughts, words, and actions.  And God watched as every sin was committed unjustly towards his people.  Some of us will account for our sin, while still living on earth, while others will experience purgatory.  In our Father's house there are many mansions. And God has a special place for all of his people.  

Personally, I am looking forward to the day my precious Lord will come for me.  I have been preparing myself for this journey with Him, for a very long time.  It was upon the death of my paternal grandmother I made a solemn promise to devote my life to him for as long as I live.  Quite honestly, the journey has been great.  I was able to firmly establish a real relationship with my Lord.  And because of my choice, God chose to bless my life with abundant grace and joy and experiences I never would have had, hadn't I not chose God, to be, number one in my life. 

God never hurt me.  God listened, loved, guided, educated my every deficiency.  He created in me the Mother, the Wife, The Daughter, the Sister,  I had always wanted to be.  I could never get there completely on my own. And the gratefulness I treasure within my heart every single day exudes love, and a life I would have totally missed out on, hadn't I not chosen to live a life totally devoted to God.  Is it difficult to do, at first, but as time surpasses, much fruit grows within the vineyard of Gods garden.  One tends not to look at life happening all around, one tends to look up to Christ, trusting fully in his plans that offer the most meaningful life imaginable. 

 For those of you who are struggling, and living without having a true compass in life, I promise you this much.  It is better to have less in this life and be totally absorbed into a strong and healthy spirituality and building upon your life the graces and riches of Christ.  We do not need to look at the world and our life as a last resort.  That comes later when we meet our loving savior.  Fear not the journey, it can be spectacular if we step away from our self, our troubles in life and invite the higher power in to clean up the mess created knowingly and unknowingly by us.  We are great at creating a disaster for ourselves and others, and what we are not good at, we neglect to address the weakness and the trickling effects create this great burden upon our self and upon society.  We owe it to God to fix our broken hearts, broken minds, broken souls, and fall to our knees with great humility and beg God to forgive us, for not living a life in Him.  

We can overcome our blind spots, our insecurities, our handicaps, for there are too many that we have clung to and like a disease those negative aspects of our lives multiply out of control as if they were cancerous, and by that time, so much time has been wasted on the wrongs we focused on instead of the rights god gave us.

So tonight we pray together, we pray away the desire to be abusive people in our home, in society, and instead, invite God this very minute to be our spiritual adviser directing us to a life of peace, so that his  holiness can over flow into the most barren, dry deserted hearts, making them a fire with his love a love that is true a love that is everlasting.   &nb

My life with God.  Your life with God.  Ever wonder what it will be like?  Do you think that you will be ready when the time comes for you to die and for Jesus to come back for you? It's a really good question.  I am sure that there are many devout Catholic's who are working out their souls salvation while still living on earth.  I just so happen to be one of them!  I am totally focused on preparing my soul for eternity.  I am very much aware because God has placed this important issue at the top of my list.  

Therefore, I cannot ignore the process he has begun in my life.  God is number one.  And when we place God where he needs to be, he begins a great work in us.  We just need to acknowledge him and step aside and allow him to enter into us and begin a great clean up.  God wants order.  Always.  End of story.  And when we follow God, orderliness begins to take root in us.  And the life God had intended for us to live begins.  And our personal intended lifestyle dies.  We die to ourselves so that we can live in Christ.  Sounds simple and yet we make it unnecessarily, complicated. 

The beauty of following Gods ways are this.  They continue to flow, and as his most perfect plans become revealed to us personally, we observe his ways, as being truly better for us in the long run.   He leads us graciously, joyfully, and surprises us at every turn.  We can never out give God, so why not give him our very lives so that he can do greater things in us and through us by allowing him to use us, as his perfect instruments.  Can we totally give up our free will and serve God and neighbor in this capacity?  You would think that we would be giving up a lot, but,  in essence God is only trying to give us more.   But in our humanity we are fooled, yes, perhaps even foolish, to not allow our creator who made us, in that deep to save us, before we destroy ourselves from the inside out.  

I would much rather trust in God and allow him access to my life for the sole purpose of saving my soul.  Its a win win, and I have to tell you that I have personally done this and my life is more fruitful, more joyful, more holy, and my life is more disciplined and I like that very much.  Because I can remember when it was not like that and I hurt a lot of people because I could not see myself as I truly was.  And God took that imperfection and miraculously cured and healed me, so that I could work on becoming a true disciple of Christ.   

Beatitude means - - - good attitude.  Why is it we mess up so badly when it comes to responding respectfully toward others especially when we disagree with one another? We should be great at being cautious when we speak.  That would greatly help us to have healthier dialogue and happier relationships.  This Thanksgiving Eve, My prayer is for all of us to work harder on the things we fail in, and have greatly failed others in.  And combine those failures and deal with them head on!

Take a real hard look at yourself and ask God to help you recognize your handicap and accept the challenge by seriously working on  the removal of setbacks that no longer fit into the life you want.  

May we see ourselves for who and what we really are, and take to heart the need to fix what is broken deep within...  Maybe,  if we make this connection in mind and in heart,  and earnestly work everyday towards improving our negative tendencies, there is great hope that every obstacle can and will be changed into a life worth living, because we live in you Lord.  And only you can transform us and improve us as long as we  acknowledge every bit of growth --- is of you! And for that grace, that gift, I thank thee and I devote my entire life to thee in great Thanksgiving! 

Christ truly is our King forever.  Today on this most important feast day of "Christ The King", we are reminded that we are a people of God.   He reigns over the entire universe that He himself created.  Everything belongs to Christ.  Everything and everyone on this earth and in heaven, God created.  We are sons and daughters of a King! He is one God in three divine persons.  Father, Son, And Holy Spirit.  We were taught this truth in parochial school from the nuns who became our teachers and mentors, they molded us and inspired us to know the faith, love our Lord, and to live a life of great truth in Him.

This world and this life with God contains all truth in the way we ought to live.  I know his ways are difficult and very few whole heartedly and genuinely, follow the Christ.  This God man that I speak of, is your savior!  Let there be no doubt in your mind, he gave you life, and it is meant to be everlasting.  He wants everyone to be with Him in eternity.  Sadly, many of us, have turned our backs on the truth, and have rejected Jesus the Christ.  Sin, distracting one soul, can lead a person far from God, far from his truths, far from keeping the ten commandments.

Even our pastor Father Patrick spoke of this exact truth today at mass.  What if there were no governors and only men and women following the ten commandments? Would our society be much better off? It's a really great question.  What if we were to live free, would there be peace in everyone of us?  It seems perfectly clear that if we all lived under the law of God's ways, yes, perhaps, we would all be living much better lives as Christians.  Our faith would guide us, and a perfect harmonious outcome would take the place of money and the crazy things that the desire of having more wealth does to the mind and soul of every  man and every woman.  

All along our focus should have been, Christ!  I believe that no divorce would enter into the hearts that truly know and understand agape love! To love truly love as Christ loves us takes the ultimate sacrifice of denying our desire and living for the desire of making our spouse a priority.  Respectfulness would resurge, and a new found understanding will re enter into the mind and heart of man and woman.  All confusion will cease, and a beautiful love will take root in the hearts united through the love of God.

As Christians, we can live this way today all we have to do is get serious about our affairs in life and totally surrender ourselves to Christ.  Once we surrender we allow God to live in us and take control of everything.  If you ever wanted to experience Joy beyond belief surrender your life right now to Christ.  He will form you into absolute perfection.  You will become happier and holier  than you ever imagined.  God is patiently waiting for everyone to say yes Lord, I come to do your will.  And when we do come back to the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, we live no longer for ourselves, but we life totally in and for Him!  

God is patient when it comes to these matters.  He loves us so much he gave us free will.  But he also wants us to realize what free will does to a man or woman when they remain in that free will.  And when we reach the point of this realization, when we have had enough of the world and its way, we desire to remove ourselves from the world and remain in him.  His presence, is the only place hearts, souls, and minds, and spirits, rest fully.  He teaches us the way to truly live a life that is full, reflective, prayerful, joyful, because in his presence Christ himself is all the above.  Christ is enough!  

Now go to him in the upper room and pray.  Be united to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords!  And enter into, His heavenly truth.

I was in the 7th grade when I was given this booklet of prayers on how to pray the Stations of the Cross.  I am thrilled to have kept this jewel of prayers.  They were my guide post growing up.  And have led me to serve my Lord at a very young and impressionable age.  God revealed himself to me.  He told me long ago I was given more than most.  And I heard him tell me these words and they struck an everlasting cord into my very heart.  And quite honestly,  I took God's words very seriously.  I even went a step further, with His help of course, I  created ways that I could serve him.  I was inspired to work after school beginning in the 9th grade and at the age of 13, I worked two jobs one during the week and one during the weekend.  I learned the value of hard work and the reward of saving for a rainy day.  I swept floors, I worked a register, I decorated the interior of a window displaying Thanksgiving, Christmas, Saint Valentine's Day, Saint Patrick's Day, and Easter.  I volunteered at our local hospital every Wednesday for two years in order to obtain 1240 community service hours.  It was there my love for people grew so much I wanted to care for the sick.  I became a live in care  giver for two women and a third woman I cared for in her home.  I was then inspired to read the bible and I got to know all about God.  I took my relationship with him very seriously, I knew deep down it was for a lifetime.  When he introduced me to my husband, I was given four step children to love and care for.  God and I were very busy together, he then wanted me to help women going through cancer, and then bring women to retreat weekends to enrich their faith and secure their lives for all eternity.  He inspired me to begin an Emmaus retreat with Fr. Tony Mullane, and for ten years over 1,000 lives were brought closer to Jesus Christ.  I take no credit only instructions to follow my Lord.  I am nothing, as my mentor Ethel M. use to say.  And God is everything!  May all souls desire to quench their thirst at the fountain that is Christ himself.  May this podcast stir deep within you the Christ you have longed for.  And when you find him, my prayer for you is to never let him go!

Mothers.  Who are they really?  What specific intentional purpose did God give them?  God gave all women the gift to become Mother's.  But the beauty of motherhood was tainted by the evil one.  And an evil idea that life can be destroyed at conception.  It doesn't get more evil than that.  The beauty of marriage.  One man, one woman, for life, was what God originally intended for everyone he has created.  But sin entered into the hearts of men and women destroying this beautiful reality of how God's family was meant to be. 

 One in God, one in faith, one in marriage, one life, one love, one God, one eternity.  God pretty much mapped it out for us and we took it and distorted it with choosing to go against God's laws.  What happens to us when we go against God and his laws, is absolute destruction of the human family.  And everything from there falls apart affecting the next generation.  Fast forwarding to today.  Children are growing up in divorced households, the morals, the values, the once healthy environment of a loving mother and loving father, no longer exists.  Tearing away at hearts, creating an environment of confusion, lack of trust, lack of joy, lack of faith.  Broken, lost, hurting, we have a society that is all the above.  What is needed here is God.  The Mass.  Reconciliation face to face with an awesome priest, yes they do exist!!!  When we open our hearts to God, he fills them better than we could ever fill them ourselves.  Sometimes just getting on our knees and praying and fasting brings about the beginning of change we so desperately need.  The light of Christ is beaming tonight, for all humanity, look up outside and see the moon shining and if you stare long enough sometimes you can literally see the shape of a cross, that is Christ present in your midst.  Go to him in the deepest recesses of your heart and tell him your story, involve him in your daily life, and he will bring out the bad in you, (do not be afraid)  so that the good in you can shine ever so brightly in the world we live in.   We need to believe that God is real.  God is near to us.  God is waiting for us to bring him our nothingness so he can bring out of us the greatness of himself living in us through the holy eucharist that we willingly consume at every single mass.  Your best self has yet to be born.  Only Jesus can unleash the power of the Holy Spirit living in you through your love and understanding of our faith filled God.

Who were the Saints?  From what little I do know and have learned about the Saint's I believe they were a chosen people,  for a very special task during a very special time, in the history of our faith, desiring to know Christ, love Christ, and become the living example of Christ for the world to see and imitate.

The Saint's were taught some really amazing lesson's during their life journey.  How to truly imitate Christ as fellow Catholic's.  The Saint's have paved the way, lived and died, and entered into judgement with our Lord, never to return to the earth again.  For their purpose was and is,  to serve for a time, that would later be recorded, preserved, and studied, by the faithful, you and I.

Saints are ordinary people living out extra ordinary lives.  Their good works are meaningful and purposeful and meant to guide the faithful on their journey through life's most difficult lessons, preparing them not just in life but in death for all eternity. 

For eternal life is in knowing that our greatest achievement in life is to be with God for all eternity.  And if we aim at achieving this goal while still living on earth we have a head start in life and in death before we even get there.  How do we get there?  For starters, we read all about the life of the saints.  Who better to begin with than Saint Anne which you will learn more about in the downloading of this episode.  For now let me say that Saint's had to be very important in the eyes of God, because we have had so many of them, over the centuries devoted to something bigger and greater than their own desires.  They desired God above and beyond everything!  Allowing God to use them as his very own instruments, we read upon their rich lives which have shown us how it was like during their time  in building up the kingdom of God while still living on earth.  

Saints throughout the ages have suffered willingly and greatly for the sake of loving God.  But they did not suffer in vain.  They were chosen and happy to live out their lives in holiness.  God's best examples were given to us in the form of saints.  God knew that we needed to see his love for us in action.  Gods love has moved men and women throughout the ages, to hear and listen to his voice calling them to himself.  To the highest standard of service and highest standard of living.  He chose them, and they said yes.  And they enriched the journey for the rest of us to find Jesus through knowing about the power of Jesus dwelling within them.

Saint Anne was a perfect living example that her very own daughter later followed.  She was prayerful, and her only daughter Mary,  who would later become the mother of God was shown how to read scripture as a little girl.  And having Saint Anne as my very own patron Saint, I am always in awe of the depiction of the statue of Mary as a young girl looking up to her mother, holding scripture in her hand.  

If you and I just focused on reading scripture think of the knowledge we would be receiving, knowing, and applying to our daily lives.  We would live the most holiest life imaginable.  Honoring The Mother of God, and her daughter.  A very powerful image and thought to ponder.  

Let us then put on the mind and heart of Mary and the mind and heart of Anne and stay within the holy presence of these first two very powerful women in the history of our beautiful Catholic faith.

Division has taken over the world as we speak.  Division is not of God.  Therefore, those who choose this great divide do not follow the law.  They follow the way of death, their minds are so very focused on destruction, and they abandon what is good, what is just, because their hearts were turned away from God, and the greatest evil has entered into their veins.  

Blinded by the most intrinsic evil imaginable, they remain in locked in darkness and  confusion which  has overcome them.  Tonight we pray to our Lady of Czestochowa of Poland to awaken these souls although living they are dead destroying everything in their path.  We pray for their last chance of conversion.

Their sick souls need medicine, and repentance of grave sin.  Only our Lord can cure what ails them.  Please Blessed Mother I beg of you for the sake of mothers and their children and fathers protect these your very own from the bombings that have entered into Poland.  The land of my ancestors, for they and I cry out to you tonight for assistance, please hear us and answer this prayer for protection, Amen.