The Fellowship of the Unashamed by Anonymous

I am part of the "Fellowship of the Unashamed."

The die has been cast.

I have stepped over the line.

The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.

I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.

I now live by presence, lean by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I must go until Heaven returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.

My colors will be clear.

Shhhh . . . .

Just a quick note . . .

The last three months have been undeniably indescribable, completely and totally Divinely inspired.  I am not ready to write about all that has transpired yet, but suffice it to say, our merciful Father is answering my vocation prayers in a powerfully loving, generous, mysterious, incredible way.  I can not even find the words to describe all that has happened yet, as I am simply overwhelmed by the mercy and love I have received, so I am choosing to simply BE and listen for now, watching as it all unfolds, taking it all in.  I will write more after some of the plans I am making are brought to fruition, probably in a month or two.  For now, it is a time of great preparation and thanksgiving.  Thanks be to God!

Fiat!
Totus Tuus

Saint Dominic, pray for us.

The Truth About Your Mother

Discernment

It has been an interesting couple of months. For many reasons, I have found myself beginning again, not wondering whether I have a call to the religious life, but to which order?

Catholic author and philosopher, Peter Kreeft, wrote a great article on discernment, and I found the following paragraph to be especially pertinent to where I feel my heart is being drawn today:

       Look for the fruits of the spirit, especially the first three: love, joy, and peace. If we are angry and anxious and worried, loveless and joyless and peaceless, we have no right to say we are sure of being securely in God's will. Discernment itself should not be a stiff, brittle, anxious thing, but—since it too is part of God's will for our lives—loving and joyful and peace-filled, more like a game than a war, more like writing love letters than taking final exams.

Wow. I have to admit that I have not had as much peace as I would have expected, given that all I want to do is give everything to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And I have surely had my fill of anxiety in the journey. But now that I am embracing the fact that God may have different plans for me, I find my heart filled with peace in the process of discernment. I am relishing it and grateful for new insights. This comes as quite a surprise to me, unexpected, yet so needed. I thought I was finished with discerning this vocation. Silly girl.

I have long believed that it was God's will that I suffer. After all, it was great suffering that brought me to Him, and my best learning seems to come from persevering through difficulties. I always offer the suffering to Jesus for all the intentions of His Sacred Heart, knowing the great value of redemptive suffering, so I figured it made sense. I know all the great saints suffered, so I guessed the turmoil in my heart was normal as I have waited and wondered and tried to make my way to the convent, to no avail, as my obstacles remain for more than a year now since I was accepted into the order. Since I now believe He may be calling me elsewhere, I am surprised to find the turmoil dissipating and the flow of graces flooding my soul like a long awaited summer rain after a hot, dusty drought. He refreshes my soul. ~ Psalm 23

I am not ready to make any decisions yet, and I am (surprisingly) not worried about the outcome. Maybe for the first time in my journey, I feel myself being led by God in a way that is not based on human feelings, emotions, signs or opinions. I feel like every day is like writing and reading love letters between me and the Lover of Our Souls. I am no longer anxiously trying to finish a dreaded exam. Instead, there is deeper and deeper love, internal and external peace and joy in the freedom that comes from permitting our Beloved to show me the way. It is yet another level of surrender, but unlike many of the other painful layers of surrender I had to learn, this one is pure grace, pure love. It is a gift to trust like this, and I am grateful. There is much to look forward to.

For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope. ~ Jeremiah 29:11

Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues

As you may know, I like to review books for the The Catholic Company as part of their reviewer program. This time, however, I have been blessed and privileged to review Father Robert Barron’s DVD and Study Guide/Workbook, Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues.

Father Barron’s DVD and the accompanying workbook have been wonderful gifts for me. I would recommend them highly to anyone who seeks more than simple facts and general knowledge, but who also yearns for deeper understanding and introspection.

The DVD is exactly what you would expect of Father Barron --- insightful, interesting and powerful in its ability to give me pause to know more about my faith, my God, my Church and myself. He brings clarity and humor to the virtues and sins, relating all to Dante’s Inferno. I am a regular participant in the graces and healing that come from sacramental confession, and with this DVD, I found a new understanding of my own frailties and sin that I need to work on, a real blessing for my soul, and a blessing for anyone who would listen with a heart open to God and continuing conversion.

The Study Guide/Workbook is the best I have seen of this genre. Unlike other workbooks that accompany DVDs I have owned, this book does not simply get you to regurgitate facts from the DVD, to ensure rote memory. Father Barron, in his great wisdom, inspires you to think beyond what he has taught, and to help you to go deeper into your understanding with assignments to read scripture and relevant passages from the catechism --- LOVE IT!

This set would be great for personal study or as a group. There are so many paths your discussion could take you, I dare say you could do this workbook over and over again, and still find new things to delve into…..A DVD and workbook that would continue to provide new insights as you grow in faith and love with the Lord and His Church. Thank you, Fr. Barron!

***This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. You can visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Lively Virtues CD Bundle . They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

Unfathomable, Divine Mercy . . . There just for the askin'

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You. 
I implore Your pardon for those who
do not believe, do not adore,
do not hope, and do not love You. 
Amen.

~ Fatima Pardon Prayer

Thank you, Blessed John Paul II

It was a wonderful Divine Mercy weekend.  The sun was out, the homilies were inspired, the friendships were blessed and peaceful and fun.  There was and continues to be, much to be thankful for in this life.  And although my Mom continues to suffer from her Parkinson's disease, grace abounds. 

Don't get me wrong---I am not saint.  I want my Mom to be healed.  I long for her to be healed, and I continue to beg for her to be healed.  But what can we do?  God, in His mercy, has answered our prayers and His answer, at least for now, is no.  I pray that it is no, not now......but soon.  But who knows?  His plan is greater than we can imagine, and suffering can be powerfully redemptive.  So while we are disappointed, we know that He has our best interest at heart, and He would not permit this suffering if He did not intend to bring a greater good out of it.

Sooo.....Thank you, Bl. John Paul.  I am sure your prayers and ours are bringing about conversions of heart and healing in so many more ways than we can imagine.  And thank you to all who have read about my Mom and prayed for her.  We are blessed by your prayers and generous spirits.

 Fiat ~ Totus Tuus

Blessed Mother: Pure Love, Pure Mercy

I experienced a great grace this weekend, being able to attend a powerful retreat on Forgiveness with Rwandan holocaust survivor, Immulee Ilibagiza and Monsignor John Esseff.  Thankfully, and by the grace of God, forgiveness has not been a big issue for me, but I was so moved by Immaculee's story of survival and forgiveness, living 91 days in a 3' X 4' bathroom with 7 other women, only to emerge to find her family had been murdered, that I could not pass up this opportunity to hear her great witness to forgiveness and the love our Beloved Savior has for all of us.

 
I also longed to know more about Our Lady of Kibeho, (church approved apparitions which occurred prior to the Rwandan holocaust), and was happy to learn much from Immaculee about her own experiences with the visionaries and what the messages meant to her, to Rwanda and to the entire world.  My love for our Blessed Mother has grown ever stronger after understanding more and more the great gift we have been given by Mary's unfathomably merciful, Divine Son.

I am only now starting to process some of the fruits of this wonderful retreat experience, but clearly for me, one of the greatest gifts of this retreat came from Monsignor Esseff, when he told us that God, in His mercy, gave us Mary -- pure love, and pure mercy -- as our Mother.  Jesus, on the other hand, is also pure love and pure mercy, but additionally He is pure justice.  Mary sees us, her children, with the eyes of love and mercy, no judgment.  Justice is not her domain.  Jesus, as the just judge, can deny his Mother nothing, as she is perfect and immaculate in every way.  He is powerless against her intercession.  (See The Wedding at Cana).  Of course her intercession is pure and always for our own good as a perfect Mother, and her will is perfectly aligned to that of the Divine, but it is becoming clearer and clearer to me, how going through Mary to Jesus is a far quicker and efficient way to getting to the center of His Sacred Heart than to go directly to Him.  She makes a clear, straight, easy path for us without judgment and opens the way to Him, just as she did when she cleared a path to Him from heaven to earth when He was born.  She cleans us up and presents us to Him in a way that we are unable to present ourselves.  Her only desire is to bring us close to Jesus so that we too may have complete union with Him for eternity.  In her love, she wants us to know Him as she knows Him, and from her perspective, she can obtain that for us far better than we can obtain it for ourselves. 

Pure love.

Pure mercy.

Would that every mother on earth could be called the same!

fiat.

Begging for the Intercession of John Paul II

My mother has Parkinson's Disease.  It is difficult to see her body increasingly betray her, although she has the best attitude for dealing with the constant changes, and keeps giving it all to God.  She accepts God's will for healing as well as she does for His reasons for not healing her -- His will be done.  But I am a beggar, and I do not plan to stop asking Jesus to give her this great gift of a miraculous healing.

I have recently felt inspired to ask the constant intercession of Pope John Paul II to obtain from Jesus, a complete healing for my Mom.  I have absolute faith that He can heal her, and I pray that it is His will to heal her with a miracle that will give tangible witness to the mercy, power and love of our Beloved Savior.  Of course, His mercy may permit her to continue to suffer for reasons only known to Him.  But we pray, and we hope.

Please join me in praying the prayer I have asked my entire family to pray, every day, at least through May 1st, which is Divine Mercy Sunday, and the day our Pope John Paul the Great will be named Blessed......

Dear Pope John Paul the Great,
Through the Immaculate Heart of our Beloved Mother, Mary,
We beg you to intercede for us,
Pleading with He whom you were known as His Vicar on Earth.
We beseech you to beg Him for a miracle,
That on the day you are raised to the altar and declared Blessed,
That He will grant a complete healing to my Mother,
His beloved daughter, Patricia Ann.

As you, yourself know first-hand the suffering endured
By those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease,
We beg you to obtain from Jesus,
That my Mother be completely healed from this terrible illness.

Oh, Holy Father!
Can Jesus Himself ignore the pleas of His Beloved Vicar?
We implore you, pray unceasingly to our Beloved Savior,
That He will look with favor on us and grant what we request,
Through your humble and holy intercession.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever.
Amen.

FIAT