Mary Undoer of Knots

Christ came to bring JOY;

Joy to children, joy to parents,

Joy to families and friends,

Joy to the sick and elderly,

Joy to all humanity.

In a true sense, JOY is the keynote message of Christianity,

And the recurring motif of the Gospels.

Go, therefore, and become Messengers of Joy!

~ Pope John Paul II

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving

Soooooooo THANKFUL!  There is a whole new feeling at my Church now that we have a resident pastor.  I don't think I can explain it, but Mass on Sunday was just sooooooo WONDERFULLY JOYFUL!!  We have a pastor with the heart of a servant of Mary and the stability of knowing there is a shepherd avalable when we need him.  I, for one, and so grateful for this.  We are loved.  Thank you, Jesus and Mary! 

It was this time last year, that I went to visit the Daughters of Mary for the first time in New Britain, Connecticut.  I wondered why God would send me THERE, of all the places in the world I could possibly go.  But then one of the first things Sr. Alma showed me when I walked in, was the monstrance in the chapel--It was Mary, with arms raised, holding our Eucharistic Jesus.  It was beautiful, but the most amazing thing was that the words on the bottom said AD JESUM PER MARIAM (to Jesus through Mary).  Without knowing that or even thinking about it, I had started signing all of my correspondence to friends "To Jesus Through Mary," for the past year.  I don't know where it came from or why I started doing it, but there it was, live and in person.  It was definitely a God-incidence for me.  Very cool.  The sentiment had long been in my heart and there it was, shining back at me.  Wow.

So here I am a year later, no closer to the convent, but so thankful for what God has taught me in this desert.  With His help, I am definitely better able to surrender and trust, although still not great at it.  Maybe when I am finally ready to learn this, He will let me go!  :-)  No worries.  I am thankful for each day, and looking forward to Advent with my family and friends.  His timing is perfect, His plan is perfect and there is nothing more I could possibly need that He will not provide.  He is ever faithful.  Thank you, Father.  Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you, Holy Spirit.  Thank you, Blessed Mother.  Fiat.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Questions . . .

If not us,

Who?

If not here,

Where?

If not now,

When?

If not for the Kingdom,

Why?

Dare the dream.

~ Anonymous
 

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Blue Jays - Sisters and Birds

What a day! What a week! Praise be to God!

First of all, the news finally came that we will once again have a resident pastor! YAAYY!!! I can not begin to express how much JOY this brings to my heart. I have worried and prayed for myself and sooooo many others in our parish who desperately need a resident shepherd, and God has heard our cry. Thank you, Father.

Second, I went to spend time with Jesus on Monday, in front of the tabernacle at my very chilly church. It was wonderful. The heat is only on for Mass twice a week, so it was quite chilly with the drastic change in temperature here---22 degrees last night---Yikes!---but the time flew and I barely noticed it at all once my soul was enflamed with His love.

Anyway, I have my own key, and I like to go and just spend time in silence with our Beloved whenever I can. This time, however, I was far from silent, as my mind was running a mile a minute and I had a lot to say.  Mostly, I was babbling to Jesus about family and friends and our new priest, and finally talking to Him about my vocation. I begged Him again, as I always do, to please let me serve Him as a religious. As usual, I ended my pleading with an act of faith, giving it to Him and making my quiet fiat, but this time I asked Him to give me some more tangible guidance, a sign perhaps, as it will soon be a year since I sent in my application and was accepted as a postulant.

It has been months since I felt any forward motion on my dream of entering the convent, and I was wondering if it simply was not meant to be after all? I asked Jesus if He wanted me to stay in this town forever, as a lay person, or move elsewhere as a layperson with a new job, or if He was ever going to permit me to become a Daughter of Mary? I am sure there is much I could do, if it is His will for me to stay here, but I prayed that I had already discerned His will correctly, and that He is preparing a place for me in the convent.

I am trying very hard to love the will of God more than my own, accepting that if He chooses not to remove the obstacles to my entrance, then I will be happy to stay right here and give it up, knowing His will is perfect, and that although I can not see it now, His reasons and my genuine acceptance of His plan will bring about far greater good for my soul and the Kingdom of God than my whining about it and remaining attached to my own designs for the future. Once I finally had my say, I remembered that Jesus already knows my heart and that I was there to listen to Him.

The silence in a Catholic Church is tangible when we open our ears to hear it.  I can feel Jesus in my soul, working on it, healing it. It never takes long, sitting with Him and being filled with His love, before I remember that I do not need an answer that day --- He always works things out for the best. Every time I simply just sit with Him in the silence and let Him speak to my soul, things always have a way of working themselves out in some way or another, and peace always accompanies the resolution. So when I was ready to leave, I was once again peacefully resigned to wait on the Lord.

If you know anything about my faith journey, (which you can read here), you know that I have never seen Blue Jay birds until last year, when the Lord sent many of them to me all year long, everywhere I went, giving me a huge sense of His love, and a belief that they symbolized something that had to do with my journey. When I first met with the Daughters of Mary, I learned that they were known as the Blue Jay sisters, and that, along with some other good affirmations, made me confident that God was calling me to them, specifically.

After I was accepted by the Blue Jay sisters, I stopped seeing the Blue jays, except on Holy Days (Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday), and then I went back to seeing none, even though my friends reported seeing them everywhere, even flocks of them. This sounds crazy, I know, but I wondered why He took them away? And then yesterday, after having asked for a sign from God the night before, I let the dogs out to do their business first thing in the morning, and there was a big ol’ beautiful Blue Jay! I was not even awake enough to be thinking about anything but getting my office open for the day, and I immediately felt a sense of peace.

God is so merciful and kind and good to us! I had been hearing what I thought to be Blue Jays for a few days prior, but never saw them. I knew what I was hearing, but I had to see to believe…..kinda reminds me of Thomas, who heard of the Lord’s resurrection, but would not believe until He saw for himself. Maybe this is a call to greater faith, trusting in what the Lord speaks to my heart, even though there is nothing to see at this time. Wow.

May it be done according to Your Word.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Stitches out!

Got my stitches out today!  Woo hoo!  I definitely look like Frankenstein, but since Halloween is just around the corner, no worries!  :-)

God is good.  The peace He has given me these past few days, fills my heart with joy!  I am learning and understanding a little better each day, and living to love Him and trust Him in each given moment.  I know this is easy to say today, when I feel Him so close to me, but I am just so thankful for some new insights that He is developing in my heart, that I hope I will have the strength and peace to move forward into whatever lies ahead, regardless of what He does or does not permit.  Of course I always pray that I will one day be a Daughter of Mary, but at least for today, I am doing better at loving His will more than my own will.  If He does not permit it, then He has His reasons, and my life will be His no matter what.  (Please remind me of this next time I get sad about not being in the convent!  :-)

Your will be done, Lord!  :-)

Friday, October 22, 2010

Surgery

The phone has been dead this week......Not good for my bottom line, but good in the sense that I am one week past my gall bladder surgery and have been thankful for the quiet and the chance to recuperate.  Thanks be to God . . .

The anesthesia has played a weird part in my brain this week.  I realize how much I have to be thankful for, now that the haze and fog are clearing and I am coming back into my right mind.  :-)  Seriously, though, what a gift to be able to think and reason and make sense of things....to be able to write and have control over my thoughts, at least to whatever extent I ever had control.  What a terrible suffering it must be for people who become brain damaged or suffer from Alzheimer's disease or lose cognitive function for whatever reason, after having been able to put two and two together.  I have had the weirdest dreams, but more than that, my emotions were nutty and my thoughts made me feel like I was walking a tightrope, between sanity and a few fries short of a Happy Meal.  I am thankful that it is over.

Before my surgery, as I was putting on the gown and the hair net, I was stressed a bit about my brown scapular--I did not want to remove it or get into an argument about keeping it on me.  So I prayed to God that it would be invisible to everyone in the operating room.  When we got in there, of course you are in nothing but your birthday suit and a hair net, so certainly they would make me remove it from the sterile environment, but guess what?  They never even mentioned it, because they never even saw it.  I know it is not a magical charm or a superstitious rabbit's foot of sorts.  But if reminds me of who I am as a child of God and it is the closet thing I have to taking the habit to give myself to Him in a profound and personal way.  The fact that I was able to wear it and no one saw it on me, was a special gift when the amnesia effects of the anesthesia were playing games with my mind.  It was a reminder that Jesus and Mary were with me through the entire thing, and that nothing ever happens in this life that God does not permit because He intends to bring a greater good from it.  He always knows just what we need.  I hope He thinks I need to be a Daughter of Mary.  

I know---I am obssessed.  But I just can not believe that He would bring me to this point, only to use all of this to teach me some kind of lesson, sending me on my merry way to live life for Him as a single person in the world.  Oh, I pray He brings me to the convent soon.  But in the end, His will and His timing are perfect.  I pray that my own will lines up with His as I surrender again and again and again . . . Your will be done.

fiat

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

prayer . . .

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful,
And kindle in us the fire of Your Love . . . .

Come Holy, Spirit, COME.

Come Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
And in my soul take up Your rest.
Come . . .

Dear Holy Spirit, light of our souls, spare me from this darkness.
I am like a leaf on the wind, a ship at sea without a sail.
Guide me.
Push me, pull me, show me, stretch me,
But please don’t let me break.
I am so tired, I fear I can barely remember You.
I can not do this on my own.
It would be too easy to close my eyes forever and try not to remember.
But when I do, the pain is intolerable…the loss, the darkness, the loneliness.
I am nothing without You.
And while I am told that You are always here, even when I can not feel you, see you,
To me, You are but a distant memory today, growing more and more distant away as each day passes.
And soon will be the winter.

Send forth Your Spirit, and we shall be created.
And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Oh God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit,
Instructs the hearts of the faithful,
Grant that by that same Holy Spirit,
We may be truly wise,
And ever rejoice in His consolations,
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

I think this is surrender . . .

It has been QUITE a couple o' weeks here.  Sooooo many gifts and insights, sooo many sorrows and sufferings.  But it is all for the kingdom of heaven, so we count it all GOOD.  God permits nothing that He does not intend to use for a greater GOOD, So bring it on!

About a month ago, I found myself becoming very frustrated, even irritable at times.    I don't think this was anything of which my clients were  aware, but internally, I felt like the fabric of my very soul was being ripped in two.  I struggled to see God's mercy in all of this waiting, but all I could see were my failures, how ever year our Jesus has given me the grace to learn how to be Mary and every year I choose to be Martha.  This is PRIDE, as apparently I have believed all along that I could do this better than God.  Really, I thought I was helping Him and that He wanted my help, but now I think this may be the greatest lesson of all:  He loves me more than He loves anything I could possibly ever do for Him.

So after 8 or 9 months of trying to fundraise and make this happen somehow, I am taking Dear Father O'Rourke's sage advice:  I am putting this behind me.

Oh, I do not mean that I am giving up on my hope to become a Daughter of Mary of the Immaculate Conception, but that I give up trying to actively fundraise so that my obstacles will be removed.  Our all-powerful God could litterally drop a bag of money out of the sky if He wanted, and surely He could inspire someone whom He has financially blessed to help me, so if this is truly HIS VOCATION for me, then I must believe He will remove the obstacle without my crying about it or worrying about it or even thinking about.  When Fr. O'Rourke told me to put it behind you, I cried.  It felt like it was over.  But when I did put it behind me, I realized that was the truest surrender I had made yet, and then fruit of the Holy Spirit, peace, came into my heart, and the frustration was dispelled.  Exhausting.

The interesting thing, was that that I was blessed to have dinner a few days later with Bishop Bambera, Father Boylan, Father Manarchuck, Father O'Rourke, Father Chmil, Father Hornick, Deacon Bill and Mary Graham, Deacon Joe Roinick and Father Cummings following confirmation at our Parish last Wednesday.  First let me say, it does not matter where you are, the power of Holy Spirit at the Sacrament of Confirmation is soooo TANGIBLE you can reach out and touch Him ---To be filled with that love is a gift.  Second, I received so much love and encouragement and concern regarding my vocation, and I have to be honest, there had been practically NONE up to that point.  It was genuine and kind and I could feel the love the way Jesus meant for us to love one another as the Body of Christ. I didn't ask for it, it was just there, a free gift.  I am very grateful for that night.  It went a long way in healing my weary soul.

That brings us up to this weekend.  The yard sale was a HUGE SUCCESS.  It was chaos, so many people came.  I don't have much left and I made around $1,000 so that was great.  Then on Sunday, I was blessed to give a quick talk at the closing of the Women's Cursillo.  What beautiful things our God did in the souls of these women!  It was inspirational and uplifting and yet another gift to be there with them all.  I could talk for hours, but I was only supposed to speak for 5-10 minutes.  I hope I did not go over, but there was so much to say.  I just tried to let the Holy Spirit do the talking.  I got to meet many new sisters in Christ and visit with my best friends from Cursillo's past.  Being on team was the first thing I said NO to this year, because I felt I would be at the convent and did not want to let the team down.  I missed it, and even though I could have done it, in retrospect, God has used the time for other things.  Sr. Alma wants me to bring Cursillo to New Britain, Connecticut!  How wonderful that would be!  I just keep hoping and praying.

I love you, Father!  May it be done according to Your Word!  Fiat!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

What an incredible week! Soooo BLESSED

I have so much to write about.........Still processing it all.....Suffice it to say, my heart is light and filled with joy!  I have wonderful sisters and brothers in Christ, and God knew I needed some love this weekend and I received it in abundance.  Thank you, Beloved Lord Jesus! 

More to come this evening......gotta run to the courthouse...... Fiat!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Everything is Grace

Grace abounds!  St. Therese once said, Everything is grace.  How right she was.  Even in this time of suffering, when it seems that most everyone I know is enduring some spiritual, emotional, painfully terrible situation, and where I, myself, am wondering when God will permit me to come to Connecticut to serve Him as a Daughter of Mary, I still know, in my heart of hearts, that there is always mercy.  I know because He tells us, and I know because I have experienced it time and time again, that God does not permit us to suffer any situation, large or small, without knowing that He can bring about a far greater good for our souls. 

And so here I am, even in the midst of having come to the end of my inspirations for how to go about fundraising and 'helping God" to remove this obstacle, (HA!) I know that He has the situation under complete control.  Even though there seems to be nothing stirring in the world to remove the blinders from those who might help in this ministry, I know that our Father's Will, will always be done.  And what is better than that?  Nothing.  (Although I still need much work on internalizing this great Truth).

As an act of faith, I am gathering all of the belongings I can divest of myself of, to sell at a big yard sale October 1st and 2nd.  As I look at things like my china, which I love to use for dinner parties and making holidays special, my first thought is to keep it, so I will have it for Christmas.  My second thought is that an act of faith is just that--An Act of Faith, that this obstacle will be resolved and I will be serving our Lord before the holidays, so be done with this stuff!  Actually, there is a certain freedom I am feeling from getting rid of my things.  Everything is grace, and our merciful God is using this to stretch my faith muscles.  Again, I surrender.  Please Lord, help me surrender.

Fiat.  Your will be done.