Faith
Not a Saint
For the past week, I have been listening to a biography of St. Therese of Lisieux’s parents – Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin. They were extraordinary parents who served God faithfully through the joys and sorrows of their lives. Even though from their youth they wanted to be consecrated to God and not marry, circumstances […]
Many Vocations
During the days leading up to her Feast Day on September 30, I had learned some details about the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. She lived in the late 1800’s and came from a very prayerful family. I was surprised to learn that she had […]
Born to be Courageous
One of the readings in Mass today was a letter from St. Paul to Timothy. Paul was in and out of jail as he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was reminding his student Timothy that “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” Our […]
Exhaustion
Tonight I met with my prayer group. We read and contemplated the Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday. In the second part of the reading, Jesus is basically telling His followers not to expect accolades for doing the work that God has called them to do. We are to act on faith, love, and obedience. […]
Perfect Trifecta
Today I was happy to have a few hours to myself. I scheduled the day so I would be able to spend some time in the church. I arrived just a few minutes early for the time for Confession and was actually the first one there. It was nice to have a different priest from […]
Beating the Devil’s Tactics
I seem to get more notifications on my phone than I know what to do with. I usually go through them a couple times a day and delete, delete, delete. As I was swiping them away this evening, I stopped and watched a video that caught my eye called, “How to Beat the 3 Tactics […]
Reality Check
One of the Mass readings today was from the book of Wisdom. The priest that we listened to said that, “Unless we have the Wisdom of God, we cannot know reality.” All of us can look at any event and have multiple opinions on what is happening or what the meaning is, causing chaos and […]
Step Closer or Further
My mom and I started praying a Novena today in preparation for the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is on September 8. Today’s intentions were for marriages and families. I thought specifically about the recent blessings, struggles, illnesses, and causes for celebration. I remembered that God is in them all. […]
Discipleship
Tonight my mom read from her “the WORD among us” magazine. Part of it followed nicely with what I meditated upon last night. That’s when I know God is speaking to me. It said in part, “Even without persecution or martyrdom, every disciple of Jesus will go through some type of suffering as we follow […]
Dying To Self
Today I listened to a meditation that focused on dying to self. The message was about our need to allow parts of ourselves to “die”. Perhaps bad habits, thoughts, ways we treat others, burdens we carry,..etc. We need to let go of the things that are not of God – not blessing us or others. […]