He's Got This! {8th Sunday in Ordinary Time}

I come from a long line of worriers on my Mom's side. When I was still a newlywed, I worried...a lot. My husband would tell me not to worry so much; there was no need, and we wouldn't go hungry. As we grew older and had kids, he continued to tell me not to worry. My mom used to tell me I was going to make myself sick with worry (although she used to worry!), and one time it happened. I mentioned in a previous post that a Sister said that God knows what's going to happen and how things will work out, so there's no need to worry about it. 
As my boys grew into men, the worries were still there; they're just different kinds of worry. And they're huge worries. Did we do enough, guide them enough when they were little? Did we guide them too much? Were we good enough parents? I'm learning to push those doubts away whenever they pop into my head, and to keep saying, "God's got this." 
Today's Gospel tells us the same thing: 
...do not worry about your life. (Matthew 6:24) 
Your heavenly father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and all righteousness,
And all these things will be given to you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
                 ---Mt 6:32-34
I'm trying...I mean really trying to live this. I'm not going to lie: it's hard; very, very hard. I have to trust that everything will work out the way it's supposed to be...I have to trust God. And that's easier said than done, especially for a control freak. Thy will be done, right?
While reading the Daily Gospel Reflection from Catholic Moms, I had this thought: How many times have I planned out my day, only to accomplish nothing on my list because other fires have to be put out? When I was the Lead Speech Therapist for a school system, that happened a lot. Every time I had a "to do" list, I never got anything on that list checked off. I should have seen God's hand in this. I know He was up there laughing, saying, "You think you're in control?" 
I attended a Women's Conference yesterday at a nearby parish. The 1st talk (presented by Sister Anna Marie...she was fabulous!) was on Martha & Mary.  Sr. Anna Marie mentioned today's Gospel, and how the story goes right along with the story. With Martha running around, frustrated with having to do everything by herself because Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to him, she worried about everything being just right, about being the perfect hostess. All Jesus wanted was for her to sit and listen, and to stop worrying.
Today's society is all about what I have, what I want; basically, me, me, me. We worry about not having what our neighbors have; we worry about not giving our kids the best of everything. We need to learn to stop worrying, stop running...just stop and listen. Then we will be able to be closer to Him and His kingdom.

{SQT} Fall Break Edition

SERIOUSLY? Fall Break 2016 is all but over. Why is it that breaks go by so quickly?

All in all, it's been a pretty productive week: I got my materials ready for work next week & finalized progress reports. I stopped procrastinating and had a cleaning lady do walk-throughs for my house and my dad's house. I called the exterminator and scheduled quarterly treatments. I had a meeting with Sister so I can start preparing for my talk for RCIA in 3 weeks. I put up a few fall decorations outside. I even met with some friends for lunch a couple of days.

Just so you don't think I worked the whole week, I did catch up on some new shows on Hulu. I haven't watched tv very much the last few months, but there were some new ones that I wanted to check out and see if they were worth watching. They were. 

Speaking of RCIA: I thought I was presenting on Beliefs and Traditions. Turns out it's Beliefs and Practices. I found this clip on what it means to be a Practicing Catholic:

What I didn't do during Fall Break was go to Daily Mass. I decided to not turn on my alarm this week and to just get up when I decided it was time to get up, or when the dogs thought it was time for me to get up. Needless to say, I didn't make it. 

I kicked off Fall Break spending the weekend with 3 of my sisters & 2 of my sisters-in-law. Every year, we have Sisters' Weekend. We rent a cabin in the mountains and talk, eat, drink, talk, and laugh. We had an amazing cabin this year: it had a game room (that we didn't think we'd use but ended up playing and having a good time!) and a projector tv. We love to watch football, so it was the perfect place for us to watch our favorite college team win in the last 4 seconds of the ballgame!  

Fall Break is over. That can only mean 1 thing: 9 weeks until Christmas Break!

I'm linking up with Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum  for Seven Quick Takes.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Working on Salvation

I used to refer people who asked me about being saved to the quote above. I haven't been asked in a long time about being saved. I'm not sure if it's because people automatically know I'm Catholic by the necklace I wear daily (it's a cross with miraculous medal in the middle), or if they just don't care if I'm saved or not! But that's a whole different topic for another day.

This week's readings remind us not to get caught up in "being saved", or, thinking that we are. We aren't to get too comfortable in thinking that we're going straight to heaven just because we do the right things, like go to Mass every Sunday & Holy Day. During the homily, the deacon said something that made me slap my forehead. During the teaching in the Gospel, Jesus says that there will be some who say "We ate and drank in your company..." (Luke 13:26)Just going through the motions isn't going to cut it. Just going to communion (eating and drinking in Jesus' company) doesn't mean we have our ticket to heaven punched. We have to live the Gospel; live as Jesus wants us to live. 
I was listening to Lino Rulli on the Catholic Channel (Sirius XM) the other day, and he talked about the narrow gate. He likened it to the Olympic Athletes...only the most fit athletes go to the Olympics. To get through that gate, we have to be fit...and we have to train for it our whole lives. As Father Greg Friedman mentioned in the daily reflection video on the USCCB website, It's a "mistake to sit back and think you're in". He goes on to say that it's not who you know or if you get there first. We're called to openness & hospitality; we're called to mercy.  ePriest   suggested that we pray for happy deaths. Lately, that's what I've been doing. My father is in his 90's, and while he's in incredible shape for that age, I know it won't be too much longer before he passes away. My greatest prayer for him is that he will have a happy death. ePriest also suggested that we pray for the "grace to persevere until the end". We can't give up on God if we want salvation. We can't judge others...we have to "attend to our own soul". 
As the deacon said during his Homily, there are 168 hours in a week. we have to give every hour to him, not just 1 hour on Sunday. He pictured Jesus saying "What planet are you on?" when he does something that is questionable. When something isn't convenient, that's when God is working through us the most. He is asking us to give of ourselves in His name. He left us with this thought: "Have we shown enough, done enough that Jesus will recognize us as being from His planet?"
As I read through the Readings this morning, this song from Matthew West kept going through my head:

{SQT} Pedis, Adoration, Confession: Not at the Same Time

I had an awesome time getting a pedi the other day. I walked in, and there was a woman who recognized me from church. She knows my dad & told me some wonderful stories about my mom. Then, my sweet pedi girl grabbed one of the beautician's customers; she's a new faculty member at one of my schools, but I hadn't met her yet. She knows 1 of my sisters-in-law, so we all chatted for a while. Then, the talk turned to Catholicism. I just may have put the RCIA seed into her mind, so we'll see what happens!

I had a busy Sunday church morning. I played for mass, then spoke with a lady about hosting our CCW wine & cheese night. After being at home for a little while, I went back over to the church for Virtus training. My opinion: the Catholic Church is doing a good job of making sure people are trained to know the warning signs of abuse. 

Now that he's home, I can tell you that 1 of my sons just returned from studying abroad in France. He texted me when he first got to Paris & told me he went to confession at Notre Dame. NOTRE DAME, y'all!  And not the one in Indiana! First off, it's quite the miracle that he went to confession in the first place, but to go at Notre Dame! I told him to go before he got on the plane, but I'm glad he went post-flight.

When we lived in SC, Perpetual Adoration was a very big thing in our parish. My current parish has it, but it's almost an after-though. It's such a beautiful thing, to spend an hour alone with Jesus. I signed back up for an hour after being on a few years' hiatus. I just can't put into words what that hour is like.

The St. John Vianney Novena to pray for priests started yesterday. I get novenas delivered to my email daily through www.praymorenovenas.com . 

The other night, I looked outside and saw just a hint of a rainbow. I grabbed my camera and took a couple of shots. I was afraid to try to change the setting...I thought if I started messing around with it, the rainbow would be gone.

This youtube clip is making the rounds again on Facebook. It just makes me laugh:

{SQT} Back to the Real World

Vacation is over. SUMMER is over, even though it’s still the middle of summer. Back to work on Monday. Back to the harsh reality of working. Guess it's a good thing I love what I do!

The violinist at church enlightened me about borrowing audio books from the library. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it; maybe it was because I had a really, really cheap (<$100) tablet that I may have dropped and messed up the audio. Or maybe it's because said tablet had 0 storage on it, even after putting in a massive SD card. Oh, and one other thing: it would only stay on for about 4 hours, tops, and I couldn't use it when it was charging.

Right before we left for vacation, I broke down and got a Samsung Galaxy. I have a couple of iPads for work, but they're the school system's, and I refuse to use them for anything but work. Anyway, I found this tablet on Amazon (yay, Prime!) and it works marvelously!

Now the only problem I have is that I put some books on hold and they're all ready at the same time!

One of the best books I've read this summer is "Saving Sammy: a Mother's Fight to Cure her Son's OCD" by Beth Alison Maloney. This book sheds light on PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections). It is commonly known that strep can cause rheumatic/scarlet fever, but it can also attack the basal ganglia; symptoms include OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), tics, moodiness, anxiety, and/or separation anxiety. The symptoms appear seemingly overnight. I have a friend whose daughter has been diagnosed; I had no idea what they were going through until I read the book. I'll be handing this book to my special ed direction next week and encourage her to pass it around the department.

I have to say something that I just can't hold in any longer: I very much dislike the way Michelle Obama has cheapened the role of first Lady. I really enjoy James Corden's Carpool Karaoke, but (and this is just my opinion) the FLOTUS should not be participating while she is in that position. I feel the same way about the Obamas showing up on talk shows, as well. You can agree or not, but I'm just giving my opinion. I would say the same thing if any of the former First Ladies participated while their husbands were still in office.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest: When we were on vacation, for the latter part of the time we were in SD there was a lovely family from Kansas beside us. As we were talking, the husband pointed to a notebook that his wife had and mentioned that she was super-organized. I went over to take a look, and noticed that she had a page with the Catholic churches in the area. I took a look at what she had. The church was right on the road as we got into town, so we knew exactly where it was. If that family hadn't been camping beside us, we probably wouldn't have attended Mass, and we would've missed out on a beautiful service. The church (Our Lady of Mt. Carmel---Keystone, SD) was just wonderful. It is a mission church; there's only 1 weekend Mass celebrated. 

We were greeted by an elderly lady as we walked in; she made us feel very welcomed. The deacon gave an excellent homily. Afterwards, we stood in the parking lot and talked with our "next door neighbors" for a few minutes, just like we would do with friends at our own parish. It just felt like home.

We could have gone over to the next town for Mass at 10:00; however, we would have felt compelled to take yet another trip to the winery if we had done that, though!

One of the things that amazed me on our drive home from Colorado were signs by the side of the road in Kansas. (I believe we saw some in Iowa-on the way to SD- as well.) Some of them had the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the words "I trust in You". Some of them were pro-life. It really warmed my heart to see that, as well as billboards for Catholic radio. Being from the Bible belt, we just don't see those things as often. It really gave me hope for our country.

By now, I'm sure everyone has seen the following clip:

The youth director from my parish and her son (who will be entering the seminary this fall) left 2 days ago for World Youth Day. They have some once-in-a-lifetime things planned while they're there. Please keep them, and all attendees, in your prayers.

I'm joining Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum for the link-up.

{SQT}: Friars, Abbeys, Nuns

I’m joining Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes.

How amazing is this clip? 

Thanks to UCatholic for this!  Sulmona at Easter is now on my bucket list! I think I need to go live in Europe for a year so I can start scratching things off.

To see the story behind this video, click here.

Speaking of UCatholic, on their blog they had pictures of monks returning to an abbey that was destroyed by Henry VIII. I thought it might have been the one my husband & I visited, but it wasn't. That one was a "newer" one. Best travel advice: find friends who live in the area. They'll take you to those places that are "off the beaten track". This was much better than Stonehenge and, as our friend said, a lot less crowded!

This is Waverley Abbey, established in 1128 (the first Cistercian Abbey in England) and dismantled in 1536.

Friars seem to be everywhere lately! They seem to be just your average guys who just happen to be friars! 

Music isn't your "thing"? Maybe a little basketball instead?

I must have watched that video a hundred times...it just doesn't get old! My favorite spot is right around 2:57.

Then, there are the Friars on Foot. One of the friars is a Tennessee boy! 2 friars walked from New Orleans to Memphis...in June. If you're not from the south, or have never been to the south in the summer, you just can't even begin to imagine how hot & humid the deep south can be. And these 2 did it with their robes!

I read about the Passionist Nuns, who are cloistered nuns in Kentucky. Their vocation is to hand-bake bread used for communion hosts in the Covington, Ky. diocese. One of the nuns is 94 years old! In this digital age, I fear that religious orders are in danger of extinction. 

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. This is unfiltered; an original shot. I just happened to have my camera with me after morning mass.

Since my mother's unexpected death 2 years ago, cardinals have been of great comfort to me. In case you've never heard, they are a sign that someone in heaven is thinking about you. This one was chirping incessantly one day. I got up and looked outside the door to see this:

Isn't she a beauty?

Another week down, another week closer to going back to work. Summer just goes by way too quickly!