St Catherine Laboure 28th November

St Catherine - Pray For Us

I Want To Be A Novena Queen....

I have lofty aspirations to Holiness

But...

Being a Holy Hermit is out...

It doesn't fit to well with the wife and mother thing and I am sure it would interfere with me ringing my mum several times a day to keep her company and make sure she is ok.

Neither is the Nun's life for me...

It might get a bit crowded in my cell once I try to move the family in!

What I would love to be is a Novena Queen

I have come across quite a few of these wonderful ladies on the internet, many of these it has to be said are cradle catholics, but not all - so there is hope for me yet!

They seen to know every feast, every fast and every festival and I would love join them in the royal ranks, but I always seem to be a bit behind.

I get wind of a wonderful novena and get really excited about it only to find it is already day five!

I had the same kind of experience again this week.

While at the Advent Activity Day a friend (I suspect she may well be one of these aforementioned Novena Queens herself) told me that the following day (today) is the Feast of the Miraculous Medal.

This indeed moved me to excitement mode once again as only recently I was invested with the said medal.

So this morning before going to church I got on the old laptop here and started to look up the feast. I was over joyed to find that there is a Novena only to be disappointed to find it is ending not starting. Bah Humbug!

I did contemplate the turbo charged Novena - saying all nine days of prayers today, but I think this kind of misses the point.

I can get quite sulky in circumstances like these, you know the kind of thing "If God wants me to pray these things why doesn't He give me more notice!"

But once again it is all in the attitude....

Knowing well that I am not a Novena Queen, my Father in Heaven has been looking out for me and giving me almost a full years notice!

So I give thanks to Him for His provision and make a note of this Novena (in fact I will put it on the calendar of the yahoo group that I use to send myself reminders).

Who knows how long it will take me to become a Novena Queen or even if I ever will, but either way I am content to be His Princess.

Like Mary Make Advent a Time of Expectation

Advent Activity Day

Going to the Church Advent Activity Day has over the last few years become one of our family traditions.

There are usually a few different craft activities going on, such as card and decoration making, but always central to the day is the making of the advent wreaths, although ours are not strictly speaking wreaths at all!

The are simply a plastic holder made to hole a round oasis into which is pushed four candle holders (complete with candles) and various greenery.

They are simple and yet very effective and all the more cherished for being blessed before we take them home!

My daughter who is all grown up comes along with my grandson and when she is making theirs she likes to put some of the ivy I have brought along from my garden because she says it makes it more special.

It was a wonderful day which started off with mass and ended with evensong. Although I did go early so that I could go to confession beforehand (nothing like starting off a new year with a clean slate).

As I am writing this I am sitting by my living room window and it is already getting quite dark outside, just a little more and I will be able to light the first candle.

Ending the Liturgical Year

This is an exciting time standing on the thresh hold of the new Liturgical Year.

It is a wonderful opportunity to look forward to all the possibilities for the coming year and pray that we will spend it in God's will, making our decisions based on what He wants and not on what we want.

We should also be looking back over the year which has passed and ask ourselves how it has gone, giving thanks for all God has done for us and considering what we have done for Him in order to grow in holiness.

Looking back over my own year I see a lot of valleys and hills. I completed my Journey in to the Catholic Church which had been a long one and sometimes not easy, but worth every second to feel the peace of coming home.

My family life has been very difficult this year as my son has been very ill for almost eleven months and I thank God for the breakthroughs which have been made and for His sustaining presence as well as for bringing my husband and myself closer through our trial.

I thank Him too for introducing me to His Mother and giving her to me as my own.

Now it is time to take a deep breath, face forward and ask "What can I do for Him"?

No Need to Worry.... He's Got it in the Bag!

For Don't you just love the Lord's Prayer, or as I have more recently come to know it the Our Father?

For over 11 years now I have been regularly praying this prayer, though I confess mainly in common worship rather than private prayer.

But there has always been one line I would rather were not there!

It's all this forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us business, I would really rather do without.

Forgive us our sins is a great line, I am really in favour of that in fact I can't fault it!

It's this bit about only getting forgiven as I forgive others that I am not so keen on. You see if that's the case then I am up the creek with out a paddle.

It's not that I am a particularly vengeful person, but I am a person and as such sometimes it can be a struggle to forgive.

Unforgiveness can sneak up on me and take me by surprise and I can find myself harbouring thoughts of unforgiveness for things I thought had forgiven people for long ago.

So I started to insert a silent line into my praying of this wonderful prayer, between forgive us our sins and as we forgive those who sin against us, I would ask Father God to help me to forgive as he forgives.

This dealt with the issue for me, for a long time, as I usually only prayed these lines maybe once or twice a week.

Then I became a Catholic and this kind of put the cat among the pigeons, I found that I was praying this prayer much more frequently and more so in private particular while praying the Rosary.

So there I was this morning praying away, saying my Rosary and my Father gave me a present.

Into my head popped a verse from the Bible, Ephesians 3:20

You see I understand that it is only reasonable that I should only ask to be forgiven as I forgive others (and it's not that I don't want to forgive others, and I do try my best, but I am still a work in progress) and I am sure my Father is pleased that I ask him for help to be able to forgive as he does.

There He was this morning ... Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all that is seen and unseen and He wanted to do something for one of his little ones so He turned to me an smiled and said....

He by his mighty power within us is able to do far more than we could ask or even dream of, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes.

So, all I have to do is pray and trust in Him because He's got it all in the bag!

St Cecillia 22nd November

PRAY FOR US

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary

It is exciting going through my first year as a Catholic and looking into all the feasts (and fasts) which come along, many of them before unknown to me.

I have looked out and about on the internet and can't see any information about ways to celebrate it, maybe by next year I will have come up with some good ideas.

Today is the Feast of Christ the King!

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before you. We are yours, and yours we wish to be; but to be more surely united with you, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to your Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known you; many, too, despising your precepts, have rejected you. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to your Sacred Heart. Be King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken you, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned you; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger. Be King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and the unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd. Grant, O Lord, to your Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give tranquility of order to all nations; make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to it be glory and honor for ever. Amen.

Prayer Source: Enchiridion of Indulgences , June 29, 1968

This beautiful prayer was posted today, by a lovely lady on one of the Yahoo Groups I belong to and I couldn't resist posting it here so I would be able to find it easily and pray it again.

Coconut, chocolate & banana mini muffins

This is what I want to make today....

Its a family favourite!

Ingredients

· 125g unsalted butter, melted

· 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar

· 3 ripe bananas, roughly chopped

· 2 eggs

· 1 tsp vanilla extract

· 2 cups (300g) self-raising flour, sifted

· 1 cup (45g) desiccated coconut

· 1/2 cup (100g) dark chocolate chips

· Icing sugar, to dust

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C and grease a 12-hole mini-muffin pan. Process butter, caster sugar, banana, eggs and vanilla in a food processor until well combined. Place flour, coconut and chocolate in a large bowl, then fold in banana mixture. Working in batches, place dessertspoons of mixture into pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until risen and golden. Cool slightly in pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Makes 36

Invested with the Brown Scapular and the Miraculous Medal

On Thursday I attended a quiet day with talks on

Our Lady in the New Testament.

It was very deep and quite exhausting
as it is usually done as a full weekend retreat.

It was a wonderful experience, with Mass at Noon
and ending with a Holy Hour
followed by those who wished being invested
with the Brown Scapular and the Miraculous Medal.

I chose to do both.

Planning for an Organised Christmas

When my daughter was here the other day we were discussing Christmas activities. I said that I was considering not putting up any Christmas decorations this year because we have so much we need to accomplish in the house and when I added that to my sons illness it all seemed a bit much.

This year there will only be my husband, my son and myself here for Christmas.

My husband does not bother with Christmas decorations and my son is now 15 and his illness makes him sleep an average of 18 or 19 hours a day so I doubt he will even notice the difference.

So you see I can't get away with pretending that I just "do it for the kids"!

But my daughter pointed out that if I don't decorate it will make me miserable and that will make other people miserable too.

So today I sat down and started to make my plan.

I am going to spend the next two weeks carrying on with my cleaning, organising and de-cluttering of the house.

I avoid doing "stuff" on a Sunday so that gives me twelve days.... That's twice round the house and two shopping days.

The following six working days will be for decorations, get them out, put them up, put the boxes away.

That means the advent decorations will be out in time and the rest up and the mess tidied away by the first Monday in December.

That means from then till Christmas week I can concentrate on my big homemaking project which is to swap our bedroom into the largest room and make our old room into a room for fostering.

We did originally use the biggest room for fostering, but once we had a child in place I realised that I did not have anywhere to have my quiet time in peace.

The young man we had in place wanted a smaller room anyway so when he moved into another room I made the corner of the large room into my prayer place.

It is going to be a big job to get the two rooms as they should be, but if my decorations are up then I will have somewhere lovely to relax in between working on them.

Why I am Pro Life

Today I received a request to pray for two ladies who are considering an abortion.
I will keep them in my prayers....
and this is why....

I myself had an abortion at 18.

I fell for the lies of the devil that it was only a collection of cells and that I was not doing anything wrong.

Thirty years later I still cry for my baby.
It is the one thing I would go back and change, the one thin I am truly ashamed of.

I know that I have been forgiven because of the wonderful sacrifice of Jesus, but coming to terms with it is a different thing.

It does make it easier to forgive others when I put what they have done beside what I have done!

When my girls where 12 and 13 were were sitting round the dinner table and I told then that I remembered being their age and the girls having a conversation about what there parents would do if they ever got pregnant.

The common opinion was "My patents would kill me/ throw me out".

I explained to the girls that this is not what we would do...

First we would cry...

Then we would support them and care for them.

I also explained that no matter what they chose to do it would effect the rest of their lives, having an abortion would not be the end they would have to live with the decision they had made.

When (if) they had other children they would not be able to look at them without thinking about what could have been for the other baby.

I had this conversation with them before I was a Catholic, in fact before I was even a Christian.

Some women are pro life because they would never have an abortion.
Some women are pro life because they understand what it means to have taken an innocent life.

Yahweh be Praised

I love learning about the names of God and how He revealed himself to his people bit by bit by use of them.

I have used different studies on His names and have come to know Him better through them.

This beautiful poem by Jill Briscoe is a wonderful starting place for anyone who has never thought about the names of God.

Yahweh be Praised

When ‘I was not’

Yahweh created me

When ‘I was’

Yahweh redeemed me

When I was ashamed

Yahweh Yiren forgave me

When I was sick

Yahweh Rapha made me well

When I was tired of loosing my battles

Yahweh Nissi won them for me

When I was frightened

Yahweh Shalom frightened my fear away

When I was lonely

Yahweh Shammah promised to take me to his house to stay

Without Yahweh I am nothing

I will be nothing and there is nothing ahead

With Yahweh I have everything I need

As the occasion arises!

Yahweh be Praised

(By Jill Briscoe)

With His Help....

It amazes me how much my God helps me on a daily basis.

When I became a Christian two days before I was thirty eight I was suddenly dumped into a whole new world and it was one where I did not know the rules.

I had no church background whatsoever. I did not know how to pray, or even where to buy a bible.

I did my bit.....

I jumped in with both feet, and opened my heart up to anything He had to teach me or show me.

He did everything else!

I was excited, He was ecstatic!

I reached up, but my arms where short.

He reached down and His arms were not short ..... they were as mighty as they had been when he placed the stars in the sky.

Why did he help me?

He did it because I knew that He could and I knew that He would and I asked Him to.

Becoming God's Mastepeice

Exert from 2 Chronicles 3 - Solomon Builds The Temple

The interior was gold plated. He panelled the main hall with cypress and veneered it with fine gold engraved with palm tree and chain designs. He decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvaim.

Everything was coated with gold veneer: rafters, door frames, walls and doors. Cherubim were engraved on the walls.

He made the Holy of Holies a cube, thirty feet wide, long and high. It was veneered with over 22 tons of gold. The gold nails weighed a little over a pound. The upper rooms were also veneered in gold.

He made two sculptures of cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, for the Holy of Holies, both veneered with gold. The combined wing spread of the side-by-side cherubim (each wing measuring seven and a half feet) stretched from wall to wall, thirty feet. They stood erect facing the main hall.

He fashioned the curtain of violet, purple and crimson fabric and worked a cherub design into it.

He made two huge free-standing pillars, each fifty two feet tall, their capitals extending another seven and a half feet. The top of each pillar was set off with an elaborate filigree of chains, like necklaces, from which hung a hundred pomegranates. He placed the pillars in front of The Temple, one on the right and the other on the left. The right pillar he named Jakin (Security) and the left pillar he named Boaz (Stability).

The Portrait We Portray

Solomon’s father David provided supplies for him to build a magnificent temple and in the same way Father will provide you with what you need to build a magnificent temple for His Holy Spirit to abide in.

Before Solomon could build The Temple he had to form a clear picture in his mind of exactly what The Temple would be like room by room, detail by detail.

This is exactly what the Father wants you to do so that you can build the right kind of temple.

When forming this picture leave nothing out as the Father wants to touch every part of your life. But do not forget that the true beauty of The Temple was on the inside.

Why did Solomon build The Temple? He build it as a dwelling place for the Presence of God. Why should you create a beautiful temple? Build it as a dwelling place for God the Holy Spirit.

When we meet people we should radiate the Presence of God. We should stand out.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

When Jesus washed away your sins you became a blank canvas.

What are you going to paint?

The paint you use is made by your response to situations which arise in your life. To make a beautiful clear picture you must first remove the Self colouring!

Paint a Holy, Godly, Righteous picture. Become…….

A Vessel of Honour (2 Timothy 2:20-2)

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay: some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter he will be an instrument for noble purposes , made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

The Potter’s House (Jeremiah 18:1-10)

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. “Go down to the potter’s house and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potters house and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as the potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

Remember there are two reasons Father made you
1. For His Pleasure
2. For His Purpose

Think about the back of the potter’s house - full of useless pots!

These are the vessels which were not mouldable, they were hardened and so became useless and without a purpose!

The bottom line is, Do you want to be one of them?

If not search your heart and mind for things which pollute them. Attitudes which harden you and stop you being mouldable.

Search for things in your life which steal your time and energy and get in the way of you drawing close to the Father so that he can work on you.

If you don’t know what these are ask the Holy Spirit to show them to you, then get rid of them.

They are not worth it! Do You want to end up as Trash or Treasure?

Teach Me To Pray.... Part Two

A few years after the initial lesson in prayer, I was again wondering how to pray. This time not on my own. I had started a prayer group for people to pray for there loved ones on a regular basis and again wanted to structure it round the Lord's Prayer... As they say if it's not broke don't fix it!

This is what I came up with.....

Our Father in heaven,

Ephesians 1:4-6
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

Prayer to express our relationship with our Heavenly Father

Hallowed be your name,

Give information on one of the names of God and pray to Him using that name.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 18:18
"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Jeremiah 33:3
'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

We loose Your will on earth and plead for revelation of how to pray in accordance with Your will for the situations and people we bring before You today.

Give us today our daily bread.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

General prayers for blessings and growth

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Luke 6 36-37
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Lord, we recognize that You desire truth in the inner part, in the hidden part of our lives, and O God, how I pray that You'll search my own heart, that You will help me to view my sin as You view it, to take it as seriously as You take it. I pray that You'll grant the gift of deep, heart-felt, life-changing repentance.

Lord, how greatly we need Your mercy, for we have trivialized sin! Help us to view ourselves and You and our sin as You do, and then would You wash us and cleanse us? Purify our hearts. For Jesus' sake we pray it, amen.

Psalm 139:23
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Silent prayers of repentance

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We bind up all the works of the evil one in our lives, the lives of our loved ones, our church and our community.

Matthew 18:19-20
"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Prayers for specific situations and people

for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

John 14:13-14
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

We ask for none of these things in our own name neither do we try to accomplish them in our own strength for the Lord is our Banner.

We acknowledge the sovereignty of Jesus Christ as our Lord and King who has given us authority to act in His name. Therefore, by our faith in Him we claim all we have asked from Our Heavenly Father according to His will and by the Power of His Holy Spirit

Amen

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

By who’s blood we are purchased and each one of us is covered

and the love of God

Which knows no bounds

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit

Who dwells within us - May he fill us constantly and guide us eternally

be with us all

Joining us together as one body

Evermore

For nothing can pluck us from the Father’s hand

Amen

Teach Me To Pray.... Part One

I remember a few years after becoming a Christian trying to "learn" to pray.... I got very frustrated and prayed asking Jesus to teach me. In his gentle and loving was he pointed out that he already had!

So here is His prayer together with how I realised that all my prayers fit in round it.

Our Father who art in heaven,

Acknowledge your relationship with God,
through faith in Jesus as your Saviour and give THANKS.


Hallowed be your name.

Declare who God is by using one of His names.
Then PRAISE Him because He is Holy.


Your kingdom come.

State that you acknowledge God’s plan.
Then pray for the salvation of others
and the breaking down of strongholds in line with that plan.


Your will be done

Submit your will to that of the Father giving
Lordship of your life over to Jesus so that God’s will may be done in it.
Offer your body and this day as a living sacrifice


On earth as it is in heaven.

Offer your services in prayer to partner God
in order to enable His will to be done on earth.


Give us this day our daily bread.

PETITION God to meet your needs.


And forgive us our sins,

CONFESS your sins and ask God to reveal if you have any others.


As we forgive those who sin against us.

Ask God to search out any root of unforgiveness in you.


Lead us not into temptation,

Ask God to help you watch and pray,
so that you do not fall into temptation.
Have a time of INTERCESSION.


But deliver us from evil.

Ask God to help you always speak words which bring life.
Claim the Blood of Jesus as your protection from the evil one.


For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Acknowledge that God is in control, He can do all things, always.
Talk over your plans for the day with Him
to make sure they fit in with His plans.


Amen.

When life gives you scraps... make quilts

Attitude can often be the difference between being happy and being miserable.

Today my daughter came to see me and told me something which shows that she has certainly learned to "make quilts"!

When my girls were little I used to collect pocket dragon ornaments. By the time they left home I had a lot of them. I gave them to my eldest daughter who eventually got bored with them and passed them on to her younger sister.

Because they were limited addition they have grown considerably in value.

So today my daughter and I were discussing this and whether she would ever sell them. She said that she wouldn't unless it was for something really important - like to put towards a deposit for a house.

Over the years some of them have been broken and mended so those she would not be able to sell, but she said these were the ones she would not want to part with because they meant more to her than the others did.

I thought this was a bit strange until she explained that any damage had been done by her and her sister and that even though I had saved to get them and collected them for a long time I never got angry with them if they broke one. She said that this made the broken ones special!

Talking to my Father .... Part Four

Then of course there are the jobs which all the workers are called to do. Areas where all believers are called to pray.

The first of these is really an extension of praying for our families and goes out like ripples ....

from family to community,
from community to nation,
from nation to the world.

We also need to pray for our own local church family and this too should have its own ripples....

from the local church to the whole body of Christ, giving special care to our brothers and sisters who are persecuted and the lost bride (the as yet unsaved).

We must not forget to pray for Abraham's seed and in particular the Jewish nation - the apple of the Father's eye.

These areas need the prayers of all the workers in our Fathers business because the task at hand is so huge.

Talking to my Father ... Part Three

Sometimes we are given a specific assignment which is personal to us (in the Spirit although not always in the natural).

These are things we feel called to pray for. It may be that we feel lead to pray for a specific country, a race, someone in a particular situation.

Sometimes these special duties can take us by surprise.

Talking to my Father .... Part Two

The first extension to this fellowship with God is when we meet with Him to request His input and help in our own daily lives.

He puts each of us in a family situation (or lack of it) and in return we have a responsibility to take this situation to Him in prayer.

Not only should we ask for His help to intervene, but we should ask him in advance to prepare good situations for our loved ones and ourselves. These may not always be what we would choose, but we must trust in Him to know what is best.

By praying about many areas of our lives we give him open access to help us.

These things I talk to him about just because he is my Father. They are family conversations.

Other areas of prayer come along because Our Father expects us to be part of the Family Business.

Our Father as the owner of the company has Jesus as His right hand man and the Holy Spirit is in charge of human resources.

There are no share holders. All the workers are family members with an equal right to inherit the company and our work is prayer by which the world is changed.......

Talking to my Father ..... Part One

In any relationship there are different situations each person is in and this leads to different kinds of conversations.

This is just as true of my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus the Lover of My Soul because their Holy Spirit lives within me giving me constant access to communion and fellowship with them.

Sometimes we want to simply spend time together and enjoy each others company because we love each other.

Sometimes it is time to seek help and advice. This in itself can take many forms and cover many areas, some of which are long term and some not so.

The one truly constant focus of prayer is to get to know God better and seeking to develop the Fruit of the Spirit and thus become more Christ like.

This kind of prayer and fellowship can act as a filter through which we pass all our decisions and choices.

This is the hub -the central focus of our lives. Everything else, including other kinds of prayer must revolve around this.