Pray for our Priests by offering up good deeds

I need to get started on my chores.  I have spent the better part of the morning reading my now favorite blog of a homeschooling mother of 4, who is a 3rd order Carmelite, living in a small apartment in DC.

This is a link to a post she wrote on Holy Thursday, April 10, 2010.  My plan is to try to adopt this manner of praying for our priests (and all religious for that matter).

Enjoy..............

http://abigails-alcove.blogspot.com/2010/04/holy-thursday.html

I am not sure I can actually think of 7 things to write about......

1.)  Today is my last day at work.  Well, I should say that today is my last day working outside of the house for awhile.  There are so many people I will miss, but I have reached a point where I just cannot/do not want to put any additional effort into a company I no longer admire.

2.)  My company is celebrating an anniversary milestone this year.  They have been in business a long, long time and have won the "most ethical company" award for several years.  That is something to admire, but (queue ominous music) one of the celebrations involved participating in a seance at a historical residence.  We are not allowed to have anything religious in our workstations, but this company has participated in a seance, and was proud of it.  A new campaign has "Zen" in the title. It is time for me to leave.

3.)  Starting next week I will have a new goal list, and I'm rather excited to start working on my "project plan."  

• Daily Mass as much as possible
• More frequent Confession
• More prayer time
• Working out at my gym 3-5 times per week
• Following the Flylady plan for organizing and de-cluttering my life and house.
• Continue researching information on good, wholesome foods: farmer's markets, raw milk, grass-fed beef & chicken

4.)  Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary I have discovered a new blog (along with everyone else who reads her blog.) LOL!!!  Abby & her husband are Third Order Carmelites and she is a wonderful & inspiring writer.   Abilgails-alcove

5.)  I am having Fr. Corapi withdrawal.  The A/C decided to croak in my CRV the other day, so into the shop she went.  The Cavalier I am driving has a broken CD player.  Wouldn't you know I have brand new Fr. Corapi CDs too.  Rats....  LOL!!!  We have a wedding to attend on Saturday and I sure hope my CRV is back from the shop.  I don't want to try to manage a long dress in the old Accord or Cavalier.  The Accord's A/C is about to die also.  But, we will be attending the wedding of a good friend's daughter, and that is a very good thing.  ;o)


6, 7)  I am fresh out of ideas to write about.  I may add more later. (I did come back and add #5)   For now I will say...please have a blessed and wonderful day.  Thank you for stopping by.

Simplifying your life...actually my life needs simplifying

This is a fantastic blog post listing 5 ways to simplify ones life.  I am in the process of starting to do this and found this post to be spot on perfect.  Enjoy..........




http://mystified-musings.blogspot.com/2010/07/basics-of-simple-life.html#comment-form


Lord, please help me (and everyone reading this post) to simplify my life in order to glorify you and to practice detachment to material items and anything else that keeps me from communion with you.

St. Augustine's Feast Day - August 28

A BEAUTIFUL PRAYER BY ST. AUGUSTINE

I beg of You, my
God, let me know You and love You 
so that I may be happy in You. And though I cannot do this fully
in this life, yet let me improve from day to day till I may do so
to the full.
Let me know You more and more in this life, 
that I may know You perfectly in heaven.
Let me know You more and more here, so that I may love you
perfectly there, 
so that my joy may be great in itself here, and complete in
heaven with You.
O Truthful God, let me receive the happiness of heaven 
which You promise so that my joy may be full.
In the meantime, let my mind think of it, let my tongue talk of
it, 
let my heart long for it,
let my mouth speak of it, let my soul hunger after it, 
let my flesh thirst after it,
let my whole being desire it, 
until such time as I may enter through death into the joy of my
Lord,
there to continue forever, world without end. Amen.

This is a link back to the host of 7 Quick Takes Friday:  Conversion Diary

Well, this is now my 2nd Quick Takes Friday.  I'm sitting here wondering what in the world I will write about.

My patience has been tested almost beyond it's breaking point.  I spent over an hour composing 5 items for this quick takes and my laptop went off line and all my pictures and words went "poof" into cyberspace.  Since I am more than annoyed, I will compose this again in the morning....maybe.  I'm thinking that I should be able to clean out Purgatory by offering up how extremely annoyed I am right now.  :o)

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I'm going to try this one..more..time.   ;o)

                                                      
I have finally located my old Flylady Control Journal.  I'm happy to see that it remains in pristine shape, without a trace of ever being used after I spent all that time creating it.  No wonder my house is in CHOAS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)...I couldn't even find my organizing tool.  If you would like to fly with me, you can find Flylady and all her wonderful advice here:  Flylady





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I discovered a new book and author about a week ago.  "Rediscovering Catholicism", by Matthew Kelly looks really interesting.  The book is sitting on my kitchen table looking at me, but I haven't had time to open it up yet.  Anyway, this is a book written for fallen away/questioning Catholics to bring them back into the faith, or at least to explain the Catholic faith.  We have so many friends and close relatives who have left the Church/don't attend/think it's no big deal that I would like to find subtle ways to give them information if they ask.  I will probably leave the book out on the coffee table.....how's that for subtle?  LOL!!!  Matthew Kelly also has a website that looks interesting and provides quite a lot of information:
Dynamic Catholic

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Father Corapi just keeps coming up in my blog.  i love this man and his message.  I tend to like well-mannered, more subtle & kinder people in real life, BUT when it comes to my faith I want a priest who "tells it like it is" and who isn't afraid to pull punches.   That priest is Father Corapi.  Luke-warm faith does nothing for me....priests who are not loyal to the Church, their bishops and the pope do nothing for me.  Father Corapi feeds my soul.

I purchased his Mercy series and the first 16 pack of talks a few years ago, and promptly put them away for a rainy day. (you wonder how I lost my control journal....do you see a pattern here?)  ;o)   My husband found the Mercy series quite by accident and left it out for me.  I decided to listen to the series in my car, driving to and from work.  Then I hunted down the 16 pack I remembered I had also purchased.
I went onto Father's website and found that he is having a summer sale (40% off) and bought myself an early birthday present.  I am now the proud owner of the entire Catechism series and part II of the 16 pack.  This is the link to Father's website:   Father Corapi

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Yet another awesome book.  Fr. Calloway was a real bad boy and the fact that he is now a very holy priest is nothing short of a miracle.  We have another St. Monica/Augustine miracle.  This book is an excellent read.  I loved it so much that I sent a copy to a good, Catholic friend right from Amazon so she could read it.

You can find it here on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/No-Turning-Back-Witness-Mercy/dp/1596142103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282904559&sr=8-1


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"No Excuses Workout".  I found this guy through Flylady and signed up for his 12-week challenge, which starts on Sept 6.  I'm finished with work on Sept 3rd, so this challenge is just in time for me to begin my new life as a SAHW (Stay at home wife....I'm not a Mom) .  He has a paying part of his website, but he also has several free areas. That's where you'll find me.

My goal is to get to the gym in the morning.  I'm aiming for 3-5 times a week at around 7am.  I love the gym early in the AM when it's quiet and the crowd is older....some older than me.  LOL!!!  You can find Jonathan, the groups and the challenge here:  No Excuses Workout and Flylady


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I'm out of Quick Takes for this week.  This weekend will be fun.  I need to get to the gym, Confession, Mass, tackle my house and visit my niece in her new apartment.  I'm taking her an old Pfaltzgraft set of dishes that has more accessories than a store.  Handing these over to her will clear out a huge space in my garage.....Yay me!!!!  The dishes will provide her with something to eat off, which I have found helpful.   ;o)

Have a wonderful and blessed weekend.  Thanks for reading my blog.  I am humbled and grateful for anyone who actually clicks in here and reads something...anything.  Take care!!!!

Archbishop Chaput: "Systematic Discrimination Against Church Now Seems Inevitable"

Patrick Madrid posted a link on his Facebook page to a talk given by Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput at the 15th symposium for the Canon Law Association of Slovakia on Tuesday.  He spoke about discrimination against the Church, and the effect this is having on the world and the Church.

I highly recommend this very interesting, albeit disturbing article.  The link below is to the shortened version of the talk.  At the bottom of the article is a link to the 12 page talk.
 
Lifesite News Article

We need prayer more than ever in these dark days.  I wonder if our Lord will allow it to get even darker before we find relief, and I am left wondering in what form that relief will come to us.

Pray without ceasing....please pray the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Offer up Holy Communion and your sufferings for the world. At the very least pray, "Jesus, I Trust in You"and "Jesus, Mary, save souls" non-stop.  God Bless you!

This is my first "7 Quick Takes Friday".

I am working to change my life of "sloth" one baby step at a time.  I don't have children, and there really is no excuse for the state of my house, mind & soul.  ;o)

For the house, I have rejoined Flylady.  This will help with my "flight plan" for getting my house under control while (gasp!!) learning to become more organized.  I might even learn to make a list or two and not lose said list....we'll see.  There could be hope for this SHE who was not BO yet. (for definitions of those acronyms, you need to visit her website)  ;o)

For my mind, I will begin reading books written by the saints.  Well, OK I admit to starting quite a few, but I never seem to finish since I would rather read good Christian fiction...oops!  Because of this I will work on *finishing* and applying the knowledge gained in said book to expand my mind, which could help my soul too.  ;o)

For my soul, we plan to continue making frequent pilgrimages to the Shrine of the Divine Mercy.  I will add daily reading of the Bible and praying the Rosary. I already am completely faithful to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy (one good habit gained over the past year....thanks Mom!!).  I have also been listening to Fr. Corapi on CD to and from work.  He sure does make the time pass quickly, and I feed my soul at the same time.

I had a peaceful week at work; my manager was on vacation, and my projects are humming along nicely.  I should be finished with them by Sept 3rd, which is my last day of work--hopefully for a long time.

It's hard to believe that summer in winding down here in the NE and fall is right around the corner.  Thankfully, it is still warm, but other than at night the AC isn't on as much.  I'm looking forward to all the fairs (Big E is the BEST!!) and other fall "stuff".

One last thought....I sure hope I start meeting more wonderful Catholic ladies through blogging.  I don't think I write much of anything worth repeating, but it is fun to share thoughts and laughs with "like-minded" people.  Gosh, does that read like one of those "ads" in the free paper?  LOL!!!

Happy Friday to anyone who may wander over here.  Please say "hi".  I'm looking forward to meeting you.  God Bless!