Thursday, December 22, 2011

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Welcome the JOY of Christ Jesus to your hearts!
Close your eyes, thank God for what you have, your family, friends, those riches that don't show up in our bank accounts.

I remember many a Christmas our budget tighter than tight. I had to make things for my parents, my siblings and my husband so we could afford to get toys for the kids.

Now I love making things because I just love making things for everyone! It still means more to my family and friends to receive handmade items. In fact, I did glass ornaments this year for my co-workers and boss. They loved them!

Have a beautiful Christmas season, enjoy all of it, especially going to Mass. We love Midnight Mass where we sing carols for 30 minutes before Mass begins. It's such an awesome time to feel the presence of the newborn Christ Child with us.

I love you!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Service Is Joy!

I slept and dreamed that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy!
Rabindranath Tagore

Muppet Mania!

I still love the Muppets and yes, my entire family from hubby to our eldest 25, the second and her hubby, and our youngest went and we brought along son-in-law's two brothers, plus hubby's niece and nephew. Wow, we had an entire row of theater seats to ourselves!

Anyway, my kids have grown up on the Muppets. They weren't born when the Muppet Show itself was on in the late 70's early 80's but they had Muppet Babies on Saturday mornings, and all of the Muppet Movies. So on Thanksgiving weekend we all went to see it.

It was as good as ever, following the same kind of story they have in all of the Muppet Movies. The group has to join together from whatever area of the world they are and help save the show, theater, building, museum, whatever! And as usual there's great music to go along with the crazy antics.

This movie was no different, though I had to take issue with the "human" characters who were dating were going on a vacation together and it was obvious they were staying in the same motel room. But the kiss they shared was on the cheek. Hmm....maybe they had different rooms, but it wasn't implied that way.

Anyway, the rest of the movie was great! We left singing "Life's A Happy Song!' together!
Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Advent! Time For Joy!

Prepare the way of the Lord! Rejoice! Have joy! For Jesus Christ is coming!

Pope Paul VI wrote:  Technological society has succeeded in multiplying the opportunities for pleasure, but it has great difficulty in generating joy, for joy comes from another source. It is spiritual!"

So JOY comes from God, not from stuff, not from wealth or fame.  Joy is truly God.

Get Joy!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Your Life's Tapestry

Your life is a tapestry of many decisions - good ones and bad ones - woven together to create an image of your life. What image do you want to present to God at the end of your life?

Friday, November 18, 2011

Quote of the Day

Each day of life gives us a new opportunity to grow in grace...to have the "time of our life!"

Friday, November 11, 2011

Why Wait Until Marriage To Have Sex?

   You tell me why...

   Yes, you. Because I already know my reasons.
   I've already given those reasons to you.
   Now is your turn to stop and think.

    Are you waiting? Why are you waiting?

   Did you not wait? Why didn't you wait?

   Are you enjoying a life of free sex, no worries, no entanglements? Really? Can you explain?

   There is a comment button right below: use it!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Look For the Innocence-Not the Blame!

How often do you feel misunderstood, or as if someone isn't giving you the benefit of the doubt? I just read a really great chapter from the book, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Teens" by Richard Carlson, Ph.D.

Dr. Carlson has some really good thoughts in his book and this chapter really caught my eye, because, unfortunately, I am really bad about not always giving the benefit of the doubt to other people.

Dr. Carlson says, "Sometimes we do something and someone takes it wrong. Or we feel like someone is being too hard on us, or too judgemental. Sometimes we do something wrong or mean, but we really didn't mean it. Other times we're exhausted and don't respond in a friendly enough way or with enough gratitude or patience."

Well, if we ourselves have days when we feel like no one is understanding us, it goes to figure that other people have days like that too. We should show them the benefit of the doubt. Meaning, cut them some slack.

My husband is very good at doing this. And he has to remind me to do it more often. I get offended by people who snap at me and wonder why they can't be more kind. He is quick to reply to my caustic crabbiness about them with, "Well, maybe they are having a bad day."

Now, when I am still being crabby myself, I reply, "Well, we all have bad days, that's not an excuse."

He gently smiles and replies, "Of course it's not, but won't it make your day go better if you go ahead and give them that benefit of the doubt instead of letting it make you mad?"

He got me there. So, while I'm still not very good at this, I try. Sometimes it really hurts if it's a family member, co-worker or friend who does the hurting, but I guess that's all the more reason to let it go and say a prayer.

I'm going to try that this month! And make it a happy month of November by Looking for the Innocence! Want to join me? Send me your thoughts or better yet, what do you do when someone treats you rudely for no good reason?

Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy All Saints Day!

To all the big "S" saints and all the little "s" saints - happy feast day! To all of us aspiring to be saints, either big s or little s - keep working! You are doing a great job!  Some day we'll be there with all the other saints, and saint wantabees, standing in awe and wonder of our Creator!
Glory!!!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Personal Choice: aka Selfish Choice

Have you noticed lately the repeated use of the term "personal choice" in regards to having an abortion, using drugs, acting on homosexual tendencies?

While being an individual and not following the crowd is ususually a good thing, the issue of "personal choice" has become an excuse to do whatever you want, with little if any regard for other people or your giving back to our Creator.

Just because we have all been given the freedom to make personal choices does not excuse us from following the Ten Commandments, the Apostolic Traditions or moral laws. But many people use this term to escape punishment either from our nation's laws, international law and especially from God's laws.

God didn't make it that hard to follow His rules. They are pretty basic, but people sure can screw them up by labeling their mistakes as "personal choices."

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Worrywart...

Dogs do not ruin their sleep worrying about how to keep the objects they have and to obtain the objects they have not.
                      Eugene O'Neill

Well, except in that investment commercial on television where the dog keeps digging up and burying his bone picturing cat burglers all over the place...

Bless Your Guardian Angel - Month

This month we celebrate the feast of your Guardian Angels. God gave each of us our own personal Guardian Angel from the moment we're born to watch out for us, give us guidance, and try to help keep us on the right path.

Do you have an Guardian Angel story? If so, share it here with us.  Guardian Angels weren't meant as just stories we tell kids at night so they can go to sleep. They are real. They are constantly by God's side and our side, trying to keep us on the right path.

Some even have names. The name of my family's guardian angel is "George".  Don't ask me how I know that. I just knew one day when I was asking for his intercession to watch over my little ones, that his name was George.

So every day I have a running conversation with George and since my now grown family loves adventures and things like white water rafting, canoing, inner-tube floating down not so lazy rivers, flying in open cockpit airplanes....let's just say George gets a workout!

I've seen his work up close and personal. Like the day he literally yanked one of my daughters away from a snake in our yard.  I saw her fly backwards through the air, she didn't jump, and neither my husband nor I had seen the snake to warn her.

Then there was just last week, when the cable that was holding the spare tire underneath my husband's Durango rusted out. Some bolts fell out onto the driveway several weeks before and we had no clue where they came from though we looked under our cars. We thought they just fell off another car passing the drive.

We drove several hundred miles the next two weekends, visiting relatives and such things. Then one Sunday afternoon my husband had just pulled into the driveway when he felt a thump. He got out of the car and saw a tire laying at the end of the driveway.

He wondered where it had come from and thought it looked familiar. He looked under his car and sure enough, the spare was missing. Poor George, he must have been tired (though I doubt angels get tired.) but he had been holding up that spare tire under the car without it's cable or bolts for two weeks, through all those trips, bouncing up and down...

I have never doubted the existence of Guardian Angels...and you should not either!

I Am the Lord, the one who encourages you. Why are you afraid of mere humans?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

You Need To Keep An Eye On This...






.- Major internet media platforms and service providers have policies that hinder Christian evangelization and censor speech on controversial issues of the day like abortion and marriage, a new report says.
“Christian ideas and other religious content face a clear and present danger of censorship on web-based communication platforms,” said the National Religious Broadcasters’ report “True Liberty in a New Media Age.”
If Christian content is “censored” by new media platforms like the iTunes App Store, Facebook, Google, or internet service providers, “the Good News of the Gospel could become one more casualty of institutionalized religious discrimination,” the broadcaster organization’s president Frank Wright said in the report’s foreword.
The National Religious Broadcasters was founded in 1944 to oppose government regulations and policy decisions by major broadcast networks which impeded the ability of evangelical ministers to buy radio airtime.
Some new media companies have banned Christian content, while others have public positions that make censorship “all but inevitable.”
Except for the microblogging service Twitter, all the new media platforms and services examined have policies “clearly inconsistent with the free speech values of the U.S. Constitution,” the report said.
New media companies are responsive to “market forces” and the demands by “pressure groups calling for censorship” of otherwise lawful viewpoints.
As examples of “anti-Christian censorship,” the report cited the Apple iTunes App Store’s removal of the Manhattan Declaration app that defended traditional marriage. The store also removed an app from Exodus International that said that homosexuality is inappropriate conduct which can be changed through a spiritual transformation.
Internet search engine giant Google refused to accept a pro-life advertisement from a Christian organization in England and its China-based internet service has blacklisted some religious terminology. The company’s advertising guidelines explicitly bar the phrase “abortion is murder” on the grounds it is “gruesome language.”
The report also cited Facebook and other outlets for a policy that bars ads for “politically religious agendas.”
Meanwhile, Facebook has partnered with gay rights advocates to halt “anti-homosexual” content and it is participating in gay-awareness programs. This suggests that Christian content critical of homosexuality, “gay marriage” or other practices will be at risk of censorship.
Apple, Facebook, MySpace, Google, Comcast, AT&T and Verizon all prohibit “hate speech,” which the National Religious Broadcasters report called a “dangerously undefined and political correct term” that is often applied to “stifle” Christian communicators.
“The ongoing technological convergence of these various new media platforms suggests that these free speech-inhibiting practices and unconscionable policies will be further entrenched unless corrective action is taken immediately,” the report said.
The report suggested that companies should follow a “free speech paradigm” guided by the basic First Amendment rules, even where those do not strictly apply to private businesses. It also suggested federal legislation or regulation to forbid “viewpoint censorship.”
“When we started our John Milton Project for Religious Free Speech, I sensed a gathering storm building, with 'new media' companies like Apple, Facebook and Google considering the option of censoring Christian content off their sites,” National Religious Broadcasters’ senior vice president Craig Parshall said on Sept. 13.
“Now, a little more than a year later, after finishing our extensive study, I am convinced that religious free speech rights will face a First Amendment hurricane if action is not taken immediately.”

Monday, September 12, 2011

Confirmation Sign Up Time!

Can it be that time of year again? Time to catch the Holy Spirit, do some service hours and work for the Lord! 
All St. Mary Cathedral Parish members who are high school freshmen and sophomores who have not yet been confirmed are invited to journey into your faith life and see what the Holy Spirit has in store for you.
Receive the Gifts
Enjoy the fruits
Feel the Holy Spirit fill your life with strength, courage and excitement about your Catholic faith.
Check out our website for more information:  www.stmarycathedral.net

Friday, September 9, 2011

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Pope Benedict Praises Joan of Arc

Vatican City, Jan 26, 2011/(CNA/EWTN News).- St. Joan of Arc was united in prayer to Christ even at the end of her short life, when she yelled his name while being burned at the stake, the Pope said, holding her up as a model of strength. Pope Benedict XVI shared the story of St. Joan of Arc and her heroic sanctity at the general audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall on Jan. 26. More than 3,000 people were gathered in the auditorium for the occasion. She was just 19 years old when she was sentenced to death, but the French teenager was one of the "strong women" at the end of the Middle Ages, "who fearlessly brought the splendid light of the Gospel into the complex events of history," said the Pope. Born to a peasant family in a time of war between England and France, Joan brought herself to the attention of an important nobleman at the time. She was just 17, but hoped to achieve peace by imploring a settlement between the two Christian nations in the name of Jesus. The nobleman, convinced of her Christian goodwill by local theologians, allowed her to try. When her efforts failed she soon found herself at the head of an army defending the French city of Orleans.

For the rest of this story click on this link:

http://www.missioncapodanno.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1654:joan-of-arcs-beautiful-example&catid=48:popes-benedict-xvi&Itemid=80

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Never Turn Your Back On Danger!

From the "Happy Catholic"blog:
http://happycatholic.blogspot.com/2011/08/well-said-never-turn-your-back-on.html
One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!
Winston Churchill
Wow, well said and how well we need to heed Mr. Churchill's advice today! The danger is right in front of us, how will be manage it? How do we address the danger staring us in the face?
The danger is in our tolerance of things; allowing abortions to keep happening and never at least praying for change of hearts in people;
In letting young people think we approve of pre-marital sex and having babies without being married;
Watching porn on television and the internet;
Not treating our churches and holy things with reverence. (yes, this means not using God's name in vain too!)

Are you facing the danger? Are you staring it down or turning your back on it so it overwhelms you before you can do anything?

Monday, June 27, 2011

Honk If Parts Fall Off...

There is this bumper sticker on an old pick up truck I saw in traffic....it speaks volumes!
Wouldn't it be nice if we helped each other more? Nicely and politely pointed out things we have missed, or lost?
   For instance, "hey I didn't see you in church this weekend? Is everything going okay with you?"
or
  "I saw on Facebook you and your girlfriend are living together? Have you thought about marriage?"

Okay, maybe this borders on the so called etiquette of the day that says you don't ask or tell and the "Oh my gosh, you didn't really say that did you?" law.

   But when did we stop helping each other with "fraternal correction?"  We have taken the scriptural phrase, "don't point out the splinter in your brother's eye when you have a plank in your own" a little too far.

  In our effort to not offend, and to embrace all sinners, we have totally fallen off the brother's keeper boat.
We are responsible for our brothers AND sisters, AND friends.  That's why we live in families and groups and communities!!!

  Oops, hey, your muffler fell off!!!

Monday, June 20, 2011

When A Man Loves A Woman Sequel...

When a man truly loves a woman, there is a bond, both on an emotional and chemical level created between them that cannot be separated or undone, not by separation, not by death, not even by selfishness. It exists. And unless sexual union only takes place in a marriage, that bond is never formed completely. It is desiccated, weakened, rendered unusable. 

The family unit was created with one purpose: to protect all its members, the children, the mother and the father. When men procreate outside of marriage, they destroy their father duties. They deny not only the child of a father and being born in a protected, safe, stable environment, but they destroy the woman who bears the child and bears all the responsibility for this child, unprotected, unsecure, AND they destroy a piece of themselves too. Men need to be responsible, they need to protect and take care of. The family unit is uniquely designed for this.

Women's rights should be about protecting women and children; not just about equality in the workplace. Women's rights, men's rights and children's rights should be of the utmost importance in our society. We can strengthen our families by protecting them.

You Need To Know...

Here are important updates on what is going on in the Political World. YOU are a voting member of our society! If YOU don't get out and vote and let people know what you stand for, you are NOT helping form our laws or promote morals and values. Be informed. It's not about politics people! It's about doing the right thing, having a say, telling God HE is the important one in this world. Not us!

"Pushing Back the Darkness in New York: Archbishop Dolan Defends True Marriage"
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=41776

Five GOP Candidates Sign the Pro-Life Pledge
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=41824

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Polls Are Funny..not hahaha funny...

You just have to take survey polls with a grain of salt, don't you? I mean look at this poll, done by Gallup:

Results for Gallup's 2011 Values and Beliefs poll were based on telephone interviews conducted May 5-8 this year, with a random sample of 1,018 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all U.S. states

(Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=3304#ixzz1O2Z942TD)

It would lead you to believe that all of our Christian faith beliefs are falling to the bottom of the stack. That people 18 and up are deciding that living a faithfilled, moral, value-based life is just not for them any more. It's old fashioned.

Polls are misleading. Polls have misdirected people for years, they don't predict outcomes very well. It all depends on who you talk to.

So next time you read:  Recent poll shows that 82% of people think they are going to die!  You might wonder what the other 18% think. That they can live forever? Everyone dies, dude!  And polls and surveys don't ask EVERYONE or even a good sampling of people.

With that said, remember - pre-marital sex is wrong, so is abortion. Leaving you faith just because it's easier than getting married outside of the  Catholic church is wrong too. Getting divorced is not the easy answer out of a marriage you don't like. If you gamble you should be careful with your money, don't drink so much as to get drunk, and respect everyone unborn to the elderly.

God's laws were put here to guide us, because without direction, we are going nowhere!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Praying For Joplin



I can only shudder as I look at the photos of one of our sister Parishes, also named, St. Marys in our Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. Please keep the people of Joplin, Missouri in your prayers.

You can find information on how to help at our Diocesan Website:   http://www.dioscg.org/
and at pictures on our Diocese Facebook page:    http://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/DioceseofSpringfieldCapeGirardeau

Monday, May 23, 2011

Moving Away From Home

Yesterday, Cait and I moved her sister, Laura, to Columbia for her summer internship. (Sad Face)  It was a long day and halfway through our drive, which was through tons of traffic through STL, argh....sitting in the middle of a six lane highway singing a Banjo version of Steve Martin's "Atheists Don't Have No Songs!" Cait and I were getting a little tired and slap happy.

 She was driving and I was texting my husband where we were city-wise so he would know when we would be home. My wonderful husband and children had given me an I-phone for Mother's Day but I am still having some trouble typing on that tiny little keyboard. So in a jostling car on the highway I was letting him know we had just passed through the town of Festus.

Only, my I-phone didn't understand the name of the town so it likes to correct my spelling all the time. When I hit "send" I suddenly noticed that it had corrected the town's name from Festus, to "death".

Now, why in the world it thought Festus was supposed to be death, I don't know. But I quickly called my hubby to let him know that though the traffic had been really bad, we had NOT passed through Death!!!

He was much relieved. So were we.  You really have to be careful you are sending the correct messages in life. Especially to family members...

Rookie Altar Servers

I have to tell you about this. We have began training new altar servers yesterday. These are very excited end-of-the year fourth graders we are talking to here, from now on known as "The Rookies."

College-aged daughter, Cait, who is  known around our church altar server circle as "The Server Pro" because she is always jumping up to fill in at Mass when one of the "kids" neglect their server duty had the dubious job of helping me train altar servers in our parish. I recruited her because:

        1. I'm in Family Life Ministry and somehow that job fell to me to pick up and run with.
        2. She is always jumping up to help serve when...one of the "kids" neglect their server duty..."
        3. I've never been a server, (we didn't have girl servers when I was a kid) so she knows more than me.

    So, Cait is explaining all the wonderful nuances of being a good server - think quiet, attentive, careful, respectful. She told them they needed to be "white ninjas."  And it worked! They all began practicing and slowed down their pace when carrying the processional cross, when carrying up the Sacramentary book. They all did a fine job. 
    But I think they all need to join Cait's Server Boot Camp. We had several server boot camps last summer which really got the "rookies" learning everything from serving funerals to Bishop Masses.
  


2010 Recruits in Rookie Altar Server Boot Camp
Caitlin is the tall one standing on the left!
my nephews, also experienced Altar Severs are the two gentlemen standing on the right!

Because of this Boot Camp, our new servers this year are really very good! It's all in the correct training, you know! And the fact that these young people are truly interested in serving Christ in His Church!
Way to go guys and girls!
These are the kids that jump up and serve when some of the older kids neglect their time. They always show up for their appointed Mass. They are enthusiastic and really want to do things the right way.
So I'm hoping this year's crop of rookies will be the same way!
Thanks to their enthusiasm and to Server Pro Cait!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Hello World! Not ALL American Catholics Are For Contraceptives!!!!!

I am posting this because I'm tired of getting "counted in" with all those American Catholics who claim they support the use of contraceptives!

I do not!!! Unless they are counting Natural Family Planning - which uses NO artificial means of preventing a birth....then stop counting the rest of us in!  No way do 90% of American Catholics support birth control!
You are polling only one section - the ones YOU want to hear only!!!

Start representing a wider range of Catholics !!!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Christ has risen!
The choir this morning (the grade school choir- with over 40 voices ) sang Allelulia all the way out of Church after practice this morning! What an awesome Church! 
Easter Vigil in the midst of the raging storm was beautiful! We almost needed the candles we held for real light in case the power went out.
Excited Pre-Catholics preparing to receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and First Communion!
What an awesome Church we belong to!


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Holy Week

It's Holy Week, it's a busy but wonderful time of year to prepare for Easter. So while you are thinking about your Sunday meal, coloring and hiding the Easter Eggs, first begin with preparing your heart for Jesus' Passion and Death.

Sometimes we get so caught up in all the "trappings" of Easter, we totally forget how to prepare. We cannot truly appreciate everything Jesus became on Resurrection morning, if we haven't walked the road to Calvary with Him also.

So please try to attend Holy Week services at your church, from Chrism Mass, where the oils used during the Church year are blessed, to Holy Thursday - The Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples and washed their feet, to Good Friday and the passion and death on the Cross.

Then, if you can, attend the Easter Vigil Mass with all the church lights out and only candles illuminating the darkness, waiting for the Resurrection.

And of course glorious Easter morning - Christ has arisen! Alleluia!
And don't forget Easter Monday - when we laugh at the devil - for Jesus has Risen and conquered death forever!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Marriage: It's Not A Thing Of The Past

Here is a wonderful pastoral comment on marriage by Archbishop Michael Sheehan. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=1551

Keep up the good work Married Couples!!!
And yes, all you young adults out there thinking about marriage: Getting married is NOT old fashioned!Waiting until you are married to have sex or live together makes for a beautiful relationship - so give it a chance and please remember: Not EVERYONE is having sex or living together before they get married!

No Man Is An Island

My daughter is going through a tough time with a friend who is half a world away - literally. This friend is really down and depressed. It's hard to help someone when they live so far away. But sometimes it's hard to help someone right next door too.  But the best help we can be to each other is being a listening ear, assuring that person of our prayers for them to get through their tough time.

So many times we feel at loss for words to help them, or give them answers. Maybe that's not what they need. I truly feel God puts each of us in a place we need to be for a reason. We may never know why or understand, but God can do anything! He knows what is best.

If you are in a place where a friend really needs a shoulder to cry on, be the shoulder. You don't have to have all the answers, just tell them you are there for them and are praying for them and really do pray for them. All of our prayers help each other. Even though God knows they need help, we still have to ask Him in prayer for that help.

And remember that no man is an island, we are not put here alone. We need each other, to talk, to pray with and pray for. And be happy, no matter what. Happiness helps others too!
Good day! God bless you!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Daddy's Little Girl

April 7, 2011


Yesterday was a hard day for me. It was the one year anniversary of my Dad's death. While I'm so happy he is in Heaven with God our Father, I miss him so much.

It's been hard over the last year to have any other memories of my Dad other than the last year of his life which was filled with so many health issues, the worst one being the diagnosis of lung cancer.

Cancer tried to rob him of his vitality, his humor, his strength, his patience. It did not succeed. So when you read that a person lost their fight to cancer, my Dad did NOT lose that fight. He fought all the way. Even during the times when he had to have help eating, drinking and other normal functions, my Dad never lost his sense of himself as the Dad, the Husband, the Father and Grandfather he was to all of his family. He reminded all of us we were to take care of Mom. That was always his concern.

But I am Daddy’s girl, I grew up watching him shave in the mornings, I can still smell the Barbasol soap he used. I helped him with every building project we ever did in all the houses we lived in, from decks, to screened in porches. When I was grown up and married, he came and helped us with our decks and new rooms too.

When I was 8 years old I laughed hilariously watching him chase a mouse throughout the old farm house we lived in. He fell down laughing too on the winding staircase when he watched that same mouse hop up those stairs!

He taught me to drive, how to change the oil and the tires. He taught me how to tie a rope, Navy style, how to play golf even though I was left handed and he was right handed. He jumped up and down so excited for me when I “shot the green” the very first time I played a real game. We loved watching John Wayne movies together.

He calmed my fears when I had a horrible nightmare that I can still remember to this day and I was only 6 years old. He explained to me about death and dying when an elderly man collapsed during Mass one Sunday and died and I thought it was unfair to happen when you were doing your Sunday duty. He told me it was a beautiful place and time to give your life up to God.

He showed me strength of character when people were nasty to him, disagreed with him hatefully and he would still smile and shake their hands.

He showed me how to have courage when speaking in front of others and I can now cantor and sing in front of anybody in church or meetings because he taught me everything he learned in all the Dale Carnegie courses he took to help him make speeches.

He let me help him quit smoking cold turkey even when it was a battle of wits; his withdrawal symptoms and my hard headed determination to make him quit.
He let me calm his fear when he woke up early from the anesthesia after triple bypass surgery with the breathing tube still in his throat and he grabbed my hand and looked to my face for reassurance that he was okay. Then just weeks later he would totally impress me with his courage to do a cannonball into the hotel swimming pool when we took him and mom with us to Florida.

We were scotch buddies, golf games on television buddies – go Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholson and Phil Michelson!

We even went shooting together with my brother, Rob. Dad called me “dead eye” and got a kick seeing me get a “kick” every time Rob handed me a gun with a little extra gunpower in the shell!

He was proud of my choice for a husband, and my three wonderful children, and of my singing in church. He would have been proud to know I sang for his funeral too, his favorite songs, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art and Hail Mary Gentle Woman.

He marveled at the dishcloths I crocheted while sitting with him and mom in the doctors’ offices and hospital rooms as well as my increasing knitting ability as I began to make My Paw Paw Bears which are named after him. He got to hold the very first completed one just days before he died.

He was proud of my writing, he loved reading my books and my newspaper articles.

I was proud of him in so many ways, for so many reasons.

I’m still Daddy’s little girl and I’ll always miss him.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Happy Catholic Blog to Read!

Here's another blog to follow, Julie is funny, faithful and makes being Catholic sound like fun which it is!  Read her conversion story. It is beautiful.     http://happycatholic.blogspot.com/
Meanwhile continue to be (or begin to be) a happy Catholic!  We have so much given us by Jesus. Look at Him on the cross and receive Him in communion. How Awesome!!!
No matter how bad your day is - Jesus is there, sharing it with you. He understands disappoints in life, being left alone by friends, betrayal, pain and suffering.  He shares every moment with you.

If you are having a bad day, take it to Him. He loves you!
And so do I !

New Movie- Soul Surfer

While watching television last night I saw an ad for this new movie. Curious I went to the internet and found out it's an inspiration story about a young surfer girl whose arm was bitten off by a shark, but she finds strength in her faith in God and she now users her surfing to bring others to  Christ.
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Monday, March 14, 2011

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Marriage: It's a Man and Woman Thing

The Catholic Church has a definite view of the family in relationship to the state or government:
The Family is prior to the state and the state has obligations to respect the family.

In other words, God made the family - man, woman and children. This family is more important than any government, or any culture or society that wants to change the meaning of family.

"A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. This institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it. It should be considered the normal reference point by which the different forms of family relationships are to be evaluated.

There are those in government and in society who think that the state created marriage. Nope, they are wrong.  God made it first and best. 

In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution...The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life.

Authority, stability and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security and fraternity with society.

The family is the community in which from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.  (Catholic Catechism)

Monday, February 28, 2011

You Got A Friend In Me

Friends—like the paralytic man on the mat whose friends carried him to Jesus. Nothing doing, they were going to see that he got to see and hear Jesus, even if that meant carrying him up to a roof and breaking through to lower him down.


Have you ever wondered how that paralyzed man felt ? Did he really want to see Jesus? Did he feel insignificant and try to talk his friends out of taking him there? What was all the fuss about? He had been like this for years and knew he would continue to be.

Or was it him that prodded his friends to take him to the roof and lower him by ropes so he could hear Jesus talk? How many times had he tried to see Jesus and been thwarted by the crowds because he could not stand or get near enough to hear him speak?

Were his friends tired of carrying him everywhere and just wanted healing from Jesus so they wouldn’t have to deal with his handicap any more?

Do we look on the sacrifices we make like this? Do we go to Church on Sundays just to please our parents or do we go because we really want to experience Jesus in person? Do we need the help of our parents to get us there? Not just because we may not be old enough to drive yet, but because we can’t get out of bed on time?

This reading also shows us the importance of good friends. Would you own friends go to all the trouble this man’s friends did to get him somewhere he really wanted to go? Do your friends go the extra mile for you? Do YOU go the extra mile for them? Do you help your friend when he is down, when she is upset and needs someone to listen?

This example of friendship should be a sign to us that the friends we choose should help us grow in our faith life. They should be leading us TOWARD Jesus, not away from Him. Do YOU lead your friends toward Christ by your words and actions? What movies do you suggest you go see? Do you gossip about others? What is your Facebook status positive? Or is it complaining or mean sounding?

What kind of friend are you?

Have No Fear! God Is Here!

Today I was watching the preparation for the Shuttle Discovery liftoff. As I watched I wondered if the astronauts were worried about their own safety. After so many bad things happening in the shuttle missions and the things they have had to stop for and repair before they could liftoff. I wondered what was going through their minds as they sit in those seats, all suited up for flight.


While I was watching I was also surfing Zenit.org the news agency of the Vatican for news. There was this article about worrying on the site. As I read it I realized I was getting caught up in the world again. Yes, it happens to me all the time. As a mom, I worry. As a wife, I worry, as a daughter, sister, cousin, teacher, I worry all the time.

It’s at those times I need to remember and I’m here to remind you too, that God has everything under control.

Indeed, if God can provide for the birds of the air, and the flowers of the field who cannot store their food in bins or get up and walk to better pastures, why do I sit here and worry? I mean, really what can I do about it?

“We must overcome our fear of the future. But will not be able to overcome it completely unless we do so together. The answer to that fear is neither coercion nor repression, nor the imposition of one social model on the entire world. The answer to the fear which darkens human existence at the end of the 20th century is the common effort to build the civilization of love, founded on the universal values o peach, solidarity, justice and liberty. The soul of civilization of love is the culture of freedom: the freedom of individuals and the freedom of nations, lived in self giving solidarity and responsibility.”

In other words, we still must truly live the Gospel message, love our neighbor as our selves. Give everything to God, especially our fears. He will take care of us. The lives of the astronauts as well as ALL of us, are in God’s hands. What better way to live our lives? Because there is nothing we can do by worrying about stuff, like tests, classes, health and whether we have a date for prom.

In other words we can take heart in the message of the old Underdog Cartoon and say, “Have no fear! God is here!”

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Help! I Need Somebody, Help!

Have you ever needed a hand with something? Gotten in over your head building something or trying to put something back together? Gotten yourself in danger and had to call for help?


Two such instances come to my mind, the first was when my sister and I were teens and while visiting the ocean for the very first time with our parents, didn’t realize the trouble you could quickly get into on the sea. We had been floating on rafts, talking and snoozing in the Florida sun. Dozing away I suddenly heard shouts from the shore from the lifeguard on duty. I looked around and saw my sister floating pretty far away from me. She was caught in a rip tide pulling her further out to sea.

My parents, hearing the shouts of people on shore, realized they were pointing to their daughters and of course felt momentary panic when they realized there was nothing they could do but pray. The lifeguard jumped into the water and came swimming out directing my sister to paddle her raft perpendicular to shore in order to escape the current. She was finally able to escape the pull of the riptide current and paddle exhaustedly back to shore. My family gathered both of us in an hug, then set off to thank the lifeguard who so expertly guided my sister back to shore.

The other instance involved one of my own daughters when she was only four years old. I was upstairs making supper and she was downstairs playing in the room where I kept my sewing machine. Though warned about never playing with the sewing machine, her fascination with the needle going up and down got her into trouble and I heard this call for help. “Mom, come down here!” to which I answered, I could not because I was making supper and she needed to come up the stairs to ask me for help. “I can’t!” came the reply. I finally went to investigate and found her finger pinned under the needle of the machine. She was unable to move. It took me a minute to figure out how to raise the needle without it sticking her entire finger to the machine.

Sometimes we need help and we don’t even know it as was the case with my sister and I on the ocean, sometimes, like my daughter, you know you are in trouble immediately!

But no matter the case, we can always call on God for help. Sometimes God intervenes even when we don’t even know it! It’s always good to maintain an open conversation with the Almighty in your life. He may be giving you very important warnings about something going on in your life and you don’t realize you are in danger.

Maintain a good relationship with our Lord can help keep you out of trouble!

God bless and keep you!

Lisa