Why I Wear a Veil

A lovely friend of mine recently wrote to ask why I veil for Mass and Adoration.  This is what I told her.  I hope it might help you, too, if you are discerning adding a veil to your devotional practices.

My family thinks I'm "a little out there," a la "The Church Lady."  No one else in my extended family veils and at the time that I first started wearing one, I didn't know ANYone else who did, either.  But, I had seen other women in church veiling and wondered about it....

Then, the Church revised the wording of the Mass with Advent 2011.  I prayed a *LOT* about whether or not to veil, then felt a pull toward, "new Church year; new devotion to help me focus."  At the time, my youngest was only seven months old and the rest of our family's pew was filled with all six impatient, squirming children, with me at one end and my husband far away at the other.  It was nigh on *impossible* for me to focus on Mass.  At.  All.  Much less for an entire hour.

As a result, I was increasingly impatient, annoyed, self-pitying, and resentful that I couldn't manage one measly hour a week before the Lord!  Ugh!  Then, I saw veils.  And I noticed that, in a gentle sort of way, they were like blinkers or blinders on a horse.

I grew up around horses.  Horses' eyes are set far on opposite sides of their heads as one of their methods of self defense -- they have almost a 360 degree view of everything around them.  Consequently, they see (and react!) to EVERYTHING.

Along came blinders.  You've seen them -- the Budweiser Clydesdales and Amish buggy horses wear square ones on their bridles and Thoroughbred race horses wear spherical ones on a hood on their face.  The blinders narrow the horse's frame of vision so he focuses ONLY on what's ahead of him.

Ahhhhhhhh.  As in every moment of my life as a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, I was surrounded on all sides by a miniature Barbarian Hoard.  Almost.  All sides but one.  What was in front of me in church?  The tabernacle -- literally, because we sit up front for the benefit of our eldest son (which really winds up benefiting us all!).

Wearing a veil became my literal and figurative blinders.  In many instances, it literally obscures my peripheral vision.  In all instances, it is a lightweight, tangible reminder of where I am, Who is present, and what I am there to do.

Worship.  Him.

It's that simple.

Worship.  Him.

My veil becomes my blinders.  My prayer tent.  My spiritual security blanket.  My smack on the head to pay attention.  My reminder that I am on holy ground, in the presence of Almighty God, a humble creature before her Creator.

It does not make me MORE humble or more reverent or more special than anyone else there.  If anything, while a veil *IS* special (because it's only for a woman in the Real Presence), it reminds me that I'm NOT the most special.  I am the least before Him.  It is such a wonderful, freeing, comforting train of thought, almost like being a child again and obliviously having my late father lovingly take care of.... everything.

The same kids were still squirming.  The same distractions were all still there, whether in my head or all around me.  And the same God was still present in the same way in the same tabernacle where He always was.  But, now I had a tangible touchstone to remind me.

It was like the time I confessed to a priest about being distracted too often during the rosary.

"Do you come back to it?" he asked.

I frowned.  "Of course."

He smiled.  "Then, that is an even greater grace.  To be pulled away, whether by the devil or by honest distractions, and to CHOOSE to return to it can be an even greater grace."

My veil reminds me to keep coming back, despite the distractions.

Today, I feel naked and amiss if I enter a Catholic church without my veil.  So, I keep it in my purse (with an extra for anyone else!  I've given away three since I started veiling!).  It's kind of like "appropriate dress and comportment" for me.  I wouldn't wear stilettos to the barn, nor pajamas to my boss's dinner party.  I wouldn't chew gum in a job interview, but I would make sure I brushed my teeth.  My veil just feels... right, in every way, in the Real Presence of Our Lord.

And that, in the immortal words of Paul Harvey, is the rest of the story!

:-D

That also, my dear friend, is probably waaaaay more than you really wanted to know!  I scrolled back through this and was going to delete it, but decided to be honest and send it "as is."

Wearing a veil is simple and complex, all at the same time.  I hope this is helpful to you in discerning your own devotions!  The video entitled "The Chapel Veil" by "True Faith TV" on YouTube also is well-done.

Thank you!  Please be assured of my prayers! ❤️

Help in Dark Times

When you are facing tough times physically, whether through age or illness, St. Theresa of Avila might be a good saint for you to appeal to for assistance, as she suffered ailments immensely and famously said, "Lord, if this is how You treat Your friends, no wonder you have so few!"  Also, St. Dymphna is the patron saint of nervous conditions, St. Lucy the patron saint of eye ailments, and St. Agatha the patron saint of breast cancer fighters.

The evil one is know to torment even more those who are getting CLOSER to God, so if you are facing dark times during which your struggle seems only to be getting worse -- be confident, be strong, be courageous, and know that Our Lord and His saints ultimately will not let you down!

Always call upon your family and friends here, too -- whether related by blood, faux family, or parishioners at your church -- for their help here in your physical and spiritual warfare!  You might feel overwhelmed and that you just can't do this, but with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37).

Appeal to Him constantly and re-read the poem below, "Footprints in the Sand," for it is in your darkest times that He will carry you.

Spiritual Life is a Journey

"Denigrating the 'before' is common in the spiritual life.  After a conversion experience, one is tempted to set aside, downplay, or reject one's past.  In Thomas Merton's biography The Seven Storey Mountain, the former dissolute student turned Trappist monk largely characterizes his former life as bad, and his life in the monastery as good.  Of the 'old' Thomas Merton, he said ruefully, 'I can't get rid of him.'

"In time, Merton would realize how misguided a quest that is: there is no post-conversion person and pre-conversion person.  There is one person in a variety of times, the past informing and forming the present.  God is at work at all times."

(Jesus: A Pilgrimage, by James Martin, S.J.)

Prayer and Self-Care

(The following is excerpted from a post entitled, "In God's Time," by Michele Quigley over at Elizabeth Foss's blog, "In the Heart of My Home.")

You must pray. Daily and if at all possible, first thing. It can be tempting to allow the busyness and distractions of life to encroach on your time alone with God and I know it can sometimes feel like you are just too busy for a regular prayer time. The truth is, the busier you are the more you need it.

Mothers in particular can struggle with this. It feels selfish to take that time alone with God but taking time to nourish your relationship with God isn't selfishness, it's self-care and there a very big difference. By nature we are self-focused beings and that isn't an accident. While it has been distorted by sin, it is actually intended for our good and properly focused can be a path to growing in holiness. "Love your neighbor as yourself" assumes that we will love ourselves.

Not in an egotistical way but in the way that God does. Desiring the highest and best good for us, that of union with Him and eternal life. That is self-care.

Selfishness and vanity on the other hand eat away at the soul. They can never be satisfied and they leave us wanting more of the same all the while becoming angry and bitter about what we do not have and cannot do. Self-care, being in relationship with God and nourishing that relationship as the primary one in our lives, fills us with love and overflows into our lives. We want more yes but we want God and we want others to know Him too. It inspires our actions and thinking and helps us to live as children of the light.

You can't give what you don't have. Oh sure, you can serve others for a time while ignoring your interior life but eventually you will burn out. All the saints knew this, they knew how important it was to nourish their interior life and it was only through grace that they were able to do all the things they did --that they were able to love so much. Certainly our Lord Himself set the example for us in this, taking to time to pray in solitude regularly.

(Excerpted from a post entitled, "In God's Time," by Michele Quigley over at Elizabeth Foss's blog, "In the Heart of My Home.")
 

Be Careful What You Ask For...

Today's inspiration is to be careful what you ask for in prayer...because you just might get it.  In spades.  Are you...

Praying for a heart of charity (LOVE) toward others?  Expect someone to come along who is reeeeeeally difficult to love, but needs you to do it anyway.

Praying for JOY?  Perhaps the gift of life, a new baby, is coming into your world!  You know, that proverbial, "bundle of joy?"  The kind that never sleeps through the night, spits up on everything, and has an ear-splitting scream that's piercing enough to shatter glass.  In your ear.

Praying for PEACE?  Expect the nightly news to show, well, more of same.

Praying for PATIENCE (forbearance)?  Expect a situation to come along that quite tries your patience.  Really.

Praying for KINDNESS?  Expect anger to bubble to the surface the next time you struggle to summon up kindness instead.

Praying for GOODNESS?  We can't all be angels, can we?

Praying for GENEROSITY?  Expect to be asked to part with the person, place, or thing you hold most dear.

Praying for GENTLENESS?  Expect someone to do something.  That.  REALLY.  Ticks.  You.  Off.

Praying for FAITHFULNESS?  Expect a possible dull, "dry," time in the way your heart used to soar during private prayer or at Mass.

Praying for MODESTY?  Summer's here.  Good luck finding a modest bathing suit or age-appropriate clothing for your young teenage daughter.

Praying for CHASTITY?  Expect temptation to be thrust into your line of vision, even someplace as seemingly innocuous as the grocery store check-out line!

Praying for FORTITUDE?  Expect a challenge to come along that tests your spiritual strength.  A lot.

Praying for SELF-CONTROL?  Well, now.  That would be a little bit of, "All of the Above," wouldn't it?

But, wait a minute.

None of those answers were the FRUITS of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).  None of those trials are the virtue for which I prayed, are they?  Nooooo.  But, as the old adage goes, the only way to learn patience is the hard way (which my children still don't understand).

When you pray for a virtue, just plan right away on the devil listening in and immediately throwing into your path every opposite vice he possibly can.  He might not be able to divine your private thoughts and prayers to God.  But, the devil's not stupid.  And he is very, very observant.

The antidote, of course, to these challenges that are in direct contradiction to the virtue for which you are praying, is one word.  Actually, He's "The Word."  JESUS!

Oh, it's not that simple.  As Mother Teresa wisely noted from experience, Jesus is not an easy spouse.  He never said, "Take up your silver spoon and follow Me."  Um, no.  He said, "Take up your CROSS and follow Me," (Matthew 16:24).

Where are we following Him?

Ultimately, to Heaven, of course!

As Peter did (but failed to continue to do on the Sea of Galilee, Matthew 14:22-33) keep your eyes on the prize, and you'll be able to weather the storms of life.  Keep your eyes on Jesus.  He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Believe in Him, follow Him, live your life (yes, even your ole, mundane, run-'o-the-mill, boring, everyday, groundling life) for Him, and He will lead you to Heaven.  'Cause that's where God wants ALL of us to be welcome!

Remember your basic Catechism:

Who made you?  God made you (that would be Jesus).

Why did God make you?  God made you to know, love, and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven.

Remember, heaven'll be worth it.  But, God never promised it would be easy getting there.

So, the next time you're praying to be infused with some worthy virtue, brace yourself.  Brace yourself against The Cross.  Because the devil doesn't want you to get to heaven.  But, in the end, and in your life, the Lord will triumph.  In the end, as Our Lady promised at Fatima in 1917, "My Immaculate Heart will triumph."  

Just as surely as you may expect storms in life, expect, too, for His blessings to follow!

The Efficacy of Long Distance Prayer

A dear friend of mine sent me the link to this inspiring article, written by her tennis partner's daughter.  The only, "distance," that actually is far away to God is the one we create when we don't turn to Him.

May you be inspired this Lent to close the distance in prayer.  Lift up your loved ones and turn your ordinary activities into a time of prayerful conversation with God on their behalf!  Your day and their lives will only be the better for it.

http://www.alivetogethermag.org/when-my-running-shoes-are-on/  

Pray for Phenomenal!

A dear Catholic friend of mine has taught her five children, whenever they hear an emergency vehicle's siren, to pray silently for all those involved.

Among her children is a teenage girl, Therese, who struggles greatly with cystic fibrosis.  Despite the enormity of Therese's personal challenge just to breathe, she has an incredibly sunny and generous disposition, ever mindful of the personal difficulties that others might be facing in their lives.

Therese and her mom were in her hospital room yesterday when they heard a siren.  Therese started praying immediately, but her whispered words puzzled my friend.

"What did you say?" her mother asked.

Therese paused, distracted.  "What?"

Her mother frowned slightly.  "Did you just say, 'phenomenal?'"

The girl brightened immediately.  "Oh.  Yeah!"  She tilted her head thoughtfully.  "You know, I used to just pray, 'Lord, please let everyone be okay,' whenever I heard a siren.  But, then I thought, you know, Jesus raised Himself from the dead!  I mean, why am I just praying for, 'Okay?'  I should be praying for, 'phenomenal!'  So, now I pray, 'Lord, please let everyone be phenomenal!'"

Wow.

Therese's grin and her utter confidence in the Lord granting her supplication positively lit up the room. Beside her, I think my name is probably O Ye, as in, "O, ye of little faith."  If we all had the faith of a mustard seed like this girl (and like Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, not be afraid to use it) we would indeed change the world!

Please pray for Therese during her current hospital stay!  Her lung function has dipped into the 40s and there are other complications.  Thank you!

Finding Peace with the Prince of Peace

 A friend recently posted a request for prayers, as her homeschool responsibilities and Christmas preparations had been cast aside by her son's unexpected admission to the hospital.  As a faithful Catholic, she immediately rejoiced in having time for her and her son to be together in Advent prayer and reading Jotham's Journey.  But, understandably, she nevertheless was a little disappointed that certain school and holiday tasks at home just would have to be left undone this year.

As a compulsive list-maker and cookie-baker myself, I completely understood her frustration with not being able to "accomplish" or "do" the things she wanted to achieve, in order to prepare her family for Christmas.

But, let's also be practical here:

Schoolwork always will be there, whether you do it today or tomorrow or ten months from now.  Your child's good health might not be.  See to him, see to your souls, and see to the internal preparations that God wants you to make this Advent.  Remember, the Bible doesn't say that Mary baked the shepherds some cookies and sent out The First Christmas Cards (that would be Jesus's Shutterfly, photocard, birth announcement).

But it DOES say that she treasured all these things in her heart.

We all should do the same.

I've often found that when God allows all my plans to go completely awry, it's because I was facing in the wrong direction.  Turn your face toward Him, trust in His guidance and Will, and know the inner peace of the Christ Child, the Prince of Peace!

God Made Even YOU for Joy!

Oooo!  Here's yet another great article (read: quick and easy!) by a writer far more skilled than I on the JOY for which God made YOU:

http://www.osvdailytake.com/2013/10/called-to-be-holy-cardinal-dolans-10.html

Enjoy!

Creating a Monastery at Home

Here is a fabulous (brief and easy!) article from CatholicSistas.com on, "Creating a Monastery in Your {Catholic} Homeschool in 10 Steps." 

http://www.catholicsistas.com/2013/11/07/creating-monastery-catholic-homeschool-10-steps/

Enjoy!

Adopt a Cardinal!

This website randomly will assign you one of the 115 Cardinals who will elect our next pope at the upcoming conclave.  Adopt a Cardinal and start praying!

http://www.adoptacardinal.org

Prayer for the Election of a New Pope

† Pray this prayer once daily until a new Pope is elected! †

Mary, powerful Virgin, you are the mighty and glorious protector of the Church. Your son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, is the source of eternal life and truth.  We come to you now, Mother Mary, asking for your intercessory prayers that a Pope of God's choosing, through the Holy Spirit, is elected.

Holy Spirit enlighten the hearts of our shepherds, the Cardinals, during the conclave of electing a new Pope for the Catholic Church. Give them a spirit of courage, right judgment, knowledge, prudence and wisdom. May the Conclave of Cardinals, with fidelity to the Holy Spirit, choose the new Pope who, as successor to the apostle Peter and Vicar of Christ, will continue to build Your Church into a sacrament of unity, love, and peace for all the world.

Lord, in Your mercy, grant Your Church a shepherd who will walk in Your ways.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Finding Peace with the Prince of Peace

 A friend recently posted a request for prayers, as her homeschool responsibilities and Christmas preparations had been cast aside by her son's unexpected admission to the hospital.  As a faithful Catholic, she immediately rejoiced in having time for her and her son to be together in Advent prayer and reading Jotham's Journey.  But, understandably, she nevertheless was a little disappointed that certain school and holiday tasks at home just would have to be left undone this year.

As a compulsive list-maker and cookie-baker myself, I completely understood her frustration with not being able to "accomplish" or "do" the things she wanted to achieve, in order to prepare her family for Christmas.

But, let's also be practical here:

Schoolwork always will be there, whether you do it today or tomorrow or ten months from now.  Your child's good health might not be.  See to him, see to your souls, and see to the internal preparations that God wants you to make this Advent.  Remember, the Bible doesn't say that Mary baked the shepherds some cookies and sent out The First Christmas Cards (that would be Jesus's Shutterfly, photocard, birth announcement).

But it DOES say that she treasured all these things in her heart.

We all should do the same.

I've often found that when God allows all my plans to go completely awry, it's because I was facing in the wrong direction.  Turn your face toward Him, trust in His guidance and Will, and know the inner peace of the Christ Child, the Prince of Peace!

Pray. Hope. And Don't Worry!

As you might guess, I'm not happy about the election results.

Although not Catholic, Mitt Romney is a man of integrity and faith, who understands that God ALREADY has blessed America, and that we therefore must be good stewards of those blessings.  I think Mitt and his wife, Ann, both would have been a blessing to the White House with their gracious presence.

(....*sigh*....)

But, all authority comes from God, so He must have His reasons for allowing the United States' election outcome.  Maybe, as a whole, our country just got what it richly deserves, in return for our culture of death and promiscuous ways.  Remember how often the Israelites got a spanking whenever they strayed?

Fear and despair, however, are from the evil one.  I also hold fast to the faith and fortitude of the remnant Church and the firm hope that, in the end, Our Lady's "Immaculate Heart will triumph!"

.....I just have a feeling it's not going to be very pleasant to get there.

Pray!  Pray!  Pray!  And in the words of St. Padre Pio, "Pray.  Hope.  And don't worry."

Onward Christian soldiers!  Amen!

 

40 Days of Fast and Prayer

When the apostles were unable to expel a particularly powerful demon, Our Lord admonished them, "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."  (Matthew 17:21).


Today marks the beginning of our opportunity for 40 days of fast and prayer for our nation, ending on Election Day on November 2nd!  Please make whatever prayers and sacrifices you can to save our nation!  Remember, we are placed under the patronage of Our Lady as the Immaculate Conception, and her Son cannot refuse her requests.

A Place for Everything and Everything in Place

I am compulsive.  There.  See?  I said it.  Yes, I readily admit that my life is almost completely ruled by habits which include, but are not limited to, lists and the insistence on the proverbial, "a place for everything, and everything in its place."  Without a list, my poor wee brain is lost.  And it drives me positively nuts to waste precious time hunting for something that should be right there.

Earlier this year, I literally and figuratively swept my arm across my teacher-desk and our computer-desk and cleared them off.  The resulting mountain of paperwork then was spread across my kitchen table, where it took me the better part of a day to arrange and organize it into Piles To Conquer.

(Thankfully, the kids thought it was great fun to have a picnic on the floor for lunch that day.)

Each pile had a name, such as "Phone Calls" or "Mail" or "Reading" or "Ave Momma" (my rosary making mission), each of which I designated with a bright pink post-it note.  I even had a pile called, "Scarlett O'Hara" (because after all, tomorrow is another day) and "Rhett Butler" (because, frankly my dear, I don't give a.....well, you get the idea).  Once the piles were complete and the mountain of paperwork had been reduced to a molehill, I stacked it all up in a box and placed it next to my desk.  (Although I was not happy to discover that I hadn't thought ahead to write the titles on the post notes upside down, so they would stick up from the box legibly.  Note to self for next time!) 

Over the next several weeks, I plowed through each section of the box in order of priority.  And let me tell you, it was one of the most wonderful feelings of accomplishment I've ever had!

Sometimes, however, in homeschooling, child-rearing, or just plain life, we don't get such a tidy checklist or To Do pile, from which we proudly can mark off our achievements.  In fact, more often than not, life in general is so much more fluid and amorphous than that.

Wouldn't it be lovely if, at our birth, the Lord would hand us a checklist of all the things He means for us to accomplish in life, so we could have a clear path to know, love, and serve Him in this world, and thus be happy with Him forever in the next!?

But, that doesn't happen.

Instead, we're left to muddle along and, through both nature and nurture, figure it out for ourselves.  You know why?  Because every single one of us is equipped with a marvelously irritating quality called Free Will.  And it is because of free will that each of us not only ultimately is responsible for our own actions, but also for the effect our actions have on others.

Although the Lord already knows the outcome, He wants us to learn from our past and to live "in the moment", and thus make our decisions for ourselves, not follow a pre-written Guidebook For Your Predestination.

What does this mean for our relationship with Him?

It means that at every opportunity, every day, we have the option to turn toward Him or away from Him.  As children of God, we are loved by our Father -- by God Almighty! -- and He wants us to love Him in return.  But it is optional.  Our option.  A matter of choice in our free will.

Whoa.

What kind of a crazy parent is He!?  Wouldn't it be easier if He didn't just leave an idiot like me to my own devices, and instead pre-programed me for total obedience and brilliance?

Yes, it might be easier for Him...okay, a lot easier.  But it would be beneficial neither to my soul nor to our relationship.  It would not give me the opportunity to learn from my triumphs and mistakes, as well as the triumphs and mistakes of others, and make the free choice to turn toward the Lord, seek to discern His will for me, and love him FREELY in return.  How generous that is!  God risks being spurned by us mere mortals in the hope that, instead, we will love Him freely in return.

I mean, c'mon, would you really feel as well-loved if your parent, spouse, child, or friend was compelled to "love him/her or else!"?  It is precisely because of our freedom of choice that we are able to pursue the love of God wholly, completely, and fiercely -- or, you might say, with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Oh wait -- He already told us that!  (cf. Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37)

So, the next time you are lamenting that everything is not in place, and that you certainly don't feel you are in a place that is close to God, do this:

Stop complaining.  Get up off your duff.  Dust off your free will.  Organize your life, even if you begin with just one simple aspect of it.  And listen to your Father's advice.  Beat a path to the tabernacle.  Turn to the God of love and ask His Son to embrace you and guide you in all that you do.

Because I guarantee you -- He will!

His arms already are outstretched -- for you!

Pray the Rosary During Fortnight for Freedom!

My dear friend, Kathy, sent me this eminently wise request to PRAY THE ROSARY during the Fortnight for Freedom, which I humbly and gladly share here with you:

"During this Fortnight for Freedom, let us ask the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, Patroness of the Americas, to help us in our quest to preserve religious freedom in the USA.  The Catholic population of the USA is estimated at 70 million.  Maybe by each of us passing this on to our friends, we could get 10% of the Catholic population, or 7 million people, to pray the rosary for religious freedom.

"At the end of World War II, Soviet troops had moved in to Austria from the east.  The people of Vienna got 10% of the population to pray the rosary.  Austria is the only country that the Soviets left voluntarily.

"Our Lady of Victory, pray for us!"

Please join me in PRAYING THE ROSARY FOR FREEDOM during the Fortnight for Freedom!  God already has blessed America.  Let us appeal to His holy mother to remain humbly grateful for His immense blessing of freedom!

....And They Lived Happily Ever After!

Many moons ago, I attended a Visitation academy that subsequently was kept alive by the enormous sacrifices of a lay Board of Trustees, and now has been renewed, both in faith and formation, by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia of Nashville, Tennessee.

But that's a story for another time.

It is relevant to this post, however, because in my senior year, those Dominican Sisters saw to it that daily Mass was offered in the academy's chapel.  Every day.  Every day at 7:30 a.m. (school started at 8:00 a.m.), daily Mass was offered in a chapel built by Visitation nuns and dating from pre-Civil War, a chapel located both physically and spiritually at the heart of the school.

And every day, I was there.

Oh, don't be too impressed.  I'm not naturally an early riser, but I had ulterior motives, that's for sure.  Big ones.  Every day, I silently offered up my Mass with these words, "Please send me a good husband and good children."  That's all.  Just send me Prince Charming and his charming kids, and *voila!* we'd be happy.  I figured that if I had the primary players in my life dedicated to Him, the rest would be gravy.

And you know what?  It worked!

Today, I've been happily married to My Hero for over 20 years.  And, after being told I was infertile and adopting our first child, we now have six children, the rest of whom arrived in our house in the usual way.  (We're Irish Catholics with fiery temperaments.  What can I say?)

But, that's not the only success story formed out of devotions in that chapel.  Many religious vocations were born there, and I was delighted to discover this weekend that my niece also has been deeply inspired to add her own prayer to the millions that have arisen there.

Every day, on behalf of whomever her future spouse might be and for their life together, my niece asks God to, "make me into the woman he needs, make him into the man I need, and make both of us into the parents our children need."

Wow.  Neat!

So if there are any young ladies out there reading this blog, this isn't plagiarism -- feel free to make that prayer your own!

Our First, Most Cherished Liberty

On April 12, 2012, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, chaired by Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, MD, published a statement on religious liberty.  The complete statement is available on-line and in .pdf format at the following web address:

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/our-first-most-cherished-liberty.cfm

In the statement, the bishops made the following exhortation:

Pinterest - Quick, Cheap, & Easy Tips!

If you'd like some more quick and easy tips and tricks on Catholic homeschooling, kindly stop by any of my boards on Pinterest.com!  My boards include quick recommendations on Books, Catholicism, Games & Activities, Homeschooling, Recipes, Rosary, and Words of Wisdom.

These are great pin-ups!  Feel free to abscond with them and re-pin them for yourself, too!

http://pinterest.com/avemommas/