Archive for November, 2007:
On the mend.
I have been sick - very sick. Poor Tim said I gave him the scare of his life when I called him in Florida early Sun. morning, breathless and crying trying to tell him that my friend Sharon was taking me to the ER. I had tremendous pain and pressure on the left side of my chest and I was having a very hard time breathing.
Apparently when a 40 yr. old caucasian female with chest pain shows up in the ER it warrants immediate attention and within 5 minutes I was hooked up for an EKG and quickly processed on to an X-ray, blood work and finally a cat scan of my chest. I had a very nice doctor and great nurse who while not particularly friendly, was incredibly efficient and did the best IV stick I think I have ever had. They immediately gave me an anti-inflammatory and then Morphine. In the end the diagnosis was pleurisy and a spot of what might be pneumonia. I was sent home ( a mere 3.5 hours later!) with painkillers and an antibiotic and am happy to report that after a few rough days, I am feeling significantly better and truly am on the mend.
Tim arrived home Monday evening and along with the children has been taking very good care of me. Needless to say I pretty much dissolved into a puddle of tears when I saw him Monday night. Being ill while your husband is gone is frightening —I don’t recommend it.
I want to tell you how touched I am by the generosity of so many who have prayed for me and offered practical help (dinners, taking my children to mass - two friends even offered to leave their families to come and take care of me and mine!). The family of God is awesome and I am truly blessed.
From the bottom of my heart I thank you!
Subscribe to the comments for this postThe liturgical year
We’re about 3 weeks away from the beginning of the new liturgical year.
If you’d like to make your own calendar here are a few templates for you:
(click on the image to go to the picture)
blank
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full color
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a wedge - print 4 and paste together for a large wheel
This lovely image would be perfect for the center.
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Edited to add: If you make a calendar with one of these, post a picture and link back so I can see it!
A bit of fun
These are always fun - odd too how accurate they can be sometimes. . .
What Your Soul Really Looks Like |
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You are a wanderer. You constantly long for a new adventure, challenge, or even a completely different life. You are a very grounded, responsible, and realistic person. People may not want to hear the truth from you, but they’re going to get it. You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you. Your near future is a lot like the present, and as far as you’re concerned, that’s a very good thing. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn’t fall in love with someone you didn’t trust. |
hat tip to Ellen at From Across the Net
So how about you?
Marian Consecration
Lissa and Alice have begun a preparation for consecration and Meredith and Mary Ellen have joined them. I have too.
Consecration means setting yourself aside for service to God. The Church has always advocated consecrating yourself to Jesus Christ through the Blessed Virgin, the perfect model of discipleship. Marian consecration is a formal act of self-giving that does not stop at Mary, but is Christ-directed. It is really consecration to Jesus.
Since I am already a member of the Militia Immaculata I will be preparing and renewing my consecration in the MI way.
“The more people draw close to this Stewardess of God’s gifts, the more easily they will grow in holiness and work for their neighbor’s growth in holiness.” St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe
What’s the difference?
Montfortian consecration is a very detailed preparation which is primarily focused on one’s personal sanctification. MI consecration is, at its heart, a simple act of the will. Preparation itself is less detailed and there is overall more of an apostolic focus. Ultimately as knights consecrated to Our Lady our mission is to find ways to bring others to her as well.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that those who consecrate using the MI form neglect the personal sanctification aspect or that those who use the Montfortian form neglect the apostolic aspect. Not at all. One form isn’t better than the other, it’s just a different focus or, charism —if you will.
For me, it was a matter of where God led me and what seemed the best fit for my life. MI consecration and the apostolic focus of it has certainly born fruit in my life and I hope and pray it will always do so. The late Pope John Paul II said “Membership in the Militia means complete dedication to the Kingdom of God and to the salvation of souls through Mary Immaculate.” Amen!
If you feel inspired - I hope you’ll join us!
In rememberance
At mass today candles were lit and the names were read of all those who died this past year.
Eternal rest grant unto him O lord and let perpetual light shine upon him. May the soul of William Joseph Quigley rest in eternal peace. Amen
Oh when the Saints go marching in . . .
Our procession today:
Today we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints. “It invites us to turn our gaze to the immense multitude of those who have already reached the blessed Homeland, pointing us to the road which leads to that destination. The Saints and Blesseds of Paradise remind us, as pilgrims on Earth, that prayer, above all, is our sustenance for each day so that we never lose sight of our eternal destiny.” - Pope John Paul II
“Today, we are celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints, allowing us to experience the joy of being part of the large family of God’s friends or, as St Paul writes, to ’share the lot of the saints in light’ (Col 1: 12).
The Liturgy re-proposes the expression, full of wonder, of the Apostle John: ‘See what love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called children of God! Yet that is what we are’ (I Jn 3: 1).
Yes, to become saints means to completely fulfill what we already are, raised to the dignity of God’s adopted children, in Christ Jesus (cf. Eph 1: 5; Rom 8: 14-17). With the Incarnation of the Son and his death and Resurrection, God wanted to reconcile humanity to himself and open it up to sharing in his own life.
Whoever believes in Christ, Son of God, is reborn ‘from above’, regenerated through the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 3: 1-8). This mystery is accomplished in the Sacrament of Baptism, through which Mother Church gives birth to ’saints’.
New life, received in Baptism, is not subject to corruption and the power of death. For those who live in Christ, death is the passage from the earthly pilgrimage to the Heavenly Homeland, where the Father welcomes all of his children ‘from every nation and race, people and tongue’, as we read today in the Book of Revelation (7: 9).
For this reason, it is very significant and appropriate that after the Solemnity of All Saints, the Liturgy tomorrow has us celebrate the Commemoration of all of the Faithful Departed. The ‘communion of saints’, which we profess in the Creed, is a reality that is constructed here below, but is fully made manifest when we will see God ‘as he is’ (I Jn 3: 2).
It is the reality of a family bound together by deep bonds of spiritual solidarity that unites the faithful departed to those who are pilgrims in the world. It is a mysterious but real bond, nourished by prayer and participation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
In the Mystical Body of Christ the souls of the faithful meet, overcoming the obstacle of death; they pray for one another, carrying out in charity an intimate exchange of gifts.
In this dimension of faith one understands the practice of offering prayers of suffrage for the dead, especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, memorial of Christ’s Pasch which opened to believers the passage to eternal life.” - Pope Benedict XVI
