Holy Saturday and Waiting

Last year, a close friend of ours posted this video on his blog. Matt Maher, a Catholic musician, talks about Holy Saturday and waiting.


I tried to upload the video right here, but technology is not working with me today. Here is the link:
Matt Maher- Waiting

I have never compared this journey to that of Jesus' disciples on Holy Saturday, but after seeing this video it is so clear to me. He talks about when Mary Magdalene comes to them on Easter Sunday to say the tomb is empty, that He is risen! He talks about the emotions of anxiety, excitement, fear, and hope and that feeling that you so badly want it to be true but that you can't handle the let down if it's not. THAT right there is adoption.This video hits the nail on the head. You feel like you are always holding your breath until you are chosen from a group of families and then until those papers are signed and that baby is at home with you in your arms. I feel like we have been stuck in this moment of waiting, unsure of what is to come. Over time, I have seen the fruits of this wait in many ways in my own life, our relationship with each other, and my relationship with God. He is constantly working in our lives. Sometimes (often) waiting brings so many graces. As I'm typing this, I'm reminding myself that I need to just sit and wait sometimes, just let God work. I so often try to speed up this process by doing one thing or another (not that it's a bad thing to get the word out there), but sometimes I need to remind myself that it is all in His time. The best things in life are those we wait for. I know it's true. I just have to remember that, be patient, and let God work. 

Divine Mercy Novena

I am so excited to share that today starts the Divine Mercy Novena! Again, I will be praying this novena along with thousands of others at Pray More Novenas. You can sign up for email reminders at the top of the page (very helpful for those of us that have difficulty remembering to pray each day of the novena... me!). If you scroll down, you will find the daily prayers and links on how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. You can also submit intentions for everyone to pray for.

On a personal note, I absolutely love the Divine Mercy Chaplet and St. Faustina! The Divine Mercy prayers were given to St. Faustina through an apparition of our Lord Jesus. If you ever have a chance to read about St. Faustina, I highly recommend it. Here is a link to a quick little blurb about St. Faustina and Divine Mercy at EWTN. I recently read her biography. It is a quick read, although it took me forever to read since I picked it up here and there. I just started reading the Diary of St. Faustina. It's pretty long, and I'm reading it very slowly. So it will likely take me a while, but it is a wonderful read! I highly recommend it. She is a truly incredible saint!

Prior to learning more about St. Faustina, I had fallen in love with the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Now I also have a strong devotion to her and often ask for her intercession, especially with all the baby stuff. In fact, last year we received our first request for our profile to be viewed on Divine Mercy Sunday. By the way, it's very odd to receive a request on a weekend. If you ask me, it wasn't a coincidence. Even though in the end that match didn't work out, I still believe that our prayers were answered. We were given the gift of joy in preparing for a child for a few months. I have said time and time again, I wouldn't go back and change it. We were blessed with such joy and love for that little one, and I am grateful for it. I believe in the power of this prayer!

I have continued to pray the Chaplet, as frequently as I can get myself to. It's a goal for me to pray it each day, but it often gets overlooked. So here is a chance for all of us to pray it together for 9 days. I would like to invite you to pray with me. Please pray for the blessings of a child for our family. I'll also be praying for the souls of loved ones who have passed and for all the souls in purgatory. I'd love to pray for any of your intentions as well if you would like to post them in the comments or email me privately.

Here is a direct link to how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Tough Stuff

So today I was doing my usual scroll through Facebook updates, only to be flooded with marriage equality symbols on just about every other post. I know this is a time in which it is so important for us to stand up for our faith and defend marriage. I get so emotionally charged up with all the attacks on our faith through marriage equality, the HHS mandate, abortion, etc. But I can never seem to find the words to express why. I know the "why", but for some reason the words just can't be put together, and I'm left silent. So, since I still don't really have the words on this one, I have included a link to an excellent article shared by Little Catholic Bubble. It is an interview with Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco. You can follow the link here to go directly to the article.

Say a little prayer

Please send up a prayer or two for us. I feel like the adoption process is kicking my butt lately. (I tried to think of a better way to put it, but that about sums it up)

That is all.

Shoveling Induced Thoughts

Well it's a snow day here for most schools in the Chicago area. Normally I'd be excited, but I had a meeting I wanted to get over with today...and now it's postponed. Boo! So like the good wife I am try to be, I went out to shovel the heaps of snow that covered my driveway before Dan gets home from work. Ok, maybe heaps is exaggerating a bit- it's about 6 inches. So as I was shoveling and starting to feel bitter that we don't own a snow blower, I figured I'd take the opportunity to pray and think. Prayers= good. Thinking= well...that could go either way.

As I was thinking, I began reflecting on sin. Real uplifting right? I was thinking that all this snow is like sin. Our venial sins are the fluffy snow. At first, it may be a light dusting. Over time those sins continue to build up and bring us down, weakening us to the temptation of more serious sins and turning away from God. The dirty, heavy, sludgy snow is our mortal sins. It truly weighs us down when we choose to turn away from God through mortal sin.

When we go to confession, a beautiful thing happens. We confess our sins and tell God that we are sorry and that we intend to turn away from sin. When we walk in that confessional, we are handing God the shovel. And he wipes it all away. He sweeps away those little habitual sins, our fluffy snow. And he brings out the snow plow to push away our mortal sins, that heavy sludgy snow. And like the snow continues to fall today, we will likely sin again. So, we'll just have to keep handing God that shovel at confession.

Dan and I had an interesting talk over the weekend about this topic, sin and confession. We had been on a retreat that was a whole lot of fluff. We kept hearing people say that it's impossible to be perfect and that our loving God understands that. And yes, that is true. But shouldn't we try? Shouldn't we strive to be saints? Why settle for mediocrity? Just a thought. When we do fall down though, we have one of the most incredible gifts- confession.

I have really grown to understand the beauty, power, and importance of confession over the past few years. When it snows, would you turn away someone's offer to help you shovel? Why turn away God's incredible mercy through the sacrament of Reconciliation? If we hand God the shovel, he'll help us do the heavy lifting.