Mercy

The Jubilee Year of Mercy starts December 8th,

just after Advent begins.

It is a time to receive mercy and be merciful to others.

 

I have been contemplating and praying a lot about this Year of Mercy

and what it means to me.

What does God want me to do?

How can I be merciful?

I try every morning to remember to ask God,

"What do You want me to do today?"

"Who can I help today?"

"Please put those You want me to help in my path today"

 

When I think of Mercy, I think of Blessed Mother Teresa and

how very merciful she was.

I yearn to be like her.

 

Psalm 69:20

"Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless;

I looked for sympathy,

but there was none,

for comforters,

but found none."

 

Mother Teresa says,

"Be the one"
Be the one to comfort Jesus.
With our own mercy.
We do not need to be merciful to others to gain heaven,
but how comforting it is to Jesus, how close we are to Him
when we are merciful.

"Be the one."

 

Wow. Yes.

 

 

Sometimes that involves going out and

finding ways to be merciful to complete strangers,
look for them, and really see them. 

Maybe it is the people we see at Mass, in stores, at work or school.

And, sometimes it is the people right here in our own home.

 

I want eyes filled with Mercy for others, like her eyes.

Like the eyes of my Lord Jesus Christ.

You can see Jesus in her eyes.
You can see Jesus in her life.

 

 She did not worry about what she was wearing or how she looked

She did not care what her hair looked like or if this poor baby

would pee on her.

That's what I see here, I see complete mercy and love.

No second thoughts, just automatic action to love.

I've been praying for ways to add God more.

More each day.

More love

More hope

More mercy

More Joy

 

What are ways we can add God?  Add more?

Add Mercy?

Be more merciful?

 

(my current reading)

 

I recently joined a Living Rosary Group for mothers.

In this group, each woman is assigned a decade of the rosary

(one decade is a mystery of the life of Jesus, it is one Our Father and 10 Hail Mary's)

I have The Wedding Feast of Cana.

John 2:5 "Do whatever He tells you."

 This is what Mary says in this mystery.

She's saying it to us.

 

We pray our assigned mystery for each other and each person's intentions

and for the vocation of motherhood.

 

If you are interested in joining us

by getting a decade to pray every day,

and being a part of this living rosary,

(when put together, several rosaries are prayed in unison)

please email me, and I will help you,

you do need to be on Facebook though.

(Jamie jo 99 @ gmail. com)

(no spaces)

 

Some ideas for adding God and being more merciful:

• Go to Confession.  Yes, Confession.  If it's been a long time, then tell that to the priest, believe me, he's heard everything, and he'll guide you through it.
•  Jesus waits for us to humble ourselves and ask for His Mercy in the Sacrament of Confession. He is Mercy Himself.  Arms open wide on the cross waiting to give you His Mercy. 
• Go to daily Mass, start by going one extra day per week. (it's only 1/2 hour) You will start to yearn for God more, for Mass more, I promise, so try adding more days if you can.
• Sign up for a holy hour at an Adoration chapel or if your parish has Adoration at certain times, GO!
• Stop by an Adoration chapel for a quick visit with Jesus or stay a while and visit (pray or talk with Jesus)
• Stop by a Catholic Church, sit in front of the tabernacle (the gold box with a red candle by it) Sit and beg for the graces He is wanting to give to you!
• Start your day with the sign of the cross.
• Start your day with what you are thankful for.
• Remember Jesus during the 3:00 hour.  Try setting a timer so you remember.
• Offer up the little things you do for someone you are praying for.
• Offer up the big things you do and/or are suffering from for someone you are praying for.
• If you can, donate the things you don't need instead of selling them.
• Offer people rides that normally take the bus.
• Cook a meal for someone in need, someone sick, lonely, elderly, or a mother of a new baby.
• Cook a meal for someone who has lost a baby or lost anyone special in their life.
• If it's raining out, offer your umbrella for someone that doesn't have one.
• If it's cold outside, offer your coat to someone that needs one, it's probable you can buy a new one, yet, they cannot.
• Likewise, offer your shoes, hats, mittens, scarves to someone in need that you see.
• If you see someone ringing the bells at any given store during the holiday season, and they look cold, see if you can get them something. Maybe gloves?  Or maybe a warm drink.
• Stop to say hello to homeless people on the street, ask if you can get them anything to eat or if you can get them anything they need at the store.  (you'd be surprised at what little they ask for)
• SMILE!!  My Spanish teacher in high school, after finding out her best friend had committed suicide, told us no matter what, to smile at people, to always smile, that our smile might be the one thing that makes someone feel loved that day.  I've never forgotten that and to this day, think of it every time I smile at someone.
• Clean someone's home
• Bake someone bread or cookies
• If you are talented and can sew or make special things, make something for someone, and give it to them for no reason at all.
• Invite someone to dinner, someone you don't know very well, but, maybe see all the time, the worst they can say is "no". 
• Pray for people, and tell them you will pray for them.  Bless them. 
• Bring someone flowers. 
• Call someone and tell them how important they are to you.
• We must also be merciful to our own family in our own homes, it seems self defeating if we are kind to everyone publicly but forget to be kind in our own homes, Mercy starts at home.



(I could probably do another whole post on trying to be merciful at home)

 

 

  This is just a few ideas.

I'm sure you could come up with a ton more!

I am, in no way, an expert on this.

This is a list for me too. 

To always be yearning for God and

 striving for mercy and to be merciful towards others.

To remember the boundless mercy Jesus has for us.

 

 

 

You may be the only way someone sees Jesus or feels His love.

 

"Be the one!"

 

 

 



Thankful

 Thankful we are HERE, in the warm air and sunshine!

We decided we needed to leave Minnesota for the winter.

We will be back March 1st

 Thankful I was able to get all the things we needed packed for our 3 month trip away from home.

 This was not an easy feat...now, take note of those black suitcases there.

Mine is on the left, packed full, carrying three days worth of clothes for three days of travel,

for myself and 3 of the kiddos,

Simeon's baby blankets, his favorite books, my 5 year old's favorite pink cowboy boots,

extra jammies and any extra last minute things I'd forgotten.

Tom's suitcase on the right there, his has his clothes for 3 days,

along with 3 of the older kiddos clothes for 3 days, including jammies,

Tom's work laptop, all his meds and vitamins, checkbooks, his i-pod,

all our Star Wars DVD's, and many other things.

REMEMBER THIS, THERE IS MORE TO THE STORY!!

 Thankful we have 12 lives at the Lake + 1's son living in our home while we are gone!

(He's awesome by the way)

 OH, my gosh, look at that snow and those gray skies....

Thankful we loaded up the U-Haul and drove off to the Twin Cities and

spent our first night at Tom's folks home.

Now, I have a "God Story" for you.

The next morning, we left around 5am from the Twin Cities.

Within 15 minutes, Tom noticed something fall of the U-Haul in his side mirror.

Now, it was dark, and he wasn't sure, we stopped along side the freeway.

Cars were zooming by at 70-80 MPH.

Sure enough, the back of the U-Haul had come unlatched

and we lost our luggage.

Thankful we did not lose everything.

The luggage must have exploded or a semi hit them,

because by the time we backtracked there was not much left.

Jedi had a pair of jeans that had $75 bucks in, and those were beside the freeway

(he was freaking out a little about his "worked all summer for that money" money)

Simeon's baby blankies were lost.

Along with his favorite books.

(I had plans on reading those in the hotels at night)

OH, those hurt this mama's heart.

Something black flew up when a car zoomed by,

it ended up being my 10 year old's Tee.

"Got Jesus?"

was the Tee.

Wow.

We were feeling pretty defeated at this time,

no clothes to wear for the next 3 days,

the laptop, Tom's meds...we lost so much,

but you know what?

We have Jesus.

WE HAVE JESUS!!

And He is all we need.

Now, if that was not a direct sign from God,

I sure don't know what would be!! 



 Traveling with 6 kids was not fun.

Thankful it is over.

Until February.

We planned 2 very long days and one not so long.

Thankful we learned our lesson

and on the way home plan to stretch that out to

3 1/2 not so long days.

An extra stay in a hotel will be so very worth it!

 She does have her seatbelt on here...but not the arm strap...Hmmmm....

 We took turns driving.

His back was killing him, the whole time.

It didn't matter if he was driving or riding, it hurt no matter what.

OH, I wish that could just go away for him.

 I have to say that Iowa was pretty boring....

But Kansas, was beautiful!!

And

once we got to Texas,

there were cactus's and palm trees everywhere!!

And it was SO WARM!!!

Look at the beautiful street!!

Thankful for the scenery changes from state to state!  

Thankful for our view from our patio.

The pools and the ocean and the beautiful sky.



 Thankful every morning, I get up to walk the beach during the sunrise

and before I do, I go to our patio and put on my shoes,

and get to look at this!

It's like the clouds part the way for the SUN to come up!!

It's amazing.

 The sunset over the bay is not so bad either.

 Thankful for lots of beach time

 Thankful for 5 year olds that sing while they play.

OH, I could watch her all day.

Oh, yeah, I do.

I'm Thankful for that!

 Thankful for hot tub time and swimming pool time!

Free Vitamin D!!

 Thankful for big brother moments like this.

 And little brother toesies moments like this.

 The big girls said they were not going to go in.

They ended up getting soaked.

We have a hard time staying out of the water!

 Thankful for shell searching!!

And buckets

And these 2 cutie pies!!

 Thankful for soft sand under our feet

 And for our hands to dig in.

 Thankful there is so much to do here, he is back to taking naps.

(wherever he can)

 Thankful for our little tree for our simple Christmas..

 Thankful for these cool pool chairs!!

Wouldn't you love to have one of these?

(I'd have to add some pillows though)

 Thankful for sunny beach days

 And cloudy beach digging days

 Thankful for the most amazing scenery.

Thankful for busy boys exploring a new world.

 I'm going to end this with a HUGE thank you to

Charlotte--Waltzing Mathilda

She made Simeon his original baby blankie.

that he lovingly called, his "Quack-Quack"

It was lost when we lost our luggage

and you know what?

She made him an exact replica

the day she found out

and sent it out.

He was so happy when he got it,

he rolled around the lobby hugging it and smiling and dancing with it.

 He got into his carseat

(why yes, he does have a hand-me-down carseat from his sister, why do you ask?)

and laid his Quack-Quack duck side up

and was the happiest I'd seen him since we left the morning we lost the luggage.

It was like having a little of  "home" again.

My mama's heart was happy.

Now, this blankie is even more special than before.

Thank you Charlotte!!!

Thankful for the sun on my face,

the sand under my feet, the smell of the salty ocean air,

the breeze in my hair and

for a God so BIG

He created it all.

Now, don't look at these pictures and think we have it all perfect and all.

We've struggled to live in tighter quarters than we are used to.

We've got anxiety issues and fighting and unappreciative kids.

We are 8 very different personalities with constant wants and needs.

Just like you.

I'm not sure how much blogging or blog reading I'll be doing.

It will be here and there, but my main focus

is my family at this time

I don't want to be distracted from what God has given me.

I have a little girl begging me,

"Mama, find me something to do!"

(in a very whiney voice)

over and over and over.

I have an almost 3 year old

 at my side wanting me to "weed to me mama"

(Read to me mama!)

 I waste the precious time given me with my children.

while I look at this rectangular thing.

I'm losing so many opportunities

for joy and grace.

Balance

All in balance

God bless you!



Please Pray for the Dead

 I've been reading this book this month, 

the month of the Holy Souls.

I've learned quite a few things about Purgatory.

One thing, is that we Catholics are not the only ones that pray for the dead!

This was a Jewish custom and in fact, Orthodox Jewish still pray for the dead.

Please go 

HERE

for biblical proof of Purgatory. 

I'd try to explain it but he does a much better job than I'd do!

I love that Everything we Catholics do is BIBLICAL!! 

I am black and white, I need that order, that backing so to speak.

I've always thought of Purgatory as a place of cleansing.

A place where the soul wants to be, to be purified for God.

Now, Yes, Jesus died for us, for our sins.

But sin is sin and the soul knows it.

The flames of Purgatory is the yearning the soul has for God.

The way I understand it is

each day in Purgatory is one day closer to God 

so there is Joy and a yearning pain at the same time.
The soul wants to be there.
The soul knows that he is going to Heaven.
  

Last week, I couldn't go to my holy hour 

because I wanted to go to my uncle's funeral.

On the way there, I had this pain in my heart, 

upon the realization of not seeing Jesus that day.

This pain is yearning.  It brought me to tears.  

I think that is a very small example of what Purgatory will be like.

It's a love.  

The Love we have for our Father in Heaven.

The love and desire to be perfect for Him.  

St Faustina Kowalska relates in her diary, her mystical experience

of the complete moral self-insight that one day will be revealed to every man at the particular judgement after death:

Once I was summoned to the judgement (seat) of God, I stood alone before the Lord.  Jesus appeared such as we know Him during His Passion...Suddenly I saw the complete condition of my soul as God sees it.  I could clearly see all that is displeasing to God.  I did not know that even the smallest transgressions will have to be accounted for.  What a Moment!  Who can describe it?  To stand before the Thrice-Holy God!  Jesus asked me, "Who are you?" "You are guilty of one day in purgatory."  I wanted to throw myself immediately into the flames of purgatory,

 but Jesus stopped me.  

From Hungry Souls:

"St Faustina transmits the awfulness of the soul's confrontation with the Eternal, 

its insight that perfect holiness is required before it can enjoy God's presence--the smallest imperfections having more weight than even a pure soul as Faustina's had been aware--and the instinctive impulse of the soul to be cleansed, even in the flames of Purgatory."

This book also explains that ANY spiritualist phenomena, 

or so called manifestations of the dead during states of trance, hypnosis, or at a spiritualist and other magic or occult sessions: they are by no means the departed persons they pretend to be, but hoaxes or demonic imposters. 

This makes me think of mediums claiming to be "Catholic" and yet 

going against the Church and continuing to delve into this kind of phenomena.

Poor souls are not sensitive to commands to vanish in the Name of God, or in the Name of Jesus.

Their anxious begging for help signals hope for deliverance.

 The sad thing is that I don't think many people give much thought 

to what happens to the soul after death, except that it goes to Heaven.

I think that most people think that almost everyone goes to Heaven.

This is one of the greatest tragedies. 

The souls in Purgatory, having no one to pray for them, 

all their loved ones believing they are already in Heaven.

Pray, Pray, Pray...

They need our prayers

 Another book, I'm going to read again (in Texas this winter)

is Get Us Out of Here!

This book is Maria Simma's accounts of the Poor Souls that appeared to her, 

begging for prayers.  

This book is SO good!! 

You can find it HERE

 If you click on this picture you can see my Little Red in the background, getting ready to run!
(stinker)

Pray for the dead, pray rosaries, offer Masses, 

never give up praying for them!

Last week we had some of our Catholic Homeschool Youth 

 (32 of them) over for a walk to the graveyard 

(up the hill, down the hill, through the woods, and across the field)

to pray for the Holy Souls

I gave a short talk on Purgatory, indulgences  

and a little about St Gertrude and the prayer given to her from Jesus:

Eternal Father, 

I offer you the most precious

Blood of Your Divine Son,

Jesus, in union with the Masses said

throughout the world today, 

for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, 

for sinners in the Universal Church, 

those in my own home, 

and within my family.

Amen.

(This prayer was given to St Gertrude and Jesus promised that every time it was said, 1,000 souls would be released from Purgatory and allowed into God's Presence)

The saints knew of Purgatory!!

 

 Here we are walking across the field

 After my short talk, the kids got to explore and try to find the oldest grave.

We also have a section where all the babies that were miscarried during the year 

are buried through our Catholic hospital in town.  

Several of us went over there. 

Instant tears, I tell you, instant. 

 We caught this beautiful sunset on our way home...

 Then it got loud and a little crazy....

 We had pizza, pop, snacks and lots of fun!

 We broke into 2 groups (16 kids each)

 And played Minute to Win it games!!

 M&M Suck it (I named this one)

 Face the Cookie

 Stack Attack!
The parent helpers were awesome! 

 Guess the Candy amount to win the candy!!

 Have you ever made this?  Tastes exactly like Salted Nut Rolls...

The games were a lot of fun, but next time, 

I think we'll set up several places where the games can be going on at the same time, 

it seemed like there was a lot of waiting around...and then the non game players 

got bored...but most had fun, I think!
 My daughter heard kids talking about it the next day after Mass and she said they had fun!

My own kids thanked and thanked me over and over 

for a fun night!!

Please pray for the Holy Souls!!

I've always had a love for the Poor Souls

I have a hard time writing about it, for fear of not doing justice, 

but my goal here is to make people aware and to hopefully pray more!