Archive for Children
Praying Through Divorce – Divine Mercy Novena Day 6
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- Image by amrufm via Flickr
Today is the 6th day of the Divine Mercy Novena. Many amazing promises are attached to this novena. I encourage you to go to a Catholic bookstore to pick up a Divine Mercy pamphlet that tells you the story behind it, too, so you can keep the prayers with you and not be tied to the computer while reciting them.
Day 6 Intention: The meek and humble souls and the souls of little children
Today bring to Me the meek and humble souls and the souls of little children and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. Only the humble soul is capable of receiving My grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence.
“Most Merciful Jesus, You yourself have said, ‘Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.’ Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy and they are the heavenly Father’s favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God himself take delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jesus, and they undeasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy.
Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon meek souls, upon humble souls, and upon little children who are enfolded in the abode which is the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls bear the closest resemblance to Your Son. Their fragrance rises from the eathe and raches Your very throne. Father of mercy and of all goodness, I beg You by the love You bear these souls and by the delight You take in them: Bless the whole world, that all souls together may sing out the praises of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.”
This is a chaplet, which means there’s a series of prayers to be said and you can use a rosary to help keep track:
Recite the following:
The Our Father
The Hail Mary
The Apostles’ Creed
On the large beads (Our Father beads):
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the small beads (Hail Mary beads):
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Continue those prayers around the entire rosary, always meditating on the intention for today. Then say the following three times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Done…til tomorrow.
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Religious Education – Coming Home Catholic
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I highly recommend that you check out Coming Home Catholic. It’s a great place to go for information and direction when it comes to teaching your children about our fantastic faith. It’s also a great place to go to teach yourself more about our faith….
Here’s a link to today’s newsletter – Coming Home Catholic Newsletter
Be sure to sign up to receive the newsletter each week via email. The family who writes it really knows the Catholic faith and how to make it easy to understand….and how to thoroughly understand it! Follow some of their links and see where they take you. It’s pretty awesome.
Have a lovely Friday…and may God bless you and bring you peace.
Manya
Vacation Time – Don’t Miss Mass!
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Here it is August – the month when probably most of the people in the world go on vacation. 
I just wanted to remind you of an awesome website where you can find churches and mass times for most anywhere in the world.
Sooooo……there’s no need to miss mass while you’re on vacation.
There are legitimate reasons to miss mass, like when you’re sick or when there is no way you can get to a church on Saturday evening or Sunday morning or on a Holy Day of Obligation because…well, there’s more than one reason why someone might not be able to get to a mass. However, simply being on vacation is not a legitimate reason for missing mass.
Actually, being on vacation is a really good time to visit new churches and have new experiences. Also, when I was young, my mom told me that whenever you visit a church you’ve never been in before, you should say three Hail Mary’s and make a special request.
Going to mass while on vacation is also an excellent way to show your children how important it is to follow the precepts of the church at all times. (For more on that, see Keeping Catholicism in the Home After Divorce) And remember…not fulfilling your Sunday or Holy Day of Obligation obligations simply because it’s inconvenient to do so (i.e. you don’t really feel like it) is a grave sin (i.e. a mortal sin). It surprises me how many Catholics don’t know that….
Anyway – here’s that site for you. Mass Times.
Have a marvelous time on vacation and store up
lots of wonderful memories!
Manya
A Patron Saint For Divorced, Catholic Fathers & Children of Divorce
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My apologies. I just realized that when I originally published this post, I got the story wrong. I thought that St. Eugene was the father but, it turns out, he was the son. I still believe, though, that he should be the patron saint of divorced fathers because he witnessed what his father went through. He should ALSO be the patron saint of children of divorce!
If you’re a Catholic dad whose wife left him and, also, left you with financial problems, AND left your children, too…..well, this scenario is not new. St. Eugene De Mazenod knows something of what you’re going through.
Back in 18th century France, the family had to flee the country due to the French Revolution (they were aristocrats and had reason to believe that death by guillotine awaited them). Once the danger passed, his mother left him and his father in Venice and returned to France, then divorced his father, reclaimed her dowry (which her family made sure remained in her name…hmm, one of the first prenuptial agreements?) and sent his father a note saying, “You now have nothing.” (Which goes to show what kind of a mother she was if she considered money to have value but not their son….)
So, there he was in a foreign country with his father and no money. (You see, even though his father was from an aristocratic family, he entered the marriage a poor man.) I’m sure there are many divorced, Catholic men who can understand how he must have felt and the pain and troubles he had to endure.
My point here, though, is that this man…this saint…understands what YOU’RE going through! He’s there for you – talk to him, ask his prayers, guidance and support.
I wish each of you a very Happy Fathers’ Day.
May God bless you & your children and bring you peace.
Manya
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Raising Catholic Children – Learning By Example
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- Image by StarMama via Flickr
Just a quick post today – actually simply sharing a post from another blog with you! I came across this on twitter and thought it very worthwhile to share here. While this post is written by a father who is married, I think it pertains to single parents, too.
Be forewarned that reading this post may make you a bit sad and envious, because it’s written by a man who is obviously in a good and holy marriage that is filled with love, which might make the pain of our failed marriages a bit sharper for a moment. Still, witnessing relationships like this offers hope that each of us, too, might be a part of such a relationship some day… and that our children will also experience such blessed relationships when they become adults. God willing!
The reason I’m sharing this with you is because it has to do with raising Catholic children and the “best” way to show them how to live and how to love.
Please take a few minutes to read this beautifully written post – Raising Gianna.
As single parents whose spouses are quite possibly not helping to raise our children Catholic, we DO have a harder time of it. However, never underestimate the power of even just one very positive influence in your child’s life! BE that positive influence….
God bless and bring you peace.
Manya
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Our Catholic Faith – Sex
Posted by: | CommentsPlease take 9 minutes to watch this video. It has something profound to say about our relationships with our children as well as about the Catholic view of the human body and sex. ( hint: they’re both from God and, therefore, VERY good…when God is kept in the picture!)
As Catholics, we weren’t (or shouldn’t have been) brought up to believe the human body and sex are “bad” and the source of evil and sin. Unfortunately, though, it seems that the majority of people, both Catholics and non-Catholics, are under the impression that that’s the Catholic view. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Have you read Pope John Paul II’s writings regarding sex? I haven’t, I’m sorry to say, but I HAVE read what Christopher West wrote in Theology of the Body for Beginners which is based on the writings of John Paul II. I highly recommend this book for adults and, also, young adults.
In a nutshell – Catholics believe that sex between spouses is GOOD and an integral part of marriage. Pope John Paul II even said that sex is holy! Within marriage and as a way of bonding with your spouse in the most loving way imaginable – wanting only what is best for each other and NOT using each other for lustful purposes – sex is amazing, fulfilling, good and enjoyable. Of course! It is truly giving yourself completely to another person – the person you love and have committed yourself to for life. And when that person is doing the same – loves you with all their heart, has committed his/her life to you and wants to show you that love – well, I don’t think it can get much better than that. THIS is what the Catholic faith teaches and believes!
I haven’t yet read Christopher West’s newest book, Heaven’s Song: Sexual Love As It Was Meant To Be . It covers the “‘hidden’ talks of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.” JPII deemed these talks “too delicate to be delivered in St. Peter’s Square.” I think he was concerned that his words would be taken out of context and misunderstood, as is SO easily done with this topic – especially by the media. (see the links in my P.S. at the end of this post for a great example)
As divorced Catholics, I’d venture to guess that most of us did not experience the wonders of sexual love in our marriages as God meant it to be. If we had, I’m pretty sure that our marriages would not have fallen apart. I’m not saying that a good marriage is based primarily on a couple’s sexual relationship, but that the physical relationship is intimately connected to the emotional relationship. I pray that we will all be blessed with the chance to experience love and marriages that are truly from God. And that we all are blessed with the wisdom, patience and faith we need in order to choose wisely and live our beliefs (i.e. pursue an annulment before pursuing a relationship…keep sexual love for and within marriage…and give control to God so that this road will ultimately be easier and more joyful).
I’m afraid that I’m starting to ramble now, so I’ll stop.
God bless and bring you peace…and may the Holy Spirit guide us always.
Manya
P.S. Kind of flabbergasted by Christopher West’s ABC interview – http://tinyurl.com/CWestABCinterview
I have very mixed feelings about some of the things Christopher West said and how he said them, but it is obvious that ABC manipulated his words and, beyond that, they refer to him as a sex therapist…where did THAT come from?! Also, this interview was boiled down from being hours long to lasting only a few minutes. Of course, there will be distortion and much taken out of context. At any rate, if you get a chance to watch the interview and read the comments (post-interview) from Theology of the Body, please let me know your point of view.
Post-interview comments here http://tinyurl.com/poyza2.
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watch?v=gqRKvNX4IKU&rel=0&color1=0×6699&color2=0x54abd6&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1
