For those of us Catholic moms who want our children to learn about our Catholic faith, this is a great resource…and the price is not at all bad…approx. $40 – $50/course (some for less than that and some for more) and each course is meant to span a year.  It’s all online and it looks to be very interactive…they’ve even included games!

Take a look and, if you try it out, please come back and let us know your thoughts on it. Oh…and there are also courses for adults!

May God bring us peace.

Manya

What God is Offering

An excerpt:

Have you ever noticed that the pleasure the world provides is far less valuable than what God has created? You might have 350 cable channels and can’t find anything to watch, but you can go to the ocean and sit for hours watching the sea or go to the mountains and hike for days. It’s so interesting how you can chase after the things of this world when so much of God’s goodness is right in front of your eyes, free for the taking and specifically given for your enjoyment.

It is the same with human relationships….

Please do read the whole message.  It’s a good one.

Lord, please help us to find your peace.

Manya

One of the search terms that recently brought a visitor to this site was , “patron saint of marriage.”  That got me to wondering who that might be…the patron saint, that is…not the visitor.

My guess (and nomination) would be St. Joseph.  After coming up with this thought, I did a quick google search to see what the church says about it.  Just skimming down the first page of search results, this is what I found:

• St. John Francis Regis (The View from Over Here)
• St. Edward the Confessor- patron saint of difficult marriages (The Catholic Company)
• St. Valentine (why didn’t I think of that?…I still vote for St. Joseph, though)
• New Martyr Argyre of Proussa (Mystagogy)

That’s all the first page of google results revealed.  I found another interesting patron saint, though, that I had to share with you.

• St Isidore of Seville, Patron Saint of the Internet (!) – (Ultimate Top Ten Lists)

Who would your vote be for??

Manya

I know I sound like the proverbial broken record….but here I am AGAIN recommending that you hightail it over to www.DivorcedCatholic.org.  I think this is absolutely the best resource I can point you towards.  The proprietors of that site know us…know what we are going through…know what we’ve been through.  AND, they offer themselves as guides to follow in order to travel through the hell of divorce and out into the light beyond.  There IS light beyond!  They’re proof.  I’m proof.   Don’t despair…take the help that is offered.

Lisa and Vince have come through for us again…this time on a daily basis!  They now offer a daily message that arrives in your email box first thing in the morning.  It’s called “Daily Inspirations.”   And, again, this is free!  Simply go to their site and register for it.

I wanted to give you a taste of it, so I did a screen capture of today’s message and added it below for you to see.  So sneak a peek and then get yourself over to www.DivorcedCatholic.org and sign up to receive it.

Don’t forget to tune into their radio show, too.  You can access it over there in the left hand column of this very page – Journey of Hope Radio.  It’s a weekly show that you can listen to it at your convenience..although if you listen to it live, you’ll be able to call in and ask questions!

May God bless and bring you peace,

Manya

He recently attended the Catholic New Media Conference (I’m jealous ) and made a series of video blogs while he was there. Today I’m sharing the 5th in his series of 10. Why the 5th one? Because that’s the first one I’ve seen. I’ll be watching the others, too, though!

This is cool stuff. I love being able to see the podcasters I’ve come to know only auditorially (did I just make up a word?). Anyway…these are good people with interesting, motivating and funny things to say. They’re regular, everyday Catholics who help the rest of us regular, everyday Catholics to be better, regular, everyday Catholics. Thanks, guys!

Yesterday’s show topic was about dating and intimacy after divorce. This is a HUGE “issue” for us…

• Is dating okay after divorce and without having received a Declaration of Nullity?
  
• Is dating okay during separation?
  
• How about intimacy? The world tells us to be intimate with someone as soon as possible as a way of healing your hurt psyche and “get on with life.”
  

But IS that the best way to go?!

What about our faith?

Do I now have to be alone and celibate for the rest of my life???

But my spouse chose to throw our marriage away and divorce me…why should I be punished for that????

Yep…been there done that…and I didn’t have Lisa Duffy and Vince Frese of Divorced Catholic to help me to answer those tough questions…but YOU do!

Just click on the Blog Talk Radio box in the left column of this page and you can then click on the episode you’d like to listen to. And try to listen to the show live when you can so you can ask Lisa, Vince and their guests questions. Use this tremendous resource that is available to you…it’s truly a blessing.

May God bless and bring you peace.

Manya

Check out the “Wet Cement” video and, also,  the “Good News” tab….

Values.com

However…the reason for THIS post is to let you know about a post on Lisa’s site that I want to share with you here because it’s appropriate.  The title of the post is How Anger Crosses the Line.

Before I give you the link so you can get over there to read it, I want to give my opinions about some of the things said in the article.

Basically, it’s about anger and how it can affect a person. I think I can safely state that every person who has experienced separation and divorce is angry about something (or lots of things).  And being angry is not a sin.  Go ahead and be angry, you probably have good reason to be.

But…control your anger and don’t dwell in that state. Feel it and then let it go.

I know I’m simplifying here…it’s not easy to “let it go” all in one fell swoop, but little by little, you’ll be able to do it. The most important point here is to not intentionally (stubbornly) hold onto anger, but to intentionally let it go.

Have you noticed that it’s easier to be angry than to be hurt?  When I was deep in the hell of separation & divorce, the days when I felt truly angry were much easier to bear than the days when I felt raw and HURT.  It’s easy to see the danger in this…a person could nurture the anger in order to keep from feeling the pain.  Please don’t fall into that trap.  A perpetually angry person is not a healthy person – emotionally, physically or spiritually.  And just think how being a perpetually angry mom will negatively affect your children.

Please read Lisa’s article on anger.  She touches on different types of anger, explains them and how they affect our relationships and ourselves.  One type of anger she talks about is “contempt.”  That one hit home for me and, curiously, she explains how this one is poison to a relationship.  I’m sorry to say that I have first hand knowledge of the truth of that…

By the way, anger is one big reason why I encourage all divorced Catholics to go through the annulment process.  My experience  was that as I was “made to” thoroughly examine my relationship, I realized the things that went wrong and that I had a great deal to do with what went wrong (not an easy pill to swallow – but eye opening and healing!).  You see, when I saw that I was also at fault, I was able to forgive my ex-husband (a little at a time…but the door to forgiveness was thrown open).  And that felt good!  And forgiving helped me to heal and move on.

I didn’t mean to write so much…forgive my long-windedness…. and, finally, here’s the link to Lisa’s article:

How Anger Crosses the Line

May God bless you and bring you peace.

Manya

Anyway…she had this very cool video posted on her site.  It recorded the passage of a year from the same spot.  I love those pictures you see now and then that are a series of 4 photos taken from the same spot – one photo/season.  This is the same thing only it’s a video.

You might wonder why I sometimes post things that have nothing to do with divorce and Catholics. Well…I take a holistic approach to life which doesn’t allow for compartmentalization…you know, that practice of putting different pieces of your life in separate compartments that are supposedly distinct from each other. That just doesn’t make sense to me. So, I throw in tidbits of “other things” now and then just for the pure joy of it. This world of ours is a beautiful and mysterious place (thank you, Lord, for the endless mysteries you’ve blessed us with. They’re the spice of life – in my opinion.)

Anyway…what it comes down to is…I want to share bits of beauty with you. When you’re experiencing separation and divorce, the world can look very bleak. I hope these “tidbits” help to remind you that the beautiful and amazing world, and it’s beautiful and amazing people, are still out there and waiting for you to rediscover them.

Enjoy!

May God bless you and bring you peace,
Manya

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