Boston's Basilica

Recently my husband and I ventured out for a pilgrimage to Boston's Basilica.

In architecture, the term basilica signifies a kingly, and secondarily a beautiful, hall. ( New Advent, Basilica- http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02325a.htm)

I enjoy watching documentaries of the holy lands throughout the world and have felt left out of these experiences because of living in New England. One day I was lamenting that these holy places, particularly Marian shrines were out of my reach due to distance, travel, limited vacation time and money. I went online to look for Catholic shrines in New England and was pleasantly surprised that were many day trip or weekend destinations right here in NE. I started my bucket list and since then we have visited three holy destinations.

 On May 22nd, my husband and I visited Boston's Basilica. We left NH and got on the T outside of Boston and rode the orange line to Roxbury Crossing, and there it was, a short walk from the T station. It certainly was a majestic sight from the outside, but that was nothing compared to the beauty of this basilica on the inside. It was breathtaking, and I had a hard time focusing on the mass because I was so overwhelmed with the beauty of the architecture and artwork of the church. This was a historical moment for me as I had never been in a basilica or any church so large and beautiful. To top that off, we were blessed with a visiting choir from Toronto. At the end of the mass, the Alleluia that was sung was the most heavenly Alleluia I have ever heard.

The Boston Basilica is a shrine to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The church is well known for the healings that have happened there and you will see containers of crutches from people that were healed there. While I was there, I filled out a petition to our Lady of Perpetual Help and prayed for my personal and family needs. An older man approached me while I was in that shrine area and told me it "was all true". I must have looked like a tourist. He told me a story that he witnessed in the 1950's, where a person in a wheelchair was cured and walked out of the church.

I have attached a picture that I took that day. Pay close attention to the picture of the altar with a hanging picture of the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Notice the light coming from the altar and above focus on Mary and Jesus in the artwork above the altar. We did not see that light when the picture was taken. The two side areas of the altar that are beaming with light have statues of angels, which can't be seen because of the bright light. When we were sitting at the front of the church, we didn't see this brilliant light that shows up in the photo. I believe this is the presence of God and the presence of His angels that are present at every mass. What a gift it was to later process this photo and see the light.

Psalm 118:26-28New International Version (NIV)

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    From the house of the Lord we bless you.
27 The Lord is God,
    and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
    up to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
    you are my God, and I will exalt you.

God Bless

Paula

Sleepless in Seattle

Last Saturday night, I decided to tune into the movie, Sleepless in Seattle, the 1993 classic love story. It seemed like a “safe” movie that hopefully would pass my “G” rating preference in movies.

However, very soon into the story I was upset over the story line. The setting is: Tom Hanks (Sam) loses his wife to cancer and he is now a single dad trying to move on with his life with his son Jonah. In this particular scene, Jonah asks his dad what happens to people after they die, and Sam says he doesn’t know. He said he has dreamed about talking to his wife, which makes him think, perhaps there is some afterlife, but then he brushes that off and again says he just doesn’t know. The two look at each other with a look of loss and confusion, end of the scene.

I am thinking this is the worst tragedy of the whole movie and it brings me back to a statement I hear so often in the Christian community when people face trials in their lives, “How do people who don’t know God, deal with these things?” I cannot imagine waking up and thinking that there is nothing but what is in front of me every day and when I die, that’s it, the story is over. How depressing is that thought? I know the truth and I know my family and friends that have gone before me are watching over me right now and I will see them again, when God calls me home. Best of all is to meet Jesus face to face and enter the eternal kingdom that he has ready for each one of us who believe.

I remember watching this movie when it first came out and enjoying it and not noticing all of its secular messages of atheism and the worldly accepted immorality of sex outside of marriage. That was back in the days when I was wrapped up in reading secular novels, watching prime time TV shows, and watching the latest movie. I was all wrapped up in a world that did not have a place for God, except on Sundays to attend mass. After mass, I went right back to my secular life. Things have changed for me since then and I gave up the secular novels and movies and focus on reading God’s Word. The veil of the secular world is being lifted from my sight and I am beginning to see the world for what it really is. It’s quite painful to see how blind I was, and it is necessary every day, to keep turning to God for the truth and the path to eternal life.

The world we live in is difficult at best for many and for those of us that are blessed with all of the earthy comforts of the developed world; we still suffer in many ways due to our fragile human nature. I like to keep in mind that we are exiles of this world and until we reach the eternal kingdom of heaven, we will suffer through many trials, some brought on by our own sinfulness, and some brought on by the sinfulness of others. We know the end of the story and we just have to persevere and pray every day for God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.

Spiritual Marriage

Today I want to share another excerpt from Saint Therese of Lisieux's, autobiography, The Story of a Soul. Saint Therese entered a Carmelite Monastery when she was only 15 years old. She is known for her simple and humble personality, and is referred to  as the “little flower”. The religious community that she joined, along with several of her biological sisters, is a cloistered community, which means they participate in contemplative prayer and do not interact with the outside community. This story of hers shows the creativity of her youth and devotion and love for God.

The story begins when Therese’s newly married cousin visits Therese at the monastery (of course, people could visit them, but they do not go out into the world). Her cousin is filled with the excitement of being newly married and shares stories of her husband and her joy in her marriage. It seems this encounter sparked Therese to think about her recent spiritual union/marriage and devotion to serving God (by joining the community). Women who join religious communities devote their lives to praise, worship and service to God, and they are considered to be “spouses of Jesus”, in a spiritual sense as opposed to an “earthy” marriage between men and women.

Therese “amused herself” by creating this endearing wedding invitation and shared it with her community to “bring home to them: the glory of earthy unions cannot compare with the glory of being the Spouse of Jesus:

ALMIGHTY GOD

The Creator of Heaven and Earth,

And Ruler of the World

And

THE MOST GLORIOUS VIRGIN MARY

Queen of the Court of Heaven

Invite you to the Spiritual Marriage of the August

Son

JESUS, KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS

With

Little Therese Martin

Now Lady and Princess of the Kingdoms of the Childhood and Passion of Jesus, given in dowry by her Divine Spouse from whom she holds her titles of nobility OF THE CHILD JESUS and OF THE HOLY FACE.

It was not possible to invite you to the Wedding Feast celebrated on Mount Carmel on the 8^th September, 1890, only the Celestial Choir being admitted.

You are nevertheless invited to the Bride’s AT HOME, tomorrow, the Day of Eternity, when Jesus, the Son of God, will come in splendor on the clouds of Heaven to Judge the Living and the Dead.

The hour being uncertain, please hold yourself in readiness and watch."

(The Story of  Soul, page 119)

God Bless,

Paula

The Story of a Soul

I am reading, for the second time this week, "The Story of a Soul", an autobiography by St. Therese of Lisieux. St. Therese's story is in my opinion, different from so many of the other stories of saints who did amazing things in the lives. Recently, I was watching a documentary on St. Catherine of Siena and found it overwhelming to comprehend how anyone could have such an influence on so many people and accomplish so many great things, including getting the pope to return to Rome, within a short period of her life. Catherine died at the age of 33, an age where I was just beginning to become enlightened with some spiritual sense. St. Therese's story is very different. Her life is a story of simplicity and humility. St. Therese sees herself as a perpetual child and she talks about her thoughts and feelings about simple things in life that we all struggle with. She has a way of connecting basic day to day life events and feelings to a spiritual level that is very accessible to any reader, at any point in their spiritual life. Throughout this story, I found myself smiling inside and relating to what she is talking about and embracing her attitude of acceptance of our personal flaws. She strived to be a saint from a young age, yet she accepts her shortcomings and finds simple ways to work on the virtues. She particularly speaks to her imperfections of oversensitivity, having scruples, worry and anxiety. In spite of her imperfections she is confident that she will be a great saint,

"I am not relying on my own merits, because I haven't any. I hope in Him who is Virtue and Sanctity itself: He alone, content with my frail efforts, will lift me up to Himself, clothe me with his Own merits , and make me a saint." (Saint Therese, Story of a Soul, pg. 48)

Later in story St. Therese talks about doing penance for God.

"I do not mean the sort of penance the Saints undertake. I was not like those grand souls who practice all kinds of penances from childhood. My mortification consists in checking my self-will, keeping back an impatient word, doing little things for those around me without their knowing, and countless things like that." (Saint Therese, Story of a Soul, pg. 100)

I find her story both down to earth and spiritually refreshing. In this world, there is so much pressure for achievement, status, and to accomplish "important things. As St. Therese's sister told her, "Because you have an extremely simple soul; however, it will be even more simple when you become perfect. The closer we come to God, the more simple we become." (pg105).
My advice to you my brothers and sisters is to let go of the world and let God in.

God Bless

Paula

Praying the Rosary with Mother Angelica

I want to share with you an excerpt from Mother Angelica's recently published book, "Praying with Mother Angelica Meditations on the Rosary, the Way of the Cross, and other Prayers". I have most of Mother Angelica's books and ordered this book, the day after Easter. On Easter Sunday, Mother finally got to go home to God, after a very long time of suffering. I have been listening to Mother on EWTN for at least the past decade and she has been a huge influence in my life in so many ways. Mother has the ability to bring the Word of God to you in a simple yet deep way through her stories and the life she led and shared with us through her TV show and in her writings. She takes the truths of the bible that are often difficult to understand and talks about them using humor, stories, examples of her life, and through the everyday life and struggles of her viewers and audience. When you watch Mother Angelica Live you hear stories from people that often have the same struggles and crosses in their lives that you and I have. Mother will pray for them and offer her advice, or even just acknowledge their pain, which in itself is consoling. Many times I have heard stories on Mother's show that made me realize that I am not alone in my struggles and Mothers advice and prayers have been a comfort in dealing with my woundedness.

I love Mother Angelica's books because I can hear her voice in the text which rings clear after so many years of listening to her on TV. Fortunately EWTN continues to run her previous episodes so we can still watch her shows. I think Mother Angelica is going to be the new Bishop Fulton Sheen of the 21st century. Of course, nobody can replace Bishop Fulton Sheen, an amazing and captivating man of God who produced the first award winning Catholic TV shows in the 1950's. I still watch reruns of Bishop Fulton Sheen on EWTN and YouTube. The messages Mother Angelica and Bishop Fulton Sheen have for the world, are priceless and timeless.

Back to the Rosary. For decades I have heard and read about the importance of praying the rosary. I believed in the meaning of the rosary, but I had a really hard time getting myself to actually pray the rosary. I didn't grow up with the rosary and only discovered this gem later in my adult life. It was a struggle in the beginning and my time trying to pray the rosary felt so empty and boring. I tried just praying one decade a day and that really didn't help. I felt bad that I eventually didn't want to pray the rosary. Finally, I prayed to God to help me with this problem. Eventually, a friend gave me a list of scripture passages corresponding to the mysteries of each decade. That helped immensely and the richness of this prayer finally began to sink in. Now I look forward to this prayer time.

Since then I have acquired several meditations on the rosary, with Mother's Angelica’s being the most recent. This week I read Mother's meditation on the Luminous Mysteries and was in awe of her meditations on the fifth mystery, the institution of the Eucharist. Here it is:

" I live because of the Eucharist. There's no prayer so high; there's no ecstasy so sublime; no work so great; there's no suffering so severe; there's nothing to compare with that moment when I and the Trinity- Almighty God through Jesus, Your Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit- are one. It is the greatest gift You could ever give us.

And yet in the moments before you instituted the most previous gift, Your apostles disputed who was the greatest. Lord God, help me to abandon the preoccupations that seem so important to me as I approach You in the Eucharist, as on Calvary.

You humbled Yourself by becoming man, by permitting Yourself to suffer, and now by masking Your unparalleled glory in the form of a small piece of bread- all so that I can have You inside of me.

Lord God, if I truly appreciate the majestic humility of the Eucharist, if I fully grasped the opportunity to participate in Your very nature, it would change my life forever. Strengthen my love and my gratitude for this tremendous gift. Give me the faith to understand that the Eucharist makes everything possible."
(Mother Mary Angelica, 2016, pages 52-53)

God Bless,

Paula

Happy Solemnity of the Annunciation

May we, like Mary, find joy in saying "yes" to God.

Happy Solemnity of the Annunciation, Apostles of Prayer! pic.twitter.com/zdDj5UWw3A

— ApostleshipOfPrayer (@aposprayer) April 4, 2016

The ABC’s of Divine Mercy

Yesterday I participated in a Divine Mercy service at the Carmelite Monastery, in Concord, NH. The Carmelite Monastery is the designated “Holy Door” in the Capital Deanery. The Holy Door pilgrimage is part of the Jubilee Year of Mercy and Catholics are encouraged to pass through the Holy Door. The number one Holy Door is in Rome and the significance of the Holy Door is the passage from this world into the presence of God and profession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Lord, and the Savior who suffered, died and rose for our salvation. “With great courage, a person freely decides to cross the threshold, leaving behind the kingdom of this world so as to enter the new life of grace of the Kingdom of God.” (Catholic Straight Answers). For those who probably won’t make it to Rome this year, contact your deanery to find out where the appointed “Holy Door” is located.

The church was full to capacity and the service was beautiful. One thing I would like to share here is the simple message that was repeated, “the ABC’s of Divine Mercy”. From a teacher's perspective, this struck a familiar chord. In education, we are always looking for ways to scaffold learning and using the ABC’s is a type of mnemonic, memory aid to improve learning.

ASK for his mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

BE merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others as He does to us.

COMPLETELY trust. God wants us to know that the graces of HIS mercy are dependent on our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

God Bless,

Paula