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

Risen

Last Saturday we saw the new epic bible story “Risen”, which takes place during holy week and ends with Jesus’s Ascension. The movie starts out with Roman soldiers in a brutal battle with the Judeans. The movie depicts life in the holy land similar to the Bible series A.D, with the extreme violence of the Romans and the persecution of Jesus's followers by the Pharisees. Jesus and his disciple were constantly on the move and had no safe haven. The movie focused on a Roman solider, Clavius, who experienced a conversion when he was put to the task to find the missing Jesus. I thought the whole theme of the movie, and the conversion story was just perfect for today. Clavius worshiped the Roman gods, but he was intelligent, or perhaps it was the Holy Spirit working in him, and he began to think outside the box and believe in the possibility of the resurrected Christ. The evidence was unfolding for Clavius and then he meets the resurrected Jesus.
I won’t tell the whole story, but I did enjoy the movie and the ending and how they depicted the ascension of Jesus. Jesus, his disciples, and Clavius were on a mountain together when they noticed that Jesus was walking away from them. Jesus turns around and waves to them and then continues to walk away. Light begins to circle around Him and it gets brighter and covers the horizon. You can still see Jesus at the center of the light for awhile, and then a blast of light fills the sky and the He is gone. 

http://www.risen-movie.com/ 

The next morning was Palm Sunday, and the mass readings came to life in a new way for me. As a teacher, I know that emotional learning is resilient and lasting. This new and dramatic story of Jesus’s life, meshed with the teachings of the church, reinforces God’s mercy and for all people.

The Media

I have recently discovered a new Catholic television station that broadcasts out of Boston, MA, CatholicTV. Now I am toggling between my all-time favorite EWTN and CatholicTV. This week I watched a couple of awesome Lenten specials, the last seven words and the Stations of the Cross. I am so thankful for Catholic media and happy that they are branching out to TV, radio, apps, Twitter, Facebook, and email. Basically Catholic media are now competing for our attention in the same places as the world. Who doesn’t want to sit back and relax at the end of the day or anytime, and tune in to something inspiring. One of my biggest regrets in life is that EWTN was broadcasting for about 10 years before I discovered them.

About three years ago I read a book “I See Far” ,which had a profound and lasting effect on my view of the media. The book is heavy with prophecy and claims messages from the Blessed Mother. I do encourage you to read this book that you can download for free: “I See Far” at http://www.medjugorje.com/download/books/141-I+See+Far.html . It is well worth getting over the prophetic claims that may a challenge to believe and focus on the evidence that the author presents. The bottom line is the author has a vast amount of information about how the media/TV affects the way we live, think, feel and act.

Did you know that in 1986 Pope John Paul ll called for a fast from TV. From his balcony, he announced. “In families the television seems to substitute rather than facilitated dialogue among people.” After reading “I See Far” in the fall of 2013, I discussed with my husband Paul, the possibility of us fasting from TV. Miraculously, he agreed with me. He hadn’t read the book and he’s not a Catholic. That had to be divine intervention. So for the entire winter we didn’t watch TV. I think Paul put the news/weather on a few times because he is a snowmobile rider, and the sport is dependent on the weather.
It was so quiet at night. We read a lot, I took up knitting and we went to bed a lot earlier. By early spring I was really missing ETWN and we discussed just watching EWTN and he could watch his car shows. Being away from TV brought us back to a normal moral position and now if we think about the shows that we once thought were OK, we now know they are not OK. They are full of immorality. Mainstream TV desensitizes you to all that is good and moral and from God. You have to get away from it for a significant period of time to see it for what it really is. Occasionally, Paul will be watching a car show and a commercial will come on advertising a series program. I am continually shocked at the depravity that seems to be building at an exponential rate, in the short number of years since we stopped watching mainstream TV. My only exposure is through commercials and the ads that get thrown at me from my internet and email provider and other places on the internet where web hosts stoop to earning money by selling ad space on the web. It’s very difficult to avoid 100%.

Please turn away from the evil that is on TV, that is trying to convince you that what is from satan is the new normal. Either turn it off completely or strictly censor what you and your family expose themselves to.

 PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD and Fast from secular TV.

Ephesians 6:10-18

The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

God Bless

Paula

Examen App

Father Michael J. Denk, a Jesuit priest has developed an app to help you pray more effectively by walking you through the 5 main steps of the The Examination of Consciousness prayer which is based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. I learned of this app while watching EWTN on Friday this week. Father Michael was on a show talking about this app. I had it downloaded onto my iPhone and then iPad before the talk was over. I just love it. It is very easy to use and you can set a reminder for a convenient  morning and evening time to remind you to pray. Remember, prayer is just talking to God. The app walks you through the 5 parts of the examen prayer with prompts and beautiful backgrounds and scripture. There is a build in journal for you to record your reflections within each of the 5 sections of the prayer. I have only been doing this for a couple of days and already I can see how this reflective prayer is helping me to seek the Lords presence throughout the day. The prayer contains these five sections.

1. Gratitude- remember all of the blessings of the day.
2. Petition- ask God for the grace to see whatever He wants you to see.
3. Discernment- ask the Father to help you realize when you were with Him and when you were moving away- and other things.
4. Forgiveness- admit anything you are sorry for and experience His mercy.
5. Resolution-make some practical, concrete, and doable resolutions for the day. I like this one day at-a-time focus. 

The idea is brilliant and perfect for people like me who are very much connect to our devices. Bravo Father Michael for developing this simple, yet powerful way to draw me close to God, using a tool that I work and live with. 

You can find the app at the iTunes store- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/examen-prayer/id899720088?mt=8
It's FREE :-)
You can go to http://www.theprodigalfatherproductions.org/app/ and watch a video overview of the app.

God Bless, Paula

International Nativity Display at Our Lady of LaSalette Shrine

Our Lady of LaSalette

Saturday night Paul and I went to the Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette, in Enfield, NH to enjoy the spirit of Christmas. Last year I came to the shrine with a church group during week when it was snow covered and very cold. This year it was a balmy warm evening with no snow and a lot of people.

One of my favorite things about the shrine is the display of over 450 nativity sets from all over the world. I took pictures, some of which are attached. The nativity sets were encased in Plexiglas and there was much glare and reflection to deal with in trying to get some good pictures.

Who is Our Lady of LaSalette?

APPARITION of the BLESSED VIRGIN on the Mountain of LA SALETTE, Lecce France, the 19th of September, 1846. read more at: http://www.catholicapologetics.info/catholicteaching/privaterevelation/lasalet.html

Paula

Canada

Brazil

Colorado, USA

Knit

Ecuador

Eskimo

Germany

Inuit

Kenya

Laos

Mexico

?

Peru

Taiwan

?

USA