Perfection and The Unforgivable Sin...

I just love it when something that has puzzled me for some time is suddenly explained in a way that makes perfect sense!

Fr. Jude is a Dominican priest that comes to visit a local parish every year, sometimes a couple of times of year to give classes and help out. He has also been presiding over the early morning Masses since Ash Wednesday. I met Fr. Jude about 8 years ago, when I was still teaching RCIA at this particular parish and he so graciously spoke to my classes. Anyway, I've always liked his straight forward approach and his zeal for the Truth.

Yesterday morning Fr. explained that we should always forgive... He gave the example of the the rich man that asked Jesus how he may obtain eternal life (Matthew 19:15-16). Jesus tells the young man, if he wants to be "perfect" than he has to sell everything he has, give it to the poor and then follow Him... The young man walked away very sad "For he had many possessions..." Fr. Jude told us that in order to be "perfect" as God is perfect, we have to give in abundance to others as God gives to us... EVEN to those we may not feel deserve it... "But he doesn't work as hard as i do... He didn't earn it..." , or, "She doesn't even try to be nice....", etc... How often we, ourselves receive the grace and forgiveness of God when we may not deserve... It can be very difficult to give to those that our human brain tells us is not "deserving"... We have worked hard to get where we are and what we have, why shouldn't they?... We hold on to many "possessions" that really aren't going to matter when we stand before God...

Now THIS morning, Fr. Jude brought to light something that has always puzzled me and I've struggled to understand... The Bible tells us that there is nothing that God won't forgive... NO matter what we do, there is virtually NOTHING that we can't be forgiven by God.... but yet, the Bible also speaks of the "unforgivable sin"... blaspheming the Holy Spirit... it was a seeming contradiction to me... but the way the Father explained it this morning made perfect sense... When we come across people, or maybe when we ourselves say or even think "Oh, God can never forgive what I have done..." we are in essence saying that our sin is greater than God. And what is greater than God?... By saying that something is greater, I am making myself god... I am blaspheming the Holy Spirit....

So, we approach God with a repentant heart, acknowledging that He is greater than any sin I could ever commit, and receiving his abundant grace and forgiveness.... It brings to mind the differences between Peter and Jude. Jude felt he couldn't be forgiven for his transgression and gave in to despair, taking his own life... Peter felt repentance and sorrow for his rejecting Jesus and received His forgiveness and gathered back to the flock... ultimately becoming the shepherd of that flock...

I pray this day that you have the opportunity to approach Jesus with a repentant heart, and receive the Grace and Forgiveness of God. I, myself am headed back to the "box" tomorrow morning : )

Get Smarty....

So, the other day, the hubby and I and the kids were playing around on a site called "mixer" where hubby is able to somehow download free ring tones to our phones. Call me "cheap" but anything more than "FREE" for a ringtone, is too much... lol...

So, the kids are calling out different song tunes to see if daddy can find them on the site and download them to my oldest son's phone... Suddenly, the theme from the old "Get Smart" show popped in to my head and I asked hubby if he could find it to down load to my phone... a few minutes later it was done, and I was pleased : ) when my oldest son requested the same tone, dad told him "no. that's mom's ringtone. you can't have the same one..." I chimed in that we didn't need to be "twinsy's.... how UNcool is THAT?!" lol... yet my son continued to beg, "PLEASE Dad?... PUHLEEEEEEEEZE???? I want that ringtone! I like that ringtone! It doesn't matter if mom has the same one! I want THAT ONE.... PUHLEEEEEEEZE?.... PUHLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE?!!!" IN the middle of folding clothes I just sort of listened and chuckled to myself...

In the mean time my second oldest son had picked up my phone and was listening to the different ring tones, something he does from time to time, and I overhear my oldest asking him "Hey! Send me that ringtone from mom's phone... " My younger son says, "Okay, hold on..." and proceeds to push buttons, staring intently at the little phone screen... a few minutes later, my oldest gets the message, and it's some other tone that he didn't like and he gives a mean glare to my younger. "That's not what I wanted!" Delighted with his "trick" the younger again tells the older, "Okay, okay... I'll do it... hold on.... " again, looking intently at the screen and pushing buttons.... The message transfers and the oldest plays to hear some OTHER tone that wasn't what he wanted... the younger literally squeals in delight as he runs through the house the older in hot pursuit until the younger finally runs in to his room and shuts the door leaving the older outside the door growling that that ISN'T what he wanted and to send the right one ....

When the younger emerges a few minutes later, the older is again begging for him to just send the Get Smart ringtone from my phone to his and again, the younger pushes buttons and tells the older, "Okay, okay... for real this time... I'm sending the real thing...." Hubby is still on the computer, and I'm still folding clothes as everyone falls silent waiting for the message to transfer... moment's later, as the older opens the message we all wait and listen.... and there, over the phone we hear my younger sons shaking voice, "do do doooooo DO! do do dooooooo DO!" to the tune of Get Smart... Hubby and I both fell to the floor laughing! The oldest tried not to laugh and make it known he was mad, but he couldn't help it. Even HE couldn't keep a straight face.... The younger son went around the room serving up "high-fives"... lol

Yeesh! You'd think it was Lent!

....and to think I was SO READY for Lent to start! lol... Now, let's see... there have been the petty fights at my husband's workplace, that he'd really rather not be a part of.... and besides the usual end of the month, scraping the bottom of the barrel, I discovered Saturday morning that I forgot to register not one, but TWO payments in my check book, which resulted in THREE overdraft charges, so I rushed down to the bank to deposit the money I was able to scrape up (enough to cover everything... except the one check that was still out...) hoping to avoid a 4th overdraft charge (no such luck, the bank tells me.... gggrrrr...)

Then I was on the phone with our homeowners insurance broker trying to keep them from cancelling our policy because our roof didn't pass inspection, even though I told them that our roof was original when I found them during escrow... forwarding roofing contracts, trying to buy some time until we get our tax $$ back so we can get the work done, then opening our back curtains this morning to find our back yard fence completely flat from the rain and winds last night... now we knew why the dog didn't come right back in when she was let out to pee this morning... Welcome to home ownership!

Yet, amongst all this, Hubby and I have managed to get up and go to 6:30am mass every morning since Ash Wednesday. And just so I'm not the very WORST mom, I have even informed the kids that they will get up and go with us on Friday mornings : ). And as much as I am not a morning person, I have to say that it has made all of this much easier to handle, and I am so grateful for the quiet time with Jesus each morning to start my day...

That said, with everything going on in my own life, at Mass I can't help but put aside all my petty issues to lift up those who are really suffering, so much more than I.... I lift up those out of work, those without homes, or losing their homes, I pray for those with nothing to eat, I pray for all victims of abortion, I pray for the MANY broken families... the ones that I know of personally, and the many more that are out there... broken families break my heart....

Oh, I really do have so much to be thankful for... I really have been blessed in so many ways.... It is the season of Lent and I offer up all my little sufferings as I continue to wonder through the desert, searching to draw ever closer to Jesus, trying to understand, if even just a little bit, what it means to sacrifice for a greater good... Amen...

What's that smudge?

You know... I've attended Ash Wednesday Mass just about EVERY Ash Wednesday since I was born... and for as long as I can remember Ash Wednesday has ALWAYS been one of the most attended masses I've ever been to. Right up there with Christmas and Easter, literally millions of Catholics will flock to the Church to get their badge of "dirt" smudged on their forehead... and more recently I've even heard of non-Catholics doing their own form of beginning a Lenten season of fasting and alms giving in preparation for the coming of Easter...

I've heard all the lines from outsiders... "What's that on your forehead?" or "You got a little dirt, let me get that for ya...." etc... but it never seems to take much reminding for them to remember (even non-Catholics, mind you....) "Oh! yeah! It's Ash Wednesday!...

So tell me WHY was it SUCH a mystery as to the smudge of ashes on VP Joe Biden's forehead?... Really?... It's funny though... When talking about things like his spineless stance on abortion, people have no problem recalling that he's "catholic", but go figure... when he actually goes out of his way to "do" something "Catholic" the media doesn't have a clue...

FAT Tuesday...

Happy Fat Tuesday, everyone!

That said, I have to say that I am really looking forward to Lent this year.... with all the chaos of house hunting, moving, schooling, kids, life, etc... I am REALLY looking forward to de-cluttering life for a few weeks... slowing down a bit, re-prioritizing and remembering what's REALLY important... Giving up all the "little distractions" that keep me from focusing on Truth and spending more time with my Lord, my husband and my kids...

"But Lee" you say... "You homeschool! how or WHY would you want to spend MORE time with your kids?!... lol... " But that's just it... again, I get SO involved in getting their school put together, having them get their school done, getting chores done, etc...(all well and good goals... ) but we have lost some of the "fun" that homeschooling really should have... so, I've decided that I need to work on that.... Then we all are going to be taking a little more time to draw closer together in prayer and to Jesus, because I really think He's missed that from us... : )

So, I will be stopping in now and again, filling you all in on our journey through the desert as we kick off this Lenton Season... We will be attending early Mass tomorrow morning...

I am wishing you all a blessed and fulfilling Lent!

Stoooopid "Tree-huggers"

Apparently PETA has taken it upon themselves to use the Duggar name to promote the spay and neutering of pets.... good for pets, not for people... and I just thought it was in the poorest taste to not only COMPARE human beings to animals, but they used SPECIFIC human beings that did nothing to deserve such insult...

It's just a good example of how some people can get so engrossed in their "cause" that they develop complete disregard for what is really important... Don't get me wrong... I love pets! We have a dog and a cat and will have both spayed very soon (not quite old enough, yet...)But pets should not be given the same and even in some cases MORE respect and dignity than a human life...

When's the last time we've seen a radio, TV, magazine or newspaper ad condemning the abuse and killing of innocent human life (abortion?...., euthanasia?....) yet, we will see and or hear something all the time, complete with pictures and sad music, teary eyed movie stars, etc... looking for support for abused animals.... Again... love pets... have them myself... don't want to see them hurt or mistreated.... but seriously! ....

... stepping off my soap box now....

Playing for THE "Major"

My son belongs to our parish Edge group, which is a"pre" Lifeteen youth group for 6th, 7th and 8th graders. This last week they had a special guest speaker that his youth leader had emailed me about that I just had to sit in and listen... Now we don't get the local paper(really not worth the money...) and about the only local news we watch is the weather, unless we have "heard" of something to watch for... Anyway, I had never heard of this local kid, but was intrigued by his story.

Grant Desme, Major League Baseball's latest-greatest hopeful, before taking his BIG chance to play the game he loved his entire life, at the level he had always dreamed of, decides to retire and join the seminary. Turning away from the Big Leagues in order to play for THE Big League... The kid was SO cute I seriously wanted to just put him in my pocket and take him home! With great humility and humbleness Grant shared his story and answered questions of the teens and parents alike (I wasn't the only parent that didn't want to miss him!)

Grant did such a fantastic job of sharing his heart with us, and it was so wonderful to hear such a young person reaching out to kids barely younger than himself. I think the most inspiring thing that I got from his talk was when he shared when he realized that he had learned that going to Mass wasn't just a matter of "punching a time clock" and doing his obligation for the week. Tears literally came to his eyes when he shared how blessed he felt to stand at the foot of the cross with Mary at every Mass and receive Jesus inside of him.... He shared that he discovered that God created him, out of LOVE, for a REASON, and it was his job, and all of our jobs to contemplate "Why are we here?".... We must put god first before all other things, and even though it may not be easy at first, we need to take time to quiet ourselves and be with God... have a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ... He told us to love Mary with all our heart, because if we want to get close to Jesus, go to His Mother..... beautiful stuff....

Grant spoke of how surprised and humbled he was by all the press that he has received for his decision, again, giving all the glory and credit to God and how blessed he has been... With the full support of his family, and happy to leave the life of fame and fortune behind, Grant Desme will be entering the order of Norbertines in Southern California this summer, looking forward to a quieter, more contemplative life.... Please pray for him...

The Dominican Sisters on Oprah

... and Hell didn't even have to freeze over! : ) In case you missed them, they were FABULOUS! Granted, I got a little annoyed by some of the questioning, but it was to be expected considering the secular source, and the Sisters did a great job of answering! But in my opinion, the BEST part was Lisa Ling's final comments at the end when she said that even though most people think of Sisters and convents as so rigid and confining, these sisters showed that that is not the case at all. Because of the life they have chosen, they really have chosen the greater FREEDOM. And it isn't hard to SEE that, in their shining faces....

She GOT it!! Christ is the GREATER freedom.... If you didn't see them, you can watch the videos here.

This Just Bugs Me...

In the grocery store this week I see the latest cover of People Magazine with an adorable picture of Jim Bob and Michelle Dugger and their latest little blessing, Josie Brooklyn. The title of the article was something like "How many is too many?"...

Seriously? First of all, I don't think it's ANY ONE'S business HOW MANY children a family has, especially when that family is hard working, honest and expecting NOTHING from anyone but relying on God's grace to help them and their family through... Certainly a foreign concept to many of the secular world, but for Jim Bob and Michelle, it seems to just come naturally... I for one appreciate and enjoy watching the Duggars on TLC when I get the chance. It's so nice to see a large family in a positive light to let people know it CAN be done! Not only are they a large family, but they are debt free, and low and behold, they actually ENJOY each other's company! HELP each other, ENCOURAGE each other to succeed...

Now, granted, I have not read the article. Quite honestly, the title on the cover was enough for me. BECAUSE the Duggars are open to life and however many children God chooses to bless them with, some how, the secular media thinks that gives them the right to question whether or not they have too many.... excuse me, if this had been their first or second child and she was born prematurely, due to circumstances beyond the mother's control, would THAT have been "enough" or "too many?..." Would there be articles written asking society if they were having too many, then?... I know, I know.... gotta sell magazines.... Here's a family with no scandal, no grudges, no "dirt" so to speak, so we might as well slam them for being.... loving, growing family, choosing to swim against the current and trust their and their children's lives to God.... go figure...

St. Therese, Miracles and Moving....

So, my last post last August I informed you that we were looking for a house, without much luck. The market had been set at a stand still trying to boost up the economy again and we were waiting for mid-September to roll around when we were told that the market would open up again... in the mean time, I had begun a Novena to St. Therese in the hopes that she would bring me a miracle in finding us the perfect house. Now I had been given not one, but two beautiful novena's that I liked to St. Therese. The first was sent to me by a friend after i told her that I had taken to asking St. Therese to help us find a home. The second came from another friend of mine that sent it a couple of weeks before St. Therese's feast day on October 1. I had already been saying the first one, but when I got the second, I just started saying both.

Nine days came and went. I had never been so specific in a request to a Saint, or with a Novena, but I figured it couldn't hurt, so I just kept praying... 9 days... 2 weeks... 3 weeks... I had even told my realtor about my prayer request and said that she should be on the lookout for roses... That was my quest...

Over the next few weeks, the houses to look at were far and few between. And it seemed the ones we did look at, weren't much to look at... lots of repairs, or bad neighborhoods, etc... and the few that we did make offers on were just not meant to be. Still trying to keep a positive outlook, I was feeling pretty defeated... like maybe we just weren't meant to move to a bigger home in a better neighborhood... maybe we were just meant to rent forever...

The second week of October my realtor called me on a Saturday afternoon. She had just gotten word about a house and she really wanted me to meet her there to see it. It sounded really good to her... So, a bit reluctantly, hubby told me to go. I went, and I remember thinking/praying along the way, telling St. Therese, that if this was the house, she was going to have to make it clear to me.... My prayer all along was that she lead us to the house that God had picked out for us.... I arrived less than 3 miles of our current home to what appeared to be a fairly nice/quiet neighborhood. The house was nice, clean, big.... everything we were looking for... except roses.... there were no roses... and I had told St. Therese on the way over that I would be looking for them... ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE.... and I did... there were some bloom less rose bushes in the back yard, but nowhere did I see a single rose... not even on the tiles in the house... My realtor was emphatic that we make an offer and I told her I would talk to hubby about it.

So, when I got home I showed hubby the pictures and told him that Cindy (our Realtor) thought we should make an offer. After the last 6 1/2 months with no luck he said, "why not?" and I was pretty much of the opinion "whatev..." so we did.

I kept praying my now perpetual novena and scanning the listings looking for THE house and two weeks came and went. Normally, in the past, when we had made offers we heard back within the week. Having not heard a word from anyone in two weeks, we had moved on from this last offer when Cindy called us out of the blue to tell us that our offer had been excepted.

"Really?.... huh...." I was sort of in shock... I thought, "But there were no roses... okay, God... who am I to argue with God and His Angels and Saints?..." so, I began to get things ready for a move...

Escrow was supposed to be a MAXIMUM 30 days, according to the seller. They didn't want to give at all, even when we asked for 35... Nope. November 20 was the closing date... Well, then there was the holidays, so it became November 30, than December 4th, then the 7th, 8th and FINALLY we closed on the 9th. So the month of November was WAY crazy between packing 21 years worth of stuff, with 5 kids and a husband that had pretty much NO TIME off, since he took it off during Thanksgiving week when we THOUGHT we were going to move... and then the holidays mixed in, it was pretty crazy...

But we DID get moved, thanks be to God and our guardian angels! and were even able to host Christmas Dinner and a small New Years party at our new home. And the house, even though I wasn't "sold" on it at first, was really starting to grow on me. So many things happened in our first weeks here that seemed to just fall in to place and we felt SO blessed that this really MUST be where God wanted us to be, roses or no roses... : )

about a month after we moved in, my husband was headed out the front door to return to work after his lunch when he was met by the postal carrier, who handed him our mail. In the mix was a letter addressed to the former proprietors of the house.... "St. Therese Group Home"

I kid you not.... I was stunned when my husband came in and told me. I asked him to repeat it 3 different times to make sure he wasn't kidding me! He had forgotten about my novena! I had sort of let it go, figuring that regardless, prayers were OBVIOUSLY answered... but St. Therese had NOT forgotten my prayers... No, she didn't send roses... she sent me HER HOUSE!! : )

I was so excited I emailed my realtor, Cindy (a long time friend from Church), right away. She wrote back that my story had given her chills, but she had to add to it... her confirmation name was "St. Therese".... : ) I guess she WAS really with me, all along....

So here we are, settling in our first home to call our own. And in the living room, on the piano sits the antique statue that came from my mom, who got it from her mother many, many years ago... of St. Therese... God is SO good! St. Therese, pray for us!

I'm Back : )

Just a short notification to anyone that still might be checking in! (I hope you do!) but I'm back! Life has been crazy and there is SO MUCH to catch up on... But I have REALLY MISSED my Blog and writing about life etc... SO! Without further ado....