A Resolution Worth Keeping!

Dear Friends,  

As we enter the New Year it is natural to look back on 2015 and tempting to resolve how we can make 2016 even better. We often focus on goals that deal with our health ("I’m going to snack on only carrots and celery!”), our weight (“Everyday I will work out and by March I’ll look like a supermodel!”), our work (“This year I am going to be über organized!”), our homes (“My house will look magazine-photo-shoot ready at all times!) And let’s face it, those goals usually last until the second week of January… or for me January 3!  

So, I thought I’d offer you a resolution you can keep, and one with an eternal effect!   We are in the Jubilee Year of Mercy, truly an extraordinary time in Church history. It is a time when the doors of God’s mercy are opened wide and we are invited to walk through them and into the embrace of His merciful love like never before. Simply put, why not resolve this year to embrace the gift of God’s mercy?

There are many ways we can do this—make a point to go to confession once a month… volunteer at a homeless shelter… be extremely forgiving… comfort a friend in need… perhaps make a pilgrimage to a local cathedral and walk through the holy doors, which have been opened for this Jubilee year. This is a beautiful outward sign of and inner yearning to transform your heart and turn back to God. Or, better yet, why not join us for the upcoming WINE & Shrine Women’s Pilgrimage through Italy, June 17-26, 2016!  

This is going to be a spectacular pilgrimage! Our saintly female focus is unique, our timing during the Jubilee Year of Mercy is perfect, and our itinerary is beyond fabulous. This pilgrimage has been prayerfully planned with the intercession of some seriously saintly women who we will be spending time with in Italy—Catherine of Siena, Rita, Clare, Monica, Helena, Scholastica, Cecelia, and Priscilla—to name a few!

We will walk through the holy doors in Rome, have a tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel with American-born art historian Dr. Elizabeth Lev, experience the peace of Assisi and the beauty of Siena, celebrate Mass in historical churches, shop in quaint areas, enjoy a wine tasting and cooking lesson in Umbria, grow in fellowship with our sisters on the tour, and our sisters in heaven!  

Make a resolution that is worth keeping! Take advantage of this extraordinary time in Church history!

Sign up today, and experience the graces that come with pilgrimage to Rome during a Holy Year…. And do it with your sisters!  For more information, a flyer, and to register visit: WINE & Shrine: Visiting the Great Female Saints of Italy.  

Blessings and Happy New Year!

Embracing My Inner Martha: Living the Lesson Learned

Marta... Marta... Marta.... What do you mean, “Did you make a Facebook Evite yet?” Don’t you know I just zipped that last email about the upcoming event off quickly so I could get to my cut and color appointment ten minutes late, race to my 14-year-old’s lacrosse game, leave early to bee-line it to the batting cages to pick up my son, find him food, drop him off at home, throw in a load of whites, pick up my 17-year-old from play practice, drive her to her babysitting job, pick up toilet paper and syrup at the grocery store, dash home to feed the dog, and sit down to frantically write this article that is due in... um... 3 hours! And all on a night that I promised myself I was going to let go of my inner “Martha” and connect with my inner “Mary”. So how am doing so far?

Ya... ya... ya... I know. Martha has snubbed out Mary again, and that can be such a discouraging feeling—especially on days when I tell myself I am going to schedule time to just sit and pray. 

When I find myself overcome by daily activities that cut into my time with the Lord, I can easily beat myself up and conclude, I am the worst disciple of Christ, ever! And it gets worse; Truth be told, I like my inner Martha, busy though she may be, I am comfortable with her. Often times, I welcome the distraction she brings, because when I sit with my inner Mary, I find myself fidgeting, or wondering what I’m going to make for dinner, or lamenting over all of the things I could be getting done. Then I think, I can’t even concentrate on prayer, I am the worst disciple, ever! It is at these moments I hear, “Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, you are anxious and troubled about many things.” Yep, Lord, you got me pegged there. Then I hear the soft gentle voice of Jesus saying, “One thing is needful” (Luke 10:41), and my heart settles because I know that just being with Him is enough. I need not worry that I am fidgety or that my prayer isn’t good enough, I am with Him. I need not fret over the fact that beef stroganoff has entered my mind, I’ll acknowledge it might be a great dinner option and go back to rest in Him. I need not worry over what activities I’ve put on hold: discipleship sometimes requires that tasks be suspended while the relationship is nurtured. All I need to do is keep my eyes on Jesus.

It is at times like this I remind myself that Jesus liked His “Martha” too. In fact, he loved her. John 11: 5 begins with, “Now Jesus loved Martha.” I imagine he loved seeing her live her many virtues such as hospitality, kindness, and a deep faith. I think many misunderstand His call to her to recognize that she was anxious about many things as a reprimand to her for being busy serving. Jesus didn’t chide Martha for the fact that she was being hospitable. He opened her eyes to the fact that many troubles distracted her from keeping her eyes on Him. He pretty much said, “Martha, eyes on Me.” And get this, not only was it a beautiful lesson for Martha, it seems to have spurred a desire in the disciples to want to know how they too could find that down time, how they could suspend their tasks and work on their relationship with God; for, in the next chapter, St. Luke tells us “one of His disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray...’” As a mom, I know this type of teaching all too well. You teach a lesson to a child in earshot of the others who too need to learn that very lesson.

Jesus, the ultimate teacher, was successful in His lesson that day with all audiences. When we see Martha again she proves her eyes are now on Jesus, meaning she trusts Him. She greets Jesus on the road (again a beautiful act of hospitality) and says, “And even now I know whatever you ask from God, God will give you” (John 11:22). She goes on to say, “Yes, Lord: I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world” (John 11:27). 

At the beginning of the story, the Lord saw Martha’s troubled heart, now she has her eyes fixed on Him and those troubles seem to be replaced with a boldness of faith, a complete trust in Him, a knowledge of the “good portion” (Luke 11:42). Martha learned to let go of the troubles, forego some of the tasks to rest in the Lord, yet she still continued to live out her marvelous virtues. She still greeted the Lord on the road and in John 12:2 we see she continued to serve him supper. The difference is she now had a balance between her active and contemplative life, because she kept her eyes on Jesus.

So now that the kids are fed and tucked into bed and this article is coming to a close, I am going to go put my eyes on Jesus, and just sit with Him, and no matter what distractions enter my mind, I’m going to stay put and know that even the effort is bound to make me a good disciple of Christ; because, discipleship sometimes requires that tasks be suspended while the relationship is nurtured. So last load of laundry, consider your trip to the dryer suspended!

Mediatrix of All Graces? What???

"Mary is the heart of the Church. This is why all works spring from her. It is well known that the heart has two movements; systole and diastole. Thus Mary is always performing these two movements: absorbing grace from her Most Holy Son, and pouring it forth on sinners." ~St. Anthony Mary Claret

The Communion of Saints at Work

On the 8th anniversary of his entrance into heaven, a successor pays the tomb of Blessed John Paul II a visit to ask for his intercession. Incredible to see this picture and to know that Pope Emeritus Benedict was bending his friend John Paul's ear today too... and why wouldn't they?

Can you picture Blessed John Paul II turning with that big smile of his and saying to Our Lady, "Let's go talk to your Son about the needs of two of my buddies." :)