Just a Catholic Mom

Praying at Meals & Cultivating Gratitude: With Thanksgiving drawing near, I started thinking, how many times does my family take the food we have to eat for granted? Do we stop to think how blessed we are to have the food in front of us? To have the availability of so many foods at grocery stores nearby, and the financial means, to not just buy healthy food for our bodies, but often cookies and other treats because we can? Growing up, my family prayed before eating dinner, and my husband and I are teaching our children to pray at breakfast and lunch as well. It’s good to be thankful and express gratitude, and helping our children appreciate and be grateful for what they have is something we see as a valuable lesson. I know, as a busy mom, eating breakfast often takes place in rounds at my home, and by the time I finally get to eat, I sometimes start eating and then with the bite in my mouth realize I’ve forgotten to pray. So, if you haven’t prayed before meals in a while or, like m...

Amen:  How many times have you said the word “Amen?” If you think about it, you’ve probably said it thousands of times in your life, but have you ever stopped to wonder what the word “Amen” means? I know I never did until recently when my daughter asked me what it meant after praying, and I had to admit that I didn’t know, but it’s always said at the end of prays. When I looked up the word “Amen,” I discovered that its origin is from the Hebrew language and that in English it translates to “it is so” or “so it be” ( Dictionary.com/amen ). So, when we prayer a pray, such as “The Our Father,” and resound “Amen” at its conclusion, we are in fact declaring our confirmation of the prayer—that the words we have spoken are indeed true and, therefore, the truth.  Words have power. The  Bible tells us, in the Gospel According to John, that “In the beginning was the Word; the Word was in God’s presence, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), and “The Word became flesh...” (John 1:14). F...

All Saints & All Souls Day: Nov. 1st & 2nd Have you ever thought about being a saint? As Catholics, we believe that we are ALL called to a life of universal holiness and striving for sanctification. When I read the book, Rediscover the Saints,  by Matthew Kelly, I was struck by one of the questions he posed. In his book, Kelly asked how many times do you pray that your children become saints? Wow! What a wonderful prayer! Since reading this, I have made it a point to pray to the Lord that if it be His will, please let me children be saints in His eyes. Prayer is so important; and as parents, asking the Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph, and of course the Lord Himself, to help you raise your children and help them have a faith that grows and grows in love and devotion for the Lord all the days of their lives and become saints in His eyes, I believe is one of the greatest blessings and most wonderful things we as parents can do for our children. The day after Halloween—All Hallows...

Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles: Feast Day October 28th Today we celebrate Saints Simon and Jude who were two of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles. We know that both saints were martyred for spreading the faith, and that Saint Jude was a cousin of Jesus. If you’re like me, you’re probably more familiar with Saint Jude because of Saint Jude Children's Hospital in Tennessee, and the fact that he's known as the Patron Saint of Impossible Causes and often prayed to asking for his intercession for healing and hope. If you're interested in learning more about him, here is some a dditional reading about Saint Jude, from the National Shrine of Saint Jude , as well as a link to beautiful  Prayers for Saint Jude’s intercession.  We all have our crosses to bear. Some are known to others and some are private known only to God and to ourself. Praying to Saints, like Saint Jude, and asking for their intercession is a wonderful gift. How many times have you asked friends or family members to pray fo...

Surrender: How Will You Live Today?  All our lives, we think and plan. What will tomorrow bring? What will I be when I grow up? Where will I attend school? Who will I marry? Where will I live? Questions. We have countless questions, thoughts and plans. But have you ever thought about what God wants you to do? What His will for you is if you would just let go of yours and listen for the quiet whisper of his voice within your heart? When you surrender your will, your true will and freedom will be found. How will you allow God to lead you and help you live your life today? Here is a prayer I wrote in 2011 that might help you start this conversation with God.  Prayer of the Willing Servant  In my free will, I freely will, the free will that you gave. To do your will, to give my life to whatever will you may. To be your servant, though not worthy, please use my life for good. And change my heart, my mind, my tongue, my soul to listen to your word. Please let my hands reach out...

Adoration:  What exactly does the word adoration mean? If you look the term adoration up in the dictionary, the following are the definitions you will see: deep love and respect, worship and veneration. These are powerful words and emotions, yet their true power lies in the action of humility, for to adore, one recognizes that the object or person being adored is more important than themselves or anything in the world. What or whom do you adore and bestow upon adoration? Has the definition and meaning of adoration been misplaced in today’s society? I wonder... In the Catholic Church, the term adoration is given to honor Jesus in the Holy Eucharistic—Eucharistic Adoration. I was born a cradle Catholic, but honestly I didn’t understand or appreciate the beauty and devotion Eucharistic Adoration expresses until I was in my early twenties. It was when I started sitting quietly before the Lord, present in the Holy Eucharist, on a weekly basis during graduate school, that I came to reali...

Saint John Paul II: Feast Day Oct. 22nd  Did you know that three amazing saints came from Poland and were all alive at one point during the same time? I often wonder what Saint John Paul II, Saint Faustina, and Saint Maximilian Kolbe’s encounter would have been like had they met. Saint Faustina’s love of Jesus and her devotion to spreading his message of Divine Mercy...Saint Maximilian Kolbe’s love and devotion of Mother Mary and praying the rosary...his establishment of the Militia Immaculata (Knights of the Immaculate) whose purpose was the promotion of Marian consecration... and Saint John Paul II’s wisdom of theology of the body, love of Divine Mercy, and his canonization of Saint Faustina as the first saint to be cannonized in the tewenty-first-century...What an inspiring and dynamic saintly trio! Just like these three holy saints lived in the time they did, we are all alive in the specific time we are living because God has some purpose for us in mind. What is God calling you...

Saint Teresa of Avila: Feast Day Oct. 15th Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, is a beautiful inspiration for not only how to pray, but also how to love the Blessed Virgin Mary as a spiritual mother. One thing that I personally love about Saint Teresa of Avila is that she always reflected upon Christ’s presence in the Holy Eucharist. Back in January of this year, I began to reflect upon how I approach Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, if I truly believe—which I do—that Jesus makes himself present to us through the mystery of the Holy Eucharist, then how could I remind myself of this wonderful gift and humble myself before him? For me, I decided that I would genuflect/kneel before receiving Jesus in the Eucharist and mentally recite: “My Lord and my God.” I believe by doing this small act of reverence I am able to remind myself that I am truly in the presence of the King of Kings. How wonderful is that to know that we are in the presence of such an amazing King, a King who is waitin...

Blessed Carlo Acutis: Feast Day Oct. 12th  2020 has been a crazy year. Yet in the midst of fear and chaos, 2020 has also been filled with blessings and goodness. 20-20 vision is considered perfect sight. I wonder...is God using 2020 as a way to slow life down in order to provide us with opportunities for reflection? To evaluate our priorities and what is truly important to us? To perfect our sight beyond 20-20 enabling us to have better vision? I wonder... For my family, we've seen the following goodness and blessings from 2020. We've been provided opportunities to grow even closer together. With my husband working from home most days, we've been able to enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner together as a family. My husband's been able to talk with our kids at lunch and ask them how their morning has been, and we've all been able to pray together at 3:00pm unless he is on a phone-conference. The pandemic, through its suspension of many things, in many ways, I believe, h...

Finding the "Extraordinary" in Ordinary Time As Catholics, Ordinary Time is the part of the liturgical season that is not Advent, the Christmas season, Lent, Triduum, Easter or the Easter season. As a season, it can be 33 to 34 weeks long, making it the longest liturgical season in the church calendar! So, what do you do during this long liturgical season? Ordinary Time is the perfect opportunity to grow in your own spirituality and help your family’s domestic church flourish and grow in faith. You can, in a sense, view Ordinary Time as the “preparation time” offered to you and your family to help you prepare your hearts, minds, and souls as you enter the most important liturgical seasons of the church.  So don’t shrug Ordinary Time off just because it’s not Lent or Easter, because Ordinary Time is not really “ordinary” at all, but rather important and an “extraordinary” gift for growth and preparation. Jesus spent time preparing before his public ministry began, and by doing...

Our Lady of the Rosary: Feast Day Oct. 7th Today as we celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, you and your family can embrace a “rose theme” for the day.  Food: If you’re up for trying something new, have tea time with rose and mint tea, which can be purchased at most grocery stores, and serve it with either rosemary shortbread cookies or apple rosemary tea bread.   If you make the cookies, you and your children can cut them out in the shape of roses if you have a rose shaped cookie cutter.  Prayer: Try praying a decade of the rosary together as a family or the entire rosary together if your children are older. This article has helpful ways to teach your kids how to pray the rosary. A friend of mine shared the website RosaryCenter.org, and their how to pray the rosary section has a wonderful section on how to pray the rosary using scripture that you and your family can also try. Crafts: For younger kids, you can let them pick a rose coloring page to co...

Saint Faustina: Feast Day Oct. 5th Saint Faustina is one of my favorite saints. Her burning  love for Christ, her devotion of offering up everything she did for the conversion of sinners or people she encountered needing prayers, and her true childlike humility before the Lord are just some of the saintly qualities of hers that I admire. Make no mistake about it, Saint Faustina is the Apostle of Divine Mercy! I don’t know if you’ve ever read Saint Faustina’s Diary, but if you haven’t, you definitely should! Her writings are filled with beautiful words from Jesus about his offering of mercy to those who gaze upon and venerate his Divine Mercy image, which he instructed Saint Faustina to have painted.  Since early spring 2019, my family and I have grown in our love for Jesus’ message of Divine Mercy. In 2019 we attended a special Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday after Easter) Mass with confession, adoration, and reception of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus told Saint Faustina that his ...

Saint Francis of Assisi: Feast Day Oct. 4th Saint Francis is probably one of the most well known and beloved saints of people throughout the world. Is it his decision to turn away from wealth and instead choose a life of poverty that inspires us? His love of all God’s animals and the tradition of blessing the animals on his feast day? Or is it the beautiful “Prayer of Saint Francis” and his asking to be used as a channel of peace by God? (If  you’re interested in reading about the tradition of blessing the animals and the prayer that is often used, here is a link from  Franciscan Media ). As we celebrate Saint Francis today, I ask you to think what is it that inspires you about him and how you can use that inspiration to help you grow in your own journey towards sanctification. Pope Francis, the only pope so far to select the name Francis as his papal name, challenges us through his selection of the Saint from Assisi’s name, to be beautiful witnesses and models of peace and s...

Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels: Feast Day Oct. 2nd Ever since my oldest child was eight months old, I’ve been taking my kids to daily Mass once a week. What started out as a Lenten promise turned into a weekly routine that has continued now for three years, and has become one of the best things I’ve been able to do for my children as a mom. Sure, there are Masses when I feel like I haven’t heard a word because I’ve been trying to keep a cranky toddler happy, but through this sacrifice even if my ears are not always able to receive, I believe my children are being given the greatest gift they can receive by attending Mass.  Today, on the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, as my children and I attended Mass with my parents, the Gospel reading from Matthew talked about bringing the little children to Jesus and that those who are the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are like the little children. In his homily, our priest talked about the wonderful gift God has given us all by as...