Just a Catholic Mom

Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions: Feast Day June 3rd Would you have the courage to profess your Christian faith, refusing to renounce it, if you knew professing your faith would mean your death? For those of us in countries where Christianity is the prominent faith, we might feel too far removed from this question. But like Saint Charles Lwanga, a Christian page in Uganda who continued to profess his Catholic faith and was condemned to death by King Mwanga and burned alive, this question is a reality for our Christian brothers and sisters in China, the Middle East, and other countries and regions of the world where Christian minorities are persecuted. In modern times, we like to think that Christian martyrdom is something of the past, that surely, with all of civilization's advancements, we have long moved away from such barbarities. Unfortunately, however, this is not the case. Not only is it true that the physical martyrdom of Christians still takes place throughout the world ...

Mary Mother of the Church: Feast Day the Day After Pentecost  Tucked inside my copy of 33 Days to Morning Glory , among other treasured mementos, is a folded newspaper clipping that reads: "New Feast Emphasizes Mary as Mother." The Catholic Church has long taught that the Blessed Virgin Mary is our spiritual mother, and that she is the mother of the church, but it wasn't until 2018 that this beautiful feast day was added to the official liturgical calendar to be celebrated annually the day after Pentecost. Writing this blog post today, on my birthday, I can't help but smile as I hold the newspaper clipping in my hand, because the first time the feast of Mary Mother of the Church was celebrated in 2018 was May 21st, my birthday! When I reflect back on 2018, it's amazing to see how my faith journey and seeing the Blessed Virgin Mary as my spiritual mother was growing even if I didn't quite see it myself. May 13th, 2018 was the day I made my Marian consecration, ...

Invite Your Parish Priest Over for Dinner: Four months after moving into our new house, my husband and I decided to invite our parish priest over for dinner and to bless our new home. We still had piles of unpacked boxes, our toddlers were bouncing off the walls with excitement, and my husband and I were a little nervous. Was our home clean enough? Would we be able to engage in good conversations with our guest? When the doorbell rang, our children raced to the door, and began bouncing around, welcoming Father inside. During dinner, we found that the conversations flowed easily. We shared stories about where we grew up, our families, and various other details as we got to know one another outside of church. We laughed as our daughter spilled the beans that my husband and I were expecting our third child, and when we shared our due date, our priest began enthusiastically sharing all sorts of common, as well as some crazy sounding, saint names for days on and near our due date.  Afte...

Make a Rosary Garden—Planting Flowers and the Seeds of Prayer:  On the lawn outside of my family's parish, there is a stepping-stone Marian-Rosary garden. Often, after attending daily Mass, on warm or non rainy days, my children love to run around the rosary stones, encircling the statue of Mary, and sit upon the garden's benches. The days when they would run around, only able to exclaim the words, "Hail, Mary! Hail, Mary! Hail Mary!" for each stone, are precious treasured memories I hold within my heart. When we entered the pandemic shutdown, in the spring of 2020, I didn't realize just how much I missed the rosary garden tradition my children and I had after Mass. When my husband and I scheduled confession with our pastor, twelve days into the shutdown, we took turns waiting with our children and letting them play and pray in the rosary garden, while we participated in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I'd always desired to make a Mary/Rosary garden in our ba...

Celebrate First Communion Anniversaries: Most of us receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist when we’re in the second grade.  We’ve prepared all year, and now, filled with joyful anticipation, the moment we will receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ is here. Really reflect on that for a moment. As Catholics, every Sunday (and weekday), we have the opportunity to receive Jesus—His body, soul, and divinity—in the Holy Eucharist, and continue to join in communion with him. Wow! When you reflect upon this amazing reality, the word “wow” does not even begin to describe the truth that is contained in the Holy Eucharist. Now, years after making our first communions, I wonder... Do we continue to approach and receive Him with the same enthusiasm and excitement we did as children on our First Communion Day? Or do we take this treasured sacrament, and He who is present in it, for granted; merely going through the motions instead of reflecting upon whom we are receivi...