Psalm 23

Angel My God

"When tempted, invoke your angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped! Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: He trembles and flees at the sight of your guardian angel."

~St. John Bosco

Angel of God,

my guardian dear,

To whom God's love

commits me here,

Ever this day,

be at my side,

To light and guard,

Rule and guide.

Amen

St. Michael the Archangel, 

defend us in battle. 

Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. 

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, 

and do thou, 

O Prince of the heavenly hosts, 

by the power of God, 

thrust into hell Satan, 

and all the evil spirits, 

who prowl about the world 

seeking the ruin of souls. 

Amen

Healing Prayers

"Each one of us is part of that healing process - called to see that the people who have abortions, as well as the people who perform and promote abortion, are not our enemies. Rather, they are captive to the enemy." 

~Fr. Frank Pavone

Eternal Father,
Source of all mercy and love,
out of love for us you sent your Son,
and willed that blood and water
flow from his side to cleanse us of sin
and restore lost innocence.

Hear the cry of each woman who mourns
the loss of her child to abortion.
Forgive her sin, restore her to your grace,
and still the terror of her heart
with a peace beyond all understanding.
Through the intercession
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of all tenderness and our Mother,
strengthen her faith in you.
Give her the consolation to believe
that her child is now living in the Lord.
We ask this through Christ our Lord,
who conquered sin and death,
and who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Text by Msgr. James Moroney.

Know someone who needs prayer and healing? Free Prayer booklet

“I am a little pencil in God's hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more.” 

~Mother Teresa

I'm Moving!

I'm selling my home, giving away all my possessions (well almost all) and entering the monastery as a candidate (To become a sister…a nun, a consecrated religious)! I will enter in July with the Franciscan Sisters, TOR of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother!

The monastery is located in Toronto, Ohio, near Steubenville. After years of praying, discerning, (not alone) I thankfully have a spiritual director (thank you Fr. Kevin) who guided me through this process, God Bless him! I did visit other communities. I did discern other vocations, but do feel after much prayer this is the vocation God is calling me. After I enter, discernment does not end, it continues. All everyone wants is to be certain that I can live the consecrated religious life happy…nobody wants to see an unhappy sister right???

Please pray for me that I may do God's will! 

Here's more information if you are interested. (These are common questions I had when I began discerning and questions I have been asked by family and friends when I started sharing my vocation).

Will you be able to email/text? 

Nope. I will be embracing a life of poverty. All personal electronics gone…no email, no smartphone, no (personal) Facebook. To stay up-to-date the sisters have a Facebook page and send out newsletters periodically. 

What about your car, house, etc.?? 

I won't own anything!! Just like the Rich Man (which actually was one of the gospel accounts that started to really speak to my heart and stir something up...) I am going to leave just about all and follow Jesus! Something that is really cool, my lease on my truck is up almost to the day that I enter in August! I’m in the process of working with a realtor now to get the house on the market. I’m trusting that God will provide and take care of this too. Bailey, my dog of 8 years, she’s been a faithful companion to both me and Mike and really got us both through some rough times. My parents are going to take care of her for me. Thank goodness.

Will I see you again, get to visit? 

I hope so! The community is not a cloistered community (though there is much beauty to that way of life, I do not feel called to that way). This community is an contemplative-active. What does that mean? It means they balance their time between prayer, work and ministry. I will have 2 weeks of vacation time a year. Vacation as in time to come home, not to hop on a plane and hit the beach at a resort. :). The sisters host various events throughout the year for guests to attend at the monastery, so perhaps I will see you there! Also the sisters actually come to the Cleveland area for various events. 

How long will this take… until you know, you're um, a Sister? 

About 8 years. There are various stages in the formation process. 1 year of candidacy, 1 year of postulancy, (At this point you become Sr.______, take a religious name, and wear the religious veil) then 2 years of novitiate, then 1^st vow profession. Then it is typically 4 more years until final vows = professed sister!

Do the sisters wear a habit? 

Yes. I won’t wear a habit or veil right away though. (Veil at novitiate and Habit at 1^st vows). Before that candidates and postulates dress in modified ways. (No more street clothes though. Good bye converse sneakers and jeans. :)

Will you teach? 

Yes and No. I will not be a regular classroom teacher any longer. I will teach in a sense, but it might just look different than how I have taught in the past. After 14 years of teaching, this is going to be a big change. But this is something I really started to consider when I was thinking about what does God want me to do. The mission of the community is to make known God's merciful love and I thought that speaks to my heart. That’s where I’ve fallen in love with Jesus. I fell in love through his forgiveness, his mercy in the midst of pain, sinfulness and in some the emptiest moments of my life when I felt lost and had nothing; in that nothingness though I found everything. Perhaps there are ways I can use the skills that I have acquired as a teacher to make God's mercy known.

My late husband, Mike was a such a big part of this faith journey he helped me so much and taught me so much. We grew in our faith and love for the Church together as a married couple. The best gift we gave each other was fulfilling our role as husband and wife in helping one another grow in holiness. But we were not able to do it alone we had a lot of help. I am thankful that God has placed so many faithful witnesses in our lives (and continues to do so)! Though I may not fully understand the circumstances, I trust what God has planned is much greater than I could ever imagine. I cannot do this alone, but by the grace of God all things are possible. I need prayer and support, I have much to improve on, loads to catch-up on, please keep me in your prayers. 

"Totally love Him, Who gave Himself totally for your love." ~St. Clare of Assisi

Seven Sorrows

"Love draws all the pains, torments, sufferings, sorrows &; wounds of the passion, cross and even the death of our Redeemer into the heart of his most holy Mother." 

~St. Francis de Sales

Prayed the Seven Sorrows of Mary with our After-School Prayer Club yesterday. We didn't have the proper rosaries to use, so I placed markers around the room and they moved for each "bead". We used a beautiful PowerPoint to guide our prayer and then I used this handout to read a scripture and prayer between each sorrow.

"Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God. "

~ St. Ignatius of Loyola