And although I’ve been neglectful to share…the blessings have continued to hang-out with me and be there!
My recent blessings:
The Saints God sent me this week to guard & guide me. Most especially St. Pontian (for his understanding heart,) and St. Hippolytus (for his loving obedience.)
The ridiculously-fun-real-life-relationships I have with my 3 adult children and how we have all stuck together these past 2 years, despite the messiness of life!🙈 They fulfill me, challenge me & bring me closer to God every day in various ways! No matter how exhausted I may become there is always energy to laugh together!🙉 #ohhowilovethem #notmymonkeysnotmycircus🙊
The new friends I made during our pilgrimage to see our Papa, Pope Francis, in Philadelphia, Pa! This includes ‘The Mexicans’ (and all those I met from all over the World!)
I do pray pardon for bear-ly keeping up with this challenge & invite you, once again, to forage your thoughts before hibernating tonight and give thanks for your 3hugs&blessings this day/week too!
Let’s all keep spreading happiness with 3hugs&blessings at a time!
(And may this not be to awfully botherly-bother for you to do!)
I can bearly wait to count my blessings for the week ahead! (Think. Think. Think.)
These 3hugs&blessings are for you, as I’m praying you’ll count your blessings too!!
“In the world you will have trouble but take courage I have conquered the world!!!!”
Today is the Feast Day of my gal-pal, St. Faustina!!!!
(aka: Helen Kowalska before taking her vows as a Sister of Our Lady of Mercy!)
And oh, how I love her!❤️
Our dog’s name is…Helen Kowalska too!
In 2014 as I began reading St. Faustina’s personal Diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, I had no idea the spiritual growth I would experience from the written experience of her life-lived out. But today I lift up prayers of gratitude for all I have gained through her example! God has moved me forward, in many aspects, as He clarified for me during that time spent reading her Diary, what it means to love beyond measure…regardless of the burdens or sorrows that may come. She continues to guide me and remind me that everyone deserves mercy!
I will always be grateful for this gift and the immense peace which has remained in my heart as a result.
Our Parish priest, Fr Larry Richards, has taught us a wonderful way of incorporating scripture into our daily lives. We have learned from him:
“No Bible, no breakfast! No Bible, no bed!”
This morning I decided to do my “breakfast portion” of Scripture in our Chapel prior to Morning Mass. And since it is a day all about her, I invited my gal-pal St. Faustina to be with me as I invoked the Holy Spirit; hoping she’d nudge Him in a direction that was merciful!
“Speak to me Your Word, Oh Lord, that I may know you, love you, and serve You.”
And (as I’d hoped in my heart) St Faustina, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, (I believe) nudged Him in a kind & gentle direction; affirming what has been (being) revealed to me for quite some time. As I randomly broke open the Word this is where He rested my eyes:
Lamentations 3: 55-62 & 24 “I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for help!” You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life. Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me; you will judge my cause! You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. Lord, you have heard their insults, all their devices against me—what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. …”The Lordis my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.“”
A grateful giggle bubbled up inside me because of course St. Faustina would know the words I would rejoice over in celebration of this day for her! This restful heart He has been strengthening in me, she too found rest in these words as others mocked, judged & spoke poorly of her. And this is why she is so close to my heart! Her courage, to follow the ways of her Lord, despite the suffering she endured, has shone a light on my own humble attempts to love others despite what is returned to me. And to pray always for a conversion of heart; especially for those in need of the grace to love unconditionally in return.
Thank you St. Faustina!
For giving abundantly to me, through your example, with each reminder of what it means to place our trust in Him!
Enough thanksgiving from me…now it’s ALL ABOUT Helen!
When this saint was born in Poland on August 25, 1905, her parents named her Helen. In her short life on earth, she carried out the important mission of teaching the world about the mercy of Jesus. From the time she was seven years old, Helen knew she wanted to live a life consecrated to God as a sister. When she was twenty-five, she entered the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, taking the name Sister Faustina. Her work was simple. She cooked, tended the convent garden, and answered the door. Her kindness, serenity, and spirit of recollection were remarkable. But few people knew the real depths of her spirituality. God blessed Sister Faustina with many extraordinary gifts, including visions, prophecy, and invisible stigmata. In one of the visions Sister Faustina had, Jesus appeared in a white garment. He raised one hand in blessing and touched his heart with the other. Two rays of light, one red, the other pale, spread out from his heart. The red ray represented the saving blood of Christ; the pale ray stood for the cleansing water of Baptism. Jesus said, “Have an image painted just as you see me, with the words ‘Jesus, I trust in You.’” Jesus told Sister Faustina that the Sunday after Easter was to be the Feast of Divine Mercy.
Sister Faustina kept a diary in which she wrote down everything that Jesus wanted the world to know about his mercy. In it, she wrote about prayer as a loving relationship with God. Jesus told her that she was his secretary. It was her special work to encourage people to trust in the limitless mercy of God.
Jesus promised forgiveness and abundant graces to anyone who would honor the Feast of Divine Mercy. Devotion to Divine Mercy consists in trusting in God’s goodness, loving one’s neighbor, remaining in the state of grace with the help of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and receiving Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday.
After only thirteen years of religious life, Sister Faustina died of tuberculosis on October 5, 1938. She was thirty-three years old. Pope John Paul II declared her a saint on April 30, 2000.
Jesus told St. Maria Faustina, “I expect you to show mercy always and everywhere. You cannot excuse yourself from this.”
The best way to show that we trust in the mercy of Jesus is to be merciful and forgiving to the people who hurt us.
Are we willing to do this?
hugs n’ blessings to all those who love enough…to forgive!
Helen reminds us to pray for all those who (for today) cannot!
There were numerous blessings during my pilgrimage to be with Holy Father, Pope Francis.
Some were personal and others shared. One inparticular was filled with great grace.
(Grace is God extending favor toward us that we do not deserve.)
Mother Superior & Sister, Members of The Sisters of The Light of Christ
On Saturday evening I discovered, as I was departing the Ben Franklin Parkway Oval where I had been standing for 7 hours awaiting the chance to see the Holy Father at the World Meeting of Families Ceremony, I had lost one of my treasured rosaries.
This rosary was given to me by a special young person while on retreat together. They had made it themselves and the cord it was made from had been dipped & died in the colors of the Divine Mercy of Chirst; which as I have mentioned I hold a special devotion to. ( You may read more about this in several of my posts under the Divine Mercy Page, located on the Menu Bar!) I had tied this rosary around my wrist, so that I would have easy access to pray the Rosary throughout my time in Philadelphia.
And I did!
I prayed on the bus,
while walking from one train to another,
while walking to the Grotto (read more about this in an upcoming blog,)
as well as with new friends from Mexico!
(Even though I do not speak more than 20 words of Spanish they helped me to follow along.)
I am pretty certain it was lost in the course of trying to find a woman, in our pilgrimage group, who had gone missing. As I searched the area for her and while speaking to the authorites regarding the situation, I am confident it fell from my wrist. Praise be she was found, but my rosary had been lost! And although I retraced the areas I had traveled through, St. Anthony was not interceding for me this time!
The next day I felt the significance of it’s loss while praying the rosary on my walk, again to the Parkway; this time to celebrate Holy Mass with Christs’ Vicar, Pope Francis!!! (There is always a way to pray the rosary with 10 fingers as your “beads!”)
When I arrived at the Parkway I again marveled at the enormous number of people, just like me, who were bubbling with joyful anticipation over what was to unfold this day! And yet still there was an under-current of saddness regarding losing my rosary as I recognized my eyese were turned automatically toward the ground as I walked, in hopes of finding it. Not long after I had chosen a spot where I would set myself up to wait for Papa’s arrival, I felt a tug at the hem of my skirt. Turning around to see what had pulled at me so forceably…I found a darling olive-skinned litle girl, holding up toward me in her tiny hand, a clear plastic bag, motioning for me to take hold of it. “For me?” I asked. And with the biggest grin on her face, she bobbed here head up & down with the gesture of an enthusiastic “Yes!” Accepting the bag to see what was inside, there I found….a home-made rosary.
My Rosary-Angel!
God had guided this little angel to find me & replace what had been lost.
I asked if I might give her a hug for this gift she had just given and without hesitation she warmly melted into my arms. I thanked & introduced myself to the man standing close behind her, who explained he was her father. Speaking in very broken English he explained that after coming to America from Cuba just 5 years ago, their entire family gathers each Saturday to make Rosaries together. They are then given the responsibility to hand out 5 rosaries (each) that next Sunday, as a way of offering thanks to the Holy Mother for protecting them during the course of traveling safely to America. This family has committed themselves to giving Thanks to God for the opportunity to have this new freedom while evangelizing to others as a bonus! All born from the love they have for Our Heavenly Father and their desire for others to experience the same. I thanked him and hugged my little angel once more before she skipped away to give yet another of her proud creations to the next unsuspecting person she was guided toward. And I know she gave it with Love as her Mission.
“We believe that love is our mission, and that this mission is the only way we can be fully alive and be who we were created to be. God works through us. We are in the world for a purpose – to receive God’s love and to show God’s love to others.” Pope Francis
hugs n’ blessings to everyone who professes love to find what is lost!
Rosaries were “raining down” everywhere in Philadelphia!
hugsnblessings 