double the mercy!

What a glorious Weekend of celebrating good friends!

To my delight, on back-to-back dates, two of my favorite gal-pal Saints are being recognized & celebrated worldwide because of the beautiful ways in which they have loved & trusted in, the Lord.

Today, April 11, is the Feast day of my Saint friend, St. Gemma Galgani, whom I have written of before. And tomorrow we shall celebrate the special merits of my other gal-pal, St. Faustina!

This year (2026) marks the 123rd year since Saint Gemma’s holy death on April 11, 1903. Countless souls over the years have been greatly inspired and edified by Gemma’s fervent love for Jesus and Mary. Her heart was all on fire with the love of Jesus, His mercy, and the love of souls and she expressed her love for Him so well in her writings. Jesus was everything to Gemma and she loved Him with all of her being and because of this many souls throughout the world have found Gemma to be a most lovable Saint whom they admire and in whose tender love they seek to imitate. 

Count me in!

I began praying with St. Gemma in 2009 her favorite holy hour. In her Autobiography and Diary we read that Gemma made this Holy Hour every Thursday night, in honor of our Lord’s Passion and sufferings in the Garden. She made this Holy Hour faithfully each week until her death.

For those who begin reading her life and writings (diary, autobiography, letters, ecstasies etc) soon become enraptured by her and are greatly inspired by this “Gem of Jesus”, and often such souls soon begin calling upon her in prayer asking for her intercession, and by doing so many have found her to be a very powerful and devoted friend and heavenly advocate. 

Count me in!

“You see, my Jesus, that I have such great confidence in You that if I saw the gates of Hell open and I stood on the brink of the abyss, I should not despair. And even if I saw heaven and hell against me, still I would not despair of Your mercy, because I would put my faith in You. You are so compassionate, so merciful!” ~ St. Gemma Galgani

May St. Gemma continue to inspire souls and lead them ever closer to Jesus. May her life of sacrifice and love continue to bear fruit for us and may she continue to obtain heavenly graces for those who call upon her in prayer, especially those most in need in Jesus’ mercy. 

St Gemma, pray for us!

Count me in!

Masterpiece

“The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.”

ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX

To the mothers in every season:

The joyful ones, the tired ones, the ones with babies in arms & the ones with babies in heaven. The mothers by birth, adoption, & spiritual motherhood.

You are living a vocation that mirrors God’s love.

Beautiful, generous & endearing.

Happy Mother’s Day!

hey, mama!

Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. “This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death”; it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:

Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: “Woman, behold your son.”

After her Son’s Ascension, Mary “aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers.” In her association with the apostles and several women, “we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation.”

964-965 Catechism of the Catholic Church

Continue reading “hey, mama!”