Divine Mercy Sunday

In the 1930’s, a nun named Sister Faustina Kowalska, who lived in the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw, Poland, experienced daily visions of Our Lord, in which He would tell her of His unfathomable mercy, and the need for the message of His mercy to be spread throughout the entire world.

On February 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to Sr. Faustina in a stunning vision. He was walking toward her, wearing a white garment, and bore the wounds on His hands, side and feet from His Crucifixion. His right arm was raised in blessing, His left hand opening his garment to reveal two rays of light that shone from His Sacred Heart. On the left was a red ray, and on the right was a white ray.
Jesus told Sr. Faustina, “The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. Blessed is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just Hand of God will not lay hold of him.” (The Diary of Saint Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, #299).

He told her, “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the words, ‘Jesus I Trust in You’. I desire that this image be venerated first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world.” (Diary, #47).
Jesus told Sr. Faustina that He wanted a Feast of Mercy to be established on the first Sunday after Easter. On the Feast of Mercy, Jesus desires for priests to preach about His unfathomable mercy, and then to solemnly bless the Image of Divine Mercy, displaying it for public veneration.
On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Sister Faustina (the first Saint to be canonized in the New Millennium) and declared that from that day forward, the first Sunday after Easter would be Divine Mercy Sunday.
This year, Pope John Paul II will be beatified on Divine Mercy Sunday — May 1, 2011 — the very feast that he established, died on, and had such a great devotion to. May he intercede on our behalf, along with Saint Faustina Kowalska of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and may we follow their great and heroic examples.

(Thanks go to Bernadette for guest writing this blog post for me!)


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On Friday, we celebrated Easter (yes it is still Easter!) by going to the Gulf of Mexico. I could live on the beach, I love the beach!

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Such a pretty view, not only of my beautiful children, but also of the beautiful Gulf of Mexico at St. George Island State Park in Florida. This park is 3.5 hours from our house, but worth the drive; the water was perfect, the park was set up nicely and the beach was not too crowded.

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Eight months ago we made our first trip to the Ocean. The kids were pretty hesitant about the whole thing.  This time? They ran into the water without concern, playing and splashing for close to four hours.

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On previous trips to the Ocean, this one was either snug in my belly or not mobile. Now, he is mobile and exploring everything. He found some seaweed to snack on and really had a good time with it, that and the sand, he really liked to put sand in his mouth.

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Thursday morning we had a tornado warning. The storm was hitting the south side of the county, so I was not too worried, but as a precaution, I stuck the kids in our shelter, aka the hallway. (Picture taken with my phone.)

*for more {pretty,happy,funny,real} check out Like Mother, Like Daughter

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Alleluia, He is Risen!

Last night our family went to the Vigil Mass at our parish, as is our tradition.

We were running a bit late as Karol’s shoe was missing. We have a shoe bin right by the back door and all the kids are to stop there before going any further and deposit their shoes there.Turns out it was in the van?!

Even though we were running behind, I was not going to leave the house before we took a few pictures. Little girls with bonnets and gloves.

The Papa was standing behind me, making faces and dancing to get the girls to smile. Margaret really was not in to it, but you can see that Karol decided to imitate his papa.

We managed one picture of the whole family, just so you can see that these children do, in fact, have parents.

HAPPY EASTER!

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{pretty, happy, funny real} Holy Week Edition

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Pretty Margaret is showing off the picture she colored today of Jesus washing the feet of one of His disciples.

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Was ist das?
Home made marshmallows! I made them yesterday and plan on cutting and dipping them in chocolate for Easter.

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I mentioned last week that I go through a lot of flour around here. This is my  baking cabinet auxiliary and flower was buy one get one at one local grocery store and a dollar off at another, so I stocked up. I have 10 bags there.

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Ah, the toy area. We tend to clean up two or three times a day, this is what it looks like before I, usually, call for a five minute blitz.

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Six Years Later!

Six years ago, today, around noon, I was driving to pick up lunch for the office. I heard on the radio that the smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel was white. My excitement was really, not containable. I skipped in to the deli to pick up the lunch order, when the news channel broke in to show the announcement.

(here is a clip of what I watched)

I stood there, waiting, wondering, hoping and praying.  After the proclamation of “Habamus Papem!”, I tried my best to understand the Latin that followed. I am not sure when I realized it was Jozef Cardinal Ratzinger, but I do know that I jumped up and down, there in the middle of the deli. I remember the man behind the counter said “I can’t believe they picked Ratzinger” (said with much disdain!). I know I responded, but I can’t remember what I said, all these years later.

(here is a clip from an Italian source, I don’t fully understand what they are saying, but they do sound much happier!)

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Oh, Those Facekids

This is what I spend my days keeping her from doing. She is potty trained now, but too short to open the doors, so I leave the doors open for her. This video is from a while ago, but I will tell you that today, she rearranged my toiletries.

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Vocation Awareness

After a date mistake on my part and a glitch on the part of the Network, Fr. Brett Brannen was finally on EWTN last night, on the show Life on the Rock. Also with him was Sam Alzheimer, Joshua’s boss. Here is the video for you to enjoy:

To order the book discussed in the video, click here.

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The  ladies over at Like Mother Like Daughter, started a new thing called, “pretty, happy, funny, real”, check out their blog for more link ups!

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Caecilia has the prettiest curls in her hair. Even the Georgia humidity doesn’t seem to bother them.

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Happy sleepy baby. He loves his 45 minutes morning nap, post breakfast and diaper change.

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After his nap, he decided to chase me while I took pictures, this was his funny face.

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Yep, this is what my baking cabinet looks like. Organized? Slightly. I open this cabinet door just about every single day and I go through about five pounds of flour every week and a half. That box up on top, Joshua’s granola making supplies.

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