Facebook for Prayer Warriors

I realized a few months ago, from following a friend whose son has cancer, that are a number of Facebook pages you can follow for children who are fighting cancer. The idea is to keep them in our prayers (we have a prayer list we read aloud each night during bedtime prayers and then say a Memorare for the whole bunch) as well as encourage them in their battle. Naturally, even for those who aren't particularly religious, it can be an opportunity to provide moral support as well as gain some perspective on our own lives. So I've been meaning to share this for awhile. We've found it to be a beautiful family endeavor and of course it's such a happy thing when I can share good news with my family about those we have been praying for.

For example, at my kids' insistence, we've been praying for the policeman injured in the shootout that came after the Boston Marathon Bombing. We also discovered that you can follow his progress on Facebook (where we also learned that he recently got to go home!!!).

Wounded Boston Police Officer Dic Donohue

And here are a few of the kids with cancer that we follow and pray for. Once you follow one, you will find that the various pages will link to each other and you may soon have a long list like us!

Help Jayson Brown

Prayers for Emma

Hope for Holley

Saving Sweet Savannah

Amazing Austin

Bless Our Baby Beth

Brady's Mission

My plan is to make a little chalkboard-paint chalkboard on the wall in the upstairs hallway where we generally say nighttime prayers. Will post pictures when that actually happens. :)

Rejoice in the Good!

The Holy Father said this today:

The Pontiff noted how "we are always attentive to problems and to difficulties," but there is almost an unwillingness "to perceive that there are beautiful things that come from the Lord."

Attention to the good, "which becomes gratitude," he said, "is very important for us; it creates in us a memory for the good and it helps us also in times of darkness."

"God accomplishes great things, and whoever experiences this -- attentive to the Lord's goodness with an attentiveness of heart -- is filled with joy," the Pontiff affirmed.

This is something I often bring up in my talks on culture - to rejoice in the good. I bring this up not because I'm good at it, but because I know it's important, yet often struggle with it myself.

You can read the rest of his talk here: Don't Get Lost in Problems, says Pope.

And speaking of being grateful for the good, 35 men from the Pontifical North American College at the Vatican were ordained deacons last week. You can see a photo here: (the settings won't let me share it). The deacon on the far left was stationed at our parish for the last three summers. We are so happy for him!

I have yet to type up my notes from my conference talk in Napa last summer. Maybe this will remind me to get to it soon. Have a beautiful day!

Ignatian Retreat Notes

(I'm getting rid of a lot of paper around here and thought I'd type these up quick and then get rid of the scratch paper.)

This is from a really wonderful Ignatian Retreat with Fr. James Kubicki (director of the Apostleship of Prayer) that I attended last fall...

I was reading Caryll Houselander's Reed of God and Hans Urs Von Balthasar's Does Jesus Know Us? Do We Know Him? (which are both wonderful books!) during the retreat, so a few of the notes may be related to the interconnections... I don't exactly remember!

Talk 1. Love -

"Anyone who loves God in the depths of his heart has already been loved by God. In fact, the measure of a man’s love for God depends upon how deeply aware he is of God’s love for him. - Diadochus of Photice"

Talk 2. Meaning -

Ways of Knowing - Wissen, Kennen

Talk 3. Letting Go/Surrendering/Death

We appreciate the beautiful partly because it is uncommon, e.g. experiencing the love of God in prayer.

"It is the blight man was born for, it is Margaret you mourn for..." Gerard Manley Hopkins

Psalm 90

St. Ignatius - Major decision - imagine yourself at death and consider what you wish you had done. Do you organize your day according to your ultimate purpose? The things of this earth are designed to help us attain our ultimate end - hang on to what helps, let go of what doesn't.

Reflect on... Imagine your eulogy. How do you want to be remembered? How does that mesh with reality? What is our "whole life"? What is most important to you?

Talk 4. Sin

We're created by love and for love.

Freedom - we must be capable of choosing or rejecting love. Why doesn't God stop us from doing bad things?

The laws of God are built into our nature - we suffer natural consequences when we violate these.

"We're not punished for our sins, but by our sins."

We have, deep down, a sense of fairness.

Three Hebrew words for sin - breaking of relationship, being off target, ?

Prepare for Reconciliation -

Luke 19: Zaccheus - lesson: hurt people, hurt people (recycling hurt)

2 Samuel: 11 - David's Sin - Shirking responsibility, objectifying other people. (objectification)

St. Augustine Confessions - "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you." ("idolatry")

Book note: Ignatius of Loyola: Founder of the Jesuits - His Life and Work by Candido de Dalmasus, S.J.

Talk 5. What was Jesus' greatest joy? Answer: Forgiving

Mark 2, Luke 15

Spiritual healing and forgiving sins above physical healing.

Prodigal Son - Listen to pain.

Body of Christ - John 20 + "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

James 5

In things like AA, it's people who are honest that are able to recover. When we are honest with another person, it confirms that we have been honest with ourselves and God.

The closer we get to God, the more aware we become of our faults and how we have responded/not responded to God's graces.

Talk 6. Life of Jesus

(Note: Corresponded beautifully with the Advent Section of Reed of God that I had just finished.)

Romans 7

We can't save ourselves. We cannot change another person, we can only change ourselves, but really it is God who changes us with our cooperation.

"I'm only human" excuse - but we were created for something better, for example, Jesus and Mary. We look to Jesus to see what it means to be human. (c.f. Does Jesus Know Us? Do We Know Him?)

God doesn't impose himself on us - he proposes... doesn't compel, but invites.

Romantic love is dazzling, parental love wins in endurance.

God as suffering parent (with wandering adult child, you cannot force them to change).

Sharing suffering will bring us closer to God.

JPII - Letter to Women - Women see persons with their hearts.

Augustine - "If you can comprehend it, it's not God."

How would you explain color to a blind person?

Assignment... Imagine Annunciation and Birth of Jesus

Note: Bethlehem means "House of Bread"

Talk 7. What is the grace I'm seeking on this retreat?

To know Him, to love Him, to follow Him.

"See thee more clearly, love three more dearly, follow thee more nearly."

Hebrews 4: Word of God is living and effective.

What is forming our attitudes?

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St. Jerome

Romans 8:28 "God makes everything work for the good of those whom he loves."

At the time of St. Jerome, translating into Latin *was* the vernacular. Jerome studied Hebrew and Greek to distract himself from sexual temptations. What was Jesus like? Hebrews 2 - became like His brothers in every way. Hebrews 4 - Not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses... tested in every way. Hebrews 5:8 - He learned obedience from what he suffered when He was made perfect. He grew physically and emotionally and spiritually. Obedience perfected on the cross and in the garden of Gethsemani - He struggled!

Problem: All or nothing approach to faith and virtues. Reality is we're continually working on all these things. Act as if! Act your way into feeling. Virtues are acts of will - not a feeling! Dry prayer is very efficacious.

Two common problems (filled out from above):

1) All or nothing - thinking we're either brave or fearful, etc. when it's really by degrees.

Kind of Calvinistic, really, if you have faith you've got all the virtues in spades - you're saved!

But life *is* a struggle - We're continually (or should be) striving to attain these virtues.

2) Virtues aren't feelings, but acts of the will. Dry prayer through struggles is particulary efficacious.

Act as if! Act in the right way and the feelings will follow.

Remember Blessed Mother Teresa (I need to read this book!)

She felt only emptiness and darkness with regard to her relationship with God, but eventually came to love her darkness, accepting it as part of the suffering of Christ.

Talk 8. Lectio Divina

Imagine the scene as if we were there. "Talk" to people in the story, really enter into the scene.

The only way the virtues grow and develop is through exercise, and that's hard! Find an exercise you like.

Teresa of Avila - I never prayed without a good spiritual book n ext to me. She would pick it up whenever she needed inspiration, help with distraction, etc.

True humility is honest and gives glory to God. (c.f. our pastor - Remembering that God is the creator and we are the created.)

True humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. Putting the spotlight on God and on other people.

Try to imagine what Jesus thought and felt: joy, affection, impatience, anger, sorrow (all of our emotions, but with divine intensity). Jesus liked some people more than others - e.g. favorite disciples. Different than loving some people more than others. Love is not a feeling, but an act of the will.

e.g. Impatience is not a sin, but a feeling. What we do with it can be a sin.

The appropriate response to injustice is anger. There are things in this world which we're supposed to get angry about. The anger should energize us to right the wrong. Jesus wept. St. Paul cried.

Entering into t he mind and heart of Jesus. Think about getting into the part as an actor in a movie. Not what would Jesus do, what would he think or feel? How do things look to him.

Book Reference: In the Footsteps of Jesus by Bruce Marcciano

Read the Gospel, try to go deeper. Take on the mind and heart, thoughts and feelings of Jesus.

Talk 9. Definitive expression of God's love for us.

Becoming more aware of how much God loves us so we can love Him more.

Deus Caritas Est - True definition of love can be found in the pierced side of Jesus.

Who stood under the cross - John and a group of women.

Sources - A Doctor at Calvary, Video - How Jesus Died, "On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ", from a medical journal.

Garden of Gethsemane - Jesus sweated blood (mentioned in the Gospel of Luke - remember that Luke was a doctor) - caused by great stress, leaves skin *highly* sensitive. Not just anticipating his death - Jesus was tempted in the Garden.

39 limit of scourging hits - he didn't scream, was silent, made soldiers more brutal.

Isaiah 53, Isaiah 52

Ecce Homo

The beam weighed 125 lbs. Was tied to his arms, he walked a disatnce of 650 yards and carried the cross across his shoulders.

Loincloth in deference to Jewish sensibilities.

Nails were through his wrist. No artery severed, but medial nerve hit - incredibly painful.

Crucifixion is a slow process of suffocation, which includes a need to push off of the nail through the feet in order to breathe.

Seven Last Words:

1. Father forgive them... (Luke 23:34)

2. This day you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43)

3. Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother.

4. My God, My God, why have you forsaken me. (Matthew and Mark) quoting Psalm 22

5. I thirst. Darkness? (John 19:28)

6. It is finished. (i.e. accomplished)

7. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. (Luke) quoting Psalm 31

This is a related piece from Does Jesus Know Us? Do We Know Him (Von Balthasar) that I was reading at the time:

But it is quite possible to speak of the Son of God suffering what the sinner deserved, i.e., separation from God, perhaps even complete and final separation...

With every fiber of his being he clings to the God whose presence he no longer feels, because now, in the name of sinners, he is to experience what it means to have lost contact with God...

In the New Covenant we have the experiences of the saints. If genuine, they can only be interpreted as a gift of participation in the Son's forsakenness. John of the Cross, for instance, does not hesitate to describe the dark night of the soul as a kind of experience of hell. God has left the soul and it knows that this must be timeless and hence ultimate. Being truly forsaken by God always has this definitive quality: there can be no forsakenness 'for a time' or involving room for hope. Other mystics in this situation have felt, not only that 'it will always be like this', but 'it has always been like this': they experience a kind of eternity of this 'hell' from which no one can deliver them but God himself. And he has disappeared.

Again, it is unthinkable that people following Christ should have had to go through more terrible experiences than their Lord himself; their experiences can only be a muted echo of the unique and incomparable burden which the God-Man endured.

Physical suffering on the cross - suffocation, blood loss (racing heart, heart failed), shock.

Pierced side - blood and water. We come from the side of Christ! Blood - Eucharist, Water - Baptism

At the end of the parable of the lost sheep Jesus recalled that God's love excludes no one: "So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." He affirms that he came "to give his life as a ransom for many"; this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the redeemer who hands himself over to save us. The Church, following the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception: "There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #605)

Christ suffered for all. We need to accept this love.

Talk 10. Happy Easter!

Every Sunday is a little Easter.

Risen body of Jesus still had the wounds.

"Have you anything here to eat?"

Corinthians 1:15 - How are the dead raised?

John 20 - story of St Thomas (doubting): "My Lord and My God"

Think about Heaven - Hebrews 12 - Cloud of Witnesses - waiting to welcome us (the saints).

Who will welcome you? Who are you eager to meet?

No goodbyes in Heaven - one big reunion.

St. Thomas Aquinas on Heaven:

a. the person is united with God

b. compete satisfaction of desire

c. joyous community of the blessed

Good things on earth are little appetizers of the heavenly banquet.

1 Corinthians 2: What God has prepared for thsoe who love him. God cannot be out done. You cannot outdream God.

Please Pray!

Please pray for Kim, a Catholic homeschool mom of eight (three in college) who died of complications relating to the flu (apparently not the swine flu) a few days ago, and for her grieving family.

Sad News

I was very sad to learn when I returned from Oklahoma that friend and fellow homeschool blogger/writer Mary Ellen lost her teenage son Ryan to a drowning accident late last week. My condolences and prayers go out to Mary Ellen and to all of Ryan's family and friends.

I was awed by this beautiful picture of Ryan as the priest in a production of Twelfth Night that Alice posted on her website. (Click through for a larger version).

Several Prayer Requests

Dan is the nephew of a friend and has been bravely battling cancer for many years. Last week he had a major surgery involving amputation of one arm, but came out of it with a great attitude and in a better position to continue the battle.

You can visit his caring bridge website here.

These two moms are friends of my cousins (they have children who go to school with my cousins' children) who asked for prayers for them today:

Colleen has been in & out of the hospital with breast cancer for 8 months now. She had emergency surgery this morning for an infection - just another in a long line of problems she has had in fighting this cancer.

Jacqui is in ICU here. I don't have a lot of info on her condition - apparently she has blood clots and will need surgery once she is stable. Her husband has MS so Jacqui is the main-stay of the family. She has four children - one starting college, one starting high school a 6th grader and a 3rd grader.

Many thanks for including them in your prayers too!

Today I'm Remembering...

My niece, Claire, who would have been 25 years old today.

And Joshua Michael Schmiedicke who died three years ago today.

Please Pray

Please pray for Fr. Robert Mueller, a priest who has been very involved with and supportive of our local homeschool group. He'll be having surgery today to remove a blood clot from his brain.

A Day of Tears

We spent quite a bit of our day today tuned into EWTN to watch Archbishop Dolan become Archbishop of New York City. By tuning in a bit early, we also saw his wonderful little interview with Raymond Arroyo. He will be great for this job - he's so humble and so filled with confidence in the truth of the Gospel message.

It's a bittersweet moment too, because it *is* hard to say goodbye, though having these weeks to prepare for this moment have certainly helped - kind of like what he says in "Farewell, Milwaukee". Our prayers and thanks go with him for all that he's done for us. We don't know him personally, but he's made a huge difference even to our own family, just because of the way he manifests God's love and the joy of the Christian message to others. His influence on vocations in the diocese will make a difference for generations!

Though it's hard to say goodbye, it is a wonderful thing to see him take on his new role with so much faith and joy. God Bless him!

On a sadder note, my niece called me this afternoon with tragic news from my alma mater. Thomas Aquinas College's beloved president, Dr. Thomas Dillon, was killed in a car accident this morning. He was in Ireland with his wife for some sort of Catholic educational conference. She was injured, but not seriously. Please pray for him and his family and the entire TAC community. We are all devastated by this loss.

Dr. Dillon has had an amazing fatherly influence on TAC students for decades. Particularly in the years before he became president, he was well-known for his love of playing basketball with the students (somewhere around here I believe I have a photo taken by my husband of Dr. Dillon on the basketball court) and he was an incredible tutor. I only had him for one year - for Junior Philosophy, in which we studied Aristotle's Ethics. It was a crazy year as he was in the process of taking over the presidency of the college and another tutor had to substitute often, but the chaos was totally worth it. I had many fine tutors at TAC, but I never experienced another tutor who was so interested in each and every student and what they thought or wanted to say about a particular topic. He was down to earth and funny and I really loved that class!

When he was taking over the presidency from founding president Dr. McArthur, I had my doubts. McArthur had huge shoes to fill after all! It was a few years ago, when I saw Dr. Dillon and his wife at a fundraising event in Milwaukee that I truly understood the genius of the choice of Dillon as president. He was incredibly humble and completely dedicated to the idea of the college and to *the* truth. He was a man who spent his life building up the Church by preparing young people to live the truth and share it with others.

He had a genuine love for and interest in each of the alumni and what they were up to after TAC. I've always loved the fact that he and his wife made a special effort to attend all the ordinations of alumni priests (there are over 40 now).

My sincerest condolences and love and prayers go out to dear Mrs. Dillon, to the entire Dillon family and to all who are mourning his death.

Please Pray!

Dr. Thomas Dillon, the president of Thomas Aquinas College, was killed in a car accident this morning. Please pray for him and his family and the college community. He will be sadly missed!

At 3 pm Pacific Time today, students, alumni and friends will all be praying together. Please join us if you can.

"Impossible" Novena Begins Today

Thanks to my mom for reminding me!

Reposted from previous years...

There's a beautiful nine month novena that starts on the feast of the Annunciation, and ends on Christmas; commemorating the nine months that our saviour was in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It's fairly simple and easy to memorize. You pick three "impossible" intentions to pray for and I've heard (and experienced) many amazing stories of prayers answered.


Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us, most holy mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

All Virgin of the Incarnation, a thousand times we greet you, a thousand times we praise you for thy joy you had when God was incarnated in you. Because you are so powerful O Virgin and Mother of God, grant what we ask of you for the love of God.

[state your first intention]

Repeat all of the above for your second and third intentions

Remember, O most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Blessed and praised be the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, in Heaven, on earth and everywhere. Amen.

Resolutions

A few years ago (wow - is it three years???) I blogged about a New Year's Resolution here. I tend toward New Year's resolutions of the more intangible sort like this Age Quod Agis. One of the disadvantages, naturally, is that it's not a quantifiable thing that you can check off a list and stop working on when you're done. This is a resolution that I'm still working on and has had different manifestations over the past few years.

Last year, though I think I neglected to blog on it, my emphasis was to work on staying more engaged with my children and my family since I have a tendency to do too much zoning out. (Make no mistake - zoning out can be necessary at times!) I ended up working on this in part by getting my prayer life in a little better order. I started using the Magnificat Magazine, which includes morning and evening prayers. Though I wasn't perfectly consistent about praying with it, by any means, I like how it gave a natural order to my day and I think I made some progress on my resolution. I highly recommend this beautiful little magazine!

An interesting thing developed out of this at the end of last year. Because of the interest in the Liturgy of the Hours of a blind relative (and the lack of availability of much of it in Braille or on audio - and she doesn't get on the Internet) I decided to dive in and start doing the Liturgy of the Hours myself. I don't think I would have had the courage (gumption?) to give it a try if I hadn't eased my way in with Magnificat (which itself is a simplified version of the Liturgy of the Hours).

I absolutely love it. It's beautiful, ever new (which I think is a good personality fit for me - I'm the sort that gets bored quickly with things like exercise routines if they're always the same) and lends itself, more than Magnificat I think, for praying out loud. John and Ria and Gus really like it too and whenever said blind relative is over, we pray it together (Terri is starting to join us once in awhile too). Slowly, but slowly, we're working on Brailleing (not sure how to spell that!) the unchanging parts to help her use as much of it as she can at home and to participate with us when she's here.

We started saying it in the middle of Advent and so one of the most exciting parts (for us Catholic nerds) was to pray the "O Antiphons" in their intended context.

I'm trying to say at least one morning and one evening prayer each day, but sometimes we manage to say it as many as four parts a day (I think there are six or seven parts available in the four book set). I really love the "Office of Readings" with the second reading being from a saint or Father of the Church. Really neat and beautiful stuff! That's the first one of the day and sometimes we manage to do the "Morning Prayer" as well. "Evening Prayer" is a little hit and miss too depending on if we're running around or not, but the "Night Prayer" is short and beautiful and ... peaceful (and we can generally sneak it in just before bed).

One neat thing I'm finding is that it's giving (or starting to give - really, truly, I have a long way to go, and you'd believe it if you saw my house!) an order to my day, a peaceful, manageable order, that I was never able to achieve on my own (I'm sure this is somewhat personality-related too.) It's also neat that my kids are enjoying reading aloud parts of it - which is particularly exciting in the case of my more reluctant readers. I've noticed Gus grow in confidence in reading as he does bits and pieces from the Liturgy of the Hours.

I don't have a very specific resolution in mind this year, other than to keep working on the Age Quod Agis and the staying engaged, but there is a bit of the working-on-ordering-my-life that is becoming a theme so far and I hope to continue with. One area I'm especially working on right now (and have made some progress on in the last year, but need to keep doing more on) is prioritizing and thus reducing some of our out-of-the-house commitments. There are many other areas that need work too, believe me!

Please Pray for the Lorang Family

They were in a serious car accident a few days ago. The 17 year old daughter was killed and the mother is still too confused (from a head injury) to be told what has happened. The younger children were uninjured, but are certainly suffering a great deal.

Details on their aunt's blog here.

Update on Nick

Nick is doing much better. The transfusion was successful, but they will be keeping him in the hospital a few more days just to make sure that the infection is completely under control.

Thank you so much for the prayers!

Please Pray

for my nephew Nicholas who is hospitalized with a kidney infection.

UPDATE:

"Prayer request for Nicholas Van Hecke. He is currently hospitalized in Ventura. Nicholas is undergoing a complete blood transfusion due to a serious infection that has gotten into his blood stream."

Please Pray

...for all those involved in Friday's deadly shooting at a Santa Clara, California, business. One of the three killed, Brian Pugh, is the father of my little nephew's classmate.

Read the story here.

I was particularly moved by the kindness shown to the family of the suspected shooter. I'm sure his wife and family are particularly in need of prayers.

A Surprisingly Appropriate Time for an Update on Sara

I just received an update on my cousin's daughter, Sara. Sara is now home and detached from all tubes and equipment. She still has a long ways to go (even in order to speak) but her progress has been astounding over the last six weeks! God is good. :)

Rosary for Our Country

Priests for Life has a special "Patriotic Rosary" that's especially appropriate as we approach Election Day. My children are really enjoying saying this as a family and we keep a small U.S. map out for them to look at.

Here's the link.

Help of Christians

I really love visiting Holy Hill (the affectionate official nickname for the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians). Sometimes it seems like the most peaceful place in the world is the lovely shrine chapel filled with votive candles and stained glass images of Our Lady.

In researching a little info on the tradition of Our Lady Help of Christians, I found this fascinating story relating to the institution of the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians in the Catholic Encyclopedia (Wow, and sometimes we're tempted to think that we live in the worst of times!):

The feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, was instituted by Pius VII. By order of Napoleon, Pius VII was arrested, 5 July, 1808, and detained a prisoner for three years at Savona, and then at Fontainebleau. In January, 1814, after the battle of Leipzig, he was brought back to Savona and set free, 17 March, on the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, the Patroness of Savona. The journey to Rome was a veritable triumphal march. The pontiff, attributing the victory of the Church after so much agony and distress to the Blessed Virgin, visited many of her sanctuaries on the way and crowned her images (e.g. the "Madonna del Monte" at Cesena, "della Misericordia" at Treja, "della Colonne" and "della Tempestà" at Tolentino). The people crowded the streets to catch a glimpse of the venerable pontiff who had so bravely withstood the threats of Napoleon. He entered Rome, 24 May, 1814, and was enthusiastically welcomed (McCaffrey, "History of the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Cent.", 1909, I, 52). To commemorate his own sufferings and those of the Church during his exile he extended the feast of the Seven Dolours of Mary (third Sunday in September) to the universal Church, 18 Sept., 1814. When Napoleon left Elba and returned to Paris, Murat was about to march through the Papal States from Naples; Pius VII fled to Savona (22 March, 1815), where he crowned the image of Our Lady of Mercy, 10 May, 1815.

After the Congress of Vienna and the battle of Waterloo he returned to Rome, 7 July, 1815. To give thanks to God and Our Lady he (15 Sept., 1815) instituted for the Papal States the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, to be celebrated, 24 May, the anniversary of his first return. The Dioceses of Tuscany adopted it, 12 Feb., 1816; it has spread nearly over the entire Latin Church, but is not contained in the universal calendar. The hymns of the Office were composed by Brandimarte (Chevalier, "Repert. Hymnolog.", II, 495). This feast is the patronal feast of Australasia, a double of the first class with an octave (Ordo Australasiae, 1888), and in accordance with a vow (1891) is celebrated with great splendour in the churches of the Fathers of the Foreign Missions of Paris. It has attained special celebrity since St. Don Bosco, founder of the Salesian Congregation, 9 June, 868, dedicated to Our Lady, Help of Christians, the mother church of his congregation at Turin.

It seems that every time I visit (and for various reasons, I've been doing a lot of visiting this Fall), I have some heart-breaking prayer request to bring to Our Lady and entrust to her care. Lighting a candle is such a tangible thing (even if small) that I know it helps me to be able to do *something*. It seems to me that Our Lady Help of Christians is the perfect one to entrust our cares and troubles to - especially when we're discouraged.

Today I needed to meet with my spiritual advisor and remembered that they were celebrating the 40 Hours Devotion today and throughout the weekend. Due to the enthusiasm of the older kids, I decided to brave having all them with me and have them wait for me in front of the Blessed Sacrament. They did really well - and they had a long wait! We packed a bag of books and rosaries and holy cards and I "bribed" them with getting to light a candle for a special intention if they behaved nicely (they each picked really good intentions all on their own - I love it that they regularly remember their special intentions at bed-time prayers - one for the soldiers in Iraq, one for an end to abortion, one for their cousin Ruben, etc. ) which is a special treat for them. (By the way, I also bribed them with chocolate from the gift shop - our normal after-Mass treat when we go to Holy Hill for Sunday Mass). Naturally, such a feat wouldn't be possible without two teenagers to help pull things off and a certain amount of grace from above. :)

P.S. The photo is of one of the windows from the Shrine Chapel. You can click on it to view a bigger version.

Marie Breda has died

Selfishly, we all wanted Marie to stay with us. But we must rejoice in knowing that our ultimate goal for Marie is met. It is a terrible thing to lose a young child, but in a strange way very peaceful. We know for sure that this pure spirit is with God. The rest of us are left to struggle and fall in this valley of tears, without that same guarantee. So for us as family and friends, we hope this will make us work a little harder to live good and holy lives, so that one day we can all be united.

Please continue to pray for her family.