Maintaining faith and devotion during illness.

from Louise Benjamin–

Hello all,

 

I’m a 40 year old disabled housewife and mother of 3 dogs and 3 cats. I have osteo-arthritis, and there are many days when getting out of bed is pretty hard to do. I’ve had this disease for several years now, and receive benefits that make my life a little easier. As a natural course of my disease, it is quite hard to leave the house in the winter-time. Even the warmer days make leaving home a larger chore than I would like. So, I spend most of my life at home, budgeting my time away from the house into small errands and in increments.

 

Getting to church on a Sunday, or even a week-day sometimes just can’t happen for me anymore. It’s why you probably wouldn’t recognize my face in the congregation unless you know me well. So, I do as much as I can at home to maintain my spiritual life as possible. I watch quite a bit of EWTN, a channel that comes with our cable service, so I can at least witness the Mass. I also participate in the Rosary from their broadcasts as well. I follow along with these Masses by using the Roman Missal, where I can read along with the readings just like we do in church. The effect isn’t the same, and it’s not going to be, but I can feel a part of the body of Christ, the Church, by proxy. I use the Spiritual Communion Prayer found in my Missal quite a bit. I do try to get to Mass in the winter-time at least once a month, and I have started trying to attend Reconciliation available on Saturdays, and I attend the Mass shortly afterwards. I’d love to be able to take part in the Adoration available on Thursdays, but most of the time that this just isn’t possible.

 

I spend those days I can’t go out, studying various topics on our faith, and listening to audiobooks on the faith while I knit or crochet. Scott Hahn, Robert Barron, Pope Benedict, and Andrew M Greeley are amongst my audible collection. I also have an audio Bible I listen to. There are many hours, while I sit and work on some project at home that those audiobooks are a source of hope and inspiration for me. I’m spending my time making prayer shawls, and praying for the members of the congregation. While I don’t know most of you, there are quite a few of you that stand out in my heart. I’ll probably never know your names, but I remember your faces, and I smile when I think of you.

 

There was the Lady I sat next to one Sunday morning last year. We sat in the section set aside in the church for the disabled. When the basket went by, she couldn’t get her envelope out quick enough, but Deacon Vern was able to get her envelope anyways. There were two women I sat between the last Mass I was able to attend. I have to bundle up quite a bit, and end up wearing sometimes two thick winter coats, in order to stay comfortable in our weather. Both women treated me with respect and dignity, and for that I’m eternally grateful. When I am able to attend Mass, my heart records every moment, every nuance I can, that I can remember everything possible. Going to Mass is the Highlight of my heart, and I yearn to attend again. I enjoy my contact with all of you, and I look forward to the warm sunshine, soft breezes, and nice days when I can get out among you again.

Review of Les Miserables (movie)

 from Jim Kuhl




Father Robert Barron speaks of the Catholic themes of sin, conversion, redemption and grace which make this film (original story by Victor Hugo) an excellent and thought-provoking experience for Catholic viewers

[CLICK HERE] for Fr.Barron's video commentary.

Christmas at St Mary's

from Bobbie Snow

The Creche at Saint Mary's-2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Mary's decorated for Christmas 2013

After the Fire

shared by Betty Kellen,

With the possible exception of color, now resembling char, the pile of sticks and logs appeared to be a pile of Tinker Toys haphazardly left behind by a child who lost interest.  Clearly the bulldozer who worked the scene had done its job quite thoroughly leaving behind nothing of value except that which could not be seen.

There were no visible reminders that anyone had ever inhabited the property, no personal effects or remains of life that had not been burned beyond recognition. 

The building next door shows signs of life  but as many in number were the signs of death and destruction.  There were  cars with ridiculously long drips frozen to their doors, the color  a dark grayish black like a tearstained face of a women who wears a ridiculous amount of mascara.  The roof littered with varying  sizes of semi-burned remnants of its elderly neighbor.  That building looked worse for the wear but lights were on and there was the business of living again taking place. 

The bystanders were gone and most had gone about their daily hustle and bustle as if nothing had happened. 

Being new to the area, I personally could feel emotion from the building in between.  My work building, two over from the fire, neighbors the one in between.  She almost looked sad this morning.  Despite the fact that the sun could now shine brighter on her, warming her massive brick structure, you could tell there was death felt inside too.  If a building could talk and feel, 100+ years of living with someone next door and the sudden, senseless pulling of the plug that only a fire can create, that emotion was palpable.

Coming down the stairs into my work building and back into my little life, with no sign of fire or smell of smoke, I began the task of going about my business. 

After making the coffee, I looked down and saw the trail of black my shoes had left on the carpet, a reminder of something that won’t soon be forgotten by me and certainly not by those that lived there or those that watched her go, a quick, painful kind of death. 

The ally and parking lot are littered still with charred “sticks” of the building and, apparently I didn’t wipe it away as well as I could have, maybe that’s what none of us should do.  Wiping it away too soon will make us forget, make us less cautious, make us take risks we shouldn’t take.  Maybe that little extra evidence of char on my shoes will make me appreciate even more the holiday time I just spent with my family, the days filled with too much food and too much stress, but also filled with love and a joy that can’t be replicated once the fire comes… once a destructive, out of control, element comes. 

Everyone stay warm, with the fire of the love of your family, and no other.  Appreciate the little things and the important people.  All the rest can just as easily be a pile of burned toys in your own backyard.

Carla Sweeney