A Story of HOPE
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NFP Awareness Project in Wyoming
Dear Friends,
Please see this post on about my small NFP Awareness Project at St. Stephen's Mission in rural Wyoming. Support if you can, but definitely pray and spread the word.
God Bless you,
Jessica M.H. Smith
NFP & Feminist Blogger
![Natural Family Planning. Real Love. Real Natural.]()
NFP & Feminist Blogger
Mondays with Elisabeth
Wow, it’s been a while since I last posted on our dear friend Elisabeth. I pray that you are all getting to know her like we are within the Hannah’s Tears Ministry. I have to let you know that yesterday, October 16, was Elisabeth Leseur’s 145th birthday, some of us were actually praying a 9 day novena to her as a gift. This novena was very special as it shed many graces upon those of us that participated. If you are interested in the novena please click the novena prayer. Were you also aware that it was the feast of Saint Gerard, patron of mothers? I was not aware of his feast day until this morning and it gave me such a warm feeling in my heart to know that Elisabeth was born on his feast day, a woman that suffered the pains of infertility yet learned to use her suffering for the good of those in need of conversion. I must ask, am I doing this? Am I offering all that I can with my own sufferings to Our Lord? Am I uniting my cross to His? Or am I wasting my time choosing to be in pain and sorrow because of what I don’t have in life? How am I choosing to live today?
Everything that we do in life is a choice, most especially what we do with the gift of suffering. As I heard on EWTN Live today, it was one of Mother Angelica’s old shows from the 90’s, she said, “we must train the will (within ourselves) to offer and unite our suffering to Christ in union with HIS”. Then and only then will we be on the journey that HE has called us to walk.
Let us pray for one another that we may all learn to train our will to unite our all to Christ Jesus, no matter what the struggle/suffering.
Did you receive your Saint Gerard blessing yesterday? If not make sure you ask your priest/pastor for a blessing this week. God bless you all!
Some links that I would like to share with you today:
The Mothers’ Saint
Because of the miracles God worked through Gerard’s prayers with mothers, the mothers of Italy took Gerard to their hearts and made him their patron. At the process of his beatification one witness testified that he was known as “il santo dei felice parti“–the saint of happy childbirth. This devotion has become very popular in North America, both in the United States and Canada.
Thousands of mothers have felt the power of Saint Gerard through the League of Saint Gerard. Many hospitals dedicate their maternity wards to him and give medals and prayer leaflets of Saint Gerard to their patients. Thousands of children have been named after Saint Gerard by parents who are convinced that it was his intercession that helped them to have healthy children. Even girls are named after him, and it is interesting how “Gerard” takes form as Gerarda, Geralyn, Gerardine, Gerianne, and Gerardette.
Bible Study Idea:
God bless you and have a week filled with GRACE & HOPE!
Elisabeth Leseur Servant of God ~ Novena/Prayer
Prayer asking for the Intercession
of
Elisabeth Leseur Servant of God
God, our Father, you fortified Your servant Elisabeth with admirable prudence and a profound interior life, so that she could bear witness to Christ before her husband and in the unbelieving world that surrounded her. You gave her great meekness, making her capable of accepting her sufferings as an agreeable prayer to you.
We thank you, Father, for the gifts that You gave her, for the example she has given to the women of today, and for the benefits obtained in our family through her intercession.
We confidently beseech you that through her intercession you grant us the grace of… (Ask for the grace desired.)
We also ask that, if it be Your will, the Church may recognize the holiness of Elisabeth’s life, for the glory of the Holy Trinity.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
* With ecclesiastical approval
Please contact The Cause of Elisabeth Leseur, Defensa 422 (1065) Buenos Ares, Argentina or Fr. Vito Gomez-Garcia,O.P., Postulator Generalis, if you receive special graces through Elisabeth’s intercession.
Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary
and Convent of Saint Dominic – Late S. XVIII
c/o Order of Friars Preachers
422 Defense C1065AAH- Buenos Aires
Phone:
4331-1668 / 343-5009
Jurisdiction Parish: St. Ignatius of Loyola
belongs: Order of Friars Preachers
OR
Fr. Vito Gomez – Garcia, O.P.
Postulator Generalis
Curia Generalizia dei Padri Domenicani
Convento Santa Sabina (Aventino)
Piazza Pietro d’Illiria, 100153 Roma (Italia)
Telephone: (39) 6 57 941
Fax: (39) 6 57 50 675
e-mail: postulatore@curia.op.org
“The Strange World of Assisted Reproductive Technology”
The Strange World of Assisted Reproductive Technology
So here’s the thing. If you’re looking for something to follow that’s strange, weird, and fascinating, forget reality TV or any other fiction. Just look into the largely unregulated world of assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Read more here
Anonymous No More
Anonymous No More:
Child of Sperm Donor Speaks Out
What if I fall in love
with my half-sibling?
The challenges that we have being Catholic in a world of let me do what I want to do. The Church is not only trying to guide and protect YOU from many struggles ahead but also protecting a generation of children in the future. When we follow the Churches teaching on natural family planning, this is a great wisdom that goes against the world we live in that only wants what it wants when it wants it. Remember when you remain obedient to Holy Mother Church you are not only protecting yourself from major issues in the future but also the life of soul yet to be born. This article above from the National Catholic Register says it all…
My only question is, if we are a people that already struggle with anxiety just by living life, why add to the problems by ignoring what Mother Church is trying to protect us from in the future? Truly the Church is teaching us what true freedom is. Now if we could only learn to rely on this gift that we have, what a treasure trove!
* Sorry about the formatting of this post, it was quite a challenge to get this article up and running seems that there are enemies truly unseen trying to keep this from conversation. Oh well, here goes.
Mondays with Elisabeth
“Our outer life is the reproduction of our inner life,
and the visible part of us reflects what is unseen;
we radiate our souls, so to say, and,
when they are centers of light and warmth,
other souls need only to be brought into contact
with them in order to be warmed and enlightened.
We give out, often unknown to ourselves,
what we carry within us; let us strive to increase
daily this reserve store of faith and quiet charity.”
Saint Jerome
Happy feast of Saint Jerome
As we celebrate our faith each day we remember the reason why most especially on Friday. The visual gifts that we have in our faith are the first of the Gospel as read in the New Testament. What a treasured faith we have!
Doctor Timothy Lau ~ Conversion Story
Video
References: Catholic Medical Association
The Gift of Grief?
I found this post this morning browsing through facebook. I think this is something that we can all grow from as we all go through moments of “GRIEF”.
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Good Grief: A Meditation of How Grief can be a Gift in Strange Package
As a priest I walk with a lot of people in their grief. It’s a regular part of priesthood. I remember back in 2007 how tough it was for me:
- The Deacon of my parish, Nerus, like a father to me, died after a long battle with cancer. His final words to me were, “I’m not so good right now, but I’ll be better soon.”
- My administrative and pastoral assistant, Catherine, like a mother to me, developed a rapid form of Alzheimer’s and within that year went from being at the top of her game to no longer recognizing anyone, within a year she was gone.
- My Parish bookkeeper, Shirley, also like a mother or an aunt, died suddenly.
- I was transferred from a parish I loved. This too was like a death, death by a thousand cuts.
- My father died shortly thereafter, after a long illness.
- A new parishioner lost her 4 year old nephew when, climbing on a dresser, it fell over on him and he was killed
- Another parishioner lost her 25 year old son, know well to us all, when he was shot to death.
All in a year. I remember telling God it was too much. And though I got no answer, I haven’t had a year like that since. (story continued here)
The Apostolate of Hannah's Tears 