Eternally Grateful

  As I was walking up to my front door, I glanced at my statue of Mary. "Wow, I thought to myself, when did those ferns get so big? They are starting to obscure Mary."  I put my things inside and came back out wearing my work gloves.  I began to trim back some of the bigger plants and pull out a few adjacent weeds.  As I took care of Mary, I wondered how many times she has taken care of me?  How many obstacles has she removed from my path so that I could see more clearly?  How many of my bad habits has she trimmed back or encouraged me to remove? 
  Being a mom, I know I do a lot of little things out love for my children.  Many of them go unnoticed.  Most of the prayers I say on their behalf are between me and God.  I pray that my children will discover God's Will in their lives, and that they have the courage to act on it. I want the very best for them.
  When I finished weeding, I smiled.  Mary looked beautiful.  Her presence felt strong. For a moment I held Mary's hand and felt blessed her for all of her acts of love and prayers she said on my behalf.  I whispered a soft, "Thank you, Mary" knowing that I will be eternally grateful.

-Susan

Enjoy The Feast!

  Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  How fortunate are we to be able to enjoy this feast today and whenever we wish!  How often do we take for granted that Jesus waits for us to visit Him?  Perhaps if we left our heart at the Blessed Sacrament with each visit, we would long to return.  Our bodies cannot survive without our hearts, and souls can not survive without being nourished by His Presence.  Grace after grace, let us fill our bodies with His everlasting love.  Moment after moment, let us fall more deeply in love with His tender and merciful love.

-Susan

Light The Way

  This week try to keep in mind the following verse.  Jesus said, "You are the light of the world."  He is counting on you to share His love with others.  Sometimes it is the smallest gestures, the softest voices, and the warmest smiles that can make a big difference in someone's day.  Give Jesus permission to use you as a vessel of His love.  Let your light break through the darkness of someone else's day.

-Susan

Love...

 Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)   Love one another.  It sounds simple, but unfortunately, many of us have complicated it.  We do so by adding one extra word to the end of Jesus' commandment.  Most of us have added the word "except".  Love one another except..... and that is where all the trouble begins.
 Unfortunately, we don't even realize we are doing this.  We are so much better at judging and excluding people who are different from us, then we are at embracing and loving them.  I wonder why that is? 
  This week try to spend some time reflecting on who you have not been willing to love, and then ask God to help you love them.  Ask God to transform you into one of His disciples of love.

-Susan

Are You Serious?

  Being a parent is not an easy job.  A parent's perspective can be so different from a child's.  Sometimes the way I remember a particular event is completely different from my kids.  I love reminiscing about our family vacations.  I will be remembering how much fun we had, and my kids will bring up the one thing that went wrong.  My usual response is, "Are you serious?  Do you know how much time I spent planning everything for you?  Why would you focus on the negative?"
  A parent's perspective can definitely be different.  I wonder how many times God has wondered the same thing about me?

-Susan

Celebrating the Holy Spirit!

A Little Spring Cleaning

  I was vacuuming the kitchen when I noticed the crumbs weren't being picked up.  I shut off the vacuum, got down on my knees and took a closer look.  That's when I saw the problem.  One of the tubes wasn't completely connected.  
  My daughter was watching me and commented, "I noticed it wasn't working very good for me either."
  "Why didn't you tell me?"  I asked.  "I even asked you if you had vacuumed your room."
  "I did vacuum," she answered.  "It's not my fault if it didn't clean anything."
   I shook my head. "Well if it wasn't working, you should have asked for help. You can't just go through the motions and say you cleaned."  And so it is with our sins.  We can't just say we are sorry and not change our habits.  Sometimes in order to clean up our mistakes, we need to get down on our hands and knees and take a good look at what is causing the problem.  We need to be honest with God and with ourselves.  
  This week try to spend some quiet, one-on-one time with God reflecting on your life.  The better your connection with God, the better your chance will be of avoiding sin in the future. 

-Susan