How is it that They did NOT recognize Jesus

Here we are in the Octave of Easter.  The Gospel is full of sightings of Jesus after He has been raised from the dead.  The thread is similar in all of the sightings, They do NOT recognize Jesus!  They walk with Him, He calls to them and only when he breaks the bread and offers it to them do they know... IT IS THE LORD!

That has always puzzled me that here are the very people that walked with Him, ate with Him, shared His journey and yet, they do NOT recognize Him!

How many times does Our Lord appear to us in our daily life and we do NOT recognize Him?  More times than I like to think about.  Did I not see a glimpse of Him in the frustrated checker at Wal-Mart?  Was that not Him in the irritating individual at church?  Did I not see Him in one that I find it hard to forgive?

We are called not only to reflect Christ in our lives, but to recognize Him in others.  To recognize Him especially in those that at first blush seem the farthest from Christ. Christ is easy to see in those that think like us and act like us.  But I believe that we are called to find the Christ in those that He appears to be most hidden.

Lord,
Help me today to see You.  To see you in those that irritate me.  In those that I find it hard to forgive.  In those that do not act in the way I think they should.

~Cindy

Peeps and the Risen Lord

Alleluia, Alleluia The Lord has Risen!!!

This Easter is a wonderful reminder for me that Our Lord and Savior has Risen!  Not only has He Risen, but He has promised that all who believe in Him will Rise again.  This is my anchor.  This is my salvation.

If you know Michael, you know that he loved Peeps. Me I just can't get excited about them.  But oh how he loved them.  He even joined the Peeps Club one year. It did not matter to him that the club was for children.  When it came to Peeps, Michael was a child.

The only other person that I know that loves Peeps as much is Father Charlie.  He is over the moon about them.  Of course many in the Parish give him Peeps every year.  Father gives a total on Easter Sunday.  He also informed us that it takes seven minutes of good walking to work off one Peep!  Father will be walking for awhile.

My contribution this year was a Peep Topiary that I found on, where else, but Pinterest.  As I was constructing it last evening, I thought about Michael and how very much he would have loved his own Peep Topiary.  I must admit that his Guardian Angel showed me the idea shortly after Michael passed.

Father Charlie was thrilled and even mentioned it in his Homily!

So in my heart Michael is looking down on all of us and he is with the Risen Lord! He has no need of Peeps anymore.  He has reached the goal.

Lord,

Accept my humble prayer of gratitude.   Gratitude for your Mercy.   Gratitude for my Family and Friends.  Gratitude for my Prayer Partner, Michael's Guardian Angel, and all the people who remember him in their prayers.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Our Lord and Savior is Risen, Indeed!!!!

~Cindy

Good Friday Thoughts

Lord you know the heaviness of my heart today.  It is the four month anniversary of Michael's death.  I know that he is with you and now he understands all and glorifies you constantly.  But I miss him!  I know that he is at peace and all suffering and doubt is gone.  But I miss him!

Today is the anniversary of your death and I am sure that the Apostles, the Blessed Mother and all the disciples sat at the end of this day and missed you.  They could not understand that you would be risen in three days.  So they too were saddened and missing you.  Wondering what would happen to them.  Fearful of the future.

I believe that You ARE the Risen Lord.  I believe that You ARE the Resurrection and the Life  of the world to come.  I believe that You Love your servant, Michael, and that he has been born into eternal life with You.

Lord, 
Help me to find comfort as I stand at the foot of the cross, unsure of my future, but trusting in you.  Abandoning my will to Yours, and being obedient to Your Will.  Help me to remember in my sadness that there is Joy!

~Cindy

Hosanna in the Highest! Palm Sunday 2014

I woke up this morning and immediately started to wonder what it must have been like for Our Lord to know that this would be the final week of His earthly life.  He knew what was going to be asked of Him and He also knew that the road to get there would not be easy.  But He did it!  He did it because it was the Father's Will that He should be the Ultimate Sacrifice.

This is the week of ancient pageantry in the Catholic Church.  We have palms, we wash feet, we remember the crucifixion, and we wait on Holy Saturday so that we may celebrate the Resurrection on Easter Morning.

I wonder where I would have been standing on that dusty road to Jerusalem.  Would I be singing hosanna that day and asking for Barabbas the next.  Would I like Peter deny Him even though I had seen all His miracles?  I do not know.

I hope that I would have been with Mary, Mary, and John standing at the foot of the cross.

 This is also the week leading up to the four month anniversary of Michael's passing.  Good Friday will be the actual day.  It is my hope and prayer the Michael is in Heaven and that he will be celebrating the Resurrection of Our Lord with Our Lord.  Now that is a wonderful picture.

I Want a Plan

God, I want a plan.  I need a plan.  I am the girl who always knows what her next step is and where I am headed and what I want to do.  It feels wrong to just be sitting here in limbo yet again.

Then gently and slowly He pulls the scales from my eyes and says with such love, " Oh my daughter, I have a plan and it is unfolding just as it needs to.  Do not be in a hurry to move on, for there are lessons here for you to learn.  Haven't I given you fellowship?  Haven't I comforted you?  Haven't I given you time to pray and to ponder my love and mercy? Haven't I opened my Sacred Heart and let you lay there?  Haven't I come to you in the Holy Eucharist?  Haven't I sent my own mother to be your mother and comforter?  What more can you want?"

So this is the plan.  I am doing it.  I am moving forward.  I have everything that I need and more.

~Cindy

Me and The Poor Souls in Purgatory

The Poor Souls being released during Mass

The Poor Souls in Purgatory and I have a long relationship.  One of the favorite phrases of the Nuns and Sisters that taught me over the years was, "Offer it up for the Poor Souls in Purgatory."  As a child I really didn't think too much about those Poor Souls.  I thought like a child and did not understand just how much those Poor Souls needed my prayers.

As I matured I would often say to others, "Offer it up for the Poor Souls in Purgatory."  I said it more out of habit and less about an understanding of what the simple phrase truly meant.

Saint Faustina writes in her diary about her visit to Purgatory.
[The next night] I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him.  In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls.  They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves, only we can come to their aid.  The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all.  My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant.  I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was.  They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God.  I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory.  The souls call her, "The Star of the Sea."  She brings them refreshment.  I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. [I heard an interior voice] which said, My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it.  Since that time I am in closer communion with the suffering souls. Notebook 1- 20

Saint Gertrude the Great also had an affinity for the Poor Souls.  She wrote many beautiful prayers for them.  Our Lord told her that He would release as many souls as she asked for during Holy Communion.  He released more than she dared ask for.  I pray them daily.

It really became clear to me as Michael was dying and we talked about life, death, eternal life, Heaven, Hell and of course Purgatory; that Michael would be spending time in Purgatory.  As Father Kelly told me once, "Cindy, it is not if we are going to Purgatory, it is a matter of how long we will be there."

As the Poor Souls can not pray for themselves, only for us, Michael and I made a promise to each other.  We would pray for each other that our time in Purgatory would be short.

Please consider the Poor Souls for there are many that have no one to pray for them.  They are destitute and desperately in need of prayer.

Consider this:  During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass all three Churches come together; The Church Triumphant (the Saints), The Church Militant (us), and The Church Suffering (The Poor Souls).

From Saint Ambrose comes this prayers: "We have loved him dearly during life.  Let us not abandon him until we have conducted him by our prayers into the house of the Lord."


Holy Mary, our Lady of Deliverance, pray for us and for the holy souls in purgatory.  Amen

~Cindy