Free gift 🙂 included……

In finishing up the novena to St. Joseph, my family will be praying his litany tonight as a part of our family prayer such as you can find over at

https://www.ewtn.com/search

Just put in St. Joseph’s Litany and you’ll get right to the link.

As you read this litany you can’t help but be struck by his powerful titles – Diligent Protector of Christ, Hope of the Sick, and Glory of Home Life. My family’s current favorite? Terror of Demons

Where are you, how is your family? Which of St. Joseph’s titles speaks to what you need? Just as God, the Father sent St. Joseph to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and then as foster father to Jesus, St. Joseph patiently waits to watch over, protect and help you and your family travel safely through your struggles.

And that free gift? Check out this article:

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/growing-in-devotion-to-saint-joseph

Within the article, Fr. Roger Landry speaks of a great little book written in 1956 by Fr. Henri Rodent:

“Father Henri Rondet’s 1956 classic Saint Joseph, a translation of his 1953 French original Saint Joseph: Textes Anciens Avec Une Introduction. It’s the most helpful book on St. Joseph I have ever found.”

The best news? It can be found free on-line!

http://strobertbellarmine.net/books/Rondet–StJoseph.pdf

Maybe it can become a part of your efforts to better celebrate the Year of St. Joseph.

Looking for ways to increase devotion to St. Joseph during 2021? The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has assigned 2021 the “Year of St. Joseph.” This is the perfect opportunity to start the ancient form of prayer, the novena…nine consecutive days of prayer ending on a specific feast day…to St. Joseph. St. Joseph has two feasts days designated for him. The first is March 19. If you begin your novena today (March 10) you will finish the novena on the eve of the saint’s feast day. You may also begin tomorrow and end on the feast day itself.

St. Joseph’s other feast day is celebrated May 1st, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. The novena for that feast day would begin April 22nd. You can use novena prayers from this website: praymorenovenas.com or use your own prayers to St. Joseph.

My favorite St. Joseph novena prayer comes from a little blue prayer book affectionately called “The Pieta Prayerbook” because it has an image of Michaelangelo’s Pieta on the cover. You can pick it up at Amazon, or any Catholic book seller very inexpensively.

This particular St. Joseph prayer is over 1900 years old. Our family has prayed this novena prayer to St. Joseph many times during difficult family times and decisions through the years. It has always brought comfort and peace. Please consider praying it with us during this special time.

over 1900 years old

Oh St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your divine son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, our Lord; so that having engaged here below your heavenly power I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers. Oh St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while he reposes near your heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me, and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for us.
Amen.

Looking for more ways to increase devotion to St. Joseph in your families or your Catholic Clubs? Earn our new Year of St. Joseph badge now!

Also: special for the month of March: all badges and awards are 25% OFF! Discount automatically applied at check-out. ORDER TODAY!

Being as close to Philadelphia as I am, St. Katharine’s feast day is obligatory. She, along with her parents, are remembered for their philanthropy and kindness to everyone who came to their front door.

It should come as no surprise that we Little Flowers remember her attached to the virtue of generosity.

Today, I am meditating on the conversation she had with Pope Leo XIII. On a tour of Europe with her sisters, she had an audience with him asking him to please send missionaries to the Native Americans. He listened carefully and then asked, ‘why don’t you go yourself?’

This question comes at the same time I just read, “Do you really believe God has a plan for your life?” by Jennifer Roback Morse over at the Nat’l Catholic Register.

https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/do-you-really-believe-god-has-a-plan-for-your-life

It is consoling to remember that this plan can be discovered (or renewed) at any age. Saint Katharine found her vocation to be a missionary around the age of 28, while there are other saints who discovered God’s plan much later than that. St. Louise de Marillac or Servant of God Dorothy Day come to mind here.

It is never too late to discover His plan and once you do remember to pray about that plan daily. It can come from our morning offering or just a mumbled, ‘so, what should I do today, Lord?’ as we awaken.

From planning dinner or when to take a vacation, good planning makes for an easier day and a more fulfilling experience. Granted, God is not micromanaging your meals as chicken is just as good as fish. He thinks a trip to the beach is a great idea as is camping in the mountains. He just asks you be prudent in all your planning, taking into consideration your spouse’s ideas, family circumstances and making sure you remember to keep Him close by, where ever you are.

Mrs. Morse’s article is not about dinner or vacations but the big stuff. She asks, “Do you really believe that God has a plan for the world and for your life? Then trust that plan. Do you really believe God has a plan for your life? Then discover and work that plan. Everything else is a waste of time. Heaven knows, we have no time to waste in the defense of the truths of the faith, and the building of a better world.”

We all know our plans can change due to circumstances out of our hands: illness, unemployment, weather. But keeping on our focus on what God’s plan is for us gives us direction and stability when the world is turned upside down.

(If St. Katharine Drexel’s story is of interest, consider getting a copy of our “The People’s Princess” by Joan Stromberg – https://www.beholdpublications.com/wordpress1/product/the-peoples-princess-a-st-katharine-drexel-story/?v=2320522a6676 )

One of the best parts of being a Catholic Christian is that God welcomes us at whatever moment we say ‘yes’. We are assured of this welcome from the promise of the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matt 20) and Jesus’ own words earlier in Matt 11:28ff:

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Take note – there is no timeframe given, no due date just a “come to me”, and we all qualify for this invitation as all of us are under one burden or another.

So, if you haven’t really jumped into Lent for yourself or your kids might I recommend:

40 Simple Lenten Traditions For Families {With Little To No Prep Work}

**We are praying for all of you but are offering extra prayers and sacrifices for all the LF/BK families struggling in Texas. May Christ give you strength.**

Happy Lent! Life has been busy around here, including a wedding of my eldest, Maggie – more on that later, perhaps.

Lent has arrived and we are all making our first steps towards Easter.

With that in mind, today on More2Life, Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak will be talking about carrying your cross. I’ll be offering my 2 cents and 5 minutes as well.

https://www.ewtn.com/radio/shows/more2life

Up top you’ll see a Listen Live tab; give it a click and join the conversation with a call or just listen to their perspective.

So am I. More discouraging news arrived at my home today, and I found myself truly sad – again. Not wanting to continue down that rabbit hole, I went looking for relief and found this:

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/10-ways-to-lift-up-your-heart

From uplifting painting of John and Peter that illustrated the article written by Patti Maguire Armstrong to her concrete advice, I was reminded of a few helps I had forgotten.

Are you familiar with the Novena of Holy Surrender by Servant of God Fr. Ruotolo? I even got to laugh out loud when she referenced MY Scripture verse for 2021: ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand’” (John 13:7)’.

I’m bookmarking this article so I can reread it throughout the upcoming year as I know that struggles are a part of life. I just do not want to ever echo the disbelief of the people in today’s Gospel (Mk. 6:1-6). I know who Jesus is, regardless of what the world may think or what I may ‘see’.

There is so much we could say about the witness the Holy Family offers us. Shall we think about the Blessed Mother and Jesus the toddler? Did he climb on everything as a few of mine did? How about Jesus the preteen working at St. Joseph’s side learning woodcraft from his foster father?

Perhaps your own family could really use their intercession right now. Have the troubles of the world missed your family? Didn’t think so.

Over at Catholic Stand, I found a reassuring article:

Our Lady Healer of Families Heal My Broken Family

I also found this wonderful story of St. Louis Martin, our St. Therese’s own father and his struggles late in life with mental health issues.

https://aleteia.org/2017/11/09/st-louis-martin-novena-for-depression-anxiety-and-mental-disorders/

But, perhaps your family is enduring a time of peace and blessings. Have you been spared from any real struggles recently? If so, this month might be a time when you can dedicate your prayer time to intercede for families in crisis.

Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, is our reminder that seasons of blessing and seasons of strife come and go:

“There is an appointed time for everything….

a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;

a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

A time to seek, and a time to lose…..

What profit have workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to mortals to be busied about. God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. I recognized that there is nothing better than to rejoice and to do well during life.”

During this month, remember that whatever season you are in, the Holy Family is there to console you or celebrate with you. They understand as they also endured times of challenge and times of joy.

Happy First Day of Ordinary Time! While we might think of Jan. 1 as the first day of the year, as Catholics today can be seen the first day of the year as we enter into ordinary time with Mark’s telling of the call of Simon, Andrew, James and John (Mk. 1:14-20).

I like to think of how it would sound to add my own name, Rachel, to that list; and then Matthew and each of my children and then my family, my friends, and maybe you?

I’m not a fisherman, and He is asking me to remain at the work of my marriage, my family, and other work such as this. But, I want everything I do to be a result of the reality that I follow Him.

Forgive me for this last minute reminder but this article from the Nat’l Catholic Register reminded me:

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/bishop-keenan-marian-consecration

The article says in part,

The 33-day consecration begins Jan. 9 and ends Feb. 11, the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“Our Lady of Lourdes is special in our diocese,” Bishop Keenan explained. “Every year we make an annual diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes to consecrate the diocesan work to Our Lady there. Because of the pandemic we can’t do it this year.”

“I see this as going to Lourdes as we would do each year and consecrating our work for Jesus through her.” There is need for a lot of physical healing, “and to pray for our deliverance from this pandemic. And also spiritual healing for the world feels anxious.”

An act of consecration does not need to be complicated and realizing you may not have the resources mentioned in the article or a specific book, you could easily just do the Prayer of St. Maximillian Kolbe for your evening prayers (which is my family’s choice):

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/prayers/marian-prayers/consecration-prayer-to-mary

We have done consecrations before but this moment in time seems to need a reminder as Bishop Keenan says.

(Audible.com even has St. Louis de Monfort’s Consecration available on-line and they have a free trial offer!)

On the eve of Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, I want to extend my prayers for you and your family and your intentions for a blessed and safe 2021.

If your family does not already have the tradition of selecting a patron saint for the year may I suggest Jennifer Fulwiler’s Patron Saint generator:

https://saintsnamegenerator.com/

She also has a ‘word’ generator if you are inspired by that idea:

I created a Word of the Year generator just for you!

May 2021 be a better year for all of us!

(The image above comes from one of my favorite etsy shops: MrsTorresCreates. My own saint family includes St. Clare, St. Francis and St. Nicholas. Maddie is very generous in adding favorite quotes as well. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MrsTorresCreates?ref=usf_2020 )