Upcoming Visit with Delia

About one year I  had a falling out with my friend Delia (not her real name) with a no-holds barred email fight. This upcoming Tuesday we are getting together to try to be friends again. We agreed through email to let bygones be bygones. Will we have the same rapport as before? Will we laugh again and enjoy each other's company? Will we be comfortable with each other?

Sprinkling of Holy Water

Every Sunday since Easter, our pastor has been sprinkling ALL of US with holy water in a baptismal rite at every Mass. For two Sundays in a row, the droplets have missed me. I was sad. Then one day while taking a walk, a bird flew overhead. The bird did not miss me.

This past Sunday, I rec'd PLENTY of sprinkles during the rite. Maybe I was receiving droplets every Sunday, but they landed on my clothes and I didn't know it. Maybe I was being blessed with holy water all along.

Father Pfleger Back in the Saddle

Father Pfleger is back practicing his priesthood at his parish, St. Sabina's, in Chicago. I heard a news report say, "The standoff is over." I doubt it was a standoff. It was probably a process.

St. Rita Novena

I did a novena to St. Rita leading up to her feast day, which was this past Sunday, May 22. Halfway through the novena I started seeing some blessings happening. No, there haven't been any big miracles like waking up and finding myself in a resort in Hawaii, but blessings big enough to keep my faith that St. Rita is listening and praying on my behalf.

St. Rita is the patron saint of hopeless causes and impossible things. She experienced some impossible situations made possible by God.

Learn about her here.
Read a book to learn about St. Rita, but first you have to order it.

When are those changes coming?/Mouth

There are suppose to be changes coming in the Mass, and I am wondering when they are coming? Are they here, and so subtle that I haven't noticed?

When I was serving Communion on Sunday, I noticed more people receiving on their tongues. Is this a new trend?

Without Angst, Without Children

Sunday was the first Mother's Day is several DECADES that I wasn't angst filled. I wrote a post last year how sad I was on Mother's Days that I didn't even go to church.

You see, I am NOT a mom. I no longer have a mom. I no longer have a grandma.

This year I e-mailed mother's day greetings to my friends who are mothers. It was nice to reconnect with some of them.

What changed? I confessed my jealousy and resentment about friends being moms.
The priest said, "Ooh, that's a hard one."
Then the priest said to pray and ask God what will bring me happiness if it's not motherhood. Not sure what the answer is, but I'm not feeling bad about myself. It's the absence of angst. I take pleasure in the things I can do and places I can go because I am not a mom.

I'm okay the way I am. It's a big world out there, and I'm sure I can fit in somewhere, help some way. I feel free.


This year I went to Mass on Saturday evening. Yes, mothers were blessed, but it was okay. On Sunday I went out to brunch with friends who do not have children either. We enjoyed ourselves and nary a complaint. It's nice to be just is.

Divine Mercy Sunday

 I am writing this web log entry on Sunday, May 1, 2011, and dividing it up in pieces to be posted on the succeeding days.

7)      It’s Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011, and I am listening to The Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet CD from the Mary Foundation. A lady in our parish bought a whole bunch to give away at church. That was cool of her.

Talking About Pope John Paul II Again

 I am writing this web log entry on Sunday, May 1, 2011, and dividing it up in pieces to be posted on the succeeding days.

6)      Back to the subject of Pope JPII. In honor of his beautification, today the priest wore a stole with the John Paul II’s crest (an “I” and an “M” on a blue field). The priest wore the stole back in the late 1970’s when he concelebrated a Mass with the Pope in Chicago, Illinois. Wow! He said all the priests who concelebrated that Mass had the same stole.

Famous Father Pfleger Flagrant reFusals

I am writing this web log entry on Sunday, May 1, 2011, and dividing it up in pieces to be posted on the succeeding days. 

5)  Francis Cardinal George FINALLY got tough with Father Pfleger of St. Sabina’s Church in Chicago. Read about it here. Fr. Pfleger needs to listen to the Rolling Stones and realize you can’t always get what you want. But more importantly, he needs to listen to his cardinal & bishop. Maybe there’s a home movie of his ordination, and he could watch about the time he pledged a vow of obedience. Many of those St. Sabina’s parishioners need to put their eyes on God and their Catholicism and the Holy Family and not on Fr. Pfleger.

If you haven't been following along, Fr. Pfleger said if he can't keep the position he has, then he just won't be Catholic anymore. He doesn't want to be reassigned.

St. Sabina-ers, I’m talking to you now: yes, sometimes it’s a big adjustment having a new pastor. It can be a big adjustment for the new pastor too. But that’s the name of the game in parish ministry. Surely, one of you has the leadership skills to continue on with various social, political campaigns. One of you lay people, stand up and take the lead if organizing marches and rallies are important to you. All of you, cooperate with the Church and stop acting like stubborn children.

Fr. Pfleger, I’m talking to you now: Please allow yourself to grow spiritually. Get with the Catholic program, or leave, or go on a long meditative retreat, pray for guidance, read the Bible and figure it out. See, you have choices. And remember we are a Church of Reconciliation.

What? No New People?

I am writing this web log entry on Sunday, May 1, 2011, and dividing it up in pieces to be posted on the succeeding days.

4)       My aunt said that at her Easter Vigil Mass in Chicago, there were no new people rec’d into the Catholic Church and there haven’t been any for several years. That sounds sad, but maybe everyone in her entire neighborhood is already Catholic.

Television at Three O'Clock in the Morning

Another part for Sunday, May 1, 2011's entry:

3) The priest started the homily and asked if anyone got up at 3:00 am to watch the beautification. I thought he was going to say royal wedding. Many of  us looked embarrassed, and a few hands went up showing they were with-it with the latest saint in the making. Pope John Paul II was beautified in Rome, and the priest got up early to watch it.

The priest also showed us the stole he was wearing. It had a big "I" and "M" on  a blue field, which was JPII's logo or crest from his papacy. The priest said he and all the other co-celebrants rec'd the stole when the the Pope was in Chicago in 1979. Wow. Suddenly, this priest was a celebrity in my eyes, but I'm not sure of his name. I felt wowed that I was standing in the same room as someone who shared the altar with the pope. Wow!

God's Forever Family

I writing this web log entry on Sunday, May 1, 2011, and dividing it up in pieces to be posted on the succeeding days.

2)      Shout out to all those who joined the Catholic Church last weekend and being forever part of God’s forever family. Congratulations.

Divine Sunday

I writing this web log entry on Sunday, May 1, 2011, and dividing it up in pieces to be posted on the succeeding days.

1)      Palm Sunday was holy. Easter Mass was even holier. I felt God, Joy, the Resurrection, the communion of saints, the Eucharist in every nerve of my body. Easter Mass was the Divine on Earth. Today’s Mass (Sunday, May 1, 2011) was the Divine on Earth. If I keep going to Mass, I’ll keep being in the midst of Divine on Earth. Wow!