Mama Mary, Lovely Lady

How lucky are we, to have a mother who loves us so?

Who is spending her eternity diligently begging at the feet of her Son for our every need and worry.

Every Catholic is called to have a devotion to Mary. Why?

Because Jesus did. He devoted the first 30 years of His life to allowing her to teach Him and guide Him and love Him.

Over the past few months, I've grown to appreciate our heavenly mother for her tenderness and beauty. Not because she is physically beautiful, although I am sure she is, but because she let (and continues to) God's will shine through her perfectly. 

Without Jesus, Mary is nothing more than a virtuous girl. There would be no point to asking for her intercession any more than the other saints.

But God chose her to be the vessel in which to carry the greatest treasure this world has ever known.

Is there anything more beautiful than that?

 

All of these images are some of my absolute favorites :)

 

May the most blessed mother, queen of Heaven and of our hearts, guide you even closer to her Son.

 

 

 

 

Virtual Adoration

I am so blessed to go to a school where adoration is offered on the first Friday of every month.
Well, I wish it were every Friday. Or every day. But you don't always get everything you wish for.

Actually, today was the first time I took advantage of this awesome opportunity.

Those 15 minutes I spent in our Lord's presence after eating lunch were the best moments of my life since the hours I spent with Him last weekend.
Sometimes, 15 minutes is all you need to be able to keep going.

A couple of months ago, I was surfing the web, just checking out some Catholic websites (probably ones about nuns). Because that is one of the main things I do in my free time.
I stumbled upon a page that had "virtual adoration". It probably had a much more eloquent name. But I'm not the most eloquent person.

Last weekend, the only picture I managed to take was the one below. It's the most important one, after all.

I know that adoration when you're physically in God's presence is always going to be better than just looking at a picture.
But some of us can't go every day.
And when this picture was taken, He was present.

So if you have time (or even if you don't have time), take a moment right now to place your heart and mind and soul in front of God.

Let Him consume you.
Let Him be with you.
Let Him love you.

I'm doing it too, don't worry.

Complete surrender is one of the hardest things ever. But it's enough just to let Him take your hand and tell Him that you want to love Him.
And even if you don't want Him to love you, that in no way lessens His affection for you.
Oh, how He loves you.

May you seek the Lord with an earnest and humble heart day after day :)

CFR Retreat

Hello you wonderful people.
I just had some of the best days of my life.

If any of you have hung around for the two long months I've been blogging about my oh-so-interesting world, then you may remember one of my first posts, which was titled "Sisters :)"

I'll post the link below for those of you who haven't read it. I know how annoying it can be to have to scroll through pages and pages of stuff.

http://bornfromaboveblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/sisters.html?m=1

Basically it was a description of a handful of lively and vibrant religious orders that every young Catholic girl, discerning or not, should check out. And number 4 on that list were the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, whom I mentioned I would get the chance to meet later this year.

See where I'm going with this???

Yes, I just spent 3 joy filled days with the Friars and Sisters of the Renewal. I had heard a ton about how awesome they are. And you can take my word for it, they are awesome!

The entire retreat can be summed up in just a few short words: Confession, the Rosary, Mass, Adoration. And these things happen to be my favorite things in the entire world.
It was so beautiful. And you wouldn't believe how many graces you receive from spending 15 hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
I told you it was AWESOME!!!

So now that it's been a few days and that wonderful retreat high has gradually faded, what's changed?
Well, my relationships with the people who were there with me have changed. It's like we all have this silent and bonding knowledge that Jesus is the best thing ever, which He is.

And now I'm just trying to love Him more.
Isn't that what life is about?

 

One last thing- during Adoration, there was one song in particular that made all the emotions overflow. I'll post a link to it below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frws0SAEy9A

Jesus and Popcorn

"Pleeeease!!! Pleeeeaaasse can I have some?" Whines my adorable younger brother, reaching for the cookie dough.
"No, we're about to go to mass." I remind him.
"So???"

I think for a couple seconds.

"We're not supposed to eat before mass."
"What? Why?"
He grabs a handful of popcorn from the kitchen counter.
"Because, we're about to recieve Jesus. And we don't want Jesus all mixed up with popcorn, do we?"

His eyes widen with the realization that maybe Jesus is real, maybe this is important.

I catch him 10 minues later slurping down a Sprite. I guess I wasn't clear enough that the 1-hour ban of food before mass is extended to drinks too.

(Get it?!? It's Jesus eating a cookie!!! Hahaha!!!)

Too often in our Church today, the simple rules that we were taught as children are dismissed because "if you want to follow them, you can, but God's not going to kill you if you don't feel like it."
My own family doesn't always believe in some Church Doctrine.

They know I do.
As they put it, I "care about that stuff."
But just because I feel strongly about it doesn't make them feel obligated to do it too.

And I don't blame them.

Maybe I should clarify.

They may be my family, and they have shaped who I am, but we're still different people who have had different experiences. And the experiences I have had (in adoration and other things) have led me to completely believe in and love God. And not only that, it has changed the person I am.

I didn't do this. Actually, I have nothing to do with it. For some reason, God chose me to know Him. So it's my responsibility to help the people around me know Him too and get to heaven.

It's a very thin and treacherous line when someone  wants to help those close to them (like their parents). It takes a whole lot of humility.
If they ever read this, I want them to know that all I'm saying is that I love God and I love them and all I want is to do His will.

Where was I going with all of this?
I'm not really sure.

But back to the Jesus and popcorn thing.
It may seem outrageous to follow seemingly pointless rules without hesitation.
But what you may not know is that I once had hesitation. There was a point in my life when I didn't really believe. And I questioned and searched and God brought me to the conclusion that the Church would never ask me to do something if it wasn't going to help me love God more.

And if we can't be faithful in the little things, how are we ever going to have the strength and courage to be faithful when it really matters?

p.s.
If anyone was wondering, the cookies turned out really yummy

p.p.s.
I'm writing a speech in my speech class about JPII and I'm really excited :)

Not-So-Ordinary Time

It feels like only moments since Christmas ended and at the same time Lent is less than a month away! And here we are, in the midst of everyone's favorite Liturgical season (*can you hear my sarcasm*)

I have to admit, whenever I think about Ordinary Time, a part of me slumps down and sighs deeply.
Why?
Because all my life I've had the mindset that if we aren't fasting or feasting, then it must be boring.
This is a trap that a lot of us Catholics can easily fall into.

I really want to change the way I see this season, but it's a long process.
But I've got to start somewhere.

The whole point of the Liturgical Year is that we may repeatedly walk in the footsteps of Christ's life.
We normally just think about His birth and His death, but what about everything in between?

What about the days when he got up and ate breakfast and went to Joseph's workshop and helped Mary set the table and fell asleep gazing out His window at the stars?
What about the days when He wandered the dusty roads, talking His (most sacred) heart out to His disciples and laughing at the little children coming to greet Him?

What about the days in Jesus' life that were ordinary?

There was a time before His ministry that we forget about a lot because we don't know a lot about it. But Jesus once had a day-to-day life that was less than exciting but that was beautiful at the same
time.

During Ordinary Time, we are called to fall into the rhythmic patterns of life that ultimately are most important when it comes to truly devoting yourself to God.
It's really hard to love Him when life seemings to be empty and dragging on and there's nothing to look forward to.
But in these quiet and (sometimes) peaceful days, we must seek our Lord in the silence. In those around us. And within ourselves.

It is during these times that God most gently and patiently guides us towards Himself- towards loving Him more and towards eternal rest.

P.S.

I want to share a quote from my prayer journal (video on that coming up relatively soon on my Youtube channel)

"This is life.

This is what we get, and it's kind of the best thing ever, every moment of every day.

If I can't comprehend how amazingly beautiful this life is, then I can't even think about the next.

So here's to a life well- courageously, boldy, lovingly lived."

These wonderful pictures have been brought to you from the wonderful world of Pintrest

Nun baby procrastination

Almost 9 o'clock.
No homework done.
Pajamas, tea, and a stack of (Catholic) books I want to read.
And a major test tomorrow that I haven't even though about.
Perfect time to blog.

But then again, I feel like a lot of my posts lately have been a bit lengthy.
And being the lazy person I am, I don't like reading paragraphs and paragraphs.

So instead, here's a picture of some adorable nun babies.

Adorable nun babies are adorable.

If I have children, this will be them.

I should go be a productive person now.

Like the cool sign off?

Idk if it will stay but it's worth a try.

And if you are as much of a procrastinator as me, why don't you go check out this awesome youtube video by SheIsCatholic (who is now a Dominican sister) singing "Girls Just Want to be Nuns". Which is the truth.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Udqjs_wBp5A

I watch it approximately one million times a day.

Dallas March for Life 2015

Yesterday I was lucky to be able to go to the Dallas March for Life with a group from my school.

The biggest March for Life is this Wednesday in Washington D.C., but Dallas is a lot closer to me.

Hopefully one day I'll be able to travel to D.C. for the event, but the one in Dallas still has thousands of people attend and makes a big impact.

Dallas is where it all began.

And by it, I mean the silent halocaust taking place in our country and around the whole world. 

Abortion.

Since January 22nd, 1973, almost 56 million babies have been aborted in America alone.

Sweet, innocent children who were murdered by no fault of their own.

Children who by now could have families, who could have experienced all the joys and sorrows life has to offer.

This is the truth.

The truth that a baby is not a choice and abortion is not a right.

A baby is a human being, and no one has the right to take the life of another, no matter how inconvenient they are.

The only reason that the devil has been able to cause so much evil through abortion is because he convinces us to forget our humanity.

It is human instinct that killing others is wrong.

It is human instinct to protect the vulnerable.

And through history we can see that the way mass genocides go unnoticed is by de-humanizing the victims.

In this case, reducing the tiny babies to the scientific term fetus.

(At mass)

I am the same person I was at the moment of conception and first few. weeks following.

I am the same person I was when I was born.

Yes, I look a lot different than when I was born.

When I was born I also looked a lot different than when I was a "fetus".

But I am me, and I have been me since the first moment I existed.

At the end of the march there were a few fantastic speakers and I would like to share a couple points I learned.

1. Abortion is not a matter of diplomacy. It isn't a fight between conservatives and liberals. It isn't a matter of whether it is legal or not.

It is a matter of life and death.

Between what is right and what is wrong. 

2. The battle is already won.

When Jesus said "I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest", He meant it.

He died on Calvary to defeat evil and forgive all sin.

We March not just hoping for victory, but knowing that it is right around the corner.

And even though abortion is perhaps the greatest evil of our time, it is forgivable if we plead for forgiveness.

3. Abortion hurts women.

It does.

This one needs a whole lot more explanation, which I'll probably address in a future post.

But one thing I want to say about this is that abortion is a temporary solution.

It will give you temporary relief, temporary support, temporary acceptance. 

But it will give you permanent pain.

(The reflection of the crowds in the glass)

This is a pretty heavy topic.

If you think I was harsh, don't worry.

When I get around to it I'll do a post about compassion and forgiveness when it comes to abortion.

But first, I wanted you to know the truth.

I made a video of the March which I will post a link to below.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ohEyEUY0ghY

Keep praying and never give up!

Love,

A Catholic Teen