Good Friday

I was reading in my Magnificat about Judas and Peter's denial of Christ. Of course there is a major difference between Judas' decision to deny and Peter's decision to deny. Judas denied Christ without love in his heart. He did so knowing that the outcome would result in Christ's death. Judas committed the act of denial and then remained cold with no remorse. He knew that he was severing and opportunity to be in communion with the Father and would spend eternity separated from God. Peter on the other hand immediately repented and felt terrible for what he had done. He knew instantly that his decision to deny Christ would hurt his God and effect their relationship. He had no intention of wanting to be separated from God but reacted out of fear and human weakness.

I think the offense that Peter made is something I can relate to. Fear and human weakness? Check. I use to wonder how a person could openly deny Christ. Christ is walking next to you and you are still unable to support Him. He is about to be beaten and killed and still you deny. But as I have grown older I have been able to identify the many, many ways that I deny Christ in my daily life as He walks next to me.

There have been many a time that I have denied Christ through keeping silent about an issue. Or being hurtful to my neighbor (not my real neighbor of course, but you know what I mean). Or choosing to watch mindless television and then being too tired to get my rosary in. The good news is even though Peter denied he reacted with true remorse in his heart. He repented and made his path straight. And can you imagine the feelings of guilt Peter must have felt right after? He automatically knew what he had done and it was overwhelming. Not to mention Christ was being sent to His death. I feel sad for Peter at that time. Maybe it's because I can relate to his feelings of fear and the realization that human weakness has trumped my ability to be strong for the Lord. And maybe its because I can relate to the love he had for his friend and mentor.

And in turn Christ made him the rock on which the church was built. Can you imagine?

Christ calls Peter out before the denial by telling him that he is going to openly state that he is not a friend of Jesus.

Peter says, 'No way! Not me Lord!'

Then Peter denies just as predicted.

Christ forgives him.

And then allows him to lead the Church as the first Pope.

How incredible is our God???

It definitely gives me hope. I am filled with human weakness. I am sinful. And today Christ dies upon the Cross for my weakness, my sin. Today is the day that I look at my denial of Christ and ask him to make me anew..... and now we wait for the Son to rise again.

May this Good Friday be a time of reflection and renewal in your life. Christ's peace.

Divine Mercy

The Catholic Company has provided a great question and answer about the Divine Mercy.

You can find it here.

The article provides all the information you need to understand Divine Mercy and learn how to pray it.

Great Giveaways!

Musty booster seat

Pikkolo Baby Carrier

Check out some great giveaways at Thrifty and Chic Mom!

Wee Believers 'My Mass Kit' Review

I had the wonderful opportunity to review My Mass Kit created by Wee Believers .

From Wee Believers:

“Wee Believers is a new company dedicated to the establishment of a high-quality, attractive, Catholic educational toy line. Our mission is to increase a child’s knowledge of Faith and love for God.

We have three daughters and have looked for great products for them for years, especially toys that are faith related. Much of what we have found are low-quality, plastic toys that offer no spiritual value to our family. Of course, there are many contributing factors for this in a world driven by consumerism, secularization and the depersonalization of society.

So, what can we do? Well, we decided to create the products that we could cherish and appreciate with our children. We hope that you will find them meaningful for your children, in your homes and classrooms, or as gifts for your godchildren and grandchildren.”

Review:

Love it! What an awesome idea!

My Mass Kit comes complete with twelve plush, cleanable pieces and a detailed instructional booklet contained in a durable, canvas case. Crucifix, Chalice, Thurible, Finger Bowl, 2 Cruets, 2 Candles, Paten (cotton/polyester blend), Corporal & Purificator (cotton cloth), and play Hosts (foam). All other pieces are cotton/polyester blend, carrying case is nylon. Made from all new materials.

My three year old immediately made the association to Mass and was so excited about it. Although she called the hosts ‘mints’ it was pretty amazing to listen to her talk about the Mass from her three year old perspective. And it gave me the opportunity to correct any three-year old misconceptions! We talked about the different parts of the Mass and used a visual and tactile reference to explain them in more detail. She was able to touch the pieces used for Mass and immediately you could see her little mind just taking it all in.

All the items come in a carrying case. The carrying case and the pieces are all soft, colorful and durable. Little kid wear and tear has nothing on these toys! My Mass Kit is great for boys or girls. Little guys can play with the pieces so to emulate a priest. (AWESOME! I know this product will contribute to more young men becoming priests! Let's pray!) Little girls will love being able to get their hands on toys that are similar to the items we see at Mass. Either way children will benefit from the opportunity to see and learn about what occurs during Mass.

Think about it: I love the idea that there is a toy that gives children a look at what is going on during the most important hour during the week- Mass. (Or hours if you go daily!)

As a parent it is very important to me for my child to be exposed to all types of learning experiences. I take her to the zoo to learn about animals, to the museum to learn about science, we do puzzles, read books and art projects. But ultimately there is no greater education than that of our Catholic faith. The most important aspect, the Holy Eucharist, is truly a mystery and a beautiful one at that! Providing a child with 'pieces' of the Mass helps to reinforce love of the Eucharist, of our holy Mother Church and brings a comfort level to attending Mass.

I was surprised to see my child’s excitement when first opening My Mass kit. I wasn't sure she would know what it was or what to do with it. She immediately knew what this kit related to. She fingered the contents and wanted to know what each piece was. I think her excitement stemmed from connection her experience as Mass to these toys. Furthermore I think she loved being ‘a part’ of the Church. And in a way, that’s what this kit ultimately does, it allows the child to be a part of the Most Holy Mass in a very personal way.

I completely recommend this Mass kit to all parents wanting to familiarize their child with Mass. It is an ingenious idea, you know the ones you always end up saying ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’. The makers have obviously worked very hard on creating a kit that is child safe and friendly as well as a great representation of a Catholic service. Price should be taken into consideration but truly it is a fantastic product that serves both educationally AND spiritually. How can you beat that? I am looking forward to the products Wee Believers will create in the future. I am confidant they well be excellent resources for sharing the faith with our children!

Christian Family Organizer Giveaway Winners!

Good news! Everyone who posted for the Christian Family Organizer Wins!

If you posted please send me your address via email and I will get those out to you!

Thanks for reading Modern Catholic Mom!

le Monde

Le Monde is the largest newspaper in France. As you may have heard, Le Monde published a blasphemous cartoon on March 19 showing 'Our Lord' handing out prophylactics to the excited masses with the caption "The multiplication of the condoms followed the multiplication of the loaves."The cartoon targeted the Pope too. He was depicted as a decrepit old man who says: "Anything goes!"

Many offended Catholics have sent a note to Le Monde expressing their protest. Below is the email address and example note you may send.

Send it to courrier-des-lecteurs@lemonde.fr:

Le Monde: As a Catholic, I was dismayed and offended by your newspaper publishing a sacrilegious cartoon showing Our Lord Jesus Christ handing out prophylactics from a boat to the excited masses. The cartoon depicts Christ and the Pope saying things that are sacrilegious. This is offensive and hurtful to the Catholic faith. In response, I demand that you apologize for the cartoon and pledge never to publish such offensive material again. Thank you for your time.

Fallen Away

I was talking to a really nice lady at a playgroup recently. I assumed she was a Protestant until we got to talking and she shared she was a Catholic. I always get an excited feeling of kinship when someone shares that they are Catholic. But, she also shared that she is a non practicing Catholic.... but as our conversation continued I was struck by her 'relationship' with Catholicism in general. She spoke of her affection to saints and how she gave her St. Christopher medal to a friends high school newly driving son. She said her boyfriend had fallen ill, been given a rosary while in the hospital and how he wore it around his neck. She laughed and shared that he made him take the rosary off and told him what it was for. When admitted to the hospital the boyfriend shared that his religion was Catholic and she said,' Catholic? You aren't Catholic!' When he replied that his mother had been Catholic she exclaimed 'Being Catholic isn't like being Irish! You have to work to be Catholic!'

The conversation really moved me. I invited her to the church we attend downtown and tried to share my love for the Eucharist. It was at this point that she shared how her daughter was asking about receiving her First Communion. She said that she told her daughter that receiving First Communion required learning and time... that it was a huge commitment.

It stopped me. Her child was asking to receive her Holy Communion. Her daughter was asking about the Son of God! Granted it is enticing thinking about a white dress and possible party of course but overall the child was asking to be united with God in a way no other earthly experience can provide.

How beautiful! How fascinating! Yet still there remains a huge element of sad..... Because I don't think that the mom had any intention of letting her daughter receive this beautiful mystery. It made me think about that huge population of men and women who are Catholic and not practicing. And the effects they have on their children. How do you reach them? How do you evangelize to those who have already been catechized? How do you break through the reasons why they 'left' the church in the first place? Through the power of the Holy Spirit and our ability to open our hearts to holy boldness maybe we can be instruments in the conversion of those who have 'fallen' away.

Lord, please bless those that have fallen away. Open their hearts to your love once again. Please use us however You desire so that we can be instruments of conversion for your loved ones who have forgotten the way.

Romans 10:17

Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.

Philippians 2:9-11

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

How do you promote Catholicism to your children?

I have been meaning to mesh the whole 'mom' and 'catholic' lately.

I was thinking about the things that I do to bring Catholicism into my little three year olds life.

Then I was thinking about how most of my ideas all came from my friends. Ha! My thoughts were that maybe we could all share the things we do in our homes to promote Catholicism.

For example:

I just bought 'The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions'. (Review to come soon!) This book provides different activities for teachers or moms to do with their kiddos.

We do a Rosary playgroup on Fridays. My little one gets to have a playdate and I get to pray the rosary with my girlfriends. The kids definitely get loud during the rosary but I am sure Mother Mary is smiling down on us.

Holy Baby DVD's! Love them! (Another Holy Baby DVD giveaway to come soon!) They are Catholic DVD's that provide music, mass parts and so much more for your child.

What do you do? Post below and I can put together a comprehensive list for a new post entitled ' Keeping the Catholic in Kid!'

Woman's World and Repro-what?

I very innocently sat down with the magazine 'Woman's World' this weekend. All was well until I came to an article entitled 'Would You Like Fries With That Baby?'

It's funny because I 'get' the title now but when I first read it I wasn't sure if it was about losing weight after pregnancy! Oh how wrong I was.

In summary this article is about REPROGENETICS. New word for you? Me too. Basically it is a cross between reproductive technology (think IVF) and genetics and allowing a parent to choose or eliminate traits including things like gender or disease before the child is even conceived.

You can also test children when they are infants. The example they so innocently provide explains that a dad could test and see if his son is going to be a great football star. If genetics show that he does have an inclination toward athleticism than you know you do not have to waste time with music lessons. You can also use the information to foster the child's talent from a young age.

Overall the writer of the article is not very supportive of this break through in medicine because she believes a parent should let a child come into their own. She spoke about her own son who was athletically inclined but truly preferred music as his outlet. The article was not necessarily for this 'new wave' because they didn't want to crush a child's sense of creativity! WHAT?!!

Of course I am reading it and thinking OH MY GOSH! I guess I knew that these types of genetic findings would surface during my lifetime but I still am not prepared for this!

If parents are able to choose certain traits we are in a lot of trouble. Besides the obvious problem of playing God there becomes the issues of control. Hitler tried to choose the traits he wanted in society and it resulted in the Holocaust. China is attempting to choose gender traits by mandating a two child policy and killing baby girls. (This absolutely kills me that it is happening in this day and age and still I sit on my couch and can virtually do nothing.)

More than anything it directly affects the dignity of the human person. God knew us before we were formed in the womb. He plans it all out, our beauty inside and out, our talents, our motivations and science wants to eliminate those traits that it does not deem worthy. Or maybe traits that it just doesn't like. Science wants to try and trump what God has planned. How scary and sad! Please join with me in prayer to end reprogenetic research.

Prayer Request for Orphanage

I read an article about an orphanage in Padampur, India. It has been burned down for the second time from what I believe is religious conflict. This priest sounds inspirational. If you are interested you can read the article here.

Please remember to keep Father Edward and his efforts in your prayers. Pray for the children affected by this loss and for those who committed such a horrendous crime. This man sure sounds like a saint in the making. In addition to the orphanage he runs a leper colony in Asia.

Father Edward:

"Our mission to serve the marginalized and ostracised must go on, that is our calling, to serve these people with the love that Christ had for his Church. As a Catholic priest I was ordained to serve, so in spite of the climate of intimidation we have to breathe life of hope into these people. The cross is always be present in the life of a Christian, and this cross brought forth the most powerful fruit of the resurrection. This is our life, the cross of Christ in the face of persecution, and the hope of resurrection."

Wow. This truly puts in perspective the fact that persecution is real. And it really make the resurrection something very beautiful. I will go to bed grateful for my freedoms both religiously and politically.

A Doctor's Right

Here is another online form we can sign to let the Obama administration know that we do not agree with their policy.

It's called a Doctor's Right.

The Obama administration wants to rescind the bill by President Bush that allowed health care workers to refuse to participate in procedures that were against their beliefs. Most importantly this affects faith based hospitals and abortion issues.

The Heritage Foundation provides some additional information as well.

Thanks!

JPII's beatification

This makes me so happpppyy!!!

JPII'S BEATIFICATION: It has been resported that Pope John Paul II will be beatified on April 2, 2010. This is just five years after his death. I am so excited! Love him! It's amazing how just finding a picture of him moves my heart :-)

Ultimate Blog Party

Check out the Ultimate Blog Party! The Ultimate Blog Party is about building online friendships.

The Truth

I found this quote in a news email I was sent. The editor was responding to the different responses that priests gave regarding the Pope's support of monogamy and abstinence.

Henry Makori, editor of Catholic Information Service for Africa, spoke for many Catholics when he wrote:

" So what? The uneasy relationship between religion and the media will continue. One hopes Pope Benedict does not lose much sleep over this. The church's greatest challenge in this age is not to have secular media on its side, or to get everyone agreeing with its doctrines. Christianity is in town to bear credible witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ."


This brought to mind the Scripture that reads:

"If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as it's own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of this world- therefore the world hates you."- John 15:18-19


In light of these two articles of truth I have to laugh. You see I constantly forget that I am going to come up against opposition. Somewhere along the line (probably because of the 1960's or something) I have been inundated with the idea that everyone is just supposed to be 'cool' with everyone beliefs... I get confused because in order to be 'cool' sometimes it means that I am not a bearer of truth (The Truth) but more someone who nods my head and thinks, 'Well, not for me but its okay for you I guess'.


Hearing the Pope speak out against the use of condoms has really been an amazing example for his flock. Of course, we pray and hope the Pope would stand up for Truth, still he surely has received a lot of opposition. Media, other priests, fellow Catholics and the list goes on of those who are really upset by the Pope's seemingly 'unrealistic' stance.

But for those of us who are truly hearing the Message we know that this is a deeper call to holiness.....

"Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Verse 10)" - Matthew 5:10

Yes Lord!

This is where its at. Standing up for what is truth and proclaiming the Gospel message.


It made me think about an experience I had the other day...

I had the opportunity to pray outside an abortion clinic for an hour. Nothing crazy just rosary time. I went with a good friend and with the help of another lovely women we quietly prayed outside.


So, upon getting there I was in another world... I just had so much going on in my own life that this had become just another thing to do on the list. We get there, break out the rosary, and the multitude of women start pouring into the clinic. They are coming and I am standing on the side of the road praying. Honestly, my emotions were overwhelmed. My heart was breaking knowing that these women were coming to seek an end to their child's life. I was angry because I have been praying for another child for three years and they are willing to just 'get rid' of theirs. All of this while being touched with a moment of embarrassment.... I know! See, we were on this busy street and cars kept screaming by on their way to work or lunch, where ever and I started thinking about what they must think of me. I thought about the impression I was making, how I was probably offending those pro-choicers driving by, how this could potentially 'turn someone off'.


These were just the thoughts going through my mind....so as the rosary went on and the cars kept coming I began to feel the urgency of prayer and how necessary it is to be a catalyst of change in that community. Abortions are wrong. They are a travesty to the human race and I imagine that God cries each time his children are killed. It was at this point that the Holy Spirit moved me into conviction and gratitude that I had been called to pray for his little ones.


This reminds me that I have to have to put on the Whole Armor of God to truly become his warrior. (this is one of my faves):


"Finally, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord and in the might of his power. 11 Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. High places, or heavenly places... That is to say, in the air, the lowest of the celestial regions; in which God permits these wicked spirits or fallen angels to wander. 13 Therefore, take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day and to stand in all things perfect. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of justice: 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. 16 In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. 17 And take unto you the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God). 18 By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit: and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints". - Ephesians 6:10-17 (taken from www.newadvent.com)


So, I have continued gratitude to the Pope for not only standing up for the Truth but inspiring his flock to follow suit and truly emulate his behavior. We are blessed to have a faithful and brilliant Pope. We must continue to pray for his faithfulness, holiness and servitude.

And as for us, I pray that we become INSPIRED! EXCITED! MOVED by the Spirit and able to always speak and promote the Truth.... With the Armor of God to cover us, the Rosary to guide us and the Eucharist to give us life we move forward in this day and age knowing that our reward lies in Heaven.

Christian Family Organizer Giveaway!

Christian Family Organizer

Life has really been coming at me! I wish I had a little more time to blog... So many great things to share. Please continue to check for new blogs and for now I thought I would give away a few Christian planners.....

My good friend over at http://www.thriftyandchicmom.com/ has generously shared some planners for me to give away to you!

These planners are fantastic. It is called the Christian Family Organizer and I have three to give away. The website can be found here. The planners are created by Amy Knapp. There are three different planners including the regular family planner, the maternity family planner and the ones I have to give away, the Christian Family Planner.

I immediately took to this planner for several reasons.

First, it is spiral bound which I love because it makes it so much easier to keep it open to any page I need.

Second, it offers a nice two page month by month calendar.

Third, it offers a place to list 'things to do', 'prayer and praise', 'menu planning' and 'Grocery'.

Fourth, the Menu and Grocery part are perforated so it can be torn out and taken with you to the grocery store! (Nice touch!)

Fifth, throughout the planner there are great scriptural references. (And who doesn't need a little inspiration!)

Sixth, there is a family budget planner, babysitter information, a place for information about the children for the babysitter, babysitter phone numbers, childrens' play friends section, childrens' organization references, parents' organization references, address and phone number section and even a web address/ login section!

Seventh, there are handy little stickers that can help highlight certain events.

The planner is functional, user friendly, offers enough room for all a mom's needs and can be easily transported.

To enter tell me in a comment why you want this planner.

For more entries do any or all of the following leaving a separate comment for each entry.

* Subscribe by email to Modern Catholic Mom

* Blog abut this giveaway with a link back

* Twitter about this giveaway with a link back

* Email a friend about this giveaway with a link be sure to CC me

Giveaway open to US residents only, ends 4/4 at midnight.