Sticky Post!
Apologies for not posting recently, i'm experiencing some difficulties right now and will blog as soon as i feel able to. Thanks for stopping by!A reader recently wrote the comment below on an old post, a poem i wrote about Our Lady about 3 years ago. I have responded to the comment in that particular post and would appreciate any insight or support you can give in the combox of that post.
Alternatively, if you agree with Les that there is something wrong with the poem (in that you consider it erroneous, not simply a ‘poorly written poem’!) feel free to write that in the combox explaining your point. Read both the poem and the comment HERE.
(Since both posts are about the same thing i will close this combox so as to avoid confusion!)
Les writes:
Beautiful but also somewhat scary. We’re to pray to our Heavenly Father who became flesh and died on the cross for our sins. Jesus is our Messiah – not Mary. Mary was a mere woman just like us…she may have bore the Son of God but she was not the Christ. Jesus himself taught men how to pray…He said “Our Father who art in Heaven…” not “Mary who art in Heaven…”
Please pray for…..
Daniella writes:
“Please pray for my husband and his family they need conversion and for God to soften and touch their hearts. They need to be closer to God. Please pray for our marriage to be blessed and for God to guide us in the right path and bring us closer together. Amen. Thank you. God Bless.”
Lorie writes her update and prayer request:
“Oh God bless you all so much. Things are the same. We just moved out yesterday and will be going back to clean the unit. I know they are just waiting for us to be officially out of there to deny my unemployment. We are really hurting financially right now. The prayers really help. I do have some job interviews lined up for next week.
May the Lord bless you in your walk. Always, Lorie”
Sangeetha writes:
“PLEASE PRAY FOR ME TO OUR GOD TO BLESS ME TO GIVE BIRTH A CHILD AND ALSO PRAY FOR ALL THOSE WHO NEED CHILD AND ALSO FOR MY GOVERNMENT JOB”
Anon writes:
“Dear Mary
Could you protect me and my wife from the peace process order and truth and reconcilation order. Please.”
Mervin writes:
“Please pray for my wife and I. She has requested for separation and I feel that there are evil trying to take over her soul. Pray for her conversion and that she would repent. And that we would finally reconcile and praise GOD forever together in our lives. Amen”
Margaret writes:
“please pray and ask others to join with you to pray for irelands people tomorrow oct 2 for guidance and wisdom when they cast their votes either for or against the lisbon treaty. this is a very serious and historic time for us. thank you”
Edited to add:
Donna writes:
“Great website! may I offer my prayer?
Most Holy and Divine Lord Jesus Christ, Please hear my prayers. Please bring back all of those people who have left my life. Rob, my kids, my Mom, sister, brothers, Paul, his family. Please open their hearts and let your love flow through them. Allow your grace to settle into their hearts and give them compassion to forgive me. I am so alone and sad. I ask this from my broken heart, Amen
Thank you.”
Carol writes:
“Please can you pray to St. Jude as a special intention for my daughter who is suffering from teenage depression and is trying hard to find work but nothing seems to be happening. Also, my mother has Pancreatic cancer. I would be so grateful for all your prayers and blessings for something good to come out of all the adversity. Thank you.”
Since there’s a severe economic downturn in this household these days, it’s time to pull in those purse strings and see if i can cut back on our outgoings a bit more. Since we don’t have much that we can cut down on ( no cable, no mobile/cell phone contracts, no subscriptions etc) , it had to be the grocery bill that would take the chop.
(no pun intended at the time of writing)
So.
Since our family number has reduced for the time being and since Wondergirl is a vegetarian, i thought i’d do some meal planning and decided to Google vegetarian recipes since i can quite happily do without meat in many of my meals (I was a vegetarian for 13 years after all!). As it happens, i found a good few recipes online and yesterday i sat down and made a list of all the ingredients i would need to purchase, so that i could get cooking.
I already had stock cubes in and some spices and herbs so all i had to buy was what was on my list below…i was SO pleased when i got to the supermarket, to find that there were massive savings to be had on almost all the fresh produce on my list!
1 x potatoes 1 kg £2.00 at buy one kg bag and get one free = £2.00
2 x bags of carrots at 50p each = £1.00
Fresh rosemary .25p (reduced from .75p) = .25p
Bag of 3 Leeks = £1
2 x bags of onions at 75p each = £1.50
2 x packs of celery at 50p each = £1.00
Canellini Beans 2 x tins at .50p each = £1.00
2 bags of parsnips at £1.00 each = £2.00
2 x packs of button mushrooms at .50p each = £1.00
Pack of Organic Green Lentils at .89p = .89p
Herbs and spices £3.50 (but they will last me ages!) = £3.50
Total = £15.14
Total not counting herbs and spices = £11.64
Now the really good bit….i made 7 very substantial meals for us both (2 very generous servings in each of the bags) with the ingredients i purchased and it works out at only £1.08p each per meal or £2.16 per bag produced! Not counting the cost of the herbs and spices it works out at only .83p a serving and £1.66 per bag of soup/curry produced. WOW!
Of course, all this cooking meant having all 4 hotplates going on my cooker at the same time, but it’s more economical to cook in bulk anyway and the food will only need a reheat when we get around to eating it.
So that’s 7 meals for me and 7 meals for Wondergirl. Cool or what? It has been a big help to my budget to drop on the vegetable bargains at the supermarket or it would have cost significantly more. Better still, i have veggies left to make another kind of soup tomorrow and the spices and herbs will last me weeks, if not months!
Here is what i made…I made Vegetarian Curry…..i don’t have a photo of that during the cooking process because i made it last night, before i even thought of writing a post about it – stupid me!!!!- don’t i know after 5 years of blogging, that EVERYTHING is bloggable?
DOH!
I made a batch of Pasta e Fagioli (pasta to be added when defrosted and before reheating)
I made a batch of Lentil and Veg soup too….
Considering similar ingredients went in to each batch, they taste very different, which i am pleased about or eating it all would get very boring after a very short while, I would imagine. Here are the soups and curry all bagged up ready to go in the freezer…
Now i’m going to have a very much deserved soak in the bath…i smell extremely herbidacious after spending the last 4 hours brewing this lot up in the kitchen!
This time around I have created the Prayer Card Sheet for the Pope’s Prayer Intentions for not only October, but also for November and December. Gotta do these things when the opportunity arises right?
You can download my free downloadable prayer cards from my Free Prayer Cards page…and as i always say, please print these prayer cards off and distribute them freely….to friends, in parishes (with the priest’s permission) in cafe’s, phone booths etc! Share the love!
Enjoy!
October
November
December
“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know that just to be alive is a grand thing.”
–Agatha Christie
How many days have you been alive? Here’s how many days I have been…
This is day number 15,096 for people born on June 1, 1968
Your 1,000th day was February 25, 1971!
Your 5,000th day was February 7, 1982!
Your 10,000th day was October 17, 1995!
Your 15,000th day was June 25, 2009!
Your 20,000th day will be March 4, 2023!
Your 25,000th day will be November 10, 2036!
Your 30,000th day will be July 23, 2050!
Your 35,000th day will be April 4, 2064!…and after that we’re getting pretty damned optimistic.
Want to know how many days you have been alive?
Find out HERE
Here is a photo of my little family in happier times.
It’s hard to believe how much everything has changed since this photo was taken.
Things are really difficult for us right now and I’m sure God can use all the prayers received on our behalf, so please, if you feel inclined, do remember us in your prayers.
You know how i like messing about creatively?
Well i thought i’d share this unusual image with you that i created from a simple photograph of a flower. I really like the effect!
It’s good to walk….as long as i take my inhaler with me and there are no inclines involved!
Pictured above, my dear daughter who is walking our dog…i am, of course, lagging behind as usual….but then doing so enabled me to take this photo which i rather like, so why should i complain?
What have you been up to this weekend?
Marcia, a reader of this blog writes in the combox of a recent post ~
“My daughter and family have just left the Church to become Baptists. I have been accused by her as loving the Church more than my family. My love for the Church has kept me the kind of mother I feel God wants me to be. “The Rules” that make it so hard to be a Catholic for some of our children are for our own superior good. Her leaving is like a death to me. I need prayer to get over the sadness and sorrow. My weekday mass is pulling me through. How could I have anything better at this time. One of my grandchildren is also my Godson. What would you suggest I do? My daughter has informed me that I better not talk to him…just don’t try and make him Catholic again. I need some suggestions.”
Marcia would like some advice on how to handle this difficult family situation and I would ask that Catholic readers in particular, share their thoughts with Marcia in the combox of this post, and endeavour to pray for her and her family.
Thanks!
Here’s my response:
Marcia, thank you for taking the time to share with me about the difficulties you are experiencing right now. I can sincerely empathise with you as one of my teenage children has rejected the faith they converted into and no longer attends Mass, saying he doesn’t believe in God any more. This has been exceptionally painful for me and I know exactly what you mean when you write that it is like a death to you. At the present time, reception of the Sacraments and going to Mass, along with the prayers of friends and family is what is keeping me going right now. Embrace all of these and seek refuge in the Lord. Share with Him how you feel, even when you are sad and angry…in fact, especially when you are sad and angry!
I think it is important to accept that though we can raise our children in the ways of the Lord, they need to develop their own personal relationship with Jesus and we have to let our children make mistakes, even when we know it will harm them either spiritually or physically, or both.
The good thing is with your daughter and family, at least they haven’t rejected God. Hopefully they will one day understand that the Sacramental life offers more than any manmade denomination can.
It is a hard thing to stand by and watch as our children meander down pathways that take them away from us and from the Church that Christ founded, but we must never underestimate the power of our prayers for our children. I’m sure you are praying lots for your family already, but perhaps you could regularly pray a Chaplet of Divine Mercy or a Rosary specifically for them, you may also find solace and hope in attending Adoration and praying before Our Lord about this matter.
It’s a hard truth but ultimately we have to place our children in the hands of God and entrust Him to care for their physical and spiritual wellbeing….of course, they have to co-operate with His grace…we can pray for their hearts to be softened by God but it is their responsibility to live according to the will of God, or to choose not to.
It is especially harsh on you that your daughter has forbidden you to talk about your faith with your grandson, perhaps you could ask her if she really believes you should abandon the promises you made to God at his baptism? That was a promise to God. Are promises to God to be so easily broken ? Why can not the child hear all sides and make up his own mind?
I would suggest you go very softly softly with your approach, as i am trying to do with my own dear son. St. Francis of Assisi is attributed with saying ‘Preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words”.
I think those are very wise words indeed! Live your faith and let your family see the beauty of your Catholicity!
Marcia, i will remember you in my prayers, take heart, for this too will pass.
I have had a few requests in the combox recently, asking me to create a couple of new prayer cards. One request was made by a lady named Helen, a Catholic convert in South Africa who does some wonderful work to promote the Good News…one of Helen’s requests was to make a prayer card to include the Novena Rose Prayer to St. Therese.
I also received a request from Deacon A. S. Pickett asking me to make a prayer card which would include an image of, and the text of the prayer to Our Lady of Kibeho – an apparition i have to admit, i had never heard of previously!
Well, I live to serve so here are snapshots of the new prayer card sheets that i have made. CLICK HERE to go to my free Prayer Card page where these and other prayer cards can be downloaded and printed off free!
Our Lady of Kibeho
Novena Rose Prayer to St. Therese
Sometimes all a person can do in troubled times is to continue on in faith even though the pathway is unclear and the territory is unfamiliar and more than a little frightening – sometimes the only constant, is indeed one’s faith. Prayers from the heart aren’t always, or even often, melodious…instead they can be broken and pained and confused….but that is called ‘keeping it real’. There is no fooling God, it is nonsensical to pretend to be something that we are not.
I think it is important that we stand before God as we truly are, for He would rather have us come to Him as we are, than to not come to Him at all.
I haven’t posted a brilliant bargain for a while…so let me share with you a couple of great bargains i bagged recently.
A couple of weeks ago, i was bumming around charity shops in Cheshire and i had just said to my Mum that I never seemed to drop on any nice tablecloths in charity shops…well minutes later we had entered yet another charity shop and Mum came over to show me a lovely tablecloth she had spotted and not only was it only £2 but it was brand new! Lovely ‘ethnicy’ colours and print don’t you think?
Another bargain, though perhaps not quite as impressive as the tablecloth….Christmas napkins I spotted in a nearby homeware shop…original price £5.99 down to £1.49 per pack of 4 napkins…and when i got to the till there was a further discount….so i got both packs (8 napkins) for £1.98.
From an MP3 I’m listening to right now (the link is in one of the posts below):
“God looked at Adam and said, ‘I can do better than that!‘ and then he made Eve” ~ Archbishop Fulton Sheen in his talk, ‘The Philosophy of Life’.
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