Friday: St. Charles Borromeo

Today is the feast of Saint Charles Borromeo, who is my fiance's patron Saint. First I would like to re-write what is in the Liturgy of Hours about him.

Saint Charles Borromeo was born at Arona in Lombardy in the year 1538. After having taking honors in both civil and canon law, he was made cardinal and bishop of Milan by his uncle, Pope Pius IV. As a true pastor of his flock he tirelesly promoted Christian life by the reform of his diocese, the convocation of synods, and the promulgation of regulations intended to foster the Church's mission. He died on November 3rd, 1584. (He only forty-six years old!)

To help understand how great this Saint is I would like to re-write a sermon (or part of it) by Saint Charles:

I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. One priest may wish to lead a good, holy life, as he knows he should. He may wish to be chaste and to reflect heavenly virtues in the way he lives. Yet he does not resolve to use suitable means, such as penance, prayer, the avoidance of evil discussions and harmful and dangerous friendships. Another priest complains that as soon as he comes into church to pray the office or to celebrate Mass, a thousand thoughts fill his mind and distract him from God. But what was he doing in the sacristy before he came out for the office or for Mass? How did he prepare? What means did he use to collect his thoughts and to remain recollected?

Would you like me to teach you how to grow from virtue to virtue and how, if you are already recollected at prayer, you can be even more attentive next time, and so give God more pleasing worship? Listen, and I will tell you. If a tiny spark of God's love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter.

If teaching and preaching is you job, then study diligently and apply yourself to whatever is necessary for doing the job well. Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and yours will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.

Are you in charge of a parish? If so, do not neglect the parish of your own soul, do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for youself. You have to be mindful of your people without becoming forgetful of yourself.

My brothers, you must realize that for us churchmen nothing is more necessary that meditation. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: I will pray, and then I will understand. When you administer the sacraments, meditate on what you are doing. When you celebrate Mass, reflect on the sacrifice you are offering. When you pray the office, think about the words you are saying and the Lord to whom meditate on the Lord's blodd that has washed them clean. In this way, all that you do becomes a work of love.

This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work: in meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other me.

Though this sermon was directed towards the clergy, I can relate a lot of his advice to my vocation as a laywoman of the Church. How can what St. Charles' sermon help you to strengthen your faith and love for the Church?

Father, keep in your people the spirit which filled Charles Borromeo. Let your Church be continually renewed and show the image of Christ to the world by being conformed to his likeness, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.



This Thursday: St. Martin de Porres

To start off I would like to say, I had a great Thursday, though I have been dealing with a lot of crap, stress, and discouragement. I did get to sleep with some minor times awaken by Granny and Darrell, but I instantly went back to sleep. (I was up until 9am)

A great part of the Thursday was coming into Darrell's room and seeing that my lovely work that I had done at 2am was still intact and nothing was leaking. Darrell was still dealing with pain and soreness, but he was just happy that it was staying together.

He cried a lot last night saying he was sorry for putting this on me. It was at that moment that I knew through all my anger and frustration with our family that God granted me a gift of being able to help Darrell when others would ignore it or consider him a job. This poor soul who was suffering and in pain needed another to not only comfort, but pray for him and what fitting for the Lord to work His wonders. I comforted Darrell and even said a few Hail Marys while I was holding his hand and allowing this tall tree to weep.

It reminded me of whose feast day it was...Saint Martin de Porres, OP. Known to many as "The Father of the Poor".

The big part of everything was he is a Dominican Saint, he was apart of the laity (like me!). I thought I should write this little bio from the Liturgy of Hours.

Saint Martin de Porres was born at Lima in Peru of a Spanish father and a African mother (freed slaved) in 1579. As a boy he studied medicine which later, as a member of the Dominican Order, he put to good use in helping the poor. He led a humble and disciplined life and was devoted to the holy Eucharist. He died in 1639.

St. Martin showed us that 'holiness is a path opened to everyone' as Fr. Gregory, OP stated during Holy Hour. What does that mean, well St. Martin was of mixed race and was regarded as the lowest of the society during that time period and yet he showed love and kindness to all. Fr. Gregory notes that to anyone, including those who do not believe in a God would considered what St. Martin had done as natural goodness, but it not just about the natural good, but the supernatural that happens to the internal by this saintly man.

Lord, you led Martin de Porres by a life of humility to eternal glory. May we follow his example and be exalted with him in the kingdom of heaven. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and regins with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Thursday is as many of you who read my entries know it is the meeting for 20s Group. This Thursday was a Gospel Study. I will be writing about this in another entry, but I wanted to mention it just in case I do not write another entry. Anyways, we split into three groups and tackled Matthew 25: 1-13

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

Before I end this entry I wanted to mention that I am truly almost finished with the book I mentioned in other entries. And I have to quote one of the Dominican Friars, Fr. Theodore Clement Thuente, O.P.

"The human heart is by its very nature Catholic. The constant and universal preaching of the Catholic Church has also its silent and secret influences upon the non-Catholic world. May it help them to see that Luther's life and work were insincere and his doctrines false; thus what Luther says about the teachings of the Catholic Church is not true. Many of them, indeed, see that Luther was not truthful and saintly but do not see that the Catholic Church is holy and 'the pillar of truth'. "

God Bless,
Nikita



Meeting Lora Innes and 20s Group Bonfire

It is difficult to explain the reasons of why I have not written in two weeks, but I due it to no Internet, only a little time to rush to read my favorite comic, The Dreamer by Lora Innes. I met Lora Innes finally at my very first comic book convention. There are a few things I can say I cannot stand about the convention, but overall I was glad I went.

Meeting Lora Innes was a blast, to see her works in front of me was better than looking at them from the screen of my laptop. I felt like a school-girl. I spent half of what I brought to the convention on her booth alone. One thing I truly do thank her for is my new sticker of Nathan Hale, who in fact is one of my favorite characters. She gave me the sticker for free, which if Lora Innes reads this, I am so very happy to have the stick, or really just to own the new stuff.

What makes me love this Columbus-native's work, well one big reason is she brought American History to life, she did not re-edit history, no, she in turn brought light the history that is long forgotten, for we only care of the main details not the lives of the people in the history unless they were GREATS. (sorry I am sucker for admitting not being a Washington or Jefferson or even Franklin-lover, I find they were truly lost to lore of the times and we forget some of heroes)

Another big reason is the artwork is amazing, it something I have become picky about, the way a comic book looks, in Lora's comics there is a sense of making the characters look realistic, but give a little cartoonist in each of them. I really recommend her work, but I cannot wait for other series that she creates in the near future. She has done one of the three favorite times periods for me, what is next....Civil War, let me only pray it will be. Plus, it would be great to have a Native American story actually. Maybe the Trail of Tears or something like that....or maybe the Shawnee. Alright enough of my rant of what could be brought to life by Lora Innes.

One of my main reasons to going to Mid-Ohio was to meet and show my absolute fan-girl side to my FAVORITE artist/author! But, what to do after that first meeting, well I went to other booths hoping to find other artists that would fit what I like, there were a few, such as Alan Evans, who was the artist of the "Hello" book, on how Nathan Hale and Allan Warren met. There were others and hopefully by the end of the year I will have a new list of artists/authors to mention, but I know my favorite will always be Lora Innes, to which I owe my dear friend Mary to introducing The Dreamer to me.

So, will I go next year to Mid-Ohio Con, oh yes, but I will have a costume this time, and hopefully with the help of many of my friends, I will have it ready by then. I will let you all to the details as they come through (since I am not really sure if I can get everything together).

Later that day my fiance, JR (who also decided to come to the convention) and I went the 20s Group's Bonfire and Fall Party (Website ) at one of the group member's home. There was a good group there and certainly that could be done again anytime. One of my favorite memories there was watching Henry, he is the little mascot for the group (well most of us think of him that way) and his parents are members of the group, well he named a pumpkin, Henry.

That is all for this post, more to come in the next one.

God Bless,
Nikita 

St. Patrick's 20s Group

The Saint Patrick's Twenties Group ( Website ) in Columbus, Ohio has been gaining numbers, and that is a great thanks to those who have been spreading the great news of this wonderful group. Just last night over TWENTY people were at the meeting! That is great in the opinion of this CORE team member.

Last night was our Catechism Night where we break up into small groups and discuss a topic from the Catechism. The topic was the last four things: Death, Judgement (Particular and General), Heaven, and Hell; we seem to keep it light as many of the 20s Group members joked about, since last week's meeting was a Member Talk about the End of Life issue for Cancer Patients.

These past two meetings are a great way to prepare for the coming All Souls' Day, where we remember the poor souls of purgatory. Since we had three small groups I cannot tell you how the discussion went for the other two, yet I can tell you the group I was in really focused on purgatory and death, it does seem to be an issue among our brothers and sisters Protestants who believe in Heaven and Hell (or some do not even believe in Hell) only.

How do we as Catholics explain purgatory? When I was in RCIA one of the friars explained it to us that even though you confessed your sins there is still a stain from the sins you committed and so purgatory is like the washer; your garment is stained and now you have wash out the stains. "Those who die in Gods' grace and friendship imperfectly purified, although they are assured of their eternal salvation, undergo a purification after death, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of God." (CCC 1054) You cannot go anywhere special with dirty clothes, you would want to look your best, why not be that way when you meet God face to face.

As I mention the group I was in discussed not only purgatory, but death as well. The question prompted to us was this: Why do you think the catechism says that Christ "opened the possibility of salvation to all men" instead of that he opened Heaven to all? This brings up another issue among all Christians (Catholic and Non-Catholic); God wants all His children to be with him, so He does open it for all men, but it by our free will that we decide if we wish to be with our Father in Heaven or not. That is why it is only a possibility and not a free-all. (To which I think about the Gospel Study three weeks ago about the Wedding Invitation)

After the meeting about ten of us maybe went out to Boston's (a nice pizza/pub restaurant). One of the great things is I found another friend who I hope will love John and Abigail Adams as much as I do. I might have a Revolutionary War Lovers started sooner or later. (not really, but would it not be wonderful?)

Please if you are in the Columbus area and you are 18 (high-school graduate) to mid-thirties, stop on by and join us for a meeting!

God Bless,
Nikita 

Blogging after a few days haitus...

One of my biggest flaws is having a lot on my mind, yet I cannot write the thoughts down (or in truth, type). It could be how I was educated in a school district that cared more of pushing testing scores than to actually teach.  It reminds me of a political issue commercial where a teacher says something about remember those who teach your kids for we care for your kids and if you vote yes on an issue it would take away our ability to teach your kids…if you cared for the kids you would fight to budget the school’s money better not ask taxpayers for more every five years. (Not even that sometimes)

With today being my great-grandmother Vada’s birthday (who died in 2009) I begin to write again. What happened these pasts few days? I began to read again Dominican Preaching a book which I wrote about in an earlier entry. I had left the book for a week, which I have done to other books before if I am dealing with a lot and feel I cannot focus on a book. It was yesterday night during Holy Hour that I read some great preaching by Fr. Charles Hyacinth McKenna, O.P. Currently I am still reading his sermon on The Confessional, which is a deep, logical, an easy flow explanation of the Catholic teachings on Confession (this sermon is not dated on when it was presented but around 1870s-1900s would be my guess).

A forewarning to the readers of this blog, these next few paragraphs will be quotes from the sermon:

“But some will say, “You are not one of the disciples. Granting that He gave this power to those who were there, will you claim that you also can forgive sins?” I ask, was this power for the benefit of the disciples, or for the benefit of the people? If for the benefit of the people, why in the name of God should it be confined to those days when our Lord appeared on earth, and we poor sinners be deprived of it since we need it surely as much as those who lived in the days of the disciples?”

“The power was for the benefit of poor sinners. The sun has no his light for his own benefit, the ocean has not its water for its own benefit, the stars in heaven do not shine for their own benefit, nor does the earth give its fruits for its own benefit. I am not a priest for my own benefit, but for yours. You understand that in the words of St. Paul we are the ambassadors of Chris for the benefit of man.”

“Was the Republic for George Washington, or George Washington for the Republic? Surely you would say this wonderful man, so singularly gifted, was for the benefit of the people. Washington died, but the President lives. Adams died, but the President lives. Jefferson died, but the President lives; and so, too Pierce and Buchanan and Lincoln and Garfield and Grant one by one they died, but the President lives, aye, and will live, I hope to the end of the world, for he is necessary for the government of the people. So I would say Simon died, but Peter lives; Linus died, but Peter lives; Clement died, but Peter lives; and so the Gregorys, the Benedicts, and the Innocents one by one they died, but Peter lives in Leo XIII, and will live to the end of the world, because he is necessary for the government of the Church established by Jesus Christ, and to him the keys are handed down that were first given to Peter.”  (A great way to defend the Holy See, I think.)

“But you would ask the question, Can you forgive sins? I ask, What do you mean by that question? Can I as Mr. McKenna forgive sins? I answer, No. But If you ask me, Can I as Father McKenna forgive sins? I answer, By the grace of God and the authority of the Holy See, I can.”

“And now I would ask you a question. When the Governor of your State says, “Take this man and on such a day hang him, or put to death according to the law,” does he do this as a private individual? You say, No. I say, No; he dare not. How does he do it? Clothed with the sovereignty of the State, with the majesty of the law. Because as a private individual he has not that power. And how do I forgive sins? Ah, not in the name of a petty State, or in the sovereignty of a Republic of 100 years; but in the name of that grand old Church of 1900 years, of that republic spread throughout the whole world and in the name of the living God, who minister I am, I am pronounce the sentence of pardon; “And what you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Do you ask me; “am I the power? I answer, No; I am but the agent appointed to put that power in motion.”

“I will now answer an objection of our adversaries. Some have ventured to say that confession was an invention of the priest in order to have control over the people. Strange that he should establish a law which becomes to him the most arduous labor of his life; and invent, too, a law to which he himself must submit, for it is known to all that every priest from this Pope down to the lowest in the Hierarchy, must go to confession just as well as the people.”

I am hoping by the end of this month to finish Dominican Preaching and just to hint, I would love to own the book so I can actually highlight (with pencil) in the book. (This is why I rarely borrow books, because I cannot write in the book my thoughts at that moment) And this weekend I will begin Tuesdays with Morrie which is the first official book for the little book club I co-created with two of dear friends and sisters, Camille and Emily. (There is an entry about new blog that I write in for the book club) It will take me nine days if I just read three chapters a day, but I know me I will need to spread it a little more; more to come with the November book, hopefully in future entries.

A lot of other events have happened these past few days, but I do not to write those thoughts or events on this blog, that I will keep to myself and speak to those who need to know, just please pray for me.

God Bless,

Nikita

Happy Birthday to my Daddy, you old man you!

Today is my Daddy's 45th birthday! He is such an old man! (I am kidding, but do not let him know that, because he is an old man, I mean yeah the picture is of him is in his YOUTH, nope now he has loads of grey, false teeth and glasses, he is old :P)

As I think about the past, especially how many years my Daddy has been, well a Daddy I am reminded of how grateful I am to know and love my Daddy the way I do.

What I have learned from him is what I wish to achieve with his blessings. He taught me to love even when you feel no one wants that love; that being strong means to admit you are weak, and that whatever you do know that they might not like what you are doing, but they love you either way.

This post was not just going to be about how OLD my Daddy is, really this post I wanted to ask for prayers about a few things. When I mentioned what he taught me, I wanted to further explore a few issues that come to mind.

To admit I am weak....yesterday and today I have shown my biggest weakness, the lack of intelligence that I know I have. A friend of mine, a very dear friend has been the kindest woman ever by editing some of my posts for a blog I am co-creator of.

What I notice is that the school district who highly esteem themselves as being excellence never truly focus on writing essays or writing in general. So much focus was on getting you to pass the proficiency tests than to actually help you in life. I am learning now what a mistake they made especially with me.

I love writing and knowing that I cannot create a good blog entry or even a essay, really bothers me. But, for years I would never truly admit it, I would shrug it off saying that it was a glitch, I understand how to write. Apparently not, for when my dear friend showed me what editing she did I was upset with myself.

Why did I not try to learn more independently? I thought upon it and found out I tried to with reading, hoping that reading all the books I could read especially chapter books and such, I would catch on and improve. As I stated before, guess not.

So I ask for everyone to pray for me as I try to really change this and become stronger by acknowledge my weakness.

To love even if you do not like what they are doing....there are so many examples, but one is right there dead center in my thoughts. While I went with my mom to go get some medical supplies for Darrell (which is not working well right now, so have to go back and get what we original should have taken) and we were talking about genealogy, which seems to be a topic that we can agree with and not fight. I explained to her that I have a problem with one thing how certain family members who have almost the key to all I would like to know and see about the family tree will never truly allow even copies.

My mom and I seem to have been on the same page about how we felt, we love them so much, but we cannot understand how much hatred these people have that they would horde all the photos, information, and etc. to only themselves and their children. By chance would you might see a picture or learn some information only to wish they had just given the copy of the picture or given you the information you asked so kindly.

You see, I do not wish to own the originals of anything, they belong to whom they are to belong to, but copies, I want copies. They can keep the originals! Why can they not understand that. And so what my Daddy taught about loving someone even when you hate what they are doing, makes me pray for those people who I know who they are, but do not wish to single them out on a blog, that is too cruel and unfair for this person who is still feeling the hatred they have felt since it all began. Please pray for these souls for they need to understand they are hurting the memory of the person(s) they believed hurt them by leaving.

I hope that all made some sense, if not I am really sorry. This post was to be sort of humorous and yet, I turned somber. Please forgive me.

God Bless,

Nikita

20s Group Member Talk that sticks with you.

"Death is the end of earthly life. Our lives are measured by time, in the course of which we changed, grow old and, as with all living beings on earth, death seems like the normal end of life. The aspect of death lends urgency to our lives: remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment: 'remember also your Creator in the days of your youth,...before the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit returns to God who gave it'" (CCC 1007)

Last night was a memorable talk by one of the members of the Saint Patrick's 20s Group. Dave (that is the member who gave the talk, just so you all know) gave a talk about dealing with death as a cancer doctor, but dealing with death as a Catholic. It hit home for me, with Darrell, my great-uncle who has been dealing with cancer(s) since 2007.

One of the many things I liked about the talk was Dave had handouts with quotes from the Catechism dealing with certain aspects of his talk. There were a few that stood out from the rest because they stood testament for how I observed my great-uncle's sufferings:

"Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death. Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature, helping him discern his life what is not essential so that he can turn toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him." (CCC 1500-1501)

I have watched a larger-than-life man in my family turn into a man who will look at his great-niece and say, "I don't want to go to hell". In turn you ask, 'what can I do to help this man?' and the answer for me does not only come from this talk, but from how I know the Holy Spirit has worked in me. It is through prayer and listening (as Dave reminded us through the whole talk). For me it is not praying for them to live, it is prayer to help them with their sufferings, to offer it up to God (as I have always been told by my godmother). I have become the example of helping my great-uncle I do not allow him to sit there and wallow in his sorrows because he has hope, whether it is hope in living longer and cancer-free or hope in having a "beautiful death".

What is a beautiful death, this is more of after the talk with Dave, when he explained what he considers a "beautiful death". If you notice the picture above, which is after I looked and looked is titled, "Death of St. Joseph" Dave considered this a beautiful death, he was surrounded by Jesus, Mary, and the angels, for those who are dying it is their family surrounding them as they pass on, knowing that they are praying for them and loving them, holding their hands. That is a beautiful death, and I only pray that my great-uncle whether dying in an hospital bed before the age of 60 or dying in his own bed at the age 99 he will have this moment. I pray for everyone to have that, I pray I will have that.

I only left once during the whole talk to rush into the bathroom and cry for I knew I could not keep that straight face any longer. I should of ran to the chapel, which I wanted to, but I did not want to worry JR or anyone else. I think Dave and others who know me well in the 20s Group knew this talk hit home.

One of the final things that I took home from this talk and my personal talk with Dave was this, "To pray, to love, and to listen", but we should not only do that for someone who is dying or ill we should do this for every human person from their natural conception to natural death. It is the true call to being pro-life, in my opinion.

God bless and pray for me,

Nikita