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Jan 18, 2016
Catholic Influencers· Faith· Life

Mocha, Mercy and Mondays

Pope Francis, in my opinion, is a rock star.

I love that he chose the name Francis.  I love that he constantly asks us to pray for him.  I love that he exudes hope and inspires us to love more, judge less.

Since Pope Francis has declared this a year of Mercy, I want to reflect on that word and topic, and grow spiritually from it.mercyblog1

When I first heard of this “Year of Mercy”, it translated in my mind to “year of forgiveness”.  I immediately thought, I can forgive people pretty easily . . . if they say “I’m sorry”.  Forgiving people who don’t say that . . . well that’s a whole other ball game.  It’s definitely something I need to work on personally and spiritually.

But Mercy is not only forgiveness.  Somewhere, somehow, I was reminded of the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.  And like any good Catholic who went to Catholic school from 1st grade through graduate school . . . I forgot them so I had to look them up.  Okay, so maybe not like any good Catholic. But, I’m being honest.  I looked them up.

Now I’m hoping to put them to practice.  One work of Mercy, one week at a time.  In the midst of a very busy, disorganized, chaotic, beautiful, blessed life.

I’m hoping you’ll join me.

Each Monday morning I will publish a post about a Work of Mercy.  In the post I will provide some questions to reflect upon and practical ways to carry out this work, all the while keeping in mind that life is already very busy, and most of us can’t imagine adding one more thing on the “to do” list. I’m hoping you will join me each Monday morning, perhaps with a coffee or cafe mocha, and think about and reflect on Mercy. I would love to hear your suggestions as well!  It will be easier to know we are doing this together!

I decided to start with the Corporal Works of Mercy.  I chose these because, honestly, they look easier. So without any more jibber jabber . . . here we go:

The first Corporal Work of Mercy is “Feed the Hungry”mercyfeedthehungry1

Here are some ideas written as reflective questions:

  1. Do I cook for myself and my loved ones happily?  Do I prepare food with love or do I go through the motions thinking, why do I have to do this?  Can’t he or she feed him or herself?
  2. Do I prepare food because it’s the easiest thing to make or because it contains ingredients that will promote health and energy?
  3. Are there people that I should consider inviting over to dinner or bringing a meal to their home?
  4. In what way do I feel compelled to feed hungry strangers?  Would I prefer donating to a food pantry or an international organization; personally visiting a soup kitchen, or making a sandwich for a homeless person?

Here are some ideas I plan on trying this week.  Disclosure: I hate cooking, so this particular work of Mercy is not as easy for me as it is for some of my friends who truly enjoy it!

  1. Ask my husband what he wants for breakfast, lunch and dinner – and then make those meals.
  2. Try making those meals joyfully.
  3. Call our parish or local food pantry and ask if there is any particular food they are in need of . . . and next time I food shop, pick up that item and donate it.
  4. Go a whole day without snacking.  Be grateful I have the option to choose to go a whole day without snacking!
  5. Make a meal large enough that we will have leftovers.  Bring those leftovers to my grandmother or the older couple across the street.
  6. Invite a guest or guests over for dinner.
  7. Write a status on Facebook saying, I’m looking to feed the hungry this week, please inbox me if you know someone in need.

Lastly, I’m not going to get upset with myself if I don’t do all of these – let’s show ourselves some Mercy too! Can I get an Amen!?

Mercypope1.jpg

How else can we feed the hungry?

Do you find this work of Mercy easy or a challenge?

If you would like to find more information on the Year of Mercy, check out the following websites:

osv.com

yearofmercy.org

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sarah Honey says

    January 18, 2016 at 11:47 am

    Very interesting. We missed the Pope’s visit to Philly. Moving.

    • Amy says

      January 18, 2016 at 9:48 pm

      It was very exciting!

  2. Deanna says

    January 18, 2016 at 10:37 pm

    Interesting post! I look forward to the future mercy Monday posts.

  3. Liz says

    January 19, 2016 at 2:19 pm

    This is so great. I’m feeling like I should incorporate the year of mercy into my blogging schedule! Thank you!!!

    • Amy says

      January 19, 2016 at 2:36 pm

      Thanks Liz! If you do, let me know. I plan on doing a “round up” of Mercy articles at some point!

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Friendship can be confusing to tween and teens. th Friendship can be confusing to tween and teens. they hear “love one another” but are not taught that there are different kinds of love and that friendship is meant to be selective. Saint John Bosco left similar advice. He said:
“Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake. If you keep good companions, I can assure you that you will one day rejoice with the blessed in Heaven; whereas if you keep with those who are bad, you will become bad yourself, and you will be in danger of losing your soul.”
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My husband’s birthday was on Monday, and I was so excited to give him this book from Voyage Comics!

The truth is, him and I are both fans of this small Catholic business.

Our son loves their comic books too!

Catholic gifts for women often seem plentiful… but when it comes to men, well … shopping for them can be more of a challenge.

I love how the men over at Voyage Comics create extremely incredible content and works of art that entertain without compromising virtue.
I love that I can say to my son and other young people, “look, you can enjoy your work and give glory to God at the same time”!

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Friends!!! Please join me in welcoming Katie home! Friends!!! Please join me in welcoming Katie home! Katie fully entered the Catholic Church on Sunday!

Katie was raised by wonderful Christian parents in the New Apostolic Church and I honestly want to really get her to share her conversion story.
Until then
I will say this… 

never hesitate to invite someone to pray the Rosary with you!

Katie embraced the Rosary as a Christian 
and funny story… I remember her holding it once and saying “I’m not converting “ as her Catholic husband walked by us 😂 

Truth be told, Katie has helped me pull off every single Prayer Wine Chocolate Retreat since the very beginning!

Watching her research and completing dive into the Word with her whole heart has been a beautiful, inspiring sight.

And quite frankly, between her and Mark Wahlburg… I think I hear about the Hallow app at least 3 times a day 😆.
Seriously @hallowapp , you should hire her 😉😜!
Welcome Katie and drop a hug emoji below!!!
Love you Katie @craftymom714 !!!!
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How can we love our identity and still be humble? How can we love our identity and still be humble?

Does that sound like a good title for a talk?

I’m working on a “Talk” on Identity (or a blog post if I chicken out 🐓)… and I’m really liking the topic of humility… along with modesty.
My plan was to post this morning and ask for your prayers… but along the way I saw that today is Saint Philip Neri’s feast day.
So, naturally, I googled “Saint Philip Neri humility”.
To my delight, I found this quote:

“Humility is the safeguard of chastity. In the matter of purity, there is no greater danger than not fearing the danger. 

For my part, when I find a man secure of himself and without fear, I give him up for lost. I am less alarmed for one who is tempted and who resists by avoiding the occasions, than for one who is not tempted and is not careful to avoid occasions. When a person puts himself in an occasion, saying, I shall not fall, it is an almost infallible sign that he will fall, and with great injury to his soul.”

I feel like some great message is coming together here, but, I need your prayers.

I mean, I don’t even know if posting about humility on Instagram is like, a total oxymoron?

I’m so thankful to have Scripture and the writing of Saints to help me. I’m also extremely grateful for your prayers.

May we both live as it is written in 1 Peter 5:5 ~
“And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for:
“God opposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble.”
* if you like that Saint Philip Neri quote, you can see and share it over at @catholicsonline 

Do you have any questions or thoughts on humility?
Let me know in the comments!

Photo taken by @nadiapittmanphoto 📸 

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Do our sons understand what it means to be a “sp Do our sons understand what it means to be a “spiritual warrior “? Do we?

I learned and relearned a ton of things writing Be Yourself: a Journal for Catholic Boys.

Here’s what we all need to know about being a “Spiritual Warrior “:

1. Yes, there is a battle between good and evil and we are all in the midst of it. Years ago, in cartoons, it was common to see a devil on one shoulder and an Angel on another. It was CLEAR which voice was good and which was evil. The animation gave us a visual of what we were very familiar with.  Today, we must work a little harder so that all of us are detecting what is good and what is evil.

2. You don’t walk out onto a battlefield unprepared.
You put on your suit of armor and you bring your weapon. You do this FIRST! Faith is our shield, prayer is our greatest weapon. In other words, God has to be number one if we want to truly protect our soul. Knowing God has to be not only a priority, but our first priority.

3. We are not alone, but not everyone is going to grow in virtue. The virtues are our “armor of light” that protect us from the enemy. We would be wise to follow the advice of St. Francis de Sales in this, “Love everyone with a strenuous love based on charity, but form friendships only with those who can share virtuous things with you.”
Want to help your son on the battlefield?
Get him a copy of this journal today!
Link in bio!
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I did this in one take… and you can totally tell I did this in one take… and you can totally tell, I know.
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My son has 2 Be Yourself Journals… I asked him t My son has 2 Be Yourself Journals…
I asked him to show me his favorite page and he chose the “mad libs like” activity 😆.

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Our faith is FASCINATING! It’s EXCITING!
It’s anything BUT boring!

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Prayer of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus O Jesu Prayer of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus

O Jesus, I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;
for your unfaithful and tepid priests;
for your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields;
for your tempted priests;
for your lonely and desolate priests;
for your young priests;
for your dying priests;
for the souls of your priests in purgatory.

But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me:
the priest who baptized me;
the priests who absolved me from my sins;
the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;
the priests who taught and instructed me;
all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way (especially …).

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,
and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.
Amen.
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I dare you to comment below 3 to 5 things you are I dare you to comment below 3 to 5 things you are thanking God for today!!!
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I have a super sweet story to share with you! Las I have a super sweet story to share with you!

Last evening my husband and I decided that we were long overdue for praying a Rosary with the family.

We have friends searching for jobs that have asked us to pray and many others intentions.

Our kids were outside playing with a little girl who lives up the road.

I walked outside with a bunch of tangled up Rosaries (see reel I made yesterday) and told my 3 children they had to come in to pray the Rosary.

My daughter, who made this Rosary for me, asked if their friend could pray with us.

I said she was, of course, welcome to pray with us!

All 4 kids came inside and my son volunteered to lead the first decade. Our 9 year old guest led a decade too!

She stumbled a little with the words to the Hail Mary but by the end of her decade, I was so impressed.

Once we were done praying my husband complimented our young guest on how well she did.
It was such a beautiful, unexpected event.
What a great reminder… courtesy of my daughter in Kindergarten… to always invite others to pray with you!
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Some people want to start prayer journaling, but t Some people want to start prayer journaling, but that first page intimidates them.
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We haven’t even started yet and there’s an iss We haven’t even started yet and there’s an issue 😂 🪢 
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“I don’t even remember that”~ my Mom. When I “I don’t even remember that”~ my Mom.
When I told my mom how she inspired the title of the Be Yourself Journal, that was her response 😂.
As a tired Mama, I so appreciate this now.
It’s amazing what God’s grace and a mother’s love can do!
My mom felt bad that I felt left out. But, she was also tired and was probably in survival mode with 3 or 4 children at that point.
I get that now.
But God took what my mom didn’t say and placed in my heart the contents of the book I get to the author of!
I am finding so much relief in this realization today.
I often see my shortcomings as a Mother.
I’m tired.
I’m still disorganized like I was before motherhood.
But I do have faith in God and love for my children.
I believe that God knew exactly what He was doing when He chose me to be the mother of my children.
He knows my strengths and weaknesses.
His grace is sufficient… for all mothers.
Praise the Lord!
Happy Mother’s Day!

Share this post and remind others that it’s totally okay to not be perfect.
Keep loving!
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Did you know Our Lady of Fatima taught the three y Did you know Our Lady of Fatima taught the three young children a couple of prayers?

The Blessed Mother taught the children to offer all their personal sacrifices to God by praying:
O My Jesus, I offer this for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Another prayer Our Lady taught the children was:

O My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.

I love how Our Blessed Mother encourages to us to start a prayer by addressing the Lord with these words:
“O my Jesus…”
One of my favorite prayers was taught to the Fatima children by an angel.
This is that prayer:

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee! I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.

Today, May 13th, is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!

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Sometimes, when I go to Mass, the homily isn’t e Sometimes, when I go to Mass, the homily isn’t exactly stellar…

But bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes, when I attend Mass, the other people in the pews don’t participate in the prayers or sing the hymns…

But bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of the priest. The whole Christ is truly present.

Sometimes, when I’m at Mass my own mind wanders and I’m distracted by children who can’t sit still…

But bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

An incredible miracle happens at every Catholic Mass… 

The whole Christ is truly present -- body, blood, soul, and divinity -- under the appearances of bread and wine, the glorified Christ who rose from the dead. This is what the Church means when she speaks of the "Real Presence" of Christ in the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the body of Jesus Christ, which was given up for me and you.

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