St. Elmo

Apparently there is a popular game (although game is not really the right word for it) going around. This year if you wish to do this you can click onto this link to find out who your saint for the year will be. You are supposed to pray about which saint will come up before you click the button, and then the one that is given to you is supposed to become special to you throughout the year. It will also give you a link so you can learn more about that specific saint. Tonight before I clicked the button I prayed that the saint who would come up would be someone I could really identify with and sure enough the saint that came up was St. Erasmus, or better known as St. Elmo. He is the patron saint against abdominal pains; against appendicitis; against birth pains; against childhood intestinal disease; against colic; against danger at sea; against intestinal disorders; against seasickness; against stomach diseases; against storms; childbirth; navigators; ordnance workers; sailors; women in labor. I found this kind of interesting because when I was little I would get really cranky whenever I got hungry. I remember one day I told my mom I was hungry and I must have said it a lot because she looked at me with a frustrated expression and said if I told her I was hungry one more time she would not give me lunch. So five minutes later I told her I had hunger pains.... After I read the first thing this saint was a patron saint for, abdominal pains, it made me flash back to that moment. I have also suffered from really painful abdominal cramps, and still do occasionally. I do not think I will be giving birth anytime within this year, but I do want to become a mother so now I know exactly who to pray to when that time comes.

Here is a little bit more about St. Elmo...
Feast day: June 2
Erasmus was also known as Elmo. He was the bishop of Formiae, Campagna, Italy, and suffered martyrdom during Diocletian's persecution of the Christians. He once fled to Mount Lebanon during the persecution and lived a life of solitude there for some time, being fed by a raven. After the emperor discovered his whereabouts, he was tortured and thrown in prison. Legend claims that an angel released him and he departed for Illyricum, eventually suffered a martyr's death and was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Legend records that when a blue light appears at mastheads before and after a storm, the seamen took it as a sign of Erasmus's protection. This was known as "St. Elmo's fire". The blue electrical discharges under certain atmospheric conditions have also been seen on the masks or riggings of ships. Erasmus is also invoked against stomach cramps and colic. This came about because at one time he had hot iron hooks stuck into his intestines by persecutors under Emperor Diocletian. These wounds he miraculously endured. His Feast day is June 2nd.

"Prayer For A Blessing On The New Year"

O sacred and adorable Trinity, hear our prayers on behalf of our holy Father the Pope, our Bishops, our clergy, and for all that are in authority over us. Bless, we beseech Thee, during the coming year, the whole Catholic Church; convert heretics and unbelievers; soften the hearts of sinners so that they may return to Thy friendship; give prosperity to our country and peace among the nations of the world; pour down Thy blessings upon our friends, relatives, and acquaintances, and upon our enemies, if we have any; assist the poor and the sick; have pity on the souls of those whom this year has taken from us; and do Thou be merciful to those who during the coming year will be summoned before Thy judgment seat. May all our actions be preceded by Thy inspirations and carried on by Thy assistance, so that all our prayers and works, having been begun in Thee, may likewise be ended through Thee. Amen.

Good-bye 2010 And Hello 2011!!!! Bring it on, Baby!

Here it is again... another New Year's Eve. Another evening filled with hope for what may come in the next year. Another night when most everyone sets out on some new resolution to better themselves. Another night....

This year I do not seem as excited as I normally am about the new year. I took a look at the resolutions I made this time a year ago, and felt like a failure seeing as how I did not finish any of those things I set out to do. I set out with every good intention to follow through, and I know I did pretty well for awhile, but somewhere through the year I must have forgotten I made them. So... what does that lead me to do this year? Make more resolutions that may seem far-fetched at the end of the year? No... I do not like that idea at all. So instead here is what I am going to do....

1.) I promise myself that I will make it to Mass at least three times a week...
2.) I promise to make it to confession AT LEAST once a month. No putting it off, because really that is just being lazy.
3.) I promise to keep in better touch with my great friends who no longer live so close by to me.
4.) I promise to try and uplift those around me through little things... maybe little notes, or random uplifting quotes... little things that make them realize how precious they are and how much I love them.
5.) I promise to be more selective about the things I watch on television...
6.) I promise to work-out at least five days a week for thirty minutes. unless I am on vacation where I cannot find a decent place to work-out. This seems to be much more attainable for me than the everyday one I made last year.

Even though I just said I was not totally excited about the New Year I have to take that back because there are a few things I am incredibly excited about.... Moving into my own apartment with my sister, graduating, the Matt Maher concert, retreats I will get to help out with, and also the d.c. March for Life trip I will be going on in just a few weeks. :) Who knows what else will be happening in this new year, but here's to whatever craziness that may ensue. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! Bottom's up! (But also stay safe. :) )

God Can Speak Through Anything... Even Texting.

The past few months, or maybe more like the past year or so has been a tough one for my family. The kind that can wear a person down sometimes. Monday night I had a real heart-to-heart with God about some of these things and other things I have had to deal with. I could not go to sleep ( probably due to the fact that I made Monday my lazy day and did pretty much absolutely nothing, but watch tv. Heck, I didn't actually change out of my p.j.'s till six p.m. because I had to run to the grocery store to grab some ingredients for dinner... yeah, I was lazy) so instead I just had a long conversation with God. The only reason I am even telling my readers this is because of what happened to me yesterday.

I had just pulled-up into my drive-way after a long drive down from Carmel, In.. I was in the middle of texting my friend, who I had just visited, to let him know I arrived home safely when I received this text message..."Life is hard, but a strong person knows how to keep their life in order. Even with tears in their eyes, they still manage to say 'I'm ok' with a smile. God is good. Change is coming. God saw your sadness and said hard times are over." It happened to be one of the random forwards people send so I had to press reply to figure out the number of the person that sent it to me. I found this person's number and went through my phone book to see if I could figure out who sent it to me, but apparently I do not have this person in my phone book. I guess in retrospect I could have replied to the text message to ask who it was, but it is a little late for that now. I do not mind either. It may seem silly to some, but to me that was God telling me he heard me when I was talking to Him and it's gonna be ok. I rather like not knowing who sent it to me after all...

"Thirsting For God"

One of the perks for being a teacher is that every year the families are very generous when it comes to giving presents to us teachers. Among the many gift cards I received I was a given one to Barnes and Nobles. I used it to buy a couple of books, one of which happens to be "Thirsting For God" by Mother Teresa. It is a year book filled with prayers, meditations, and anecdotes by none other than Mother Teresa. I thought I would share today's entry on here with all of you...:)

December 30
(The following quotations is taken from the last letter Mother Teresa wrote on the day of her death)

Let our gratitude be our strong resolution to quench the thirst of Jesus by lives of real charity. Love for Jesus in prayer, love for Jesus in you brothers and sisters, love for Jesus in the poorest of the poor. Nothing else."

"We Are Family!"

Yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Family. Father gave a wonderful homily about families. God planned out who our families would be from the beginning. He gave them to us. They help lay the foundation of who we are.

Families are amazing! They are the ones that know more than anyone else how to bring us back up when we are down. They are there when we need a shoulder to cry on. They are there for the celebrations in our lives. It is the members of our family who we feel most comfortable being our true selves. It is the main reason we take them for granted...We assume our parents, siblings, and relatives will be there for us no matter what. Through thick and thin. That is why it is so easy to feel the worst betrayal when someone in our family does something that hurts us, yet seems to me so much easier to forgive them because they are family. Like the old saying, "blood is thicker than water." In many ways this is true.

Yes, every family is not perfect. Each family is dysfunctional. Each family has their own share of family secrets that no one other than family is supposed to know about. I think with that being said the ones who are not dysfunctional are probably the really strange ones.
I must say that my family truly is special. We are one of a kind. I am so happy I live so close to not only my immediate family, but also my Aunt, Uncle, and a nice amount of my cousins as well.

This Christmas I spent it with the people I just mentioned. We usually come together on Christmas Eve, but due to some changes we celebrated on Christmas day this year. We have a nice pitch-in dinner and then open gifts together. Us cousins tend to spend a lot of time together playing cards, the family favorite tends to always end up being spoons (which is what we are playing in the few pictures below). Spoons happens to be taken very seriously in this family. There have been years when blood has been drawn by someone's fingernails while in the scramble of grabbing a spoon. I remember one year my brother got pulled out of his chair while fighting for the last spoon on the table. Violent, but so much fun!

I should mention that the craziness in my family is not all caused by the people in it, but also our four-legged pets. You see, my family is in fact very much a dog family. There is no telling how many dogs will show-up at a family function. Usually anywhere up to seven... some little and some not so little. The dog in the first picture is the newest addition to our family. Her name is Peyton, named after none other than Peyton Manning. Yes, my family is also a Colt's family.

As crazy as I find my family at times, I would not want them any other way. They each have a spot in my heart, and I love them dearly!!!

"My Grown Up Christmas List

This is one of my very favorite Christmas songs.... Especially now as I am no longer a kid anymore. Even though today is the day after Christmas I did not have a chance to get on here and post it earlier with the all the hustle and bustle of my own Christmas celebrations with my family... I hope you enjoy this song too. :)

My Grown Up Christmas List

Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies

Well, I'm all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I'm not a child
But my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish
My grown up christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
and wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree

Well heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth
(there'd be)

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, oh
This is my grown up christmas list
This is my only life long wish
This is my grown up christmas list