oh My Jesus

Oh my Jesus,
Forgive us our sins,
Save us from the fires of hell,
And lead all souls to heaven,
Especially those most in need of thy mercy.
Amen


If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. Enjoy!Don’t forget to Subscribe to my RSS feed!

Christmas 2011

Well, the stockings are hung by the TV with care,
In hopes that St. Nick soon will be here,
We have all the gifts ready to go in the mail come morning,
K in her Christmas sweater, and I in my Christmas cap,
Sat by the oldies on TV,
Watching Christmas shows from years past.
The Addams Family,
Andy Griffith,
and 3rd rock from the sun.

It was getting on nigh to 10 p.m.
K had filled the dishwasher with the, erm ... evidence of our holiday bakings.
We both were yawning contagiously.
We slipped into our pajamas, and went to bed.

In the morning we opened our eyes, and what did we see, but fresh new fallen snow,
And, three tiny reindeer with a sleigh and a jolly little elf,
K and I wondered what we were seeing.

The jolly elf turned to us, winked, and said
'May you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!"

And, may you all have one too!

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. Enjoy!Don’t forget to Subscribe to my RSS feed!

Glory to the Father

Glory to the Father,
And to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
Is now,
And always will be.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with thee,
Blessed are you among women,
And blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now, and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. Enjoy!Don’t forget to Subscribe to my RSS feed!

Melonberry Curly Mits

Used Melonberry Red Heart Super Saver Ombre yarn, a worsted weight 4, and US size 3 knitting needles.

Ravelry has been causing folks to experience seizures, migraines, and vertigo, among other problems, so I'm providing other options for folks to purchase my patterns through.

This pattern is available on Etsy with the direct link to Curly Mitts.

Live Audition Call!!!

I am looking to interview my readers. I want to know about what brings you here, what you like to craft, and what you believe in spiritually. If you have a few moments, kindly leave a comment and I will get back to you.

Thanksgiving poem

O My God,
Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee
in ceaseless flow.
When I think upon and converse with thee
ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding into every moment of happiness.
I bless thee for the soul thou has created,
for adorning it, sanctifying it,
though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body thou has given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing senses to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly,
I love thee above the powers of language to express,
for what thou art to thy creatures.
Increase my love, O my God, through time and etermity.

From: The Valley of Vision, A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

The Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is the first prayer of the Rosary. It is also one of the most basic prayers of Catholicism, though there's nothing in it that other Christians don't believe. The link shows the movement that is half of the prayer, here is the text.

In the name of the Father,
and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. Enjoy! Don’t forget to Subscribe to my RSS feed!

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, The Father Almighty,

Creator of Heaven and Earth;

and, in Jesus Christ,

His Only Son, Our Lord;

who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified,

died,

and was buried.

He descended into hell;

the third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,

sitteth at the right hand of God;

the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Holy catholic church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting.

Amen.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. Enjoy! Don’t forget to Subscribe to my RSS feed!

Rosary

I'm starting a series on the Rosary. October is the month set aside to honor the Rosary and Our Lady of the Rosary. The first posts in this series will be the text of the prayers involved in the Rosary. Following posts will include dissections of these prayers. I hope you enjoy this series.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. Enjoy! Don’t forget to Subscribe to my RSS feed!

Predestination, Yes or No?

Predestination, the concept of God knows what your ultimate choice will be. Implied within that concept for some is the idea that if God knows what my choice will be, then why bother with corporal and spiritual works of mercy. If you put this into human terms, then maybe it will make more sense.

God knows, as a parent would with their child, the likely response to a question. But, that doesn't mean that the parent will make the choice for their child. That doesn't preclude loving the child, even when the child chooses against the parent's wishes.

God wishes for us all to accept Jesus as our savior. He knows our exact answer to that question, but he isn't making the choice for us. He allows us to choose death or life. No matter how much he wants us to choose life, he will not make the choice for us.

a vision

Yesterday, I was sitting in the ICU. I leaned back in my chair. I thought of the dark things swirling around my body that brought me here. I started to feel overwhelmed by how close to dying I had come, and yet God had saved me. Thank God, for God.

Then, I started thinking about God's presence in this situation. I realized He was the one who saved me. I saw him coming towards me and wiping away the swirling things.

It was a lovely vision of His presence. It ended with feeling coddled in His bosom. I felt very loved and warm and safe.

When I came to, the nurse was there with a new medicine to try. I'm allergic to a cousin of this drug, but by doing step up therapy, we could determine if I was allergic to this drug. I knew God was saying that this plan would work, and it has.

The Lord has put good, smart people in my path. I thank Him for each of the doctors, nurses, CNAs, and all the other workers at the hospital who have had a hand in my care from maintenance to food prep to housekeeping.

The Lord is simply amazing.

Burnout Prevention Tips

Tomorrow is Labor Day, 2011. Thinking on labor, a holiday to rest from labor, and work makes me think of burnout prevention. Guess that's my interest in psychology coming out.

On that note, here are some tips I've culled on burnout prevention ... have a restful journey through reading them.

• Start your day on a quiet note. Don't rush into the day.
• Take care of your body. Clean, feed, rest and exercise it.
• Say "NO" to requests, whether you need to or not. And, don't feel guilty about it either.
• Do something creative, fun, energizing...of course, you need to know what that means for you.
• Learn what makes you feel stressed, and work to manage that feeling.
• http://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htm provided these tips

 Anyways, that's my take on celebrating this Labor Day! Stay safe, healthy, and chill.

Top 10 Reasons I'm Catholic

1. Mary, the Mother of God, is a connection to God that is female
2. The Rosary, praying that is meditative, easy and relaxing
3. Jesus, the Savior of us all
4. Communion, I wanted to experience the Real Presence in the host
5. Friends and Family, Many of my friends are Catholic and some of my family, I wanted to participate in that community
6. Social Justice, the Catholic church has a strong desire to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give rest to the weary
7. Saints, I like the historical connection to others in Heaven
8. Ritual, the celebration of the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of Eucharist are full of beautiful rituals that delight the senses
9. The Catholic church is the original church, so it's like I'm going back to my roots
10. Nuns, who doesn't like these nice, strong, faithful women in funny outfits :)

Transub-stan-ti- What? Transubstantiation and the Real Pressence

Transubstantiation. Long word. The longest word I think I learned while becoming Catholic. It is a concept that I am still learning about.

It means changing the substance. The substance being changed is the bread of communion to the host of Jesus. The form remains the same, but the substance has changed from bread to host when consecrated by the priest through prayer and belief.

Redecorating, Changes to the Blog

Well, I've been doing some rearranging on here, as you can see.

I installed the Networked Blogs widget and got it all registered nicely. I even figured out how to work it. Please click the follow button and let me know who you are.

What else? Oh yes, I changed the layout a bit. If you remember, there had been only two columns, now there are three. The rightmost column contains info about people: me, followers, archives, labels and blogs I like. The leftmost column contains podcasts in my iTunes library and websites related to topics of interest. The middle column is the meat and potatoes of the blog, the blog posts.

Hopefully, this layout is pretty good for a while. Let me know what you think and if you want to, suggest some sites for inclusion in the lists to the left.

Thanks!

anonymousknitter.com blog review

Go ahead and head on over to anonymousknitter.com. The blogger is a Catholic lady. She also, surprisingly, knits!

She even has blue spaghetti, see it here: Blue Spaghetti

Knitting Prayers, The Our Father, Meditation and Knitting

When I am by myself, I like to knit with the tv off and maybe a podcast going, but usually just the quiet is nice. Working with folks with various diagnoses and ways of being vocal but not verbal, quiet is sometimes really desired. The calmness

iPod blogging

Trying a new thing tonight, I'm blogging from my iPod touch. Not sure how this will work. I type as I think, my fingers moving as I think. Flying along as I see the thoughts racing across the sky like wondrous birds in flight. To type on the iPod is picking and slower than my thoughts can process. It is a little like using first grade ledgers instead of writing freehand in cursive as an adult.

Homosexuality and Christian Marriage

Homosexual and Christian. Heterosexual and Christian. What's the difference?

Musings on Mental Health and God

Not sure on the official Catholic position on the topic of Mental Health, except to say likely a take the best of what others have discovered and apply it as applicable to your situation and also to trust in the Eucharist to bring God into your being. The soul also outlives the body, and as such we shouldn't despair of finding healing either here or in Heaven.

Topic Ideas

It's been a while since I last posted on here. I'm changing the purpose of this blog. Now, it's not just what I learn about being Catholic, but about more things that interest me. Knitting, psychology, lesbian and gay issues, and relaxation are a few things that interest me. Expect to see more about those topics.

On being Catholic, Communion, Easter

Well, I made it into the inner sanctum of Catholicism. I made first confession, first communion and confirmation. Now what?

Think I Shocked A Priest!

Uh oh! It finally happened. I said something I shouldn't have.

Rosary Video, A reminder

The following video shares the Rosary and the power of this prayer.

Topic Ideas

Hey there, all,

I was wondering what are some of the topics you'd like to know more about from the Catholic perspective. I'm generally winging it and wanted to respond to your needs too.

Here are some of the ideas I have
1. more book studies, especially for the books not in the Protestant Bible
2. Catechism readings
3. Topics from the RCIA classes
4. Saints
5. Mary
6. the Pope, Priests, Nuns
7. the Mass, and how it's changing
8. Prayers
9. The Rosary
10. Catholic Internet resources

What are some of your ideas for topics to learn about with me?

Different Kinds of Sins, Mortal, Venial, Original and Actual

Okay, all, I've been trying to wrap my head around sin. What is it? And, especially, what makes a sin mortal or venial?

The Peace of God

Yesterday, I woke up and needed to go to church. I was having a biopsy later in the day and needed to be blessed. I wasn't sure whether I would be able to receive the anointing of the sick, but I knew I would be able to receive a plain Jane blessing.

Tobit and depression

Lately, I have been battling the spirit of depression. This spirit has been beating me up mentally and doesn't seem able to give me any respite. Last night, I read the book of Tobit specifically because of this problem.

15 character meme thingy

Over at Another Cup of Coffee, she posted a 15 character meme thingy for fictional characters. The guidelines are characters whose stories have stuck with you and who are fictional. You should list the first 15 characters that pop into your head.

Sleepless in the Snow

Well, we are due to get pounded with snow today. I'm restless and not able to sleep tonight, so rather than knitting a pair of socks I'm blogging on Catholicism. The world can be strange at times.

An email to Pat Gohn of AmongWomen Podcast

Dear Pat,

I have two favorite Bible passages. The first one is Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." I remind myself of God's strength and love and that I can overcome the struggles in life by repeating this verse to myself when I am struggling with life burdens. My other favorite passage is Psalm 100.

Starting the RCIA process

I went to my first RCIA meeting tonight. We talked about who Jesus is, was, and will be. The beginning of the session was a review of the last session when the other participants were to choose a Beatitude to meditate on and that applied to their life.

A Way of Reading the Bible

Well, I have been following Professor Grant Horner's Bible reading plan. The plan has ten lists and you are to read at least one chapter from each list. The lists follow the basic categories of the Bible: Pentateuch, History, Wisdom, Prophets, Gospels, Acts, Paul, Non-Paul letters, Psalms and Proverbs. When one list is complete, you start that list over.