How God Loves Us

I left morning Mass yesterday feeling a little lonely.

I get to communicate with my siblings often as we text and talk and work out a schedule to help our parents.  I get to see our two oldest daughters frequently as I am blessed to watch their children a couple of days a week.  I get to see my parents almost daily.

Still something was missing.

I told God all about it in very few words.  God works with what we give Him, no matter how small.

Yesterday turned out to be a very blessed day.

Two friends that live in separate cities, miles apart, in Massachusetts sent me elaborate heart emojis just to let me know they were thinking about me.

My Florida cousins (husband and wife) both texted me about totally different matters, but I knew that they were thinking about me.

Wayne and I got to have dinner together at the Lenten Fish Supper that our church hosts.

After the fish dinner we went to Stations of the Cross and a couple we are friends with sat behind us.  After the stations we were able to catch up a little bit. Wayne and I shared our date night journaling with them.

Turns out there was a talk for married couples that we and our friends stayed to hear.

The talk was very uplifting and each couple was given two notecards.   We were told to write a prayer for our spouse on the notecard and then pray the prayer over our spouse. It was lovely.

God sent all these people into my day to let me know He heard my prayer and was concerned about my needs.

Then He gave me a little something extra.

There was a give-away at the end of the talk.  The couple with the notecard that matched the card the presenter held up was the winner.

That was us!

We won a heart shaped box of chocolates (Ferrero Rocher-the good stuff) and a $75 gift card to Andiamo (a very nice Italian restaurant close to home)!  I see another lovely date night in our future.


All this to say, take your needs to the Father who loves to love us in so many ways.

Brian*God*Carly

I was so blessed to be able to attend the wedding of my nephew and Godson, Brian, to his beloved Carly.

It was rainy and wet outside, and it was wet inside too, as many of us wiped tears from our eyes when Carly's dad walked her up the aisle and then gave Brian a 30 second embrace before giving away his daughter.  There is clearly a bond between Brian and his new father-in-law!  (I was too busy drying my eyes to get a photo!)

At the very beginning of the Nuptial Mass, Fr. John pointed out that this was an arranged marriage. God has had it arranged from the beginning of time.

To say that God is part of their relationship is putting it mildly.  He is the backbone, the Love, the Grace that makes this couple so beautiful.

After an amazing ceremony, we were off to the reception.

Family is what it's all about!  My beautiful nieces. 

Because the main lights were off, and only the dance floor had good enough light to read by, these two got comfy with their books while waiting for dinner to be served.

The meal was fabulous and the dancing was fun. The floor was full of twenty-somethings dancing three different dances in three different groups all at the same time.  So much energy! 

We were in for a treat after dinner when Carly played her guitar and sang an original song that she wrote especially for Brian.  Again, more tears. 

The rain finally stopped but not before magnificent photos were taken by their very talented photographer.  One of the photos got the number one spot HERE

I pray for God's blessings on these newly weds and send them my love. 

www.thatslife12.blogspot.com

Hyperdulia

Hyper-what?

Since it is May and May is the month of Mary our heavenly Queen I thought I would take a cue from this Sunday's homily and talk about the way we love our Mother Mary.

Father John, our associate pastor, explained the different levels of honor and respect that we give to the Holy Trinity, to Mamma Mary, and to all the other Saints and angels.

Latria is the term used when we talk about how we love the Trinity.  It means adoration.  To God alone belongs this type of love and devotion.  We should love no one and nothing more than God and so to Him alone belongs our latria. Within the definition is the clarification that: Latria carries an emphasis on the internal form of worship, rather than external ceremonies. (Wikipedia) 

The reverence we give to the Saints and angels is a lower form of devotion called dulia. We do not worship them, we do not adore them but we can and do have a devotion to them.

Since Mary is the mother of God, she rightly deserves a higher form of reverence than the other Saints and the angels.  We call the reverence we give to Mary hyperdulia. Again, this is not worship or adoration. This is devotion and reverence taken up a notch.  

Why do we honor Mary at such a level?  Because of her role in salvation history.  Her fiat, "may it be done unto me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38)

Mary, our Mother, plays three roles within the realm of the Trinity:  she is the daughter of the Father, she is the mother of the Son and she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit.  If God himself thinks highly of her to give her these three roles within the Trinity, than she absolutely deserves our devotion.  

Some with a strong devotion to Mamma Mary may be afraid that they love her too deeply.  St. Maximilian Kolbe reassures us by telling us, "Never worry about loving Mary too much. You can never love her more than Jesus does!"  

So to reiterate:  we Catholics do not worship Mary.  We are devoted to her, we go to her and ask for her intercession, and we love her in a hyperdulia kind of way.  

(Thanks to Fr. John for this lovely explanation!) 



www.thatslife12.blogspot.com