A Popsicle Stick and a Prayer

In the fight against abortion, prayer is the number one weapon you have. For some it is the only weapon. How do you make your prayers more fruitful? You personalize them.

Bishop Fulton Sheen penned a prayer for the spiritual adoption of unborn children:

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph we love you very much. We beg you to spare the lives of the unborn babies that we have spiritually adopted who are in danger of abortion. Amen”

Short but powerful. So, how do you personalize it? Name your baby. Commit to pray for a child you have named for nine months. At the end of nine months, choose another name. You will only know at the end of your life how many babies your prayers saved.

In my family, we try to make it a little more tangible and easy to remember to pray. On a piece of construction paper, folded in half along the short side, the above prayer is taped near the fold. On the bottom we attach a Popsicle stick for each member of the family. Each person writes the name of their adopted baby on a stick and we have a little nursery of unborn babies for whom we pray. Write the start date and the date nine months from that date (the “due” date), hang it in a prominent location, then pray. In this way you take part in the movement to end abortion, not only in our country, but also throughout the world.

Quick! What’s the Sixth Commandment?

How well do you know the Commandments? Although we should be living them daily, how many of us know them off hand, and out of order? My sister taught me a great way to remember them and to teach them.

Use your fingers to help you:

#1 God is number 1. I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before Me.

#2 Your fingers make a V shape. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

#3 Your fingers make a W (worship). Remember to keep holy the Sabbath.

#4 Next to God in deserving your respect are your parents. Honor your father and your mother. (The only commandment with a promise-look it up!)

#5 Open one hand and then make a fist. Thou shall not kill.

#6 This is a tough one for kids but it has the word adult in it. Thou shall not commit ADULTery. (For kids it’s about purity of mind, mouth and body.)

#7 Seven starts with S; so does steal. Thou shall not steal.

#8 Eight goes around and around with no end. So does a lie until you confess and tell the truth. Thou shall not bear false witness.

Nine and ten are both about coveting but people are more important than things so:

#9 Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

#10 Thou shall not covet they neighbor’s goods.

Learn them, teach them, live them. For Christ said, “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments."  (John 14:15)

Joyous Words

"I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

These few words are so relevant in the lives of Catholics. These are the words the penitant hears after confessing their sins to a priest. They bring healing and comfort.

Confession is pretty much a monthly thing at our house. Six weeks feels like way too long to wait for the graces that come from this Sacrament. We try to get there on First Saturday. Sometimes we go with cousins and most of the time we go for ice cream afterward to celebrate being sinfree again.

Often it is very difficult to step into the church. Stubborness, humility, sadness at having offended our Lord, are all emtions that come to mind. We wonder if the priest will recognize our voice. We stress over the words to say even when we know the sins. Many times we have not been aware of the ways we are separating ourselves from the Lord, and we may have to sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament for a bit and ask the Holy Spirit for help recalling our sins. (He's always willing!)

Waiting in line can be peaceful or nerve wracking. Then comes the moment of truth. We have to speak our sins outloud. If I can offer one piece of advice it would be, find a priest you love! I have had several favorites over the years. I prefer those that take time to talk to you and aren't in a hurry. The really great ones seem to read your heart and say just what you need to hear.

After giving you a penance the joyous words are spoken: "I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." You leave the confessional a new creation. You are back in a state of sactifiying grace ready to move forward and "sin no more." If only!

But that's the beauty of the Sacrament. Christ instituted it because He knew we would need it often.

If you haven't been in a while, first pray for humility to acknowledge your sins, then pray for the courage to confess them. God loves to answer these prayers. When you're done, treat yourself to an ice cream cone and enjoy the peace.

Pedestals are for Statues

Have you ever watched someone from afar and thought they were just amazing? How do they accomplish all that they do? They look pulled together, their children are well behaved, they do this or that so easily. Why can't I be like them???

When we only watch from afar and put someone on a pedestal, we may be missing out on a great friendship borne from shared joys, sorrows, frustrations, accomplishments.

I know I'm guilty of doing just this. I watched a now friend, from afar for years. She and her husband had a big family. They were all sweet and smart and holy and so far from where I was that I could only look on in awe.

Well, once I got to know them, I found out they weren't so far from where I was, nor was I so far from where they were. Some of their children had issues, as some children do. The job situation was sometimes precarious. They had moments of fear and frustration, not just all rosy, as I assumed when they were out of reach.

We can only know someone by taking the time to talk to them. We should never assume that someone has it all together and hold them so aloft in our minds that we miss out on really getting to know them. There could be a great friendship just waiting to happen.

So, save the pedestals for the statues, and make it a point to meet those that inspire you by what you see in them. You may find, as I did, that they could use your friendship and your prayers.