Formed

My parish recently purchased a subscription to Formed.org for the parishioners. I have been taking full advantage of it! I have watched a number of the series and have learned so much from them. I'll be reviewing them shortly. If your parish has a subscription, use it!  If they do not, encourage them to get one. Don't be a Catholic who just goes to Mass and that's it. There is so much to learn that we didn't learn in Catholic school.

The Brown Scapular

Yesterday my family and I did something extraordinary. We were officially enrolled in the Brown Scapular Society. As a family. Our priest thought it was pretty cool. My kids have worn brown scapulars for years, and as they broke they were never replaced. My husband was enrolled in the society when he was a kid. It's something we've talked about doing for awhile but just kept putting it off. This weekend the stars aligned and we were able to find a mutually agreeable time for the investiture with our priest. So, we attended our very first First Saturday Mass in honor of Our Lady and had the ceremony afterwards in front of her statue. While wearing the scapular is the easy part, there are other things that go along with being part of the society. We will be saying the Rosary daily as a family. We have seen the power of prayer as a family firsthand. More on that later. But for now, if you want to learn more about the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel check out EWTN.

Divine Mercy Sunday

Today is, I think, one of the greatest feast days of the Church, and probably the least followed. Christ asked for the first Sunday after Easter to be set aside to celebrate His Divine Mercy. Today, the flood gates of His mercy are opened. Don't let this day pass you by without asking the Lord to bestow his mercy upon you, your family members, and the whole world.

My husband and I just completed the Divine Mercy Novena yesterday and today we set up a corner for the Image of Divine Mercy to show our love and appreciation.

I just purchased the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska and will post more on that later. The image above and the feast day itself come directly from her encounters with Christ. If the Diary is too much, and you want to learn more about this feast day, check out some talks by Father Michael Gaitley on YouTube, or read his book Divine Mercy Explained. It's a little easier to understand.  Go on!  Get praying!  Please keep my family in your prayers.

Jesus, I trust in you!

First Things First

Welcome!  This is a new venture that I feel I'm being called to do. I want to write about devotions my family follows and different things that I see in the course of life. Our goal is to get to Heaven and I want to help others get there, too. Come along for the ride!