A Good Homily Inspires

What is one of your favorite Bible verses? 

One that has always given me great hope is:

 “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.”

I like the idea of choice and the notion that all I have to do is choose God and all will stem from that.  Sometimes when I am having a difficult night or just an anxious day, I repeat those words and find much comfort as the spoken Word gets absorbed by my being.  Yet, in my years as a revert, I have always stopped on that specific bible verse and have never really went on to realize the wholeness the reading from the Gospel of John (15: 1-8) has to give.  Until yesterday, when a deacon with a thick Vietnamese accent shined light to the whole reading and gave me much to ponder.  It was such a great homily that I left the Mass with such joy in my heart.

"Remain in me and I will remain in you.  Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine and you are the branches…"

Per our bubbly deacon there’s three takeaways from this reading:

1. Remain Connected to God
2. Always Dependent on Him
3. Continue to seek Him to bear fruits.

Our commitment to God and our faith must be renewed constantly through our actions.  Coming to Sunday Mass consistently is a way to remain connected to God; understanding that we don’t have to face life alone, but have a Father who can come to our assistance anytime wipes the anxiety away; and as we continue to come to Him and we get to know Him more deeply, hopefully that will inspire change. Growth in Christ so honest that our families and communities will reap the benefits of our sanctification. 

I love scripture, when I first returned to the Catholic Church I used to sob during the readings because they penetrated my wounded, harden heart.  Every Sunday, I would be in tears and it was quite embarrassing because I couldn’t control the comfort and healing the Word had on my soul.  Perhaps, because I came back to the church without knowledge of the bible and when I heard the Word proclaimed it was always new to me; thus, due to my lack of familiarity with scripture - it was always like hearing God for the first time!  Now, as someone who has read the bible and am more fluent in the Word of God, I still have moments when I realize how God’s Word is infinite in wisdom.  Thanks to the different point-of-view of my deacon I was able to get new meaning and insight to a favored verse and that really made my Sunday morning!

Finding God in California Roads

Do you believe in miracles?

I do.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the diocese taking classes.  It was after nine-thirty at night and I was exhausted!  As usual I rushed to the door as soon as we were excused, but was intercepted by a bubbly deacon's wife.  She wanted to know how I was doing.  She held me in conversation for a good five minutes and I was a bit frustrated because I just wanted to leave and hit the bed; yet, I obliged and stayed to talk to her.  Afterward, I rushed to my car and got on the freeway only to witness the aftermath of a horrible collision.  A truck had dropped two bundles of large, rolled-up carpet and three cars were flipped upside down after colliding with the carpet.  If I had been on the freeway at my regular time I am sure that I would have been involved in the car accident, but God through the interception of a kind lady kept me safe.  This experience is a moment in which I have been fully aware of a miracle happening in my life, but there are countless other times when God comes to my assistance with me unware.  I thought back at how annoyed I was because I couldn’t run out of class and how that precise moment kept me from hurt.

God is always at work in our lives, even during the moments when our own lenses blind us to His presence.  In California, there’s a lot of road rage especially at hours of high traffic.  A year ago, I started getting this horrible feeling that I was going to be involved in a car accident and I couldn’t shake the feeling away.  Then one morning my best friend, who is also the leader of our RCIA team, gave me a small, crystal angel.  She told me that she had been doing her make-up and saw the small angel figurine on her vanity and felt the need to give it to me.  She shared how much it meant to her and how she wanted me to have it to keep me safe.  After a few months of having unease thinking I was going to crash, this small angel erased all anxiety.  I told her that I knew exactly where I was going to place it or rather that I was going to keep it in my car to keep me safe on the road.  Am I saying that a crystal angel keeps me safe? No, real angels do that. That small figurine just reminds me that God is always with me and it prompts me to call on His army of angels when I am feeling anxious in traffic.     

I have known for some time that when I am stuck behind a red light or slow moving traffic that it’s just God’s way of keeping me from a possible accident.  Thus, I normally don’t have rage in California traffic, however, now I know that sometimes when a person who holds me up to chat, God is also working through that moment (smile).  

Earth Day 2018 Luxury Thrifting Style

Happy belated Earth Day… Since my last two posts were a bit serious in tone I thought today I would lighten the mood with a return to my “as seen on celebrities” posts.  It’s been awhile since I have shared luxury items I have found in my thrifting even I was amazed by my scores  and  it seemed fitting that I would do so as a nod to Earth Day 2018!

Valentino Sunglasses V617S

First up are a pair of red cat eye Valentino sunglasses that I found for $2.99. At the time one of the lenses had fallen off so I took it to get it replaced and spent a total of $22.99 for a pair of shades that retail over $375!  I did a little research and found that one of my style favorites, Zooey  Deschanel, owns a pair.  The sunglasses are a beautiful ruby, red and have corner flower carving details.  Am so exited to wear them throughout the warm temperatures! 

I also do yard sales on occasion and a year ago I found this Marc Jacobs Jelly Jacquard wallet in great condition for only ten bucks!  After doing my research I found that Rihanna wore the same clutch and it retailed for $190.    

It's exciting to find treasures that people discard in practically new condition.  Sometimes I keep my findings, at others I resale and donate some of the profit to charity or I just give them away to my family.  These two items though are so my style and I plan on getting a lot of use out of them!  

There's Something About Mary

I am a wimp.   Tell me that I have to donate blood or have blood work done and the thought of that syringe, more specifically the needle rupturing my skin increases my heart rate to the point of an anxiety episode.  No, am not kidding!  Even as a young adult my mom would have to come to doctor appointments with me and hold my hand while I was poked.  However, once in college I decided that I had to grow up and do it on my own.  I remember that first time I had to get blood withdrawn, sitting in the lobby waiting to face the most terrifying event on my own.  It was then that I called to Mother Mary and I asked her to hold my hand, to be with me during this scary experience.  I talked to her and I even promised to donate a large sum of money in her name if she would just help me get through the ordeal.  Since, I have survived many needle poking’s always with her by my side.  She is the one that I call to in my most dire situations because I know the power of a mother’s influence.  I love Jesus, I talk to him every day; but, when I feel like I am about to fall apart I run to his mother to intercede on my behalf.

Earlier in the week I went to adoration and at this particular chapel beside the tabernacle is a beautiful statue of Mother Mary.  I took out my rosary and I prayed meditating on each mystery with Mother Mary and I began a novena that has become my most special devotion, "Mary Undoer of Knots."  When I feel out of control or like perhaps I need to let go of something I turn to this novena.  While praying it I thought about an event that happened soon after my ex-boyfriend and I broke up.  I was in the car listening to songs of heartbreak and feeling quite miserable for myself when I saw a homeless man on the corner asking for alms.  He was really dirty, his hair was greasy like it hadn’t been washed in months, his clothes were soiled and he looked like he was talking to himself.  I saw that man in such a tattered state and I remember this aha moment when I realized that I was in the car condemning my ex for breaking my heart and wishing him all kinds of hurt; but, I would never want to see him like this homeless man.  It was at that moment that I understood that when you truly love someone you want the best for that person, even if the best might not be you.  I turned off my radio and I asked God to give my ex-boyfriend goodness and a girl who would love him the way that he needed, but to do so far from me because his happiness would still hurt me.

Lighting a prayer candle for my prayer intentions is a favored devotion.

Sometimes I need to be reminded that when we care about another person we need to be selfless even if it means a little bit of hurt on our end.  Through circumstances I was afraid that I was going to lose someone and all I thought was of protecting myself.  BUT, Jesus shows us that we can’t be afraid of the cross, we can’t be afraid of suffering and Mother Mary exemplifies the wounded heart.  She suffered a terrible loss as a mother and when I am in pain, confused and focused on me I love running to her because she gets me.  She is able to comfort me and show me the big picture, a bigger picture than my hurt.  In that moment with her and the days since, I’ve realized that I have to be a good friend even when it hurts or circumstances make me feel uncertain.  It’s easy to be a good friend in times of plenty, but much more difficult when we are out of our comfort zone.  I have found the strength to do so, to turn my frown upside down with the intercession of my Momma Mary and when I start losing my peace, I just run back into her arms.

Bad at Guarding My Heart

“Above else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23

I’ve never been very good at protecting my heart…  Every time I have suffered a disillusionment my sister tells me that I have to learn to find someone who will love me first before I get emotionally involved.  I know she is trying to be helpful, but her words only make me feel like more of a failure.  If only I had an impenetrable shield then hurt would never enter and she would never have to see me in pain.  Her reaction is typical in our culture to harden our hearts or develop “thick skin.”  Yet, I don’t want to train myself to live in numbness with fear of the troubles that openness and vulnerability can bring.  God liberated my hard heart from an unbreakable prison state and going back is not something that I see myself doing.  I have been delivered, unshackled and the weakness that I sometimes experience when disappointment comes knocking at my door is to be met with same hope that led the Apostle Paul to declare, "He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”"  Even when we are bad at guarding our hearts, Jesus still has the antidote. 

It’s good to work on being prudent and guarding our hearts ahead of time, but when we suck at it (like me) God will get us through the temporal ache.  In this world we are going to experience pain in all types of forms and situations – and loss in many different ways. BUT, we are never left alone to carry our cross, God promised to be with us until the end of time.  Sometimes our minds will want to focus on the darkness, but Christians were made for the light.  We are carriers of the God News sealed with the Holy Spirit!  When my ex-boyfriend ended our relationship and soon after my brother died I went into the darkest place I have ever been.  In the years since I have worked hard to protect myself from that kind of pain, afraid that another heartbreak would break me like it did then… Today I know that hurt is inevitable, but on this day I can boast of having a God whose power is greater than my weakness.  Just now I realized that as long as my eyes stay fixed on the Lord, no matter what happens I am going to be ok.  It’s not easy to be bipolar and not like unexpected things to happen – it makes me a little of a control freak sometimes- but am learning that NOW my faith is the difference.  I went into a dark place before because I didn’t have faith, I didn’t have a God of hope with me.  Yet, even then when my heart was closed to Him, He came and found me.  There will always be the temptation to lose hope, to succumb to self-pity and negativity; but now I know better. Now, I cling to the Lord.  I needed a morning of prayer to come to this conclusion.  "Si se que te tengo a Ti (Dios), no nesecito mas."   

Packing a Waste Free Lunch

Two years ago, I was tired of reusing plastic grocery bags to pack my lunches so I started looking into buying the perfect lunch bag.  Then one day in my thrifting endeavors I came across a beautiful PVC with leather handles Dooney and Bourke beauty.  Someone had donated it because though it was in pristine condition the corner had a small tear.  For three bucks I took it home to decide how I could salvage the otherwise perfect lunch tote.  With a little Gorilla glue, a large binder clip and an overnight for glue to set I revived an object that was deemed unusable. 

As the year progressed I continue to slowly diminish my waste by finding reusable containers to pack anything from snacks to the main dish.  All of my items were purchased at thrift stores brand new, however I have attached the brand names in case you feel like getting your own.  Most recently I was looking for reusable snack and sandwich bags, and I thought that I would have to resort to ordering them from an online retailer, but last Saturday I found a cute reusable sack with Velcro at a yard sale and now my lunches are for the most part one-hundred percent waste free!     

Waste Free means: no plastic wrap, no foil, no zip lock bags and no packaged foods… and opting instead for packing items that can be composed or recycled.  It means avoiding excess packaging and replacing disposable items with reusable containers and utensils.  It can be tricky at first, but like any change it requires a little practice. 

I have read statistics stating that since 2006 the United States produces around 236 million tons of waste annually!  That’s a whole lot of waste.  In fact, as a nation Americans generate more waste than any other nation.  Most of the waste comes from packaging on the food we buy.  I mentioned before that I am not much of an activist, my role in generating change has always been personal.  What can I do for the good of others or in this case for the good of creation?  As a good steward of the world God gave me, small changes led me to a waste free lunch.  After reading that in one school year a child taking a disposable lunch generates an average of sixty-seven pounds of waste which equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average size elementary, I knew I had to make changes.  While I don’t have children to pack lunches for I see these similar patterns of waste in my office lunchroom.  Thus, I have gone lunch green (smile). Here's how:

Refillable Drinking Containers: I have a large water zippy cup, a reusable coffee cup (which I totally love) and a saucer for my oatmeal or Cream of Wheat. 

Reusable Utensils: These To Go Ware are made of bamboo, they are really handy, but a little thick... I think making your own utensil carrier and using silver spoons is the better option.  Though I do use these most days.  The cute pack comes with a knife, fork, spoon and chopsticks.

Lunchskins are reusable snack and sandwich bags.  I love mine in animal print.

Reusable Lunch Containers:These are by Lock & Lock I have them in several sizes for soup, salad, snacks, etc.    

Reusable Lunch Bag: I love my salvaged Dooney and Bourke bag it reminds of Christmas all year long! I love the size and its really easy to wipe clean. A real good investment.  The brand has many styles to choose from.

Packing a waste free lunch not only will help reduce your waste you will also save a bit of money, can't go wrong with that (smile).

Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibit

I am not much of an activist, you won’t see me in the front lines of protests with posters in hand.  In my life I have only attended a couple of protests and frankly to be one-hundred-percent honest I did it more for the experience than because I was truly committed to the cause.  As I have grown up, I have learned that while we need people to gather the masses and lead them to voice their concerns, we also need people who contribute to the fight in a more quiet way.  Mother Teresa said that we didn’t all have to do great things, but each of us could do little things in an extraordinary way.  These little daily actions in the long term speak just as strongly (if not more) than putting words on a poster board.

Wonder Women

On Saturday, my friend and I went to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising Museum for their annual Motion Picture Costume Design exhibit. As we walked around appreciating the costumes, I admired closely the perfect stitching, beading, cut, material- just every detail that comes together to bring to life the characters from some of the top movies of the year.  Though the futuristic costumes were quite beautiful, I especially loved the period pieces.  There was this green reproduction skirt and jacket combo from the early forties that reminded of times past when we knew what good construction looked like.  It reminded me of my mother’s youth and the stories she has told me in which she describes to the last detail the outfits she wore.  It even reminded me of my childhood when my mom would take a garment apart to recreate from its fabric a picture day outfit for me to wear.

As my friend and I exited the museum, we shared a strong lament for the loss of good garment construction.  With the rise of industrialization we have lost the art of garment construction and have inherited the ills of fast fashion.  In a world where the fashion industry has changed so quickly there’s a lot of darkness that gets swept under the carpet, but I think we are at a point where there’s no more room to hide the evils of overproduction of cheap clothes.  But that’s a subject for a future post today, I just want to share some of the awesome pictures I took of a few costumes that just blew my mind.  Including a real Alexander McQueen peacock dress that I had a hard time walking away from! 

One of my favorite pieces!

I just love the bling!

 The golden "Beauty and the Beast" dress.

Some period pieces...

 Silk beauties.

Me, in front of the "I, Tonya" display

Alexander McQueen

Glow in the Dark Rosary

I was cleaning the other day and I came across my first rosary… Well, technically the first rosary that I received after returning to the Catholic Church as an adult.  I received it on the final day of a retreat I attended with Jovenes para Cristo, a group of young adults that my brother and I belonged to for our first years as grown-up Catholics.  On the final day each of us got a baggie filled with prayers from intercessors, notes of encouragement, saint cards and a plastic-glow-in-the-dark rosary.  In terms of my conversion Mary was a difficult point of change, so those initial days as a revert praying the rosary was not something that came naturally or that I turned to as form of prayer.  Even so, I knew that the beads I was given held power.  After my brother died, I used to have a lot of nightmares and difficulty sleeping so I used to clutch to that rosary during the night like a knight commits to his sword.  Just holding it would push away the bad dreams.  Mostly during my initial years back into the Catholic Church I used that rosary as a talisman that pushed away night terrors.  It laid beside me on my nightstand ready for battle, even the glow-in-the-dark feature came in handy because in the darkness I was able to find the sacramental easily.  Many a night I clutched it to survive the darkness and every time it never failed to protect me and push away terrible dreams.

I was dusting and the rosary slipped from the bottom of a little box that lies on my nightstand with my praying materials.  It’s been years since I have used it to drive away bad dreams, now it just holds memories of where I came from, the dark place that God delivered me from.  Today, I have beautiful rosaries that I have gotten in my travels and vintage beads given to me- these pieces make my first plastic rosary appear quite tacky, but its rich sentimental value and our history make it so precious to me.  Even the literal fact that it’s easily found in darkness speaks volumes.  Every day, I try to pray the rosary, it’s become one of my favored forms of prayer.  I love holding the beads in my hands and moving one bead at a time, at each mystery I stop and pray for a special intention while pausing to reflect on Christ’s life.  I like the ritual and repetition of this form of prayer especially when I am too overwhelmed to come to God using my own inept words.  I love the feeling of moving forward and the sense of completion when I come to the end of the rosary prayers.  And on the rare night that a bad dream invades my mind I still turn to the rosary, no longer as an amulet but a powerful form of prayer that brings light and pushes the shadows away.  Do you have a special rosary?

What to Expect from Easter Vigil

Happy Easter Week! Hope you had a happy Easter.  I sure did (smile).  For those of you who have never been to an Easter Vigil, today’s post will walk you through it and hopefully motivate you so that next year you will be in attendance (smile). Good Saturday night hosts the “mother of all vigils” where the church keeps watch and celebrates the risen Christ through the Sacraments and awaits his returning glory.

Service of the Light- We begin outside in the darkness with only fire to guide us.  The beauty of the fire as it shines brightly and the warmth from it brings together the people. The paschal candle is lit and then the light spreads from it lighting first the candles of the candidates and then of the assembly signifying God’s light spreading through the world. 

Liturgy of the Word- We enter a dark church, in candle light we listen to seven readings that guide and recount the outstanding deeds of our salvific history to the moment of his resurrection culminating with bells, light and the singing of the Gloria before the Gospel reading.

Liturgy of Baptism –The baptismal water is blessed and baptisms of older children and adults take place.  Usually it’s full submergence in a baptismal font which is really neat because we don’t get to see those very often. 

Celebration of Confirmation- We continue with the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Liturgy of the Eucharist- The final Sacrament of the night.

It is such a beautiful service for so many reasons one is because on that night our church grows with the many newly initiated Catholics!  We didn't have any baptisms in our bunch, but quite a few from the Children's RCIA program.  It was a beautiful Mass and the power of the risen Lord filled our hearts with hope and endurance to continue forth working for the Kingdom of God...  Hope you'll join us next year.