Dare to learn

I had a little disagreement with my husband this morning. Now, I don't normally post about such things, as it's private between he and I! But I felt this was important and the moral of my side of the spat is something I feel strongly about that needs to be said to EVERYONE. So, I was reading an article about #GOSNELL when I muttered something under my breath about how could it possibly make any kind of sense for anyone to blame Gosnell on PRO-LIFERS! My husband asked what I was reading and I said "Oh, you wouldn't be interested, it's abortion related." I know how he feels about it and he would really prefer it not be discussed. So, instead of saying 'OK' and dropping it he proceeded to rant a bit about how he doesn't understand my obsession with abortion and needing to know everything I can about it, especially while being pregnant. I see where he's coming from, and he's not the first person to say this to me. However, what he, and others, view as my "obsession" is really a thirst. I thirst for knowledge and quest for understanding and for justice. I crave an end to this 'war against babies' as Mother Theresa so wisely put it.

My reply to him was almost a challenge. "I'm sorry that I seek out knowledge and choose to live in a world of truth rather then live in a bubble of ignorance and un-education." I understand that the subject matter is sad. It's horrible, and it's hard to understand. I mean, 2+2 is not 6. How is abortion even a question? The baby grows, it learns, it poops and pees and eats. It has hair and nails and a beating heart. How is abortion ANYTHING but murder!? To me, it is mind boggling. Like someone trying to tell me the sky is purple or, as I said above, that 2+2=6.  It's not arguing semantics or opinion, it's facts against facts and your facts make no sense. The point I was trying to make to my husband and now to you, as well as the challenge to anyone who reads this is...

EDUCATE YOURSELVES! You must learn history, to learn from others mistakes. You must learn math, to survive in life. You must learn science, because God is great and it is evident in how he created everything. So beautiful. So intricate. You must learn English (or whatever your first language is) so that you can speak and write and therefor express yourself clearly and intelligently. So to must you learn the issues around you. The injustices so that you can do everything in your power to fix them, even if it's "only prayer." Learn everything you can about the government and what's going on there, so that you can protect yourselves from the war that seems to be brewing and maybe even raging against Christianity and our liberties. Learn The Lords teachings so that you may better live the way He hopes for you.

I will never understand people who CHOOSE to live in ignorance and lack of knowledge simply because the truth is too much for their precious sensitivities or because it's too much for them. Learn about stuff, about every thing, even if it's scary, or sad,or bothersome. Learn it. Read about it. Understand it, or at least try. Research it. SOAK up all the knowledge you can about everything you can. Knowledge is truth, and the truth, as they say, shall set you free.


Note: I came across this today and figured I would share it. It's very long. But worth a skim. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05295b.htm

-God Bless

Tips to a happier (and maybe even healthier) marriage Part #1

I've seen lots of different posts in Christian blogs with authors tips to a happy healthy marriage. So, seeing as my husband and I have experienced just about every challenge a marriage can face, I figured I would share 5 tips on how to make your marriage happier and maybe even healthier. So, here they are in no particular order of importance.

1. Romantic comedy's and love stories, are just that. Comical and stories. Life isn't really like that. You're husband/wife can't read your mind and just know how to make you happy or please you. Life will never be perfect and a happy ending really just means you live a full and complete life together, but it will still be a roller coaster ride, and the downs will always be there from time to time.
2. Your husband/wife has flaws. He or she always will, and you just need to accept that. Guess what else, you have flaws too and you always will. We are human beings and we are not perfect. All we can do is pray for strength and growth, enrich ourselves with things around us, and journey towards becoming better people. But it will always be a journey and we will never finish until death.
3. This probably goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyways. Never EVER under any circumstance invite someone else into your marriage. I'm not talking about a counselor or a priest (or The Holy Trinity), that's different.  I'm talking about friends, family, other partners (ie threesomes/open relationships etc.), and other busy bodies who will try to tell you how to run your relationship and what's best for your relationship or try to get between you two (like the other sexual or romantic partners). Don't post your business on facebook, write it in your blog, tweet it, or anything else. It's one thing to share a happy moment by telling a story or to vent to a friend, but be picky about what you share and more importantly, who you share it with. 
4. Stay friends. Not everything you and your partner do needs to be a romantic one. Yes, romance is important, i'll talk about that later, but friendship is equally as important. Do things together as friends too. Just to have fun. Often we get so caught up as seeing each other as husband and wife, mommy and daddy, provider and housewife, head of the family and heart of the family, that we forget to see each other as Jane and John. When that happens, we forget why we love the other person, why we fell for them and what it is about the other person that made us fall for them in the first place. We stop trying to "woo" each other and how to to be gentlemanly or lady-like for them. Even though you are married, to a point, we all still want to feel like we're being chased a little or like we're dating. Put on a cute outfit sometimes just for him, fart in the other room, maintain your appearance, close the door when you use the restroom. 
5. Romance. I suggest date night. My husband and I want to do this, but yes, it can be a challenge. Between school, work, the kids, and money troubles, date night can be daunting. But when we do manage to get away, just the two of us, it's like a refreshing gulp of a re-hydrating drink. We both feel more relaxed, at peace, rejuvenated, reconnected, and just generally uplifted together. Couple time is just as important as family time and alone time.

-God Bless

Rosary Challenge

Today I have decided, after much thought, prayer, and research, to challenge myself to pray the Rosary every day for 1 year (365 days). If I skip a day, I have to start over.

"When people love and recite the Rosary they find it makes them better." -St. Anthony Mary Claret. 

I have felt a call for some time now to undertake this and I have always shrugged it off with laziness and tried to put it out of my mind like it was nothing. But the closer to God I get the stronger the call seems to become. To the point now where I find myself unable to resist the call at all.

 "Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother.  Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today.  All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother." -St. Padre Pio

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to get closer The Lord and to Mary. I feel it is my duty to embrace the Blessed Mother not just as a Catholic, but also as a woman, and as a mother.

My excitement about this undertaking is even greater since my husband confessed to me yesterday he wants to watch me pray and while he can't promise to say the prayers with me, he wants to hold a rosary and try to follow along. He says he wants to watch me pray so he can learn to talk to God better. You can't imagine how happy that makes me. God is truly good and I feel the Holy Spirit is working through me to reach my husband's heart. Perhaps it is true, that it is the woman who is tasked with bringing the holy spirit and the messages of Jesus to the family just as Mary Magdalene spread the word of Jesus's resurrection. I will be using this website as I pray (thank you to the woman in the cafemom Authentic Catholic Mom's group for suggesting it to me!) and I would like to invite anyone else who has not yet begun this journey in their own lives (or even those who have!) to join me. Please share your experiences in the comments below whether you are new to the Rosary like me or have been saying it for years, I would love to hear your experiences with it.

Let us always embrace that which The Lord calls us to do and never think we know better or are too good for the call of The Holy Spirit. Our lives are never to busy for prayer or for our Heavenly Father.

Below is something that was shared with me by another woman in my Authentic Catholic Mom's group on cafemom. It's 15 promises of Mary to all Christians who recite the Rosary. May it encourage you as much as it has me.

"The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary.  Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors." -Pope Pius XI

-God Bless

1.	Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.Signal Graces are those special and unique Graces to help sanctify us in our state in life. See the remaining promises for an explanation for which these will consist. St. Louis de Montfort states emphatically that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is via Our Lady [True Devotion to Mary, chapter four].
2.	I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.Our Lady is our Advocate and the channel of all God's Grace to us. Our Lady is simply highlighting that She will watch especially over us who pray the Rosary. (seeLumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62) [a great more detail is available on this topic in True Devotion to Mary, chapter four, by St. Louis de Montfort]
3.	The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.This promise, along with the next, is simply the reminder on how fervent prayer will help us all grow in holiness by avoiding sin, especially a prayer with the excellence of the Rosary. An increase in holiness necessarily requires a reduction in sin, vice, and doctrinal errors (heresies). If only the Modernists could be convinced to pray the Rosary! (see Lumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42) St. Louis de Montfort states "Since Mary alone crushed all heresies, as we are told by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)..." [True Devotion to Mary #167]
4.	It will cause good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire for Eternal Things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.This promise, along with the previous, is the positive part, that being to live invirtue. Becoming holy is not only avoiding sin, but also growing in virtue. (seeLumen Gentium chapter V - The Call to Holiness #42)
5.	The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.Since Our Lady is our Mother and Advocate, She always assists those who call on Her implicitly by praying the Rosary. The Church reminds us of this in the Memorareprayer, "... never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided ..."
6.	Whosoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of Eternal Life.This promise highlights the magnitude of Graces that the Rosary brings to whomever prays it. One will draw down God's Mercy rather than His Justice and will have a final chance to repent (see promise #7). One will not be conquered by misfortune means that Our Lady will obtain for the person sufficient Graces to handle said misfortune (i.e. carry the Crosses allowed by God) without falling into despair. As Sacred Scripture tells us, "For my yoke is sweet and my burden light." (Matthew 11:30)
7.	Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.This promise highlights the benefits of obtaining the most possible Graces at the hour of death via the Sacraments of Confession, Eucharist, and Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick). Being properly disposed while receiving these Sacraments near death ensures one's salvation (although perhaps with a detour through Purgatory) since a final repentance is possible.
8.	Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the Light of God and the plenitude of His Graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the Merits of the Saints in Paradise.Our Lady highlights the great quantity of Graces obtain through praying the Rosary, which assist us during life and at the moment of death. The merits of the Saints are the gift of God's rewards to those persons who responded to His Grace that they obtained during life, and so Our Lady indicates that She will provide a share of that to us at death. With this promise and #7 above, Our Lady is providing the means for the person to have a very holy death.
9.	I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.Should one require Purgatorial cleansing after death, Our Lady will make a special effort to obtain our release from Purgatory through Her intercession as Advocate.
10.	The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of Glory in Heaven.This promise is a logical consequence of promises #3 and #4 since anyone who truly lives a holier life on earth will obtain a higher place in Heaven. The closer one is to God while living on earth, the close that person is to Him also in Heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states "Spiritual progress tends toward ever more union with Christ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2014)
11.	You shall obtain all you ask of me by recitation of the Rosary.This promise emphasizes Our Lady's role as our Advocate and Mediatrix of all Graces. Of course, all requests are subject to God's Most Perfect Will. God will always grant our request if it is beneficial for our soul, and Our Lady will only intercede for us when our request is good for our salvation. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62)
12.	All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.If one promotes the praying of the Rosary, Our Lady emphasizes Her Maternal care for us by obtaining many Graces (i.e. spiritual necessities) and also material necessities (neither excess nor luxury), all subject to the Will of God of course.
13.	I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court during their life and at the hour of death.Since Our Lady is our Advocate, She brings us additional assistance during our life and at our death from all the saints in Heaven (the Communion of Saints). See paragraphs 954 through 959 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
14.	All who recite the Rosary are my Sons, and brothers of my Only Son Jesus Christ.Since the Rosary is a most excellent prayer focused on Jesus and His Life and activities in salvation history, it brings us closer to Our Lord and Our Lady. Doctrinally, Our Lady is our Mother and Jesus is our Eldest Brother, besides being our God. (see Lumen Gentium chapter VIII - Our Lady #62)
15.	Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.Predestination in this context means that, by the sign which is present to a person from the action of devoutly praying the Rosary, God has pre-ordained your salvation. Absolute certainty of salvation can only be truly known if God reveals it to a person because, although we are given sufficient Grace during life, our salvation depends upon our response to said Grace. (See Summa Theologica, Question 23 for a detailed theological explanation). Said another way, if God has guaranteed a person's salvation but has not revealed it to Him, God would want that person to pray the Rosary because of all the benefits and Graces obtained. Therefore the person gets a hint by devotion to the Rosary. This is not to say that praying the Rosary guarantees salvation - by no means. In looking at promises #3 and #4 above, praying the Rosary helps one to live a holy life, which is itself a great sign that a soul is on the road to salvation. (See also paragraphs 381, 488, 600, 2782 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.) In fact, St. Louis de Montfort says even more strongly that "an infallible and unmistakable sign by which we can distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of God, from one of God's true friends is that the hardened sinner and heretic show nothing but contempt and indifference to Our Lady..." [True Devotion to Mary, #30]

Reminder: these promises mean that, by faithfully and devoutly praying the Rosary, Our Lady will obtain for us the necessary Graces to obtain said promises. It is still up to each individual soul to respond to those Graces in order to obtain salvation.


These promises can be found at this website. Thank you.

A sad moment in human history

I would like to begin by offering you this. It's a link with lots of information about abortion and even allows the viewer to see one through ultrasound. I encourage any pro-choice advocate to watch this, after all, you can't really have an opinion on something if you have no idea what it truly is.

Here is link with resources for pregnant women and babies. Please, if you are considering an abortion or know someone who is, pass this along. Every baby is a blessing from God, even if it isn't your blessing, maybe you're a catalyst for someone else.

Here is another great website with resources and help with adoption services.

With all these resources and all this help available, there is no excuse to get an abortion.

By now, I bet you're wondering what's prompted this. Well, below is a story of travesty and horror. The death of over 300 million babies! The greatest slaughter of human life in HISTORY! I truly have no words for this. What a waist of life, of God's will, a crime against The Holy Spirit.

Yesterday, someone said to me, "Good. China is over populated anyways, just imagine how bad it would be with all those babies born, and then they would have kids, and they would have kids, and so on. Killing these children was necessary." All I could say was some sarcastic unchristian remark against her character and drop the subject. I was angry at her attitude but then I realized all I could do is pray that one day she will come to see the light and God will find a way into her heart. My reply now to her comments regarding this is "Every baby is a gift from God. God would not have sent those babies to this world, to those mommies, if they weren't meant to serve some purpose, everything happens for a reason, and every human life has a purpose." So now that I have talked your ear off, here is the story that prompted all of this. Feel free to comment below with your thoughts.

-God Bless

Here is the link to the original post featured on The Gospel Coalition Blog.

China Admits to the Greatest Slaughter in Human History

The Story: The Chinese government recently admitted that over the last four decades the country has aborted 336 million unborn children, many of them forcibly.

The Background: According to the Financial Times, on March 14 the Chinese Health Ministry reported the following statistics for its family planning practices since 1971:

-- 336 million abortions performed;

-- 196 million sterilizations conducted;

-- 403 million intrauterine devices inserted.

China, the world's most populous country, first instituted limits on population growth in 1971 and established its "one-child" population control program in 1979.

What It Means: The story has been shockingly underreported considering what China has admitted: Since 1971, the country has carried out the largest single slaughter of human beings in the history of the world.

To put the numbers in perspective, the 336 million deaths in China are:

• More than the entire population of the world at the time of the Crusades (c. 1100 AD).

• Equal to the entire combined populations of the United States and Australia.

• More deaths than were caused by (in millions): the Bubonic Plague in Europe (100), the Great Chinese Famine (45), the 1918 Influenza Pandemic (40), the HIV/AIDS pandemic (25), the Holocaust (13), the Soviet famine of 1932-1933 (8), the Russian famine of 1921 (3), and the American Civil War (.8).

• More than all the people killed in the 10 ten deadliest wars in human history (Based onhighest estimates (in millions): World War II (72), World War I (65), Mongol Conquest (60), An Lushan Rebellion (36), Taiping Rebellion (30), Qing Dynasty conquest of the Ming Dynasty (25), Conquests of Timur (20), Dungan Revolt (12), Russian Civil War (9), Second Congo War (5.4))

• More than all the children that will be born in the world over the next ten years.

No comparisons, however, can truly help us to understand the scale of these 336 million deaths—and that is in a single country. The magnitude of the crime is incomprehensible to the human imagination. Only God can truly fathom the depths of this depravity and only God can truly apprehend the magnitude of this loss. May he have mercy on our world for what we have done.