Preparation in Receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion

                                     

     I've been reading the book "The Mystical City of God" by Venerable Mary of Agreda. What an INCREDIBLE book filled to the brim with many mysteries and revelations of our divine faith. Each chapter I learn more and more of the bond between Our Lord and Mother, the things He revealed to her, and intimate details of His life. It's a very thick book with 794 pages, but me not being a reader at all, have finally made it to page 483....it's taken me a while to get there too. ;) I'm excited to read further and discover and learn more. Yesterday I read an especially touching chapter about the dealings between Our Lord and Mother right before The Last Supper. I was so touched that I had to share it on here. 

Jesus went to Our Lady and told her that His time has come. He then asks for her permission to enter into His sacrifice and to consent to deliver Himself over to His enemies in obedience to the will of God. It is relayed that Our Lady suffered more sorrow than all the martyrs combined during this time. She then asked Him in the most loving and humblest way to permit her to receive Holy Communion which was something He had revealed to her many years previously. Our Lady told Venerable Mary of Agreda that she had prepared herself for many years with fervent acts of love, humility and gratitude for the day that she might receive Our Lord. She then spoke about the importance of preparation for Communion...

"...what a horrible crime it is in the eyes of The Lord, in mine and in those of all the saints, that men should despise and neglect the frequent reception of holy Communion, and that they should approach it without preparation and fervent devotion..."

"...I have manifested to thee, what I did on that occasion and how I prepared myself so many years for receiving my most blessed Son in the holy Sacrament..." "For if I, who was innocent of any hindering sin and filled with all graces, sought to increase my fitness for this favor by such fervent acts of love, humility and gratitude, consider what efforts thou and the other children of the Church, who every day and hour incur new guilt and blame, must make in order to fit yourselves for the beauty of the Divinity and humanity of my most holy Son?"

This gave me much to think about in the way I receive Our Lord. Many times, if not most times, I am distracted and have not begun my preparation early enough to be befitting in receiving the most sacred Body and Blood. St. John Berchman would begin his preparation 3 days before Communion and then he made his thanksgiving for 3 days afterwards! And I do about 10 minutes of thanksgiving?? God forgive me for my negligences! If Our Lady, most perfect and sinless Mother, called herself a wormlet, what then should I consider myself who is infinitely more than that through my shameful sins and pride? May I always keep this in mind when preparing in receiving Our Lord, who is galaxies greater than I and who has given Himself to save my soul.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to you all!

It came so quickly! This year however, I decided to smarten up a bit and buy most of my gifts online to avoid those vicious crowds. Despite my efforts, I still found myself wedged in between massive crowds of people while grocery shopping and running any sort of errand. Driving was a nightmare as I worked my way through stop and go traffic and dreaded the thought of trying to find a parking spot. Let's just say this right now, there is NEVER a good parking spot at Walmart. EVER. And that's probably because most of the parking spaces are taken up by 50 Handicap parking spots. This makes no sense because by the time you find the last handicap spot, it's halfway down the parking lot which defeats the purpose of a handicap parking spot in the first place and leaves us hopeless individuals stuck about a mile away from the door. I just had to get that out of my system. Walmart during the Christmas season = Worst Nightmare. Ever.

So, despite the headache of running Christmas errands and such, I had a wonderful Advent season and Christmas! Advent was especially meaningful this year. I'm proud to say, I did not listen to One. Single. Christmas. Song. NOT ONE until Christmas Eve. Of course that's aside from being forced to listen to the ones in stores and such. Instead I pretty much played O Come O Come Emmanuel from every single artist and version out there for all of Advent. Why don't they have more songs for this beautiful time of the Liturgical year?? We also didn't put any decorations up until Christmas Eve which is something we plan to do every year as our family grows. It definitely impressed upon me the meaning of Advent and the joyous day of Christmas. Despite our humble living situation, we did the best we could in the line of decorations and instead of a real Christmas tree....well...you'll see the picture on my shutterfly account. ;) We decided not to get a real tree because 1. We simply don't have the space and 2. We were going to be spending the week at the Kromms' house, so there wasn't really any point in getting a tree that we couldn't enjoy or take care of.

Speaking of the Kromms, we had such a lovely time with them over Christmas!! They generously offered us a room at their inn house and even let us share half their Christmas tree! ;) We had so much fun and enjoyed being in a beautiful house decorated very nicely! On Christmas Eve, we spent most of the day preparing food and desserts. I made a White Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cheesecake and Thomas made his famous Garlic Mashed Potatoes....Mmm mmm MMM!!! We went to Midnight Mass (which Emma slept for most of it!) and had a special Christmas morning opening our own gifts to eachother before heading off to the Schutzmans. The next day was Lovey's (Francesca's) 18th birthday, so all of us went to see the Hobbit with her at the movie theater. That Saturday, the younger Schutzman girls VERY GENEROSLY offered to watch ALL of the nieces and nephew so that the couples and older Schutzmans could all go out to dinner with eachother after a Christmas Lights Limo Tour at the Country Club Plaza. We had a blast!

New Years was such a relaxing and special time. Since Thomas worked VERY hard the few days beforehand finishing up the year and working on getting qualified for Million Dollar Round Table, we decided just to relax and have our own little celebration. For New Years Eve, I decorated the dining room table up fancy with our China and cloth napkins. We dressed up formally and had some scrumptious Indian food. :) New Years Day was a pajama day! We brought up our TV from the living room and put it in our bedroom so that we could just chill in our pajamas in bed and have a movie day. PERFECT day.

So that pretty much sums up our holiday festivities! :) Please enjoy some pictures on my shutterfly account!

https://morningstar257.shutterfly.com/pictures#n_5

Thanksgiving Surprise!

What a Thanksgiving to remember! Unbeknownst to my family (aside from Lindsay and Zenith), Thomas, Emma and I travelled to NH for Thanksgiving to surprise everybody! Lindsay braved the snowstorm and drove all the way to Boston to pick us up. Don't know how we would have done it without her! The Martello family generosly invited Thomas and I to stay at their apartment overnight to make the day even more successful. We had such a wonderful time, especially since it was the first time ever the WHOLE family was together (brother-in-laws, grandchildren, etc.). God is so good and what a blessing that everyone was truly thankful for this year! Here are some pictures of our visit.

Emma and Willy are best of cuz cuz!

"Emma, this is MY playmat!"

                                                               "You have my blessing."

                                                           Holding hands :)

Nana and Bumpa were so kind and babysat Willy and Emma so that we could go out on a double date!

There's no place like Bumpa's shoulder!

Movie time with more of her cuz cuz!

We even got to stop by some old stomping grounds.....where it all began. :)

       All snuggled up and warm on Nana's shoulder. :)

The Kansas evening sky

 

Time to say goodbye. :(

It was a blast!!