Hope you had a blessed week!
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday. ✝️ 🙏
That’s all I have this week. Stay tuned for next week’s Catholic Meme Monday. Receive updates straight to your email inbox by subscribing to The Simple Catholic blog.
P.S. If you prefer receiving quality Catholic humor in daily doses follow me on Instagram @thesimplecatholic.
It was a Wednesday afternoon…I pushed open the door…
This moment was worth more than all the sales I made the past few months.
It was worth more than my weight in gold.
To see my child work through (via play) a parable during CGS and have him gain an understanding of the main message is incredible.
He was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was 18 months (thankfully we had the benefit of going through the diagnosis process with his older brother a couple years earlier).
Communication was tough for him. His brain worked differently. He couldn’t tell my wife and I about his basic needs and this led to many meltdowns a day and even banging his head on the ground in frustration.
Reflecting on this journey I am brought to tears with how amazing God is and the awesome gifts he blessings he gave my son and family via therapy, social support, and comfort through the saints.
For a while, I was thinking my son wouldn’t be able to ever verbalize his love for my wife and I. My heart goes out to any parent and children struggling with not being able to communicate verbally.
When I opened the door to his Wednesday Atrium session and saw my son acting out the parable of the Good Samaritan it was a moment etched into my heart forever.
This is one (of many) reason why I continued to help him grow in learning how to communicate daily.
🗨️ Weekly speech and occupational therapy sessions.
📈 Meetings to go over his IEP goals
🙏 Daily (sometimes 2-3 times) conversations between my wife and I about his progress, backsliding, and new process
Always trying new things.
Finding different sensory tools and educational resources to help him grown and to speak.
I’m currently in the middle of another growing season (trying to launch a neighborhood Catholic magazine in my city). I’ve planted lots of seeds.
But it’s dark and silent. Lots of rejections. I felt like giving up (similar to how I felt years ago when I didn’t see growth in my son’s verbal communication).
Feelings aren’t full reality.
Sure emotions are part of what makes us human.
The Enemy wants us to be discouraged in the silence and in the midst of “NOs”.
Sometimes the best growth occurs in the silence and darkness.
Jesus said, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).
Death and growth are the same (and different depending on your vantage point). You cannot bear fruit unless you die to your own control and desires. Total surrender to God must happen.
Today, I renew my pledge to trust confidently in God during this Dark Night.
P.S. This post didn’t employ the use of AI. 🤖
It was written entirely by a human named Matthew in the presence of Jesus Christ in Eucharistic Adoration on Thursday January 18, 2024. 🍞🍷☀️
One could say I sought out the assistance of a Divine Intelligence. 🙂
Hope you had a blessed week!
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday. ✝️ 🙏
That’s all I have this week. Stay tuned for next week’s Catholic Meme Monday. Receive updates straight to your email inbox by subscribing to The Simple Catholic blog.
P.S. If you prefer receiving quality Catholic humor in daily doses follow me on Instagram @thesimplecatholic.
Editor’s Note: Post originally published on September 7, 2022.
Saint Catherine of Siena was one of the greatest followers of Christ. Her ability to articulate the Gospel and her ability to charitably bring the papacy to reform are among the key reasons she is one of my favorite saints. My youngest daughter is even named after this amazing saint. Here’s five amazing facts about Catherine.
While it may seem astronomical to us, having 25 children was not insane back in the Middle Ages. Due to the low infant mortality rate and disease, families gave born to many children but unfortunately few survived to adulthood. Catherine was the 25th child born to her mother, but only half of her siblings survived childhood!
Still, it is incredible to think that if Catherine’s parents lived in today’s society, it would be very likely they would not have been as open to the lives of so many children. It is astounding that God works in miraculous ways to take one of the youngest of such a large family to grace her with the eventual title of Doctor of the Church!
I always believed that Catherine was part of a religious order and lived in a convent similar to spiritual greats like Therese of Lisieux and Teresa of Avila. After reading more about her, I learned that she actually never spent time in a convent. Instead, Catherine joined the Third Order of St. Dominic. This permitted her to associate with a religious society while remaining within the confines of her home.
Why do the most innocent and vibrant souls perish too early? From film stars to sports figures that perished at a young age, to maybe someone within your life that died too soon, it is natural to question the purpose of an early death. While I do not have the answer to that question, I found it interesting that Catherine of Siena died at the mere age of 33—the exact age that Jesus Christ was crucified, died, and buried!
It would have been easy for Catherine to give up when she wrote the pope but she remained steadfast. Her persistence and charity were instrumental in convincing Pope Gregory XI to return from Avignon to Rome.
The stigmata are wounds certain saints received on their hands and/or feet. It is a sign of their closeness to Christ and was given to them as a reminder for Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross. In the case of Catherine, the stigmata wounds were visible only to her. She accepted this unique suffering with grace and hope in God’s Providence.
God raises up holy individuals in times of great need. Saint Catherine of Siena is a perfect role model for Catholics in the 21st century in a world where it’s common to be less than enthusiastic about the faith. May we ask for her help to grow in love and devotion to God.
“Be who you were created to be, and you will set the world on fire.”
― St. Catherine of Siena
Spiritual Surgeons—Saint Catherine of Siena
Saint Catherine of Siena’s Miracle in My Life
How Saint Catherine of Siena Leads You to God
Hope you had a blessed week!
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday. ✝️ 🙏
That’s all I have this week. Stay tuned for next week’s Catholic Meme Monday. Receive updates straight to your email inbox by subscribing to The Simple Catholic blog.
P.S. If you prefer receiving quality Catholic humor in daily doses follow me on Instagram @thesimplecatholic.
By: Jackie Kierulf
Years ago, a friend invited me to a seminar on the Jesus prayer.
As a cradle Catholic, I no longer felt that attending mass on Sunday was enough. Over time, I joined a choir, attended several weekend retreats for young adults and made friends who were more active in parish life than I was, all intended to bring me closer to God.
When I was asked to join one of those friends to learn about the Jesus prayer it felt like another opportunity to enhance my faith and prayer life.
Our group met one cold winter night in downtown Montreal (Quebec.). Before the session began, I struck up a conversation with two religious sisters. At first I thought they were the speakers, but no, they told me, they had come to learn about this prayer, too. I thought that if these two nuns were eager to enhance their faith, there was hope for my own.
We learned that the Jesus prayer has its roots in Eastern Christianity. Whereas traditional meditation has the intent in the emptying of minds, the Jesus prayer, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is invoking the name of Jesus Christ to God the Father.
This makes total sense, because Christ IS the focal point of Christian prayer.
We have access to the Father only if we pray in name of Jesus (Catechism 2664). It is the one name that contains everything (Catechism 2666). In fact when we pray to Jesus, we not only invoke him but “call him within us.”
Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
We closed our eyes and pondered over those few words speaking quietly and repeating them over and over again.
In all prayer we strive to pray with an open heart and it is no different with the Jesus prayer.
Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
Those words held more weight than I knew. As I continue to delve more into scripture and God’s promise of salvation that awaits each of us, those words paint a thousand more.
In our sinfulness and brokenness, God welcomes us through his Son. Like the heavenly prize that Paul speaks of, I too, despite my daily struggles, strive for that perfect spiritual life. Despite obstacles along the way, I press on, knowing the journey towards Him, though difficult at times, will ultimately bring lasting joy and fulfillment. That glimpse of eternal joy is a sliver in our present life, but it is by God’s grace that we experience those moments on our earthly journey.
I am often guilty of being blind to God’s promise of salvation, just as St. Paul was. When I think of God crying out to Paul, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 3:9), I know too well how many times I have offended God, not just by what I have done, but also by what I have failed to do.
It’s been more than forty years since that night in Montreal. I still pray the Jesus prayer, striving to carve those words permanently into my spiritual life. I’m not always successful, but I like to think that perseverance, in spite of all the worldly obstacles we face these days, is what counts.
At mass, when the host and chalice are raised, I meditate on the words of the Jesus prayer. In that moment, the gift of God’s grace is both convicting for me as a sinner, and at the same time, comforting.
Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I say those words slowly, over and over again.
When I do, I cannot help but examine my own heart:
Do I come before God in humility knowing that I need him?
Do I trust God as his adopted daughter knowing that he is with me, and that not my will but his will be done?
Do I persevere in prayer, by praying without ceasing so that through prayer I strive to become more like Jesus, even in moments of dryness and distraction?
We may strive to do all of these things, and sometimes we may do them well, and at other times fall short. It is a battle of prayer that so many saints struggled with, but never gave up by asking for God’s grace through their faith and trust in him.
St. Teresa of Avila says of contemplative prayer that it is “nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who loves us.” (Catechism 2709).
We need to remain open to God’s promise of salvation that awaits each of us in the heavenly kingdom. But it is only when we pray from the heart that we will receive His gift of grace and begin to forge that ultimate relationship with him.
Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
May we respond to God our Father’s call to prayer, by the power of the Holy Spirit and through his Son Jesus Christ, with unwavering faith, hope and love.
Jackie lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her publications include Blessed (Calla Press, 2023), Stories of Faith (Our Sunday Visitor, 2020), Hello and Goodbye (Dribbles, Drabbles and Postcards, 2022), and Birthdays 2022 (Grief Dialogues Stories, US). Besides writing, Jackie enjoy hiking, reading, and traveling. You can find Jackie’s work at cherishingthedeathprocess.com and at fromsimplewordstorealstories.home.blog.
Hope you had a blessed week!
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday. ✝️ 🙏
That’s all I have this week. Stay tuned for next week’s Catholic Meme Monday. Receive updates straight to your email inbox by subscribing to The Simple Catholic blog.
P.S. If you prefer receiving quality Catholic humor in daily doses follow me on Instagram @thesimplecatholic