Novena St. Monica Day 9

Novena to St. Monica

For Fallen Away Catholics and for Full Communion of all Christians

Day 9

O glorious St. Monica, on this last day
of our novena, we bring to you the
concerns of many young mothers, teenage
mothers who are not yet prepared for the
motherhood. Unwanted pregnancies are a
big problem in our time. Many young people have to stop their schooling and assume
responsibilities that they could not tackle
because of this problem. Enlighten our young people and give them teachers that will make them understand that sex outside of marriage is dangerous and sinful. Inspire them to enjoy their youth without sinning and lead them to
the joy of spiritual things. Amen.

Daily Prayer









Exemplary mother of the Great Augustine,you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God.









Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray.









Dear St. Monica, troubled wife and mother, many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime. Yet, you never despaired or lost faith. With confidence, persistence, and profound faith, you prayed daily for the conversion of your beloved husband, Patricius and your beloved son, Augustine.









Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord. Intercede for me, dear St. Monica, that God may favorably hear my plea for all Catholics who have fallen away from or are not fully living the faith and all Christians to join in Full Communion with the Church and grant me the grace to accept his will in all things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.










3 Hail Mary









3 Glory Be









St. Monica Pray for Us

Novena St. Monica Day 8

Novena to St. Monica

For Fallen Away Catholics and for Full Communion of all Christians

Day 8

O glorious St. Monica, you accompanied Augustine when he was beginning a monastic life with some friends. You delighted in a life dedicated to prayer, and you were happy because you knew that your son made a good decision. You, too, wanted to spend the rest of your life praying, in close contact with Jesus. Guide us so that we may also be led to a deeper life of prayer and make prayer our life. The path to this type of life begins when we start to simplify our needs. When our hearts are calm because desires for material riches have died, then we open ourselves to a deeper life of prayer which you and your son started. Lead us to
this path. Amen.

Daily Prayer









Exemplary mother of the Great Augustine,you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God.









Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray.









Dear St. Monica, troubled wife and mother, many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime. Yet, you never despaired or lost faith. With confidence, persistence, and profound faith, you prayed daily for the conversion of your beloved husband, Patricius and your beloved son, Augustine.









Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord. Intercede for me, dear St. Monica, that God may favorably hear my plea for all Catholics who have fallen away from or are not fully living the faith and all Christians to join in Full Communion with the Church and grant me the grace to accept his will in all things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.










3 Hail Mary









3 Glory Be









St. Monica Pray for Us

Novena St. Monica Day 7

Novena to St. Monica

For Fallen Away Catholics and for Full Communion of all Christians

Day 7 

O glorious St. Monica, your son Augustine on recalling his steps towards his conversion could not forget your tears and prayers. He saw you awake during nights as you prayed to God to touch his heart and repent of his sins. He described his conversion as your work because even God could not withstand your fidelity and patience in praying for his sake. Now in heaven, we know that Jesus listens to you and would not be able to resist your prayers. Intercede for us and listen to our petitions. May we also be converted and change our bad habits into good. Amen.

Daily Prayer









Exemplary mother of the Great Augustine,you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God.









Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray.









Dear St. Monica, troubled wife and mother, many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime. Yet, you never despaired or lost faith. With confidence, persistence, and profound faith, you prayed daily for the conversion of your beloved husband, Patricius and your beloved son, Augustine.









Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord. Intercede for me, dear St. Monica, that God may favorably hear my plea for all Catholics who have fallen away from or are not fully living the faith and all Christians to join in Full Communion with the Church and grant me the grace to accept his will in all things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.










3 Hail Mary









3 Glory Be









St. Monica Pray for Us

Novena St. Monica Day 6

Novena to St. Monica

For Fallen Away Catholics and for Full Communion of all Christians

Day 6

O glorious St. Monica, you worked hard for the conversion of your husband and son because you wanted them to enter eternal life. Heaven was your obsession and you traveled big distances in search of your son and prayed long hours because you desired that your family may have a grand reunion in heaven. Earthly success did not at all attract you as Augustine your son became famous for his eloquence and intelligence. You wanted him to spend the rest of his life preparing for heaven, and that was precisely what you and your son did. Hearken then to our petition that the thought of heaven may pervade our life. Let not earthly success blind us. Guide us to Jesus and prepare us to our grand reunion with him. Amen.

Daily Prayer







Exemplary mother of the Great Augustine,you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God.







Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray.







Dear St. Monica, troubled wife and mother, many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime. Yet, you never despaired or lost faith. With confidence, persistence, and profound faith, you prayed daily for the conversion of your beloved husband, Patricius and your beloved son, Augustine.







Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord. Intercede for me, dear St. Monica, that God may favorably hear my plea for all Catholics who have fallen away from or are not fully living the faith and all Christians to join in Full Communion with the Church and grant me the grace to accept his will in all things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.








3 Hail Mary







3 Glory Be







St. Monica Pray for Us

Novena St. Monica Day 5

Novena to St. Monica

For Fallen Away Catholics and for Full Communion of all Christians

Day 5

O glorious St. Monica, we present to you the stories of many mothers who are working abroad in search for a better life for their families. They sleep daily remembering their husbands and children, wishing to be near their loved ones. But they have to sacrifice in order that their children may go to school and have a better future. We ask you to protect these mothers and inspire their children to study hard. We ask your intercession that the husbands and children of these women may learn to communicate with each other and bridge the distance among them. May the physical distance that they suffer need not become a hindrance for a happy family life. Amen.

Daily Prayer







Exemplary mother of the Great Augustine,you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God.







Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray.







Dear St. Monica, troubled wife and mother, many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime. Yet, you never despaired or lost faith. With confidence, persistence, and profound faith, you prayed daily for the conversion of your beloved husband, Patricius and your beloved son, Augustine.







Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord. Intercede for me, dear St. Monica, that God may favorably hear my plea for all Catholics who have fallen away from or are not fully living the faith and all Christians to join in Full Communion with the Church and grant me the grace to accept his will in all things, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.








3 Hail Mary







3 Glory Be







St. Monica Pray for Us

40 Bags Inspiration

Luke 16:13

"No servant can serve two masters.^* He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

So what do we serve?  
Are we serving our families with all of our unused junk?  
Are we serving our Lord by generously giving of our excess to those with none? 

40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge

Well my list is up!  Check out the page by this title.

Now my biggest tip which I forgot to mention sooner, is plan ahead for organization!  If you know you'll need extra totes or a label maker get them!  I have an idea in mind for my pots/pan organization for when I go through it, I still need to buy the rack.

My bag size will change based on the day and area.  Some areas will be whole totes full of items.  Other will be grocery sack days.  For me this is about simplifying life, so I'm not going to stress on my daily donation amount.  In the end I know I'll have more than enough stuff to give away.

Good luck!
Jessica

Novena for Full Communion with the Church

One of the mothers in our group was inspired recently by an article on CatholicMom.com regarding adult children not fully living in communion with the faith.  This inspiration has led to a commitment from our group to pray a Novena to St. Monica with the intention of all fallen away Catholics and for the Full Communion of all Christians.

Please Join us in praying beginning Ash Wednesday for the next 9 days as a kick off to this Lenten Season in the Year of Faith. The Novena will post at 5am PST each day with a new beautiful prayer.  

Thank you and God Bless!

Prepping for 40 Bags in 40 Days

Its that time of year again.  I wonder if this pregnancy has been keeping me sick just long enough for my house to be a total disaster right before I start this challenge. Perhaps this is the type of task to get my lazy bum off the pity party I'm having for my stomach not agreeing with me after every meal. Just means the baby is doing well. Right?

Well in looking up what others do for their 40 Bag challenge I found a site that seems to have begun this tradition.  There are several wonderful quote and ideas.  So please take the time to look it over and plan your own.  Simply Catholic

Over the next several days I'll be cementing my own plan and posting it here for you to follow along.  My own advice from last year is to think rationally about the time commitment! All of us are busy, all of us don't want to feel burdened by yet another task to complete this Lent.  The rooms that will take more than simply a day I plan for several.  Frankly, my basement gets a week and so does my garage.  Nic's room will probably get a day and so will Amelia's, but my closet could get its very own day.  Look on Pinterest for those of you in need of some organizational inspiration.  I have what I think is a great board organization tips. I'm not sure if this link will work if you're not currently following me (I've never tried) but here it is. Organization 

Oh and don't forget about your car.  One tip I read and followed through with was the clean my car on day one.  This enabled me to take the bag directly out of the house and place it in my car the day I completed it.  I'd go once a week to  the Union Gospel Mission and donate my items.  Maybe we could all be the Catholic invasion into their great  charity. I like the people I've dealt with there, and frankly its just an easy drop off location for me.  I go to the one on Sprague west of Pines.

So to finish this introduction I'll finish with how I began last year's challenge:

“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” Thomas Kempis