My dear friends, today we kicked off Leg 7 (lucky #7??) ofthe 99-Day Novena Relay leading up to the Feast of St. Augustine, and my
entrance date – August 28th! I’ve had a number of wonderful people
report the fruits that they are experiencing from this novena… and it is always
such a blessing to receive message about how the Lord is working in your lives.
He refuses nothing that is asked of Him with humble and contrite hearts. Deo
gratias! In addition to the powerful intercession of Our Lady, St. Benedicts Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, and Sts. Norbert & Evermode – we are now also
asking for the intercession of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Peter. It goes
without saying how important these two disciples of the Lord are, and what a
grace it is to pray through them with you!
As my next race draws nearer and time to get sponsorships
before the middle of August runs short – I have been reflecting quite a lot
lately on how generous He is to offer us Him mercy, no
matter how badly we have offended Him and rejected His goodness. Our God is one
of justice – yes, absolutely. But He is always ready to forgive those who truly
seek forgiveness and a conversion of heart. We should all be striving for
deeper conversion, always. Jesus said to be perfect because our heavenly Father
is perfect, and we must never cease trying to reach this perfection! While we
know we will only attain it in heaven, we are asked to do all that we can in
this life to be humble and good as our Lord is. May we never grow lukewarm or
satisfied with what we give back to Him – for He has given us everything. His
very Son. His very life! 
How merciful the Lord was to Mary Magdalene. She was
considered practically the scum of the earth, and yet He chose her to be one of
His closest and most beloved followers. Christ could have resented St. Peter,
for He knew that the Apostle would deny Him three times. After all they had been through
together! And yet our Lord chose Him as the one who would hold the keys to the
Kingdom of Heaven. Oh what great hope we can take from these two beautiful
heroes of our heritage! The God of justice calls the worst of sinners to be His
greatest saints!
Most of the reason I have not written in a few weeks is that
I have been quite busy running around making preparations for entrance, and
while this has included some
logistical planning – most of this preparation has been spiritual. I’ll let you
in on a little secret – St. Faustina’s Diary and all things Divine Mercy
related have been enveloping my whole life over the last few months. Words
cannot describe how close this saint has become to me – and I can’t believe I
didn’t include her in the 99-Day Novena originally! She’s now alongside my
confirmation saint – Maximilian Kolbe – in the 9 days before the final Novena
through St. Augustine. The message of Divine Mercy that our Lord Jesus gave to
St. Faustina is so important that I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to
really learn anything about this devotion. I won’t even begin to go into
details about how it is flipping my life 180 degrees in the direction of true
sacrifice in view of holiness. But if you don’t know anything about the Divine
Mercy – I beg you to begin finding out about it immediately!
As far as fundraising goes – well its time to kick it back
into high gear, folks. Thank you SO MUCH for your support thus far. If you have
supported me either through finances, prayers, or sharing my story – be assured
that I have kept you in my prayers every single day, and will continue to do
so. If you have the means, I ask you to pray and consider giving perhaps one
more time in the near future, and more than that – please please please share
this as much as you can! As I continue training for the Water to Wine Half
Marathon in Sonoma, CA on August 11th, I am also making every
preparation for entrance on August 28th. I am putting my trust in
the Lord – that He will direct many kind and generous hearts toward Litany Run
in the next couple of weeks. As of this evening my debt is down to a beautiful
$33,325.40! Still a long way to go, but I am excited to see what God is going
to do over the next couple of weeks! I continue to pray with complete trust
that His plan for me will be revealed in due time!
 |
| Sr. Mary Magdalene on her entrance day (a few years ago) With Mother Mary Augustine, O.Praem. |
A number of people have requested my WISHLIST – which I am happy
to send out! Praise Jesus, this weekend I was able to purchase the main
articles of clothing that will comprise my postulancy outfit – the
skirt/shirts/jackets I will be wearing for the next nine months. Kind of
intimidating to see myself dressed as a postulant for the first time (minus the
veil and shoes). It all seems to become much more real when you look in the
mirror and see one dressed in reverence and acceptance of the invitation to
holy unity with the Creator of the universe.
As my entrance date draws closer the reality that I am (God
willing) leaving the “world” soon is beginning to set in. And with so much
going on in the world it hardly seems possible that one would be able to die to
it, to withdraw from all of its chaotic movement and settle into a quieter life
of prayer. Yet some of us are called to this life and it is our responsibility
to respond, to cooperate with God’s grace. What a blessing it has been to
receive a number of messages/emails and even a few sponsorships from other
people discerning religious life – both to the Norbertine order and other
charisms! God is so generous with all He gives us, and it is so amazing to
share with others as we embark upon our journeys to sainthood. This is what the
Lord calls us ALL to! Sainthood! Whether He gives us an earthly spouse or calls
us to Divine Espousal.
A friend posted this video on FB earlier today and I thought
it was beautiful. My prayer is that someday, when I am old and gray, anyone
will be able to look at me, and talk to me, and understand that I love God’s
children with the same joy that this man has:
No comments:
Post a Comment