Not Only, But Also

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my husband!!

Not only because he brings me beautiful roses when I am sick,

But also because he brings me beautiful roses when I'm sick.

Thanks bay for all you do :)

Hi Lo: November 6th

In reverse order today...

LO:

A virus has spread through our family

HI:

Only Maggie and I are still getting over it. The boys have made it through and are back to normal.

Sorry so short, this cold medicine makes me feel weird!

What were your highs and lows this week?

WWJD?

I went to Mass on Sunday at a different Catholic church than I usually go to, and the Priest made some announcements at the beginning of Mass regarding the Swine Flu.

He said that:

1) The Church pews would be cleaned thoroughly a few times a week (Great!)

2) We would not touch at the Sign of Peace (I agree)

3) If you are sick, the most charitable thing to do would be to stay at home (Again, I agree)

4) For the Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, there would be hand sanitizer available to clean your hands before and after distributing Holy Communion. (Super!)

5) There would be no more Holy Water to bless yourself with. Instead, they have bottles of hand sanitizer in its place. (Ummm, now we're getting a little neurotic)

6) Although it's not forbidden, he highly discourages receiving Our Lord by mouth.

Ok, this last one is when I got a little peeved. When I was younger, I used to ALWAYS receive Communion in my hands. Until one day I heard a priest talk about how we should receive in the mouth because it truly is JESUS we are receiving, and it is more reverent and less risky to receive the host directly in your mouth (less chance of it falling or breaking).

Also, only the priests hands should be touching Our Lord as they have been Ordained...who are we to handle Jesus Christ in the flesh? I certainly am not worthy. Yes, there are lay people who distribute Communion by hand, but they are called Extraordinary Ministers for a reason...because they are only supposed to distribute Communion when there is an extraordinary need, and not enough Priests are available.

I made it a point one Lent to start receiving by mouth only. It was a sacrifice for me because I felt uncomfortable and nervous doing it, but I truly felt that it was a more noble way to receive the Precious Body. And since then I have never gone back to receiving in my unworthy hands.

Until this past Sunday. It just felt wrong to me, and I wish I had opened my mouth instead, but I was trying to be respectful of the Priest's wishes.

I know this sounds naive, but I honestly don't believe that God would allow an illness to be spread through His Most Sacred Body. Just like I don't think we can catch germs from drinking from a shared cup of His Blood. Call me crazy, I probably am. But from now on , I am receiving Jesus's Body and Blood by mouth only.

WWW: Week 4

The Good:

Was very strict about the diet (except my 2 cheat meals)

Counted points.

Exercised every.single.day.

Ran 15.2 miles total for week.

Took 4 hour-long kickboxing classes during week.

Walked 2 miles on incline.

Did 3 arm/ab sessions for about 15 minutes each.

The Bad:

Ate out on Sunday night (chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing) and then had a frozen yogurt sundae.

On Thurs night, ordered crab rangoons and ate the whole order!! Oh, and then had some more frozen yogurt with jimmies.

The Results:

Lost 1.2 pounds!

This makes for a total of 7 pounds lost.

About 10 pounds away from my pre-baby weight :)

How are you doing?

Gratituesday: November 3rd

Today I am grateful for FINALLY finding a place to turn my blog into a book.

If you're like me, and you regularly go to thecutestblogontheblock.com for free blog backgrounds, they also have a link you can click on to turn your blog into a book. Here's the link.

It's so simple, just enter your blog address and the dates you want to take posts from, and it automatically pulls all of your information over.

I made my book for 2008, so I chose all posts from 1/1/08 to 12/31/08.

Then you can look through your posts and pictures and make changes.

The book comes in a nice hardcover bound edition, with a picture on the front and back, a title, a Table of Contents, numbered pages, and good quality photos.

The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the way it laid out some of the posts and pictures...but if I had been a little more patient I could've probably changed it around before I ordered it.

I believe mine ended up costing me about $70 total (free shipping), but for all of the time I have saved not having to blog AND create a scrapbook, all of the supplies I don't need to buy, and all of the pictures I would've had to order- it is so worth $70 a year to turn my blog into a book.

What a great keepsake! And for that I am thankful :)

What are you thankful for today?

All Souls Day

I went to a talk last night about All Saints Day and All Souls Day given by Sr. M. Johanna Paruch, FSGM, Ph.D. from Franciscan University of Steubenville (photo above).

She made some great points, but the one that really stood out to me was something she said about how our culture reacts when someone dies. So many people (in order to make the mourners feel better) will say that the deceased person is "in Heaven now".

That has always made me squirm because how do we know where they are? Yes, we would like to believe that our loved ones are in eternal bliss, but we don't know for sure.

Sr. Johanna pointed out yet another reason that saying this phrase is wrong. She reminded us that is does the deceased person a great disservice to assume they are already in Heaven because then we don't pray for them.

As Catholics, we believe we all have a body and a soul, and today is the day to remember all of the Souls who need our prayers. These would be the Souls of persons who have died and are now in Purgatory awaiting their entrance into Heaven. They NEED prayers: from us here on Earth, and from the Saints in Heaven. We can offer up prayers for them in the form of words, sacrifices, and good deeds.

The worst thing we can assume is that someone is already in Heaven and doesn't need our prayers. These are the "poor souls in Purgatory" who have no one to pray for them. These souls are in desperate need of our prayers as well as the souls of people we knew and loved.

Sr. Johanna also reminded us to pray for the souls of non-Catholics whose families believe they are in Heaven and do not believe in Purgatory. And she said to pray for the souls of celebrities you hear that pass away since they might not have any family praying for them.

Anyway, it was a good talk, and a gentle reminder of what today is all about, and how we can help others get to Heaven. Then when they are there, they can pray for us to join them one day!