My Domestic Church

The family itself is the great mystery of God. As the "domestic church" it is the bride of Christ.

- Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking and praying on my "domestic church." Since I got married, my husband and I have enjoyed serving the church together, as one with God. We enjoy all of our different ministries, that over the years we have become a part of. However, since our wedding 7 months ago, we have been enjoying the most important ministry of all- our marriage!

Like I have mentioned before, my hubby and I are very active in our church. However, we have been very conscious not to let our church ministries get in the way of our marriage. With both of us working full time and usually having our evenings packed with youth group and bible studies, it is very easy to lose sight of each other; Above all, I am a wife and he is a husband. We can't let all of our other obligations get in the way of our spousal duties! Being in the church, we have seen many marriages fall apart for similar reasons... people sometimes are very involved serving others that their domestic church is forgotten. 

I pray everyday that we continue having a healthy balance and that our domestic church is strengthened everyday. For me, it has been a personal mission of mine. See, I grew up in a single parent household. I did not know what a marriage looked like...let alone a marriage centered in Christ! When I went off to college, before my reversion, I did not even want to get married! I was supposed to be an educated, successful, independent woman! God had other plans. He laughed at mine.

When I came back to the church, I saw how beautiful it was to have someone, who was in love with Christ first. Now as a married woman, master's degree and all, I LOVE serving my husband. I LOVE our domestic church that we are nurturing everyday! Marriage is such a beautiful covenant between a man, a woman, and God but it is definitely something that needs to be taken care of. 

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are thrilled to open the doors to our home to our family. We are excited to share  with them our love and the many blessings that God has given us.

Here are a few pictures of my set up for tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving! Be blessed! :0)

My Mary and Joseph along with Thanksgiving decorations

Table for the food!! Love it!

I love my Target dollar spot napkin rings! 

Which one are you?

This week in youth group and in confirmation class, we focused on Thanksgiving and the importance of giving thanks and praise to God. I prepared a lesson based on Luke 17:11-19, Jesus Heals Ten Men with Leprosy. 

Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy

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¹¹ Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy^[a] met him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

After reading and reflecting on the passage, we had a great discussion on which one of the men we related to. Are we like the one that ran back and thanked Jesus for healing him, and essentially giving him his life back? Or, are we like the 9 that got what they wanted and forgot to give thanks? 

Unfortunately, I think that sometimes it is easy to be like the 9. It is easy to run to our loving Father and ask, ask, and keep asking for everything we need. When in reality, we should be thanking and praising him for everything! Good and bad! He already knows what we need; He knows what we really need better than we do! Then why do we waste so much time asking and asking instead of thanking and praising? 

One of my teens in confirmation class today, said something that I really liked. She said, "I used to just ask and ask of Him, but now I make sure to start off my prayers by thanking Him for everything. Sometimes I get caught up in thanking Him so much that I forget to ask Him for things!"

Don't get me wrong..I know that our Father wants us to run to Him and I have faith that when we ask, we receive in His perfect timing. However, for this Thanksgiving season we need to remember that it is better to give thanks. In order to give thanks to Him, we must be humble. Humble to understand that we are nothing without Him and need to thank Him for our everyday breath. Thankful for the biggest sacrifice which is Him! After all, Eucharist means Thanksgiving...We need to be celebrating Thanksgiving everyday and not just once a year. 

What are you thankful for today? 

Blessings,

Clare

Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner

When my husband and I got married 7 months ago, we had a lot of fun making the house we bought our home. We painted it, decorated it, and made it OURS! It was exciting to have a place to call our home and to actually be living together for the first time was so exciting...and still is! 

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A few weeks into our marriage I had suggested that we should host Thanksgiving in our house. My family has been going through some transitioning and we have not had a Thanksgiving tradition for a few years now. (my mom, brother, and I all live in different states!) I really want us all to be in one place for the holidays and I think that our house is probably the best place to have it.   However, now that it is approaching, I am getting nervous. I have never prepared a Thanksgiving meal! My mom and my aunts used to always do it. My mom will be around to help me but I will be doing most of it because she won't be coming in until that day. I have to do all the shopping, prep work, and creating of the menu myself! 

If anyone has any suggestions or recipes, I am all ears! I am very excited to have my family coming over and to share the upcoming holidays as a newly wed with my husband. I hope this is the start of a great tradition. What is your Thanksgiving tradition? 

Be blessed- not stressed! (I am trying to make that my motto! Haha)

Clare

Just three questions...

Yesterday I attended mass after work at a church 5 minutes away from my office. I have attended mass service after work here in the past and I was always shocked at how short the service was. The priest who usually celebrates mass there does not perform a homily after the gospel nor is there any type of singing (all of which I am accustomed to). The entire celebration usually lasts 15-20 minutes. However, the most important part is the Eucharist and being able to receive it after work when I can't make it to mass in the morning is wonderful. 

Yesterday when I arrived to the church, I was surprised to see a new priest. I don't know if he was just visiting or if this was a permanent change. Either way, he gave a great service with an awesome homily. In the homily he reflected on the gospel where it stated, "In the same way,everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." He discussed how Luke is not telling us to become homeless and literally sell all of our material things. However, he is telling us the importance of making Jesus first in our lives. Then he asked us three questions...

1) Who wants to go to heaven?

We all raised our hands. Of course we want to go to heaven!! After all that is our ultimate goal, isn't it?? Then he asked,

2) Who wants to go to heaven tonight?

Only 3 people raised their hands and there were several chuckles throughout the pews. We realized the importance and reality of this question. Some of us are in love with "this" life so much more than we realize and that is going against what Luke is telling us in the gospel. Some of us might also think, Wait, I just need more time to prepare myself for the kingdom of God! I, myself, am guilty of thinking this at times. Then came the final question, in which he asked us to answer in our thoughts,  

3) Who is your best friend tonight?

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I automatically thought about my husband. I am always telling him he is my best friend and he is the closest person to me. However, I also knew what the correct answer should have been. Jesus. I am supposed to have Jesus as my best friend. The priest asked for a show of hands of those who thought of Jesus. Only a few. 

He continued to tell us an amazing story of a priest, who became a cardinal, who had been in the concentration camps for 37 years. However, I kept thinking about the questions. How do I make Jesus my best friend? How do I make Him a part of my every breath and not just my go to friend? 

Be blessed,

Clare 

No matter who is president...

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This image has been going around and I think it is worth re-posting. I know that a lot of prayers and rosaries were said for the election yesterday and I also know that there are a lot of us Christian / Catholics who may be disappointed with the results. However, as I brushed my teeth this morning I thought about how every prayer goes unanswered and everything is in His time and His will will be done. Not our time nor our will. I have complete faith that God heard our prayers. Nevertheless, I also know that there is much more work and praying to be done. Just because the election is over does not mean we stop praying for our country. Our nation needs our prayers... desperately! These past few months I have been reading blogs about people who have been praying the patriotic rosary, the rosary for America, fasting, and much more for the election. We need to continue those efforts. Our youth, our old, our unborn, and we need it! Just remember, no matter who is president, Jesus is King. 

Be blessed,
Clare

Is this my mission?

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Ever since I was a young girl I knew that I wanted to help people...I did not know in what capacity nor was I a practicing Catholic. All I knew was that when "I grew up" I wanted to help people. In college I majored in Human Development and Family Studies and went on to get my masters in Human Services Counseling/ Mental Health. While completing my bachelors degree, I came back to the Church and became even more passionate for helping people. While I was pursuing my masters degree I worked at a Catholic emergency shelter ran by nuns. I provided therapy for children who were being abandoned or removed from abusive homes. I loved my job there but unfortunately had to leave because of lack of funding...long story!

Since receiving my masters I have been working at the university I graduated from providing career counseling to students. Helping them with finding jobs and making sure they have great resumes to go into the "real world." I love my job- I get to assist students, alumni, and community members get on their feet and find something they love to do and get paid for it! At 24 years old I have a great job with a wonderful salary and benefits, and I am very grateful. However...however... everyday I know I could be doing more. Everyday I pray for my mission from God. How does He want me to serve him...? Am I doing what He wants me to be doing...?

Recently I have been reading blogs from people who are on missions across the world- leaving everything behind and spreading the Good News! Those people are are making a difference! When I read about the mission company I talked with my husband and we started praying harder and asking God for our mission.  We know that youth ministry is a huge mission but I wanted to be sure we were using our gifts that He has given us to the fullest potential;We joke that God hasn't sent us a child yet because He has sent us 40 teens instead!

I think last night God answered our prayers.

When we arrived to mass last night my husband and I went into the sacristy. We were both serving and like to get their a bit early to put on the robes and prepare. When we walked in one of our priest was there and as we got ready he said he had something to talk to us about..

"I wanted to ask you both something... I have been working with three teenage siblings who have lost both of their parents. These kids are yearning for love and to learn more about Jesus but are not ready to join the youth group. They are broken and only open up to each other and are not ready to open to an entire group. I mentioned to them that you two are the youth leaders and how would they feel about meeting with you outside of the youth group. Maybe to form a friendship with them where they can start attending the Eucharist and learning more about their faith from two young adults who are living it... they said they were willing to give it a try and I told them I would talk to you." 

My husband and I both looked at each other and agreed we needed to pray about it but we definitely knew we wanted to help those teens. Last night after mass my husband and I talked about how God works in mysterious ways...Here I was trying to plan a trip across the country to "help people" when there are people in my community just as broken and unaware about God's infinite love and mercy! Don't get me wrong, I still hope and pray that one day God has it in His plans to send us abroad as missioners, but for now we will continue serving Him here.

Clare

The power of the rosary!

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The past few days have been so hectic! Work has been crazy but my evenings have been beautiful- full of prayer with friends and family. Praying the rosary in our home with a group of our closest people has been a wonderful experience. My in laws, my godmother, a few friends, and even my priest have been joining us for dinner and prayer. It is beautiful praying in a group and sharing our home with them. Since we have been married I have enjoyed hosting dinner parties, but this makes it even better! Everyone sitting around my living room with a rosary in hand...I love it! We are actually having our youth group over this week to learn the story of Our Lady of Fatima and then pray the rosary. 30 teens in my living room praying the rosary-what a blessing!

On Sunday before my husband and I left for mass and to teach our religious education class we prayed the rosary...that day in my class I know Our Lady was present. I had prepared a lesson on the value of life. My confirmation class, comprised of teens, has been focusing on morality and how as Catholics they need to live by example and lead a virtuous life following the Faith. I had prepared to talk about respecting all life in the different stages of life...unborn, babies, adolescents, adults, seniors... I had planned to talk about abortions as well as respecting our bodies, however, that was not my main focus. However, Our Lady had different plans for me. We started the class with prayer and then we dove into the topic. When I started talking about abortion and respecting the body, I started talking about contraception, premarital sex and much more than I had planned to talk about! For some reason I just kept going deeper and my teens sat there listening to every word. After class I told my husband that I knew there was a reason why the Holy Spirit had inspired me to veer off my lesson plan.

Yesterday evening I got a text from one of my teens and she said that the lesson had really spoken to her...she has been struggling with respecting her body and our lesson gave her the wake up call that she needed to reevaluate how she has been living her life. That text not only confirmed what I love to do with the youth  but it confirmed how important prayer is, especially when you are working in ministry! I can't do it without Him guiding me and I know that if I had not been praying my rosary then I would not have been open to anything the Holy Spirit had  for me to share with the youth.

Clare