Category Archives: The Spiritual Life

How to Lead Virtual Small Groups

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Women of Grace® study programs give you the blessed privilege of witnessing the magnificent movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the women who attend – and you will experience His dynamic power and grace in your own life as well. As your study group learns about the great gift of authentic femininity and how to live it out in our world today, hearts will be healed, lives will be changed, and souls will be saved. This is indeed a time of transformation, renewal, and deepening commitment. Read the rest…

Mary Visits Her Children: Our Lady of Lourdes

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Perhaps no other appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary has captured people’s hearts and imaginations like those she made to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France in 1858. Our Lady appeared eighteen times that year to an impoverished, uneducated fourteen-year-old girl who lived with her family in an old jail. Since that time, more than five thousand healings are reported to have taken place in the spot where the Blessed Mother appeared; sixty-four of them the Catholic Church has proclaimed “miraculous.” Read the rest…

Woman of Grace: St. Scholastica

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Woman of Grace: St. Scholastica (480 – 543)

St. Gregory the Great recounts this story from the life of St. Benedict’s beloved twin sister, St. Scholastica, which shows how expressing our petitions to God with childlike faith and confidence sometimes yields immediate and amazing results.

After Benedict founded a monastery for men, Scholastica remained very close to her brother, founding a convent for women some miles away. Every year Scholastica went to visit Benedict at a little place just outside the monastery gate. Read the rest…

St. John Paul II — “Christmas is the Feast Day of Man”

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When I came back to the Faith in 1981, one Scripture passage became the rudder of my spiritual life. It is Ephesians 1: 3-4. Through the years, this passage has spoken to me in many ways and has sustained me through many trials.

Verse 4 , however, is particularly relevant for this time of the year, and was echoed by St. John Paul II in a Christmas reflection. It states this, “God chose us in him before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight, to be full of love.” Those first five words tell us something about ourselves that is amazing and astounding — each one of us was distinctively and individually chosen by God to have life. Read the rest…

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

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What wisdom Holy Mother Church has in dedicating the first day of the year to Mary, Mother of God!

Mary is the Mother of God and she is our mother, too. Her fiat is the genesis of every fiat given to God. And every fiat given to God is enriched by hers. The fathers of the Second Vatican Council state it simply, succinctly, and profoundly: she is our Mother in the order of grace.

This poem, written by Giovanni Domini (1356-142), expresses the maternal beatitude we find so dear. May it elevate our hearts in gratitude to God for the gift of the Blessed Virgin. And may it elevate our hearts to the reality of our salvation which comes through the gift of her Son, Jesus Christ Savior of the World. Read the rest…

God is Always Speaking to Us

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Dear Friends,

On a recent Women of Grace Live radio program, we discussed the quote below, which came from one of my previous blog posts.  It generated a spirit-filled conversation about overcoming fear when we are moving forward in what we believe to be God’s will for our lives.  I am re-posting the blog below as well as the link to the radio program below.  I hope that it provides you inspiration today if you are experiencing fear. Read the rest…

Woman of Grace: St. Katharine Drexel

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stkathrinedrexel

It’s only fitting that during this Lenten season, we have the opportunity to celebrate the Feast of St. Katharine Drexel, a woman who lived to the full the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

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Prayers for Fr. Benedict Groeschel

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Dear Friends,

This morning I received the following email request from Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s frgroeschelcommunity, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.  They have asked for special prayers, through the intercession of Venerable Solanus Casey, for his recovery and healing.  I hope that you will join me in praying.

Yours in Christ,
Johnnette Read the rest…

More Resources for Your Lenten Journey

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Dear Friends,

lentenresourcesIn addition to those suggested in our slideshow, following is a list of resources that I recommended on Women of Grace Live, Ash Wednesday, March 5. Each of these is structured in such a way that it is perfect for a daily devotional during this Holy Season of Lent.  They also are great resources for increasing our life of faith and strengthening our interior life. My prayer is that you find them so useful, you continue to use them once this Holy Season is over. Most of them are available through EWTN Religious Cataglogue or on our website. Read the rest…